I am the mother of a two-week old

**never got around to posting this last week**

I am the mother of a two-week old.

Amazing.  How did that happen?  Two weeks has passed?  And we're doing it... we're really doing it.  Never before have I felt the need to live in a "one day at a time" mentality.  But seriously, how else would you survive the pressure of bringing home 6lbs 6oz of life and nurturing her and meeting her needs... for a very very long time to come.

It feels so good to know that two weeks have gone by and we're really doing this.  I guess in actuality, "one day at a time" is more accurately lived as "three hours at a time," because that's the rough schedule we're cycling through these days.

Eat, play for a bit, sleep, wake up and scream like food may never come, eat, play for a bit, and sleep.

I'm finally beyond the anxiety I felt every time we were 15 minutes away from her next mealtime... when she starts to make little noises like she is waking up and will be screaming for my boob soon.

I was surprised at how much these two weeks were really about recovery.  I didn't feel like there were any REAL surprises with the labor and delivery (I had several mom's give me very detailed play-by-plays of their own experiences), but I really felt in the dark about so much of these past two weeks.

I had no clue I would hurt like this.  I know everyone is different, but it was a real challenge for me.  There were some days it hurt to sit, it hurt to stand, it certainly hurt to pee, and it definitely hurt every time she was hungry.  Gah!

I feel like I was so stinkin fortunate during the pregnancy, and really, during the labor and delivery.  No issues, no complications, for the most part it was pretty smooth sailing.  I know many moms don't have the pain I did during that two-week recovery period, but I feel like this was my trade off for how simple the ride has been up to this point.  Not to say I deserved to have a hard two weeks postpartum, but it helps me to manage it knowing that many moms struggle for most of their pregnancy or labor for 30 hours or push for 6 hours.  How could I complain when I've clearly been so fortunate?

How did people do this parenting thing without the internet?  How did people do this without google?  The list of random questions we've googled in the past two weeks really sums up how every little thing that happens during the day can raise the questions, "is this normal?  is this okay?  what do I do with this?"

My recent google searches:

How long does engorgement last
Blocked milk ducts
Can I overfeed my newborn?
How to get a proper latch
Keeping baby awake during feeding
How do deal with fast milk flow
Projectile spit-up
One breast seems to be fuller than the other, always
Umbilical cord bleeding
Minimum time breastfeeding
My infant won't feed for more than 10 minutes
My newborn won't go to sleep, not fussy, eyes wide open
Postpartum recovery, how long for stitches to heal
Treating belly button after cord falls off
My infant acts hungry every time she's upset
My infant eats every two hours
How to bathe an infant
Heat rash
Baby acne
How to treat baby acne
Is it safe to put lotion on a baby's face?

This has been a very humbling experience, but I am super proud of us for doing it and ever thankful that Audrey is patient with us.  I swear I can see her smirking at us when we're scrambling around clearly clueless about how to handle so many of these random daily scenarios.

But other times it's obvious we must be doing something right...