The first night was probably the worst - we were in the hospital and no one really told us what to do. Now, we understand that being adults, we should have probably figured it out - but we both thought that a nurse would be there to help us - WRONG! The nurse only showed up to take my blood pressure and Jackson's temperature. We even asked her at one point, "Should we wake the baby up to breastfeed?" She replied, "Yep". And that was that. I think Shane and I got about a total of an hour each sleep that night - who knew that I was supposed to breastfeed until the baby passed out on my boob? Oh, and I can't forget to mention that we went a total of 8 hours without changing him....yep, we felt pretty guilty when the Lactation Consultant came in and suggested changing him before each feeding session. Shane and I both looked at each other, "Change him?"
The only real hiccup we've had is that Jackson lost too much weight within the first few days. We went to our post-partum appointment on Friday (2 days after he was born) and he had gone down to 7lbs, 12 ounces. Because I was pretty adamant about NOT supplementing with formula, we had to do some serious feeding sessions to get Jackson back up to weight. So for the next 24 hours, we had to feed him EVERY 2 hours; 15 minutes on each boob and then I had to pump for 15 minutes and feed him that milk through a syringe with a tube. Although we didn't get any sleep that night, it was a great bonding experience for Shane & Jackson. I would breastfeed for 30 minutes, and then Shane had to let Jackson suck on is finger while I gave Jackson the pumped milk. We went in the next day and Jackson had gained 2 ounces - YEAH!!!! So now we are feeding him every 3 hours (even if we have to wake him) until he gets back up to his birth weight. His re-weigh appointment is this Wednesday, wish us luck that he is 8lbs, 11oz.
Once we got home and established a routine - things just fell into place. Shane has been so helpful, I seriously fall in love with him every 5 minutes. He has changed more diapers than I have hands down and is ALWAYS on deck to sway with the baby, do tummy time or just have face time while Jackson is awake. Although I have thrown a few fits out of pure frustration, he is always there to pick up the pieces, fix it and make me feel better all in 30 seconds (because that's the amount of time we have).
Here are a few highlights from the last 2 weeks:
*I got PROJECTILE pooped on, on Day 3.
*Jackson peed on himself (all over his shirt & face) the first night.
*Shane has been peed on 4 times so far (twice in the tub).
*Jackson has 3 grandpas that just glow when they hold him.
*When we got home from the hospital, we noticed that there were balloons & signs set up in our driveway by our VERY good friend Diandra. That's when it hit me that our dreams had come true - I just sobbed and sobbed in the garage while Shane held me.
*Daddy & Jackson LOVE tummy time - those are the bonding moments that make me just well up.
*That $30 changing pad cover that I wanted so bad.....already stained with MUSTARD YELLOW poop.
*The grandmas would probably never let Jackson out of their arms unless we asked for him back.
*Jackson RIPPED some serious farts on Great-Grandma Ede - I love how she just giggled.
*Speaking of farts, Jackson doesn't need to be burped, he will get out the gas through his bottom and when he does, WATCH OUT - they are loud enough to make a grown man blush.
*In 2 days time, Kona decided to diarrhea in 5 difference places and puke 7 times. Jealous much?
And some necessities that worked for us:
*SwaddleMe blankets - by far the BEST invention. Jackson is a wiggle worm and just busts out of regular swaddle/receiving blankets.
*Snacks brought by friends are the BEST!!!! Diandra brought us over a box full of cookies, chips, fruit, yogurt, etc. They came in handy when we only had a few minutes to snack on something and didn't have time to reheat anything.
*Burp clothes made by Carrie Dunshee & my Mother-in-law - when I first got them (seriously, like 20 all together) I thought, "WOW, this is way too many!" I use almost all of them EVERY DAY. Jackson is a very messy eater - these burp clothes have come in handy!!!
*SNUGGLENEST! Diandra let us borrow hers and it is so wonderful to have Jackson in between us in bed, but not have to worry that one of us is going to roll over on him. THANK YOU so much Diandra!!!!
*Gliders are from Heaven!!!! Thank you mom SOOOOOO much for such an awesome gift. She got us the best of the best in the glider world and so glad she made the investment. I have spent more time in that thing than my own bed!
*Breast pads are a MUST! I won't go into a ton of detail, but let's just say I have enough milk to feed a small country, and when Jackson isn't ready to eat - those pads have saved many shirts!
Lastly, I thought I would share some of our favorite photos of Jackson. We have probably taken well over 100 photos and don't worry, there will be lots more where that came from.......
2 comments:
Too funny about the farts! Must be a boy thing as my boys are the same way. One time I was on the phone with my mom and the baby farted while I was holding him. It was so loud my mom thought I was lying when I said it wasn't me!!
Sounds like things are going really well! Isn't being a mom awesome??
I'm really happy for you and Shane. I remember how excited you would get just talking about kids when we were both still at Murray Franklyn. It sounds like it's totally a dream come true for you...congrats! :)
I could have written so much of this post! The postpartum sobbing, the too-infrequent early diaper changes, the superhuman farts, too much weight loss, almost quitting BFing, the hubs taking the bulk of diaper duty.... We need to get together soon and share war stories!!
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