Week 1

The following "Note to Self" blogs are not really intended to entertain you, but to help me remember. The other day when my mother-in-law was helping with Micah I made the comment, "I'm so frustrated that I can't remember what it was like at this stage in Jackson's life." I did make a scrapbook for Jackson, but I neglected to write down the boring details of all of the parenting choices I had made like; when to give him a pacifier, how old he was when I let him cry for 15 minutes straight, how many diapers we went through in the first week, etc. My mother-in-law suggested that I journal this time, so here it is. I know that not all of the choices I make as a parent would be the choices that you would make, so please don't judge. Like I said I'm mostly doing this to jog my own memory so that if God were to bless me with another child I'll have a point of reference ... otherwise I feel like I'm going insane trying to reinvent the wheel each time (which might happen anyway since each child is so different, but at least I can pretend that this is all helpful.). I'm also choosing to journal my physical recovery after labor, so if that grosses you out, you might not want to read this.

Week 1: My sister and brother-in-law were here for the week.

My progress: I still had severe sciatica that prevented me from walking and going up and down the stairs without pain. I was taking 600mg of Motrin every 6 hours and definitely could feel when I skipped a dose. I was bleeding a lot, but it very quickly lightened within the first several days only to have it come back heavy again. I even passed a blood clot about the size of a half dollar and about half an inch thick. (I had a home visit from a nurse from Marian Hospital and she said not to worry about clotting unless it's more than one or if it's larger than the palm of my hand.)

The end of the week I became very engorged to the point where I needed to pump in the middle of the night in order to be comfortable. I probably wore an under wire bra too early because I had a burning sensation while nursing. It hurt enough that I called the midwife wondering if I had mastitis. Turned out I didn't, but the midwife recommended putting cabbage leaves and bags of frozen peas on my breasts to take down the swelling, take vitamin C tablets and drink lots of water and get plenty of rest. I definitely had a baby blues day that day.

Micah: had 3 or 4 poopy diapers in the hospital, but did not have another substantial poopy diaper until 48 hours after we left the hospital. As a result he was looking a little jaundice by day 2 or 3 (I put him in the sun on day 3 during one of his naps). During the home visit the nurse was not concerned about Micah's skin or eye color and Micah weighed in at 8lb 5oz. We had an appointment with the pediatrician the next day and he too was not concerned about jaundice for Micah who weighed in a 8lb 7oz (probably a difference in scales, but I'm sure he gained weight too).

I tried to get him on a 3 hour feeding schedule, but he would usually go about 2 1/2 hours. He had ONE night of a 5 hour stretch between feedings. I had a VERY difficult time getting him to take full feedings (10 min on each breast) without him falling asleep and waking him up was nearly impossible. As a result Micah got in the habit of having 5 minute snacks, so I introduced the pacifier to help fulfill his urge to suck himself to sleep. Due to the engorgement, I also had a hard time getting him to latch on properly and had very sore and cracked nipples. OUCH! (I used a lot of Lanoline) However, I found that expressing a little milk while taking a warm shower helped him to get a better latch and by the end of the week we were doing much better and my nipples were healing.

Jackson: had a hard time the first day we came home from the hospital (he hit me and Micah several times (not hard), he was testing the water). However, after he got to help me give Micah a bath he became more helpful as a BIG BROTHER. He's been an average 2 year old thus far.