Our Newborn

I loved Noah without a shunt and continue to love him with one. But I just thank God for allowing us the opportunity to experience having a shunt-free newborn. Being a new mom is stressful enough. Learning how to handle your newborn, burping and feeding them introduces you to a whole new world of responsibilities. We had 2 weeks to enjoy it and live our lives "normally". No constantly looking out for a shunt malfunction, no worrying about laying them on their shunt, or even incision care.

We were really blessed to be able to somewhat "ease" into Spina Bifida. That's a positive thing about this defect. It's not even all compltely apparent at birth. Babies don't need to walk. So when they're all snug and covered up in their car seat nobody even notices your baby is any different from the next. You have time to accept what comes your way whenever you get to it. Which doesn't stop a person from worrying of coarse, but it helps.

For the first few weeks Noah slept all day every 2 hours

and woke up to eat, look around and then back to bed.

Now that Noah is older, looking back I've realized that the newborn stage is probably the hardest time when you have a baby. Your baby simply wants what it needs and then it's done with you. It took me a while to bond and feel a real deep connection with Noah. I bonded SO much with him during my pregnancy and once your baby is born you have to start the process all over. You have a face to put to the name and memories in your belly. It's all kind of surreal. But I loved every minute of it and now looking back I'd give anything to relive these moments over and over again.