Long days, longer nights

After what was one of the best nights sleep I've ever had due to exhaustion, I hastily made my way back up to the hospital in the morning. I navigated my way around the endless hospital halls before I eventually found the ward with my partner in. It was very quiet a couple of other mums and babies in there, yet a peaceful silence.

I lent around the curtain to find my partner asleep on the bed, I couldn't help but think; she must be absolutely knackered. Tyler started to stir and slowly wake, so I picked him up and sat by Andrea's side on the bed. After a few minutes she awoke to me sitting staring at this new life in wonder.

After check-ups, hearing tests, reflex tests, etc on Tyler and a check-up on Andrea we eventually got to go home with our new son. The moment we got home and sat down we all had a wave of relief submerge us. Yet we knew the real hard work was yet to begin.

I've always been one of those guys who if I ever held a baby I was fairly scared to move thinking I would break it, but annoyingly the old cliche' when they say; it will all come naturally, in my case was true. I felt so comfortable holding Tyler right from the start.

The first couple of night were very difficult. Tyler was trying to adjust, as were we. I'm not entirely convinced he knew what he wanted half of the time. I can definitely say he is a baby for attention though, as the only way we found we could settle him for the first few days was to hold him.

If you put him down at all the screaming would begin once again. We spent the nights taking shifts, where one of us would stay up while he slept on our chest and the other would get some sleep. After a few hours we would swap, it seemed the only way we could get any rest.

In the day Tyler is a very quiet and content baby, he doesn't need much attention and is just happy to get on with things, but during the night can still be a bit of a pain. We found a way to get him to sleep which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. We have him lie on the bed with us whilst we calm him and once he falls asleep, we very gently place him back into the moses basket.

Other things which can work on and off is singing to him, playing music to him, rocking him, etc.

So far what I've learnt is, to try and understand what a baby wants, unfortunately is just a case of trial and error, until you begin to understand the routine that they get into and even then it's 50/50 if you're right or not. With this comes a lot of screaming, which is very hard to be around. Not so much because of the noise, but because you feel as if your child is in pain and you don't like seeing them that upset, but you have got to remember, they're not in pain, they just need you to help them with what they want and to help them understand what they need.

Thank you for reading again this week. Please do continue to help me by commenting, sharing your advice, stories, thoughts and experiences. Hopefully you will join me again next week as we continue this journey into life.