One Week Later...
We have made it ONE WEEK!!!! And it has been super eventful for sure!
We stayed home for the first few days from the hospital, and ventured out for Luke’s first pediatrician appointment on Thursday morning. All in all we had a clean bill of health, minus the jaundice, of course. We have been a little worried but Dr. Walters said he should get his worst by day 7 (today) and then gradually get better for the next 7-14 days. I guess about 30% of babies are born jaundiced, and around 60% will be discharged from the hospital with signs of it, so basically nothing to worry about. As long as we’re getting plenty of wet and dirty diapers there won’t be a problem. Funny story about that later! Also, he has lost a little weight- he was down to 6 lbs 14 oz from his original birth weight of 7 lbs 6 oz. He is still 20.5 inches long, which is ok, as we should see him start to gain weight and height fairly rapidly in the next month or so. His umbilical cord stump should fall off within the next couple days (it’s barely hanging on at this point) and his circumcision is healed!!! Yay Luke!
So for the funny story about the diapers: He’s had lots and lots of wet diapers, which is a sign of excellent health. The pediatrician who discharged him from the hospital said we should see one wet diaper per day of life for a week, then 6-8 per day after that. Example: 5 days old we should get 5 wet diapers. The only thing that had us concerned was the lack of poopy diapers since we left the hospital. He had an especially messy one right before we were discharged, but nothing since we got home. Dr. Walters said that was fine, since the intestines had probably cleared out everything that accumulated before he was born, and since we’d had a rough start to breastfeeding there wasn’t enough “material” to create anything solid yet. Well, later that afternoon my brother Jordan and his wife Carrie came over for a visit, and I figured I would change Luke’s diaper before anyone held him just in case. I opened the diaper to… an EXPLOSION of poop!!!! Luckily the eruption happened before I opened the diaper, but it looked like Mt Vesuvius had literally let loose in this child’s behind!!!! It was definitely a two-person job to get the thing cleaned up. The hilarious part- Justin and I were dancing around high fiving and cheering for the messy diaper, haha! I guess nothing scares you anymore once you become a parent. Justin did gag a little at the gross-ness, but overall it was a strangely joyous experience. We’ve had a few seriously dirty diapers since then, but nothing quite like the “Explosion,” as we fondly refer to it. We even found ourselves giggling out loud the other night in bed because we were recalling the situation. Hehe.
After the doctor’s appointment we realized how nice it was to be out of the house! And for me- to be in regular clothes instead of the sweatpants I’d been wearing all week. So we decided to go to our high school and show him off a little. Okay, a lot. J We spent a little over an hour roaming the halls and seeing teachers who knew us when we had just started dating. It was a cool experience! I knew I was proud to be a mommy, but there’s just nothing like showing off your newborn to make your heart swell with pride.
Everyone of course was amazed that I was up and out of the house a mere 5 days after giving birth, and also the shape of my body. My stomach is almost flat again!!!! I’m wearing my 1st trimester jeans, and they’re actually a little loose everywhere except the waist, which I don’t have a problem with. I weighed myself yesterday morning and have officially lost 20 lbs since the birth. What a great weight loss plan, huh? Want to lose 20 pounds- give birth!!! Haha. I only have 20 left, and the combination of breastfeeding and stairs give me all the workout I need. I’m supposed to be consuming 2500 calories per day to keep up with breastfeeding, but it’s sooooooo much harder than it sounds. I’m used to eating around 1800 per day, and now I’m so busy taking care of my little one that I have to be reminded by my awesome husband to eat something and slow down! It’s funny, but I can tell when I haven’t had enough- my body gets really weak, to the point where I can’t even walk across a room without getting out of breath, and I get shaky and lightheaded, along with a growling stomach. I try to at least be drinking milk all day long to make up for whatever solid food I can’t get in. I’ll post a new picture soon of what my “new” body looks like so you all can see the drastic change.
Speaking of my awesome husband- he is the best EVER!!! He took this whole week as vacation time from work so he could help me get adjusted. He told me I have two jobs for the next 6 weeks (official hospital recovery time): Take care of Luke and take care of myself so I can get all healed up. So he’s been making sure I don’t have to always be the one to get up in the middle of the night, and he does the dishes every night and helps with laundry. We haven’t had to clean yet because I did all that the day before Luke was born, so I don’t really have to feel like I need to do anything besides straighten up the clutter every once in a while. And Justin, while I was still pregnant, said he wouldn’t be the one to change diapers- yet he is so excited to do it now! He did it the whole time we were in the hospital because it was so hard for me to get in and out of the bed with my stitches. And he LIKED it!!!! Now it’s one of his favorite things to do. J And I actually kind of like doing it too. Like I said, nothing grosses you out anymore once you are a parent. Oh, and he carries Luke around and talks to him about anything and everything, and makes up these hilarious little songs and sings to him constantly. Luke loves to hear his daddy’s voice!!! Even while we were still in the hospital, when he was awake and heard Justin’s voice he would perk up and look around for it. We’re still working on getting him as excited about mommy…
Yesterday (Friday) we got official newborn portraits done at JCPenney- they’re awesome! I can’t wait to pick them up in 2 weeks and send them out to family. They are SO GOOD! Included in our package is a website we can send to whomever we want so everyone can see all the pictures, not just the ones we ordered. They can even order their own and they’ll be shipped directly to their door instead of having to be picked up at the studio (like Sears does, bluh). I’ll post the link on here once I get it (should be sometime around the 18th).
This morning Luke “found” his thumb. He’s been sucking on ninnies (pacifiers) like crazy, but today when I put him in his crib after I fed him, he kept spitting out the ninny or batting away from his face with his hands. Since it didn’t seem to bother him to NOT have it in, I let it go. I stood there and watched him for a minute and he started sucking on his wrist (a normal thing for him), but then all of a sudden his thumb popped into his mouth! He seemed startled for a second, then started going to town on it! It was just the cutest thing!!! And he stayed that way for the whole next hour while he slept. Too cute.
It’s so weird to think that today was our official due date, and he’s already a WEEK old!!!! A week ago today I was enjoying our first meal as parents. It’s so funny, but now it’s hard for me to remember what life was like without having a baby around. It’s just the most amazing miracle ever.
Lessons Learned:
1. "Sleep when the baby sleeps" is definitely the best advice ever. I've taken more cat naps this week than during my whole pregnancy! But at least I don't feel sleep deprived.
2. Breastfeeding is more challenging than I thought, but sooooo worth it.
3. Parents who live close are a huge key to surviving the first week. I've really been spoiled- a husband who is home night and day for the first week, plus parents and in-laws who are 5 minutes away and have gone so far out of their way to bring us things from the store and stuff so that we don't have to mess with a lot of things.
Next week is going to be interesting, as Justin goes back to work and at the same time the wieners are moving back home (they've had a vacation at Justin's parents' house since we went to the hospital- also another way I've been spoiled). I'll post another entry at some point next week to keep you all updated.
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