Archive for November, 2009
We took advantage of having Firefly’s mom here one last time this morning, leaving Monkey in her care for about an hour while the two of us went to the baby store and got a few things we were needing. It was weird to leave him, but I think she enjoyed having some time alone with him, and it was nice for us to be able to go without really having to worry about anything.
We’re on our own now for the first time since Monkey was born. Firefly’s mom left early this afternoon to go home and get ready for guests and Thanksgiving. Bean came over for a few hours this afternoon, but other than that it’s just been the three of us. It’s been going well for the most part, although he’s been fussing for a little bit. Actually, I’d better go now and see if there’s anything I can do to help out. Until next time!
Yesterday’s expected 10am departure from the hospital ended up being a 3:30pm discharge, although through no fault of our own. I must admit that I found my hands trembling a bit as I dressed him to leave, and I had a slight moment of panic on our way to the exit, but by the time I got out on the road I was feeling pretty okay about everything.
By the time we finally made it home Firefly’s mom and Bennder were here with food in the oven and a hand with getting everything inside. Her mom is staying with us through tomorrow afternoon to help us get settled, which has been so nice and such a help, and Bennder has been here for a bit both days. GOB was here for a bit yesterday as well, but Bean has been sick so she’s only actually seen him once so far and wasn’t able to hold him. She’s feeling a lot better and is planning to come by tomorrow morning, which will be nice.
In the evening some friends of ours stopped by to bring us a sausage and egg casserole for breakfast and meet the monkey–although we haven’t made the casserole yet, that will probably happen either tomorrow or Thursday. My mom also stopped by to see him and drop off a gift for Monkey from one of my coworkers, but I was at the pharmacy picking up Firefly’s prescriptions so I didn’t actually get to see her. I don’t think it was me she really wanted anyway, though!
Last night went well, with Firefly pumping out enough before bed for two meals for Monkey, and she was able to sleep through most of the night with her mom and I taking watch. She’d been so exhausted and in a decent amount of pain from the c-section, and with everything going on and her hormones a bit out of whack at the moment she had a bit of a breakdown earlier in the evening, so we just wanted to give her a good night of rest at home in our own bed. I woke up around 3am and after trying to go back to sleep for a bit I gave up and went to peek in on him. I found Firefly’s mom in the recliner and he was just stirring, so I started warming up one of the bottles while her mom changed him. I took over and fed him and she went off to bed.
He settled well and I decided to rest in the chair in there just in case, getting up once around 4 to take Firefly some more pain pills to try and keep up on it before it woke her, especially since she had a pretty rough time of it earlier when the meds wore off and it took a while to get it back under control. He woke again around 6 this morning, so I changed him and warmed up the other bottle, fed him and snuggled for a while, then put him back in the crib and fell asleep in the recliner. He fed just fine today and had no problems latching, and we’ve got another two bottles from today if needed for tonight.
Monkey also had his first visit to the pediatrician today. Everything is going very well and he’s gained back some of the weight he lost. The doctor isn’t at all worried and said that everything looks great, so we have his one-month follow-up appointment scheduled for the end of December. The drive was miserable for Firefly, though, with every bump in the road exacerbating the pain from the c-section. I took a different road home to no avail.
I think that’s about everything, if you stuck with my sleep-deprived rambling there. Hopefully it made at least some sense.
We’re not totally sure if we’ll leave him in the nursery tomorrow night or if we’ll have him in the pack and play in our room just in case. Something tells me we’ll bring him in with us.
It’s been a long, eventful day but we’re so glad to be home. Right now, though, we’re exhausted so Firefly is feeding him one last time and then we’ll be heading to bed to try and get a few hours of sleep at least. I’llhave more of an update tomorrow, I promise!
Well, we’ve had a pretty good last day at the hospital, with visits from my parents, Bennder, and Firefly’s best friend. We’ll be heading home tomorrow, and we are all looking forward to it, I think. I know I can’t wait to get him home, although I must admit I’m a bit nervous about it. I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in our bed, although the situation here actually isn’t that bad for me, considering. Firefly’s mom is going to come down and stay with us for a few days, partly to help us out and partly to spend some time bonding with her grandson. She’ll be coming to the hospital in the morning, as will Bennder to give us a hand with everything. Tomorrow he’ll be in his own nursery!
Our poor little guy lost more weight and was down 11.9% total as of last night even though he’d been eating and latching on his own for the last day or so and he still hadn’t pooped since early yesterday morning. We finally caved and gave him about 40mL of formula around 7 this evening. Bennder brought the breast pump Firefly had ordered that happened to arrive at our house today, but of course it needs a lot of prep and boiling of parts before we can use it. The nurse finally offered one and brought a hospital pump, and Firefly was able to get about 70mL total with it. At his last feeding he latched for 10 minutes on each side, plus ate 60 of the 70mL she pumped earlier. Of course, after the fact I was wondering why didn’t we try just pumping and feeding it to him directly in the first place if their concern was that he wasn’t getting enough on his own. But, hindsight and all that. And he’s pooped twice since the formula so I for one am happy about that, although the first time was maybe an hour later so I’m doubtful that the two are actually related since they told us to expect it in 2-3 hours. Who knows.
