How I survived the first month, and more reasons to love it!

The first month was personally hard for me. Rocco had hyperthermia at birth so he was left at the hospital for a week. He latched so poorly that breastfeeding became a struggle, plus the fact that there aren't any latching support groups in Cebu who could help out. What made it worse was my allergic reaction to my medications. I had severe (and I'm not kidding when I say severe) hive rashes from my pain killers, which spread all throughout my arms and tummy area. I had to wear long-sleeves for a whole month, for fear of coming into contact with my son (though my doctor assured me countless times that it was not contagious). This restricted my much needed skin-to-skin bonding with my son. From worse to worst, I got sick with pneumonia (or something like that). I was coughing and had colds like crazy I was freaking out because I might pass the virus to Rocco.

Still, I'm just happy I overcame the first month of mommyhood intact, with no bouts of post-partum depression.

For the most part, Rocco brought so much happiness that all those little aches I was experiencing were nothing.

I never expected to have a Chinese looking boy, but thank God for his chinito eyes, he's cuuuuter and so adorable.

The day we brought him home from his week long stay at the hospital. I could not get enough of him.

Being a first time mommy is super scary. Thank God I had the best support group. My Ate Dynah came all the way from Manila to teach me the know-hows of caring for a newborn :)

Rocco started side-sleeping at 13 days old. I don't know if it's a normal thing for babies his age.

Rocco is such an "cool" baby, and very easy to care for. He slept a lot, so I squeezed in a lot of snooze time too.

Rocco thinks that his Daddy is a clown :) Only Daddy can make him squeal in laughter. He showed his first real smile when I took a pic of him with his Daddy. Much love for my boys :)

We gave Rocco tummy time at 3-weeks old. I got a lot of flak from my family for doing this to my son. Hahaha! Huwag daw magmadali :)

Rocco's cord stump fell off at 5 weeks. I then gave him his daily tub baths. At first, I could not understand why he kept on crying and whaling during bath time. It freaked me out because he would hold his breath and would turn dark. Thank God for mommysense, I found out he didn't like being placed in water immediately. From then on, I placed him in an empty tub, and poured water through the trusty tabo. Bath time has been a delight ever since.

Rocco absolutely loves the outdoors. Everyday, after our early morning playtime, we bring him outside to greet Mr. Sunshine, Mr. Sky, Mr. Tree, and all tweety birds in our nice compound. 

I'm so blessed to have a very supportive husband, and a hands-on daddy. When I was sick with pneumonia and hive rashes, he let me sleep straight at night, and he took it on to really care for Rocco, especially during early mornings.