I didn't include Tuesday on here, because I am still in the process of writing out Preston's birth story. All you need to know for now is that that day was one of the most amazing, happy days of my life!
Wednesday: Mommy got no sleep the night before. It's hard when nurses are coming into your room constantly. It's also hard when you are terrified of falling asleep and taking your eyes off of your baby :) I am now going on a couple of days with maybe 3 hours of sleep total. Our friends Jon, Kendra, and Shane came to visit in the morning. Unfortunately as soon as they got there, Preston was taken away to have some blood work done. Daddy wont let them take him out of the room without following them to the nursery and standing by the window watching. So sweet! Anyways, when he brought him back to the room everyone got to hold him for a bit. Dad and Jon came around lunch time. They brought us chicken teriyaki from the mall....yum! Cathy, our midwife, came to visit in the early evening. She hadn't seen the little squirt yet since she wasn't on call the morning he was born. We also got a visit from our doula in the afternoon. Bubby had all kinds of tests done :( I absolutely hate how much he is being poked and prodded, but because I couldn't get any antibiotics in my system before he was born, it was necessary that they check him out (GBS). Jaidyn was with us all day, and was very sweet and helpful. Mom stopped by after work to visit briefly and take Jaidyn back to her place. Kyle has been incredibly helpful. He is the master at diapers and getting the baby out of the crib for me since I am still healing. It was nice after everyone left and it was just the three of us (not that we didn't enjoy our company, because we did!). We needed that time to just bond. I got to take my first postpartum shower which was absolutely heavenly!!
Thursday: We got to go home finally around 12:30 or 1 in the afternoon. The car ride home was quite amusing. Kyle drove so slowly and so cautiously! We are talking old man driving ;) It's funny to see how much a baby is already changing him. We picked up Za's on the way home. When we got home, we placed the baby on the floor in his carseat so that the cats could get used to him. They acted weird from the second we opened the door, doing this weird, slow creeping/walking thing. They each came up to sniff him. Binks seems to like him, not so sure about Charlie boy yet. I thought that the opposite would happen! We gave Preston a tour of the apartment (even though he was sleeping the entire time), and began to settle in as a family of four! Cass and Josh dropped of food and visited for a bit. My mom came and stayed with us for the night since she was in the area for Uncle Charlie's funeral. The first night was rough. We are seeing that he likes to be awake at night but sleeps all day long. We started off upstairs in the bedroom, and that was a disaster. He wouldn't stay asleep in his cradle for more than a few minutes. Every time I got comfortable and was just about to fall asleep, he would wake up crying. It was really hard for me to keep getting out of bed to get him out of his cradle, and even harder for me to feed him in bed. So we ended up downstairs in the livingroom. He slept in the bassinet part of the pack-n-play for a little bit, so I got a few winks of sleep. The highlight of the day....my milk came in! I stressed and stressed about it not coming in, so what a blessing!
Friday: We took Preston to Kyle's work for a second while he cleaned off his desk and said his goodbyes to people. Yay for no more Consolidated!! Then we headed to Champaign for Presty's first pedi appointment. The pedi helped me with Preston's latch, which he's been having some trouble with. We are still getting the hang out it, but it's getting much better. He was supposed to have his clip on his cord removed that day, but when I took off his diaper, not only did the clip fall off but the cord fell off too! Wow, that was fast! Apparently Preston is an overachiever and has to do everything in record time! He is down to 6lbs 12oz, which is the same weight he was when we left the hospital Thursday. He looked good except the doctor was concerned that he looked a little jaundice. She wanted us to go to Provena for a bilirubin test. It took forever to get his blood...and mommy was not at all amused. I hate seeing him in pain :( We headed home but stopped briefly at Baby Land to get a second, more firm nursing pillow. Then we went home to wait on the test results. Somehow, I missed the call from the pedi giving us instructions on what to do next, but we knew that the results came back as 12.1, which is only slightly elevated. We had another rough night. At one point I was bawling my eyes out while feeding him. Breastfeeding is no joke! It's hard, but we aren't giving up! Preston is very awake in the evenings from around 11-4am, which of course is right when mommy and daddy would love to be sleeping! Kyle and I took shifts, which worked out pretty well.
