The First Days

Being in the hospital was pretty boring and uncomfortable for daddy.  I had to sleep on a couch.  In my younger years I wouldn't have complained about it at all.  As is I was able to sleep just fine.  But with age comes some loss of physical flexibility (literally and figuratively) so the couch was a bummer.  And while I did have tons of on demand movies to watch, it was still not that exciting to be in a hospital for 78 hours.

But this is about you.  As mentioned you were born Monday morning after 24 hours in the hospital.  And as mentioned the cleaning and inspecting the nurses did wasn't exactly your favorite activity.  Oddly enough in my mind eating wasn't high on your to do list either.  You had issues latching on to your mom.  (I will let her explain the nitty gritty details if you like.)  So I was rather worried at first.  Not deathly worried.  It's just that since this is our first time raising a kid I want to know what is normal and what to expect.  The nurses assured me that you could go a day or so without food and everything would be fine.  They were also certain that you would figure out the whole eating thing and be right as rain.

Right they were, you figured it out with the assistance of a great night nurse and a lot of patience on the part of your mom.  So eating at the hospital wasn't a problem.  Sleeping wasn't an issue either. Although you were a night owl there, it wasn't a real serious issue.  Coming home however, proved to be something of an issue.

To start with your genius daddy put the car seat base in backwards.  Not only was it hard enough to get in, putting it in backwards made it twice as hard.  And then I had to do it again!  What fun.

We left the hospital and drove uneventfully home arriving at about 3PM.  You slept in your car seat for a while peacefully.  When we opened the door we found the house clean and a new rocker put together.  Thanks to Grandma and Grampa Perkins for cleaning and assembly, thanks to Grandma and Grampa Compton for buying the chair in time for it to be here.  Your Grandma and Grampa Perkins came for a visit later that afternoon, stayed for dinner and visited.  Then your Aunt Alissa and Uncle Jacob came to visit, too!  They brought your cousins Addison and Chloe.  You were already bigger than your cousin Chloe who was born a month earlier than you.  Even after you lost some of your initial weight, as all babies do the first couple weeks.

Sometime between coming home on Wednesday and midnight you forgot how to eat. Or lost all interest.  There is also a theory that you were having problems with gas which hurt and made you cry a lot.  And I mean a lot!  You were so fussy and inconsolable that your mom woke me up at midnight to go and get some medicine for the gas.  Thank goodness for all night pharmacy stores.  And thank goodness for yummy tasting medicine.  As you may know now most medicine tastes quite bad.  But you seemed to really like this stuff and took as much of it as we would give.  Unfortunately this did not help you start eating again.

We started finger feeding you because you just wouldn't latch to your mom again.  This habit continued all day Thursday and into the night.  I don't know what we would have done without your Grandma Perkins.  She came over basically all day Thursday to help out and let us rest.  I am glad we did because Thursday night we were up again with you every couple hours or more trying to soothe you and feed you.  Your mom tried holding you in bed (that lasted maybe an hour) and ended up staying in the new rocking chair holding you most of the night.  I felt bad because she is doing so much and I feel like I am doing so little, but a baby needs its momma and you were only happy on her chest.  Sure you would calm down for a minute or two for me, but it never lasted.  As much as I would love to help I want to do what is best for you more.

It really does hurt me that you won't sleep for me.  I know it isn't personal, and I agree with your mom that you probably are picking up on some of my frustrations, but I love you so much!  I want to hold you and have you peacefully rest in my arms.  Or be awake and look at me so lovingly like you have before.  The screaming and shaking you do when I am trying to soothe you really frustrate me.  I wish I knew another word for it, but frustrate is all I have.  Frustrated with love and concern.

All that brings us to this morning.  Your mom had the genius idea of putting some of that yummy medicine out as an enticement for you to feed.  Guess what?  It worked!  So you are back to eating like you should.  Your mom is so smart.  Let's hope you take after her.