It has been a week already, and we are now beginning to get used to our little boss. He passed the stage of being an angel and a miracle, and now I realise he is a small infant with enormous demands; a handful.

Yesterday (Sunday) he started marathon feeding sessions that lasted up to 2 hours each, and I had very little time to do anything else. Thanks to Ron, though, I still got a chance for my first solo walk on the promenade. It was a warm afternoon and I timed the walk carefully to last 30 minutes, which means 15 minutes of brisk walking then heading straight back. All of the time I was anxiously watching my cell phone and expecting a call or an SMS from Ron who stayed at home to watch the sleeping Robert. In the evening it was more of the same: non-stop feeding and only five hours of sleep, and of course I ended up being very sore indeed.

The main dilemma for today was on which side to feed Robert; I mean, which breast is less painful. I had a sample of nipple cream in the goody bag from the hospital, and I used it liberally after every feeding. I also tried to talk Robert out of pulling, gumming or useless suckling and convince him of proper latching and sucking instead, this of course was easier said than done.

Ron fared a little better; he went on a hike towards Lion’s Head, and came back fresh and energetic, to cook us some soup. I had the baby hanging at my breast the whole time. When he was not feeding we tried to keep him entertained. Today he sat in his car seat with us on the veranda, and listened to the noise of the traffic, which should be familiar to him by now.

I was very exhausted by the end of the day, and luckily Robert gave me a little bit of a break, his hunger cries were less frequent during the night, waking up every three hours, so I managed to accumulate six hours of sleep in between feedings.