Accepting Help

This week was very trying for me. It was WAY more difficult than I thought it would be to take care of Ethan all by myself, without Kevin. I felt like I had no relief, no adult interaction, no sleep...you get the idea.

We had an awful night on Monday, with Ethan crying and crying, and me crying and saying, "I can't do this," over and over. I started reading Babywise during my feedings and read about some things I was doing "wrong". I was so confused on what to do, that I was second guessing everything, and driving myself and Ethan crazy! I called Kevin at 2:15am upset, and then called my mom at 6:45am...upset.

After another awful night of sleep on Tuesday night, I raised my white flag of surrender. I was driving myself crazy, feeling like I was not cut out for motherhood, I wasn't eating or sleeping...I was just in bad shape. I realized I could not do this by myself so soon. I called my mom's friend, Debra (or my "fairy godmother", as I will henceforth refer to her), who said she'd come over and stay the day and night with me so I could get some rest. She did Ethan's laundry, made me lunch, cleaned up around the house, changed him, fed him, got up with him in the middle of the night, etc. I got 7 hours of sleep...IN A ROW!!

Today, Ethan and I were both well-rested, and we had a wonderful day together. It's also nice to know that Kevin will be home any minute! 

The moral of this blog post is: Accept help when it is offered. I thought I should be able to do this by myself, but the truth is, being a mom of an almost 3-week old is hard. I'm not doing a bad job just because I need to rely on friends and family to get me through these first few weeks (or months).