After The Birth ~ Hospital Stay

After The Birth & Coming Home

Whew... life with a newborn is busy~ I think I've tried to sit down and update this blog every day for the past two weeks and it just doesnt get done. But here I am... and hoping that Jack stays sleeping beside me for at least another 30 minutes. :o)

If you missed the birth story, you can find it here. This is a continuation on what happened at the hospital and coming home:

During my pregnancy, I had an idea in my head of how I wanted the birth to go~ I did voice that opinion quite regularly might I add~ but of course I knew my birth plan had to be flexible. Nobody's birth goes quite exactly as planned, at least not most of the time. I knew I wanted to to go to the hospital alone with Jacob and not tell anyone, I knew I would want an epidural, and of course I wanted to have the baby placed in my arms immediately after I delivered, do skin on skin and start breastfeeding right away. I wanted to have at least 2 hours alone with baby to get adjusted and for him to learn how to eat. Then, when I was ready, and looking decent, I would let all the visitors and family come that wanted to.

Well, that is not exactly how it went. As you read in my birth story, due to Jackson not breathing, they could not place him in my arms immediately, and in fact it took quite awhile, about 30-45 minutes before I got to hold him and by then he was all wrapped up so I did not get to do skin on skin. I was so out of it from the 3 hours of pushing that I did not even think to unwrap him and do it myself. Both sides of family had been in the waiting room for hours, my parents had been there all night, so they were all itching to come in. I knew they were out there, and I did feel bad that they'd been waiting for so long so they all got to come in right after. I was NOT looking my best, but oh well. I didnt realize exactly how "rough" I looked until I looked at a picture of myself later. Wow- hospital family picture will NOT be framed. I think somewhere around 6:00 the nurses kicked people out so I could try and feed Jack. So about 3 or so hours AFTER I delivered him. Again, not really what I had wanted, but with me being so tired and dazed I just didnt even think about it until after. Breastfeeding did not come easy, he would not latch on, and the nurses really didnt give me any support or much time. {But that's another post.}

We had a steady flow of visitors until about 8:30 pm that night. Man, were we tired. Finally I was helped out of bed and took a quick shower, and Jackson got his footprints done and a bath, and we switched rooms. We actually got pretty good sleep that first night at the hospital. The nurses did take Jackson for a couple hours at a time during the night to let us sleep. 

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights after I delivered. Being in a lot of pain and laying in a hospital bed was not fun, it was really hard to get up and down without help, but by that 3rd day I did feel better. Wednesday morning we woke up early anticipating going home. When we got the ok from the doctor and the pediatrician we got everything together and eagerly yet nervously made our one hour trek home! Jack slept the whole way home, and we settled in quite nicely when we arrived at our house. We hadnt told anyone we were home yet so it was nice to get a little shut eye before having people over later that night. 

That first week home was hard! Although he actually slept better at night than he does now at a month old, my hormones were still going crazy, I was not feeling great, not used to the sleep deprivation yet, Jack not breastfeeding well-- and a steady flow of people coming over was a rough combo for awhile. I had a few breakdowns let's just say! But... we prevailed and here we are... one month later! Still sleep deprived, still trying to figure out his cries and why he wont sleep at night and how to fix his "gas" issues, but am loving this little guy more and more everyday!