The First 9 Days

Here are some things I learned the first 9 days:

• E didn't sleep without my holding him. The first few days I held him and slept flat on my back (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures). After that, I bought a travel bed and kept an arm in there so he felt my presence while he slept. Thankfully, this didn't last long.
• He slept all day and was up all night. You learn that the advice to sleep when your baby sleeps is 100% correct.
• Wearable baby carriers are amazing. It was the only way I could eat during that trip, as E wanted to be held at all times.
• We quickly fell into a routine: we would get up for the free breakfast, then E would take his first daytime nap so I could shower. We would then go out for the day on a trip, then come back for another nap. Unfortunately, he slept so much that we would be up every hour or two at night, meaning that I was very sleep deprived the next day, when our cycle would start all over again.
• You will quickly learn how to give a sponge bath, change dirty diapers, and eat one handed.
• Bonding with this little human being is a little conflicting because there's always that slim chance that the adoption will not go through. I remember thinking that he was so cute, but I felt like someone was going to come for him at any moment, almost like I was babysitting and his parents were going to walk through the door.
• Your heart will hurt for his first mom, because your hearts and arms are filled with your new baby, but hers are not because of her selfless choice.
• Traveling by myself was the best thing for me as a new mom. It proved that I could take care of my son without help, and if we could make this trip together, we could make it through anything as a team.