We spent 6 weeks in Florida with all of the help in the world! My parents, local family members and friends. While we were stressed, I don’t think we fully realized how much stress adding a new baby to your household can be. When we got back to New Jersey in January, the stress really set in when it was just my partner and I.
While we were figuring out our new normal, the levels of stress took tolls on our bodies that we did not comprehend. Yes, we were tired a lot and not sleeping 8-9 hours a day like we used to. However, our bodies had issues, that we never thought could happen. I’m going to break it down from my partner and I.
ME:
Ok, so the day after our girl was born, I couldn’t pee. I had to pee so bad, but just couldn’t. I went to the emergency room at the same hospital to get checked. They thought it was an infection so was given some medications then sent on my way. I experienced back pain a few days later and went back only to find out I was passing a kidney stone. Fast forward to Florida during her 1st 6 weeks and I was back in the emergency room with the same pains. They thought I passed another stone. This was all in November and December.
After that, my body felt so off that I needed to see a urologist when I was back in New Jersey in January. I would find myself still having this pains and/or could not pee. I had to get yet another cat scan in late January to only find out that I only ever had one kidney stone and while it passed through to my bladder, I never was able to fully pass it. February is now the month of surgery to remove it.
To top it off, when I’m stressed, I grind my teeth. So with all of the kidney stone stress along with the stress from my partner (more details below), I found myself with the worst tooth ache.
Icing on the cake was also getting a head cold that lasted 2 weeks too.
At one point, I couldn’t pee, breath through my nose and eat on one side of my mouth, Stress can be rough!
MY PARTNER:
When we got back to New Jersey, my partner had a few work trips. He came back from them with a bump on his inner upper thigh. We later found out it was a cyst that needed to be drained and removed. While he did it immediately with the doctor (on a Thursday), he also went into the work the next day (a Friday).
Once that happened, he was in so much pain! He ended up taking the full weekend to try and relax. The pain got worse and worse that he went to the emergency room on Sunday. I had to put him in an Uber because I did not want to bring a 2 month old to a hospital. A few hours later, he found out he had to have emergency surgery since his wound was now infected. Following the surgery (which was end of January), he’s now spending the next few weeks recovering as an open wound on your upper, inner thigh can take a while.
I write all of this because I want to share the realities of parenting. It’s tough. It’s stressful. As human beings, stress can come in many forms, both physical and mental. While we’re definitely being pushed to our limited mentally, it’s the physical things that have really hurt us.
We’re now understanding that we can only be the best parents, if we also take care of ourselves. It’s ok to take time away from your baby and work on you. Following all of this drama, we put our little one in day care during the week. This allows us to work with ease as well as do things like workout, go to an appointment, or simply nap.
Do any of you have crazy stories from when your little one was born?! Please share!
Well my two friends, you certainly did not get an easy entrance into parenthood. It’s so hard under normal circumstances. Exhaustion, lack of time to eat, sleep, shower, etc. I’m so proud of how you both banded together and took care of your sweet baby girl and each other! Continue loving each other, growing together, and loving that beautiful baby! Cannot wait to see her again.❤️❤️