Five Days with Paul

Home

Paul was born Monday afternoon and we left the hospital Tuesday evening. I had mixed feelings. I was ready to get home and sleep in my own bed-without any nurses to wake me up every hour to take my temperature needlessly for the millionth time. The downside, however, meant no more Percocet.

Male
Ted has two older sisters. I have two younger sisters. Other than the baby boys I babysat years ago, I have very little experience in this realm of testosterone. When Paul was born the very first thing I saw was his man parts. In all their glory. No announcement was needed-the whole room knew we had a boy.

Diapers
I've only been peed on once so far. Not that big of a feat considering I've really only changed about four diapers (love my sweet husband!). Ted observed me wiping Paul down after a poop and shouted, "Easy easy!" Apparently those things are sensitive. I just thought he was screaming because of the cold wipe. Lesson learned-treat those things with care.

Little guy had two poops his first day of life. And already this morning has pooped four times. We've had a few blowouts and even one down to the socks. I'm so proud :)

Nursing
Good poop means good milk! My milk came in Wednesday night and he loves it. I do not, however, love his latch. Tight little mouth that he refuses to open wide. Sore nipples that are getting munched on every two hours. We're experimenting with the football hold and it seems to be helping.

Ice Cream

We had an ice cream party to celebrate his arrival. It was Hannah's first time eating ice cream (coconut milk ice cream is expensive!) and she loved it. She did not, however, like the fact that we said Happy Birthday Paul. It is definitely still her birthday in her world.

Recovery
Let me just say this-recovering with a tear and recovering without a tear are two totally different experiences. What? You think I meant that I have a bad tear right now? Oh  no. That would be my 7 pound little girl who ripped me up and caused me so much postpartum pain. My 9 1/2 pound chunker? A teeny tiny tear that barely required one stitch. Life is good. I can sit on chairs, squat, and don't have to tend to my wounds a hundred times a day.

Sleep
I know they say to wake a newborn up every three hours to nurse. But when a 9 pound baby sleeps for 5 straight hours.....I'm gonna let it slide. He is having some burping difficulty at night-which of course is gone during the day. We've spent 1-2 hours each night just trying to get him to burp and be comfortable. But after we get it out of him, he's sleeping pretty well.

God blessed us with a miracle on our first night home-Hannah slept through the night! This hasn't happened in over a month. It only lasted one night, but she's still doing better than she has been in recent weeks. The second night we were home we tried to move the rocker out of her room into our room so I could nurse in it at night. This resulted in a total meltdown that left both of us in tears. She still needs her rocker to be snuggled in. I still need to snuggle her. We're just not ready for that yet. My back will have to deal with nursing in the bed for the time being.

Siblings

Hannah is adjusting pretty well. My parents just left this morning and Ted's mom is coming this afternoon-so she has not lacked for attention. She likes Paul, but isn't obsessed with him. She runs to him when he cries and tells me "mama, nurse!"  She gives him kisses, turns on his noise machine for him, and has only whacked him once.

Birth
I'm still processing everything from Paul's birth. It was different than what I hoped for-but not necessarily in a bad way. Very, very different from Hannah's and I'm a little slow to let it all sink in. I know that writing it out will help me figure out my feelings-it always does.

Snuggles

I forgot how sweet they are smashed up against you in a Moby Wrap.