That was way more information than anyone really wants, isn’t it?
We also got his hospital pictures taken today. My mom mentioned that she hadn’t seen them on the hospital website, but that there was already one for a baby born the day after Monkey. We hadn’t even had a visit from the photographer, which we thought was a little odd but we hadn’t thought too much about it. The next time the nurse came in we mentioned it and she was shocked that it hadn’t happened. She went out to the nurses’ station and talked to the other nurse, and they called the photographer who actually came back to the hospital to take them. They’re up on the website already, too.
Bennder and I took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot of our own with him after the photographer left, and I think we got some good ones. Actually, truth be told I think they’re better that the ones she took, although I’m sure they need some color adjustment that I can’t do very well on my laptop. Then again, so did theirs and she had much better equipment than I do. I’ll try to get some more pictures of him up soon, but here’s one from today:
I know you’re all waiting to see him, right? So first things first, how about a little photo of Monkey:
See? Aren’t you smitten already? I took this one a few minutes after he was born, holding on to my finger and starting to calm down. You can see they weren’t quite done cleaning him up if you look at his cheek, but you can also see his little dimple! I’ll try and get some more up later, but for now I hope that appeases.
Both he and Firefly are sleeping at the moment, so I thought I would take some time to do a bit of an update. Firefly is recovering well and has been up and about in the room quite a bit today, sitting up in the chair and doing a little moving about. She’s needing to take stuff regularly to keep the pain down, but is doing well at managing it.
He is wonderful, and has been checked by the pediatrician and had his hearing screening, all of which went well. He is having a bit of trouble getting going on feeding, but we think–after an exhausting night for all of us–that he may have had a breakthrough, and Firefly’s milk is coming in very well. We’re a little worried (well, I am) because he lost 8.3% of his birth weight when they checked him yesterday and even though babies normally lose a bit of their birth weight they don’t want him to lose more than 10% (preferably less). We’re hoping that the progress he’s made will lead to a positive result when they weigh him again tonight. We’d prefer not to have to supplement with formula, but if we do it’s not then end of the world. There has been one nurse that we had yesterday and again today who has been amazing at working with Firefly, and I am so grateful.
We should be going home on Monday, although I did go back for about an hour today to get a few things and give the kitties some attention. We’ve had some family in visiting with us and also had a couple of friends stop by. The lawyer (who is also an old friend of Firefly’s) stopped by this afternoon to meet Monkey and brought the preliminary paperwork for the co-parenting agreement. We signed the petition and she’ll be filing it with the court on Monday, and then we’ll get our court date to go and finalize everything.
Oh, gotta go! Someone’s waving and looking cute trying to get mama’s attention!
Because I am holding the world’s most beautiful boy and trying to type one-handed while his mommy sleeps…
Monkey was born at 2:11 this afternoon by surprise c-section after he somehow managed to turn himself breech. The OB tried to turn him back for quite a while, but he was too far into it so we had no choice. He was 7 lbs 6.4 oz, which my mom informs me is exactly what I was when I was born. He was 20.5 inches, but I can neither confirm nor deny that I was the same. I can say that Firefly hopes he turns out taller than I did.
Firefly is exhausted but recovering well, and I have never been so in love in my life. She is amazing, he is amazing, and I am so amazingly lucky. I will try to get a post up with pictures and such soon. Trust me, though, when I say that you will swoon at the sight of him!
Guess where we are?
That’s right, ladies, and possibly gents, and anyone in between. We are at the hospital, where Firefly has been given a dose of some estrogen stuff to try and get this show really moving.
Right now she’s resting moderately comfortably, reading her book and waiting for the next visit from the nurses. We’re actually the only people in labor and delivery this evening (well, except for the staff of course). It’s pretty nice, very quiet and peaceful and the nurses have been lovely so far. We’re just listening to the monkey’s heartbeat percolating on the monitor.
I’ve wandered to the little snack area in the wing and made myself some tasty hot chocolate, and made sure I knew where the coffee was and how the machine worked for when I need it tomorrow! Our phone service is moderately spotty in here for some reason, although it seems we have a signal if I leave them sitting on the window sill, so if you know us and are sending us lovely texts we’ve gotten a few of them and thank you so much, but may not have gotten them all. We do have internet access, which is all fine and good right now while nothing is really happening yet, but we’ll see how much I’ll be able to access later.
Hopefully by this time tomorrow I’ll have lots of good news to share! Oh, and in the meantime I did get that nursery page posted last night, if you’d like to take a gander.
