This week was a busy one for us, our first week as parents. The delivery went pretty well, I guess I was in labor (induced) for about 14 hours? At about 6 pm, it seemed like things weren't progressing very well and that I might need to have a C-section. They thought the baby's head might be too big to fit through my pelvis (see? I told you!). Then all of a sudden everything started happening, because by 9 pm I was 10 cm dilated. Pushing lasted for just over an hour (a very tiring and frustrating time), and Owen was born. Also - thank god for the epidural man. I got that at around 4 and was much much happier!
We spent two nights in the hospital. One night was really a non-night though - we had the baby at 11:16 pm, got into our postpartum room (closet with an en suite bathroom) at about 2:00 and stayed up until 3 am discussing the recent events. We had decided to let him spend the night in the nursery so we could try to get a little rest, but I ended up staying up most of the night wishing he was with us and debating whether or not I should go down and get him. I was really happy when the nurse called at 6 am and said he was waking up and wanted some breakfast! The nurses at the hospital were great and helped us out a lot with establishing feeding, showing us how to do various things, etc. I really liked all of them.
In our postpartum closet
On Sunday we came home from the hospital and back to our real life.
Getting ready to leave the hospital
I'm not sure Owen was all that psyched about the transition, because for the first two nights he was screaming and crying constantly. We thought he was surely dying. Also, we thought that we had made the most enormous mistake EVER. We couldn't get the kid to sleep at all. He wanted to eat (read: suck on me without the actual purpose of eating) every hour. We'd swaddle him up in a little Owen-burrito to get him to calm down for a little bit, but it wouldn't last long.
Owen in an Owen-burrito (this is at the hospital, so this was a professionally-wrapped Owen-burrito)
I was a nervous wreck until we hit our first pediatrician appointment on Tuesday.
On the way to our first doctor's appointment
We had a list of questions and I only got through about half of them before I started SOBBING. Brian had to take over and ask the rest of the questions. The doctor assured me that most new parents end up crying in the office at their first appointment. If you're a new parent and you didn't? I don't want to know, so please lie. Of course we learned that Owen is completely fine and not dying. We both felt a lot better and more relaxed after hearing that. I think Owen also felt a lot better too because suddenly he turned into a perfect baby. He slept easily throughout the day in his baby papasan, and he slept pretty well at night too.
Owen in his papasan
He'd fall asleep after I fed him and would sleep for several hours. I'd wake him up after 3 hours for a ~1am feeding and would let him sleep until he woke up after that, which would be for 4-5 hours.
At our 1 week peds appointment, we got to ask some more questions. We also found out that he had gotten back up to his discharge weight. And also, that he has a huge 37 cm head (this is in the 75th percentile of head size), a fact that my body can attest to.
My parents left on Friday to head back to Florida, and we've been doing a pretty good job since they've been gone. We've had a lot of friends and neighbors stop by to visit. On Friday morning, Wendy stopped in on her way back south.
On Saturday, the weather was really nice so we took Owen out for his first walk and showed him off to our neighbors who all thought he was the cutest baby in the world (which, of course, he is).
On Sunday Annie stopped by for a new baby photo shoot at which Owen fountain-peed all over the piano room. HA. Annie's reflexes have obviously been sharpened by being a parent herself, because she covered him up far quicker than Brian or I did.
And thats about it so far!
6 comments:
Owen looks very cute, except in that papasan pic, where he looks a little hairy ...
I'm sure you two will be great parents!
It was so great to see you guys, and to meet little Owen -- he really is precious! :)
Hang in there through the crying... it gets easier! He is the cutest little thing! You guys are blessed!!
Very cute, congratulations!
Congratulations, you guys! Owen is beautiful. Caleb did the same during his transition to the house--he was perfect at the hospital, sleeping and eating, and then wouldn't sleep when we got home. We decided that the temperature/humidity of the room wasn't as comfortable as the hospital's. I recommend warming his bed up (heating pad, remove before he gets in), and possibly a space heater.
best wishes!
When can I come visit??! He's so cute. I had a dream about you last night -- you walked into the Willard Lab and grabbed my glass of Lemonade and drank it like you were going to die. I asked if you were dehydrated from having a baby! HA.
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