Sam's First Days

After Sam's crazy arrival, a little extra sleep, coffee for Ned, and Pepsi for me were needed.  The pediatrician standing in for ours came in and said Sam looked great.  He told us he had little blisters on his hands/wrists from sucking in the womb, but that some had already healed.  Another baby with hands always in his or her face!  I was unfortunately put on magnesium after delivery, so I had to stay in bed, but we were still ready to welcome our families.  My mom brought Avery and Ned's parents came.  My dad had to be at work, so he came that afternoon.  Ned went out and brought Avery in first.  We had Sam in the bassinet so that I could pay attention to just Avery.  She was ready to see him though and give him his Duckie like her Giraffi.  Avery was very excited to see "Baby Sammy" as she calls him.  She was even more excited that he had brought her a birthday cake set to celebrate his happy birthday.  Sam picked a great toy as it entertained her each time she came for a visit.

The grandparents came in and met Sam as well.

While we had extra hands, Avery got to hold Sam.

After a visit everyone left and we had a quiet afternoon.  My mom came back for awhile, and Sam had to spend a little time in the nursery getting warmed back up.  They took me off the magnesium but wanted me to stay in bed because my blood pressure was still up.  My mom brought Avery back that afternoon and met my dad at the hospital.  Avery was most excited to be riding in the alligator {elevator}.  To not disrupt my parents even more, Ned took Avery home for the night.  Sam is bottle-fed but I planned to have him brought to me for each feeding during the night.  I still couldn't get up but I knew the nurses would be able to help.  I forgot the full moon, though, and soon the Women's Suite was hopping.  I was moved to a room further down the hall because so many women were coming in.  Sam stayed with me more because the nursery nurse was having to help with the women in labor.  At one point in the middle of the night he had to stay with me while she went to a c-section.  Luckily he did fine and nurses were able to help me out.  Things were much quieter in the morning so some of those women must have had false alarms.

We were happy to see Daddy return in the morning. 

I was allowed to get up, but I made sure to take it easy after 8 weeks of rest.  It was so nice to put on clothes!

We had another quiet day together, and then we had our special dinner from the hospital that night.  We had asked for Ned's to be boxed, thinking he would be taking Avery home, but my mom brought her dinner so we all ate together.

It was our first taste of dinner as a family of four, even though Lolli was there holding Sam.  Within minutes Avery's lemonade was all over the floor and there was yogurt on Ned's nose.  Our fried shrimp dinner was delicious and the hospital staff took so much pride in serving us.  My mom left as our pediatrician came in.  We hadn't seen her since she had been off the day before, so we got to talk about Sam.  It was only slightly crazy with Avery in the room.  Sam was still checking out great, and we discussed his spit-up since his formula had been changed to sensitive.  The change helped but we were already watching signs of reflux.  After that visit, Ned took Avery home.  Sam stayed with me some during the night, but wouldn't settle down at one point so off to the nursery he went.  Sleep is limited in the hospital anyway, so I accept all the help I can get.

My doctor was in early Friday morning to tell me I could go home, which was great news.  We still had to wait for Sam's blood work to return to check his bilirubin levels.  They had been rising, but not as fast as Avery's had.  The pediatrician came to get Sam for his circumcision and we waited to hear that he was done.  She came back to let us know that he had done well, and she also said his numbers were good so we could go home.

It was still lunchtime before everything was ready for us to leave.  Sam had his hospital pictures done and then had a quick bottle before we hit the road.

It felt great to be out of the hospital after four nights!  Once we got home and got settled, Ned went and got Avery.  She was excited to see me home and moving around.  Sam did not have a great first night at home and was not interested in sleeping in his pack-n-play.  Since he's in our room, no one got much rest.  Around 3:30 we finally put him in his bouncer and he slept for several hours.

Saturday morning with Avery came early.  We enjoyed some time at home, and Avery spent some time at Mimi's house while Ned ran errands.  I don't really remember what else we did but we were happy to be home together.