There's No Place Like Home

I apologize for the random order of these posts!  I will come back and post his birth story and about our hospital stay later!

Week 1:
On Tuesday, March 20, we brought our little bundle of joy home for the very first time!  I think it's safe to say that Adam and I were both ready to be home and begin our new life as a family of three!  Although we had great care at the hospital, our stay was anything but relaxing!  Between monitors beeping, visitors, and nurses checking on me and the baby every time we turned around, it was very difficult to get any sleep!  Not that we were able to get much more sleep when we got home, but at least we didn't have to ask permission to use the restroom or get a drink of water!  The day was beautiful and very warm!  It felt so good to just be outside and be able to breath in some fresh air!  I was definitely starting to go crazy being inside when the weather outside was so beautiful!  The hospital didn't release us until 6:30 that evening, so we didn't have too long to adjust to being home before it was time to go to bed.  I have to admit, I was really nervous about how the first night at home with our brand new baby would go.  Just like all other new parents, we didn't get any sleep.  Ethan was up for most of the night.  He acted like he was hungry, so I tried feeding him.  After two and a half ours of nursing him, I couldn't take it any more.  I was still very sore from the c-section, and now I was sore from the lengthy feeding and I just broke down in tears.  I told Adam to give him the pacifier, since it appeared that he was nursing just to soothe himself.  That did the trick!  He went right to sleep and Adam and I were finally able to get a little bit of sleep ourselves.

He had his eyes wide open the whole way home!  He  was moving them all around like he was trying  to check everything out!

The next day (Wednesday) was Adam's partner's last day before his retirement.  Adam (although very sleep deprived) felt like he needed to be in the office on his last day.  So, he loaded up on caffeine and headed to work for the first time since Ethan's arrival.  While Daddy was at work, Mommy and Gigi (my mom) spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and making the house baby friendly!  I also got to take a shower in our new shower for the first time, and it felt great!!!  After work Aunt Andrea brought Abby to meet her new baby cousin for the first time!  She is so in love with him!  She loved just looking at him and kissing all of his body parts!  Ethan also got his first bath at home that night!  We had to be careful not to submerge him in water since he still had his umbilical stump.  He did not like his bath at all!  He also taught us that we are going to have to be careful giving a boy a bath, as he sprayed all three of us, and the everything around the sink!  Lesson learned, Ethan!

On Thursday Nana (Adam's mom), Gigi, and I took Ethan to his first doctor's appointment.  Our doctor prefers to see all breastfed babies about 2 days after they are sent home to check the weight.  I was glad that we already had an appointment because I was concerned about Ethan's diapers.  He hadn't pooped or peed (except during his bath) since Monday evening.  He was nursing every two and half to three hours, and he seemed content after he ate (he was nursing for about 45 minutes each time), so I felt pretty confident that he was getting enough to eat.  Once we got to the doctor's office and completed all of the paper work, they brought us back.  The first thing they did was check his weight and take his temperature.  I was shocked that he only weighed 6-12!  He was 7-8 when we left the hospital on Tuesday so in two days time he had lost 12 ounces!  I wanted to cry!  As soon as we brought him back into the room, he pooped!  I'm guessing that it might have had something to do with them taking his temperature that got things started!  While we were glad to finally have a dirty diaper, it also caused him to lose another half an ounce!  The doctor wanted to see how much he was getting during a feeding, so I fed him for about 30 minutes.  Then we weighed him again.  He went from 6-11.5 back to 6-12.  In 30 minutes he ate 0.5 ounces.  We then fed him a 2 ounce bottle.  He ate 1.5 ounces.  Between the two feedings he ate a total of 2 ounces.  The doctor wanted me to continue to feed him for 20-30 minutes every 2.5-3 hours, but after I finished feeding him he wanted us to offer him a 2 ounce bottle of formula.  He said that this would also help with his wet/dirty diapers.  The reason he wasn't having any was because he was very dehydrated.  The doctor also checked his jaundice.  He said that this would also improve once he started having wet/dirty diapers.  He told us that he wanted to see us again on Friday to check his weight and his jaundice levels.  After we left we stopped by Adam's office.  It was Ethan's first time at Daddy's work, and my first time seeing Adam's new office (he took his partner's larger office since he retired).

On Friday, Nana and I took Ethan back to the doctor to check his weight.  I was so excited to see that he had gained several ounces in just 24 hours!  The doctor also said that his jaundice looked much better.  He talked to me about how to slowly cut back on his formula intake, based on the number of wet diapers he has each day.  That night my Aunt Sherry, Uncle Paul, and my sister, Katlynne, came to stay the night with us!  They were on their way to Florida and needed a place to stay!  I'm so glad that they were able to come and meet Ethan for the first time!  They got there during the UK/IU game!  Adam was a little nervous that 3 Hoosiers were going to be there cheering against the Cats, but UK pulled it off!  (By the way, this was Ethan's second UK game in his short little life.  He was born in the middle of the UK game the week before.)

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning house, catching up on thank you notes, and a lot of cuddling with my baby boy!

Exactly one week old, 9:21 p.m.!