Saturday: Remember how I said I missed a call from the pedi? Well, I noticed the next morning around 10am that I had a voicemail. It was from the pedi saying that they wanted to do ANOTHER bilirubin test to make sure that the numbers were going down rather than up, and that we needed to be back in Champaign to have him tested before the lab closed at noon. Well, that wasn't going to happen because it was already 10, no one was even dressed, the baby needed fed, etc. So we took him to the hospital in town instead to have the test done. This time it took them no time to get the blood that they needed...thank goodness! It amazes me how well Preston handles all of these tests. He's such a calm baby, but definitely needs mommy snuggles after he's all done. Turns out that his numbers are going down, so now jaundice for him! We went to get a good nursing bra after the appointment and then came home. I am determined to help him get his latch down so that we can make breastfeeding work! We had lots of visitors in the evening. Jake stopped by to see Jaidyn, and let her know that he is moving. Chad, Kristi, and their kiddos stopped by for a bit to pick up some things for youth group. In the later evening my Grandpa Allen and Grandma Barb stopped by to visit the baby. Jaidyn has started camping out in the living room at night with us, which Kyle and I have decided to start doing until the baby is on a better schedule. It's more convenient to be down here where there is a tv, baby swing, plack-n-play, rocker, etc. Everything we need! I sent Kyle to bed around 11. Preston and I had a good night together. He let me sleep from 1-2, while he slept in the pack-n-play next to me. When he was awake, he hung out and talked, and working on his latch, which he is getting better at! Then he slept in my arms from 3-6:30....or I should say we slept. I have now started a bad habit...letting him sleep in my arms on the couch. Don't judge me, I needed to sleep :/
Sunday: We woke up around 6:30. After he ate, Kyle let me sleep again until 9ish. That was wonderful! I had my first outing without the baby. I ran to walmart to get a few newborn sleepers with Jaidyn. Turns out he only had two of them, and peed on both the night before! I came home to find him sleeping quietly in daddys arms. It was the sweetest thing! We hung out at home all day, just the 4 of us. Preston's latch has improved a ton, making breastfeeding so much easier. He nurses a lot, at least every 2 hours, sometimes more. We like to do skin to skin nursing, which keeps him from falling asleep. He can be a lazy bones and fall asleep in the middle of most of his feedings :). Daddy and Jaidyn headed out in the evening to go visit the youth at youth group and go to family video. We watched Mirror, Mirror that evening, but me and Presty ended up passing out on the couch for an hour or so in the middle of it. He slept for 2.5 hours in the pack-n-play by himself, which was amazing!
Monday: Got lots of sleep the night before, which means that everyone woke up in a good mood! We did some tummy time for the first time, and our little boy is strong! He can lift up his head and move it from one side to the other. I don't know if that's impressive or not, but we sure were proud! Preston hung out with mommy for most of the day, and nursed like crazy. He is getting pretty good at it! In he evening, we gave him his first real bath. We took him upstairs and put him in his little tub while I washed him up. He was not amused. I wish I had a picture, but we ended up video taping it instead. He cried the entire time, but was very content once I got him all wrapped up in his towel and took him downstairs to rock with mommy. Kyle and Jaidyn went to the library for a bit after the bath, and I got to spend time with my little one! We all tried to go to bed early because the next day we had to be out of the house by 7am.
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| Getting ready to go home! |
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| His favorite thing....snuggling with mommy! |
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| After his first sponge bath |
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| This is how I found them when I came home :) |
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| My little guy after his first real bath. He just wanted to be in mommy's arms! |
My favorite things about my boy: His little baby snorts, which he hasn't done since we came home from the hospital. :( His sweet baby breath. His grumpy faces. His chubby cheeks, which I love to kiss! The fact that he has his daddy's nose. His beautiful blond hair. It's so golden and shiny! How he likes to have his hands up by his face, just like he did when he was inside of me. His froggy legs :)
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