Met with the doc today for your "one month exam" (ok, a bit early; it's only three weeks) and about your baby heartburn.
Yup, you picked up one of my more unfortunate traits: heartburn. Sorry about that. Eventually, I'll be able to teach you how to deal with it. Right now, unfortunately, all we can do is try to make sure we burp you well (there's a fine line between a good, strong burping, and child abuse), sit you up a bit when you sleep, and hold you in specific positions. Here's to hoping we can do all this well enough to let you sleep...
...speaking of sleep, the doc told us one other thing: We no longer have to wake you up every 3 hours at night to feed you. Oh, thank $diety for that. Seriously. You don't know how happy this makes me. The past couple nights, your diaper/feed/burp/heartburn/sooth/go-to-sleep process has been taking about 2 (give or take 30 minutes) of the 3 hours for any given schedule, not getting you or us much sleep. When the 3 hour mark comes around, you've usually been sleeping for about an hour, and could probably sleep for at least another hour or two. It pains me to have to wake you up just to do it all over again. Its obviously taking its toll on you, and more obviously (only because we can express our grumpiness in less abiguous terms, ie: English) Momma and me. But, now we don't have to. This does not guarantee me more sleep, but at least it no longer guarantees that I _WON'T_ get more sleep. For this, I am very happy.
Thoughts: Transitioning from "Yound adult" to "Parent"
When I was growing up, I was the kid, and my parents were the parents. There was no concept of them being anything other than parents. That's what they had been since the beginning of time. Well, at least since the beginning of _MY_ time. I try to think about what they were like before they became parents, before they met each other, and got married, etc. What was Grandad like in high school, or college, for example? It's hard for me to think about that. I have no concept of what they were like as young adults. But, I know exactly what it was like for _ME_: I was there.
I suspect it'll be similar for you. You probably view me as a parent, and nothing else. You don't view me as a high school student, or as a college student, or as a single adult, going out on dates, living with your mother before you were born (9 years!), being a young adult, doing the things that young adults do. I'm just Poppa. Or Dad. Or, more probable, "Daaaaad!"
This is a transition that will take a bit of getting used to. By the time you read this, I suspect I'll already have settled into my new role as father. But, I'll admit, I'm not there yet.