So, we have settled in. My mom stayed with us the first day to help us and then left to see how we could do things on our own. We actually did really well. It helped that our child is PERFECT! I mean really, he is quite the angel baby. He slept through the night only waking for feedings and then went right back to sleep, from the beginning. I am soo thankful for that. (I'll write more about this in the coming weeks). Before we left the hospital Aiden was diagnosed with Jaundice so we had to load him up and take him back to the hospital everyday to get bloodwork drawn until the situation cleared up, luckily it didn't take long and she only had to get poked 3 extra times after we returned home. I will admit that the first night home was the scariest. I had a minor, okay major breakdown. Here is what happened. When we got home we tried a new pacie, a tiny one we refer to as "binky". Aiden could actually keep this one in his mouth! So we were loving Binky, at first. Later that day, I went to feed Aiden and he wouldn't latch on, he has been a great latcher and eater from the very beginning so I couldn't understand after all those days and nights in the hospital why he just wouldn't cooperate now! I blamed it on the Binky, it must have given his nipple confusion right?!? So, I banned anyone from giving him the binky and we stuck to the good ole Soothie pacie instead (you have to hold the darn thing in his mouth). So, a couple more feedings went down that way and I was frustrated and worried. He cried (which he never does) so hard and I know it was because he wasn't eating enough. He started arching his back and doing a few other odd things. At about 1:00 that morning, when he wouldn't latch on for that feeding either, I did what no new mother should do...I got on the internet and all of his symptoms lined up with a kind of brain damage caused by Jaundice. I burst into tears, woke up Zach and insisted that we take him to the doctor right then. Zach went and got my mom from the other room and I was hysterical. There was nothing they could say or do, I just KNEW my little boy was suffering from brain damage and I had to get him help. Mom convinced me to call the pediatrician and she assured me that his billirubin levels were not high enough to cause this type of brain damage. I also told her about the new "latching on" issues and she informed me that my milk had come in (I surely didn't know it) and that the baby was used to latching on to a soft surface that is now rock hard...a warm compress or pumping should fix the problem. Sure enough, it worked! I stayed up and stared at him the rest of the night. In fact, I did that my first few nights as a mother. So, even though HE was a good sleeper, I was not.
I will take this time to plug the AngelCare Baby Movement Monitor! I don't know what i would do without this sucker. You put it under the baby's mattress and it detects his breathing. It sends an alarm if he has stopped breathing for more than 20 seconds.....Wow, it really works, I promise! And it is the only way I’ve gotten any sleep so far.
Here is a few pictures of him but I promise I will post more soon!
