I think every parent would agree with me that having a baby is really a relationship game-changer.
When I was still pregnant, I thought taking care of my baby would be easier for me since I was the eldest child in my family. Every time someone asks me if I am ready to be a mom, I always say “Oo kaya ko. Panganay ako sa aming magkakapatid, sanay na akong mag alaga ng baby.”
When I gave birth to my firstborn and experienced taking care of a baby on my own, that’s when I realized that it was not as easy as I expected. Especially in our daughter’s case, we spent 5 nights in the hospital because she had ABO Incompatibility, became jaundice on her 2nd day, and had high bilirubin, which required her 24 hour-phototherapy sessions.
It is really true that the 2nd night of a newborn would be the hardest.
My relationship with my husband was tested during the nights we spent inside the hospital. The sleepless nights, the pain and sadness we felt every time our baby would cry when we put her in the bassinet for her phototherapy, and the rollercoaster of emotions we felt because finally, our baby is right there, with us.
I remember one night, while I was breastfeeding my baby, I was crying so much because it was painful and I was really tired. I also noticed that my husband felt the same way.
We had no sleep and I felt like I should be blamed for all that was happening. He comforted me and said that he was okay. He was just also tired and it was really hard to take care of our baby, and being inside the hospital was really draining. I knew he was about to cry too, but he restrained himself because he didn’t want me to see him emotional.
I think that one night made our relationship a whole lot stronger. But what I miss most in our relationship were the things we were able to do before we had our daughter. The late-night food trips, our spontaneous road trips, sleeping almost all day, going to the cinema anytime we want to, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, okay? Having our daughter is the greatest blessing we ever received. We can do all those things again when our baby grows up, but for now, we know we have to cherish these moments we have with her because time really flies so fast. And I know that our food trips and road trips will be more fun now because we have our precious daughter with us.
We prioritize the needs of our daughter, but we also make sure we have our coffee dates from time to time.
