1 Week Down

 Our first week with Pierce has come and gone. It's been a slower week (as in I can't believe it's ONLY been a week), but it's been a very happy week! I am feeling SO great, physically and mentally. I haven't had to have very many pain killers and the only breakdown I had was after a night of only 4 hours of sleep (he wouldn't let me put him down after 12:30 AM so I was up for a LONG time at that point).

Luckily, the day of the breakdown ended up being one of the funniest days for me. I had to take Pierce to the pediatrician for his 2-3 day checkup (so they can make sure he's gaining enough weight and looking okay so far). I didn't bring the diaper bag as I figured I'd be okay to do a quick appointment without it (yes, I consciously made the decision to not bring the bag, it wasn't like I forgot it). Well I got there and we undressed him so they could measure how tall he was. We then had to take him out to weigh him and when I put him down and took off his diaper I noticed his umbilical cord was no longer there. It was there when he was in the room so we knew it must've fallen off VERY recently. The nurse guy walked back to the room to find it and said he couldn't. I assumed it got rolled up in the diaper they had me throw away so we just brushed it off. When we went back to the room I made a joke that it probably fell down my shirt (the one I was wearing was a bit looser) and we laughed. Then the nurse guy said the Dr. would be in momentarily and we just hung out. After a minute I looked down and found his umbilical cord...down my shirt! Haha. I don't know how I missed it before, but there it was. I had to laugh at that. Well while we were waiting for the Dr. I was just rocking Pierce and he was looking sleepy, then he suddenly had his eyes open and he's looking SO intensely at me. Giving me a look I hadn't seen him give before...then I feel the bubbles in his diaper and smell the stinkiest smell and realize he's probably pooping (and I have NO diaper bag....yes they have diapers there, but I have to tell the pediatrician that I, a 4th time mom, don't have my diaper bag!). After about 45 minutes, the doctor finally comes in. He asked me if I had any questions and we went over what I felt I needed to know that mostly pertained to having a boy. Then he said to lay Pierce down to check him out. I mentioned I think he had pooped and that I didn't have the bag so he gave me a diaper and wipes to use. He quickly looked at his legs and made sure he looked good and told me his weight was only down about 5% so I was doing good and to just keep it up and bring him back at the 2 week mark. I then worked on changing Pierce's diaper. I forgot the golden rule and ended up in a golden shower situation (haha!)...yes, that's right, I got peed on! I did, Pierce did, the table did, everywhere did! I tried to block it with a wipe, for some reason, but obviously that did nothing. So now I had this dirty diaper, pee mess on Pierce, and a pee mess on the table to all get cleaned up. It was NOT easy. After a little bit, I got everything cleaned up, but realized I probably had to let the nurses know in case they needed to sanitize. So, after packing up and heading out I told the guy nurse who helped us and he laughed it off saying it happened all the time and it was no big deal. I left there laughing SO hard. It ended up being the perfect distraction from my exhaustion.

One thing about Pierce is he's VERY snuggly. I absolutely LOVE it! I can't get enough of his snuggles and cute little face and noises he makes when he's sleeping. There's been a few nights, however, that he has not wanted me to put him down so I've had to snuggle him. The first night was the day of the appointment so I was up for MANY hours, but the other two nights I realized I can't just NOT sleep so one of the nights I laid him down in the bed next to me. He slept SO well and for quite a few hours. I mostly rested and then about the last 2 hours of the night I got into a good sleep. The other night I let him sleep on me (he wouldn't go down in the bed again), but I propped myself up on an incline pillow and then used my other pillow to prop my other arm (the one holding him) up. It wasn't ideal but it was nice getting cuddles and I actually got some pretty decent sleep still. 

Nursing this time is SO much easier so far. He has latched on like a champ and does well with feedings. It did feel like he was starting to do the nurse napping that Lucy did and I am NOT about to let that happen. For one, I felt trapped all the time with her. For another, I felt like doing that actually lowered my supply and since formula is very sparse right now I'm not about to do anything to jeopardize my supply. So we started making sure to stop his nursing at the 20 minute mark. If he still acts hungry we switch sides and do that. That seemed to really help. The first night we did that he slept from 1 until 6 without any noises made.

So I have to say so far, this postpartum phase is a LOT easier and going a lot smoother. I feel a lot of that has to do with Larry taking him at the first part of the night, that's always given me anxiety in the past. I know we'll have to get him used to a more normal bedtime routine eventually, but I'm in no rush if this is helping me. Right now it's getting him down for bed that really needs to be worked on. The rest of the days are running pretty smoothly so far, which is SO nice.

Speaking of sleep, his is the usual hit and miss newborn sleeping. Larry takes him from 8 until about 12 and lets me get a good chunk of sleep to start the night out. I've started pumping to give him enough for a bottle in case he needs in within that time frame. After midnight it's all on me. This has helped SO much. First, it helps me get such GOOD sleep right at the start so if the rest of the night isn't ideal I do good enough for the day. Second, it helps me get fuller for bigger night feedings. Unfortunately, the first night, once Larry brought him in, he wouldn't go longer than 20 minutes without needing me. By about 5 that morning he finally would go down, but man, those 5 hours were REALLY long. The second night he did better. Then we had the few "needing to be on mom" nights. Then when we started topping off his feedings during the day he slept MUCH better. That was just last night so I'm hoping they continue to be good. Although I will say going from 1 to 6 without any feedings and snuggles made me miss him so I made sure to let him snuggle on me from 6 until 7:30 when we HAD To be up for the day.

Today we had my brother's wedding, our first real event since he was born. We had a mad dash type of morning (Getting all 6 of us not only ready, but dressed up, with our hair done, was quite the feat!), but we were able to get out of the house mostly on time and to the wedding early enough to visit with everyone. Pierce was a hit and did amazing. We had to feed him once and then he kind of slept the rest of the time. I was very happy with how it went.

That sort of thing would normally stress me out so much with a new baby, but I've actually been able to keep a steady mindset so far. I think it helped me to make sure I had a lot of affirmations before having Pierce ready. I've made a few vision boards and one of them has pins in it so when I draw out an affirmation, I can pin it to the board. I haven't needed them yet, but it's nice knowing it's there. I've also done great just making sure I'm more in the moment and remembering that this is our last baby so while it can be hard, it's not forever and I know I'll miss these moments and days when he's older. I feel like I'll blink and he'll be 1 and I'll wonder where my babies all went. I also love to watch little newborn reels on Instagram, those really help me. And I just remind myself to be calm when I feel I might be getting overwhelmed or stressed out. All of these combined have really helped me so far.

Another thing I've noticed is that the first 3 months with a newborn mimick the first 3 months of pregnancy. At least, for me they do. I'm always just wanting to be lazy, I go to bed earlier, be more relaxed on screen time and just doing whatever helps me take it easy. Knowing I got through 3 months of it for my pregnancy helps me with the newborn phase.