Last week we welcomed our newest family member to our family. Each day I find is a learning experience for all of us. The pregnancy went great. Our little one graced us with his presents two weeks early. I did not have the car seat installed and his or my clothes packed. This little man was a scheduled c-section. My plan was to have everything done that upcoming weekend but our little one decided that he was going to pick his own birthday.
I kinda laughed at the day before I went into labor. At work we were joking about having a Italian food theme for birthdays the day before I was scheduled to have my little man. Things happened and we realized that boss's day and 2 other people's birthdays were that week, so we had our Italian theme meal early.
Low and behold when I got home from work the start of labor happened. My husband and I went to the hospital thinking my water had broke, to find out they sent us home saying my water did not break. How embarrassing was that? But my husband and I both had a feeling we were going to be delivering our little bundle soon.Well around 3 am I woke up to contractions, baby Nelson was on his way.
We did not let my daughter come for the birth. Once I was placed in my room, the baby was back from all the tests, my husband went to get our daughter. Our daughter was speechless when she saw her little brother. All she wanted to do was kiss him and hold him. I thought she might ask questions about why her little brother was not being fed by a bottle. She questioned it once and we told her that God created mommies to feed their little ones. She took that answer and she was fine with it. For the several days that we were in the hospital, our daughter was eager to come see us and hold her brother. That still has not changed. She wants to hold her brother all the time and she is mommy's big helper.
We had one big bump in the road, well it might not be a bump for some, but to me nursing my little man was top priority. Little guy was not getting enough milk. So one of the nurses tried to tell me I needed to place him on formula, even going so far as to calling his doctor. I held my ground and waited to see the doctor. The doctor left my little one on breast milk, with the condition that after he nursed we had to finish up with a bottle of breast milk. It broke my heart to give my little one a bottle that early. I knew we were going to have latch problems later. When I handed my husband the bottle, his eyes got really big and excitement went thru him. He was actually getting to feed his child. With our first child I nursed her for weeks before introducing a bottle to her. The next day we made another little one happy too, we let big sissy give him a bottle. Grieving inside over the bottle deal, I was learning that a bottle might not be so bad after all, as long as it had breast milk in it. To all new mothers, who are wanting to nurse, stand your ground if the word formula comes up by a nurse. It is better to wait on the doctor and discuss it with them first.
When it was time to bring little one home I was very nervous about my 5 year old sitting next to brother in the car. I tried not to be one of those over protective parents so I sat in the front seat, while our two children were buckled up in the middle bench of our SUV. My daughter kept telling us that her brother was blowing bubbles and that his eyes were not open. I was so afraid that she was going to do something to him on accident. Well we managed to make it home with both children safe and sound. I learned that big sissy was going to be a great help in the back seat and that I might not have to ride in the back seat on trips, like I had to do with our daughter.
It was a tough first week of having two children. I was thankful that my mom came to stay with us for a week, until I was able to drive again. We needed someone to take our daughter to school in the mornings and help me run errands. We had to put our newborn underneath lights for 72hrs. If you ever have to go thru that it is torture. How could a doctor tell you to just place your newborn under these lights and only take them out to be fed and changed? If they scream and cry just leave them there, don't take them out, I could not do that. I was sleep deprived, recovering from surgery and dealing with a baby who did not want to go into this suitcase light machine. Our daughter everyday would come home from school wanting to hold her brother and feed him. Everyday she would get the bad news he must stay under the lights. Well we managed to make it thru the lights. I had a really good friend who came over and cooked us a good supper one of those nights, words cannot explain the gratitude we felt, it was an awesome meal.
So for our first week of being parents to two children, went the best it could be. We had help our first week with my mom staying with us. Stay tuned for week 2 with no more grandma staying, just my husband, daughter, son and I. I wonder what learning curves we will learn?
No comments:
Post a Comment