Michael's First Week

Week One Summary

 March 8^th - March 14^th

Nursing:

Michael was born via C-section so it was 45 minutes after he was born before we could try breastfeeding, he did great! He was eager to latch on. I was so happy. Breastfeeding was one of the major goals I had for Michael and me. I don’t know how long we'll go for but I definitely wanted to give him the best start. Once we were moved into our Mother/Baby room I would nurse whenever he showed any hunger signs. His most often is sucking on his hands. He would get so frustrated if he didn’t latch right away that he would start to head butt me with his mouth wide open! He did that for the first 3 days and then started to calm down and not get frustrated so easily. My milk started to come in on day 4 and I was extremely sore but it only lasted about 36 hours and required one pumping session and then things were back to feeling better. I have been lucky up to this point and I haven’t experienced any lasting soreness or cracking on my nipples. He will nurse for about 10 minutes on the first side and then 5 minutes on the second side then he would be content. He was eating around every 2.5 hours for his first week.

Sleep:

Neither one of us slept well at night in the hospital due to the nursing staff coming in around the clock. It seemed liked if one of us was getting ready to fall asleep someone would come in and need to do a vital sign check or give me my medicine. He slept well during the day in the hospital because he was getting lots of cuddles from family and friends visiting. 

Once we were home we tried him in his cradle by the bed and it was awful! The space just seemed too big for him. He would be startled awake anytime he moved a body part. I also didn’t sleep well because I couldn’t stop checking on him. I was so nervous.  The third day my mother in law went and picked us up a Rock n’ Play Sleeper. It put him at a slight incline and also seemed to have him snuggled up a little more than the flat cradle. He slept much better once we got it set up. Dad was also thankful since he had to go back to work. On day 4 he started sleeping better for naps in his pack n’ play so we will probably transition soon back to the cradle that way when it is time to move him to his nursery the crib will be a smooth transition.

About Michael:

He was born at 4:15 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long! He was born with a head full of brown hair! My two sisters and I were born bald and I thought he might be the same but he proved me wrong! He has deep blue eye which I hope stay that way. His dad wants them to change to brown so that they will have the same eye color, we shall see. He is also covered with blonde hair all over his body!

 

 

 His nose is covered in little white bumps that the nurse said was his oil glands and that they should go away soon. He has long fingers and big feet! He hates to have his arms swaddled. He prefers to have them up by his face. So much so that he scratched a good sized gash on his cheek on day 2.

 He peed and pooped well the first day in the hospital (1^st time was as soon as the pulled him out of me). After his circumcision we saw a decrease in wet and poop diapers. On the second day home he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and completely soaked through his diaper and onesie with pee. It took another day and half for him to finally poop but when he did it was a good one! He made a funny noise and within 10 seconds the back of his onesie was soaked through with poop!

Overall he is very calm and only cries when he is hungry or in need of a diaper change at this point!

Postpartum:

Soon after getting to the mother/baby room I was ready to start moving around. They wouldn’t let me get up until the next morning. I was sore at incision site as well as my right shoulder which is a common occurrence in C-sections but with log rolling and using my upper body I was able to maneuver around in bed mostly by myself. They took the catheter out the next morning also which I was glad of to be able to get up and go to the bathroom! I was able to shower on my own which wasn’t as great I as had it worked out in my head to be. The shower head had really low pressure as most of it was coming out of the bathtub facet instead but clean is clean. We had lots of visitors which I enjoyed! My husband let me sleep through the visit with the pastor from his church! I was quite embarrassed when he told me when I woke up.

Once we got home things continued to get easier. My pain was manageable by ibuprofen only which I was happy to not need the narcotics while breastfeeding. My stomach still looked 6 months pregnant except for a hard baby bump it was a squishy bowl of jello, not nearly as cute! The good news is that I lost 20 lbs the first week!

 

 

Over the course of the week I had help from my husband, mother and mother-in-law which has made the initial shock and recovery from bringing a baby home much easier. I had a few visitors come by which was lovely as well! The only part that bothers me (but that I totally understand) is not being able to drive. I don’t like having to rely on people and plan out special trips just to go run a quick errand but I know that the time will pass quickly and we will be out and about in no time!