Helpful

My husband and I met our niece 2 weeks ago and she's absolutely perfect! She's little and snugly and I never wanted to put her down. But as much as I wanted to do nothing but hold and stare at the baby, I also wanted to help as much as a I could while there. So I cooked for 6 people (my parents were there at the same time). Or at the very least picked up fast food lunch for everyone. I went to the grocery store for some supplies and picked up some special tea for my sister. I learned how to change her cloth diapers (fortunately for me none of the ones I changed were gross poopy ones!). But what I didn't expect to do was help with the nighttime feedings. Baby and mommy were having a hard time getting the hang of nursing, so baby had lost enough weight that she needed to feed every 2 hours and to supplement with formula if she didn't latch on.

The night we flew in my sister had 4 guests in her home, her husband is working through that particular night, a baby that needs to eat but is having a hard time, and she's getting about 4 hours total of broken sleep. My poor little sister was just exhausted and stressed. As I listened to her talk about the difficulties of feedings,without a second thought I offered to help with them through the night. While I couldn't do anything with the actual nursing, I could get the supplemental bottle ready while she tried to start nursing, and I could wash anything that needed to be washed so Amy might be able to get a few more minutes of sleep. If nothing else, I could just be company. She did try to give me an out by warning me that it really was every 2 hours, but I was there to meet the baby and to help in any way that I could. So she took me up on my offer, and the look of relief on her face made me happy.

Oh god it was exhausting! I got up at 2, 4, 5 and 7am, got a bottle ready, brought the baby to Amy, fed and burped her if she didn't nurse, and then washed everything afterwards. And I only did this for one full  night! The next night I helped with the 2am, but daddy took over the 5am. I can't imagine how difficult this is every night. But as tired as I was, I wouldn't have changed a thing. And I'm not telling this story for a ticker tape parade and I'm not looking for anyone to give me praise. But it felt so good to help. That's all. It was nice nice to help.