Not that we necessarily expected any different, but newborns are HARD. Nanny/daycare/nephew experience is no match for bringing home your own tiny bean and attempting to decipher his various cries while maintaining your own sanity. That being said, though, I'd have to say that we're all adjusting pretty darn well. While we're not getting tons of sleep at night, we have yet to experience total and complete sleep deprivation (thanks mostly to my wonderful husband who has been helping out like a complete champ so that we both get cat naps and sleep time during the day and night).
We had a few difficulties at first, mainly stemming from some questionable jaundice (he's actually fine, no phototherapy necessary and it's clearing up just as it should), and my fear about his not getting enough to eat. Apparently pooping regularly is key for getting rid of the bilirubin in his system to clear up jaundice, and since he's a snacker who likes to eat in 5 min. intervals and then fall fast asleep we weren't sure he was getting enough milk. Diaper changes were fun, also, as we had never had to experience a brand new cicumcision before. Sooo, when we first got home we were struggling with vaseline in diapers, trying to supplement his feedings with supply that I was pumping (something he hated since we did it with a small syringe in his mouth), and fiercely monitoring his skin color and poo amount.
He was weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz (having lost 7 oz since birth) at his first doc's appt., and had a borderline jaundice level. Then, a matter of days later at his 2nd doc's appt. we discovered that he had a spectacular weight gain of 8 oz to bring him up to a full 8 lbs and his color was so good the doc didn't even bother to measure the level. At this point we were told that he was not only just fine, but looked great and we should relax and stop with the supplementing and tracking and just let him tell us when he needed to eat (whew! much easier...). Now we're both more relaxed and able to settle into being home and enjoying his company without so much worry.
He's already been out and about a couple of times, having come with us to the Breastfeeding Center of A2 when I got nursing bras, he's visited my dad's house briefly, and today we ran some errands with him that included hitting up the hardware store and the Produce Station. We've gone on a few walks since the weather's nice, and it's amazing how fabulous it feels to get out even for a few minutes. I've also set up a private lacation consultation this week for myself, just to ease my mind about breastfeeding a bit and get some helpful tips. So, fingers crossed I'm not totally jinxing myself here (I'm knocking on wood like crazy), but things have been good and I'm hoping that they'll stay that way for a little while :)
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