Baby Paul's First Week

The last week has felt like the longest, shortest time! We had a longer than usual hospital stay and were discharged on Monday afternoon (Paul was born on Thursday), just in time to get home before a nasty snow storm hit! We had to stay an extra day beyond what they keep C-section moms because we needed to do an ultrasound of his renal system. During his in utero level II ultrasounds, one of his kidneys was measuring a bit large so they wanted to make sure that urine wasn't backing up into his kidneys. They did the ultrasound on Monday to make sure the images were as crisp as possible. Luckily there was no other dilation in his renal system. One kidney is still measuring large, but they aren't too concerned. We'll go back for a follow-up ultrasound in 4-6 weeks.

While we were in the hospital, Paul slept like a champ. We had to wake him up for every feeding but after he ate, we put him down in the bassinet and he went right back to sleep.

He didn't wear clothes in the hospital because we did a lot of skin-to-skin time in between feedings.

He likes to sleep in a fleece halo sleep sack but we can't swaddle his arms because he gets pissed if they aren't by his face!

I was so happy when we got discharged on Monday afternoon. We were soooo over being in the hospital. Between the OB, Hematologist, and Pediatrician that would round each day and nurses (who were amazing!!) coming in with medications through the day, there were so many interruptions. Plus Paul's blood sugar was low the day he was born so they had to test his blood sugar 4-5 times that first day to make sure he didn't need to go to the NICU. Luckily his blood sugars went up once he ate. He also ended up with jaundice so he had regular blood draws to check his bilirubin levels. His little heels are so sad as they were poked so many times.

Obligatory family photo before breaking free of the hospital

Paul still spends a good amount of time in just a diaper at home. He's a very sleepy eater so we have to strip him down to a diaper when he eats. I also try to do skin-to-skin time with him each day as he loves it!

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Skin-to-skin with momma

This is one of my favorite pictures of him. I just love the look on his face. It's like he's a little embarrassed to be naked but also posing at the same time.

Phil has 2 weeks of paternity leave. We are really enjoying having him around as he is a huge help and he pushes me to lay down and rest/nap.

Likes: skin-to-skin time, being warm, and his swing

Dislikes: diaper changes, getting changed, being cold, having to work to eat milk at times when breastfeeding, the hours of 9 pm to 2 am. 

Feeding: mostly every 3 hours but I'm going to try to feed him every 2 hours during the day so we can let him sleep for longer stretches at night. So far we have to wake him up to eat. Breast feeding has been challenging but we've made a lot of progress in the last several days. Initially I had to pump after every nursing session - so 8 times a day. But we saw the lactation consultant today and she said I can drop down to 3 pumps a day (to make sure my supply stays high) which is a game changer. Paul is still below his birth weight so until he is back at birth weight and on a growing trajectory, we need to keep waking him to feed. I hope he continues to be as good of a sleeper as he's been so far!

Sleeping: a lot! At night he sleeps in a halo bassinet in our room, but so far only after the 12 pm and 3 pm feeds. Otherwise he sleeps in his swing or on a boppy lounger. 

Division of labor: Phil has been a huge help. Initially he had to help so much with breast feeding as we had to teach Paul that food comes from mommy! While I was breast feeding, he would have to put a dropper of pumped milk in the corner of his mouth at the beginning of the feed and anytime he got frustrated. Paul started eating better on Tuesday so Phil no longer has this role anymore. Hooray! 

During the day, Phil watches Paul while I nap after some of the feeds. Then at night, I go to bed after the 9 pm feed and Phil hangs out with him until we wake him up for the 12 pm feed. Then I'm on duty until he gets up for his 6 am feed. Besides that Phil does so much around the house - laundry, washing pump parts, picking up prescriptions, etc. I can't imagine going through this without a solid partner!

Momma: the post partum emotions hit me on Monday night. I was doing skin-to-skin time and Phil came out of the office and found me silently crying - happy tears. Tuesday and Wednesday were super emotional and I cried over nothing. I hate not having control of my emotions! 

I got to start RA injection drugs on Tuesday. Hopefully they kick in quickly as I'm still have a flare that moves around from joint to joint! 

My C-section recovery is going well. I noticed a huge difference in pain when we got home from the hospital on Monday. There's just no place like home! 

Overall, I'm doing pretty well but the sleep deprivation is EXHAUSTING. I pretty much only get 1.5 hours of sleep at a time before I need to get up and feed him again. I know it will get better and that we just have to get through these early weeks! Good thing Paul is so cute!