I am really glad that we stayed 2 nights in the hospital. I think we needed the recovery time. They tell you to go home, rest, and try to do nothing for 2 weeks, but the number of follow up appointments that we have is a real hinderance to that. Only one of these appointments is my choice, and that is newborn pictures.
We came home Tuesday. My mom was here, had the house all nice clean and warm, and had made us lunch. It was very nice. She had a lot of boxes to move out of our leaking barn room down to her house, but said she was available if we needed her. I napped with Timothy, and Bryan dealt with Josiah, keeping him busy while we slept. The Bentleys brought us dinner and we got to visit. It was good to see them and nice to not have to worry about cooking. It sounds like Jason's new schedule, and Nike trialling working from home on Tuesdays, is going to be a really good thing for them. Remmy was pretty interested in Timothy and wanted to hold him many times. It was pretty cute.
Wednesday I had what was supposed to be an hour and 15 minute lactation consult that took 2 hours. I learned a lot about tongue ties and how Timothy's tie might affect him as he nurses and as he grows. The Lactation nurse was quite scattered and not a good communicator, so it was hard to get all the information out of her, but eventually I pulled out the pieces I needed. She didn't seem to understand my milk over production, so I quit trying to get information out of her related to that. I did get her to tell me about stool and what it looks like if the baby is getting too much foremilk, it turns bright green. After day 5, Timothy should have mostly mustard yellow colored stools. She talked about how injured my nipples were and then wanted to latch Timothy onto my more injured side without the nipple shield in a position that hurts the most for me. I declined to do that and did my own thing to nurse him. She must be so used to trying to check latching and teaching new moms the football hold that she was going to do it to me. I was there about his weight loss, my overabundant milk, and his tongue tie– not at all about latching or positioning. Timothy's weight had started going back up since we left the hospital, which I found very encouraging. He was 7lbs almost 8 oz when we left, and he was a solid 7 lbs 8 oz at the appointment. He had a 10% loss from birth weight, but he's not loosing any more. He is nursing longer, and there is plenty of milk for him.
After the long appointment, we had a nice lunch with Kisha at the soup and sandwich place just down the street. It was delicious and really good to see her and chat with her. I was pretty exhausted and had a hard time focusing on the conversation and keeping Josiah content, but I think I managed ok. We got home around 2pm. Bryan was able to get Josiah in his bed asleep, and I took a nap again. Laura picked up some groceries for us when she went shopping earlier, and she and Jess delivered them and visited in the evening. It was really nice to not have to go to the store for just those few things. It was fun to hear of their Tulsa adventures and how Jess just took it all in stride. Jess got rather jealous a few times when Laura was holding Timothy, but he got over it without her putting Timothy down each time. He was even ok when she told him that some day this would be a reality for him to have a sibling. It also took Jess a little while to be willing to go play with Josiah. He did eventually, but Josiah tried to drag him around and steal his snacks like he does to Remmy. Jess has learned to fend for himself being around his cousins all week, so Josiah had a good lesson in not being able to force his way.
Thursday we had newborn pictures with Erin in Vancouver. We had to get there at 10, but I was shooting for before 9 so we could keep Timothy awake for long enough to be sleepy for the pictures. We left the house at 7:40ish and made it to the McDonalds near Erin's house before 9. We ordered some grease for breakfast and hung out in the play area to keep Josiah entertained. It was also an attempt not to bother everyone eating there if Timothy got really fussy, but there was a staff meeting in the play area. The door said the hours for the play area were open, so I figured it was their fault for planning a poor location to meet and for not reserving the room, so we didn't try to be quiet at all. Timothy wasn't too unreasonable with is fussing. He fussed and cried at times, but we figured out ways to keep him from all out crying the whole time. He nursed really well, off and on, until I couldn't wake him to interest him in on again. Then, Erin took over and worked her magic.
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| Watching the set up of one of the first poses |
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| The resulting image |
Set up with colors I requested
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| The resulting image |
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| Set up for the hammock pose |
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| Hammock pose resulting image - I LOVE this! |
Josiah was not at all cooperative with a laying on the floor sibling shot, so we just entertained him until he was done with a Cliff bar snack, and then Bryan got him to go to sleep in the carrier. He got Josiah laid down where Erin had planned the sibling shot, and we have a shot of both of them asleep together!
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| Sleeping Josiah |
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| The pose. I don't have the resulting image yet. |
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| Bryan trying to get Josiah back to sleep for another pose. No luck, but a cute memory for me of Timothy's not so big brother. |
She did a lot of amazing ones. It's always amazing to watch her work. Bryan spent part of the time at a coffee shop/ kids play place with Josiah. It all worked out really well. We didn't leave there until 3:30. My mom invited us over for dinner, so we didn't have to figure that out. We ate delicious spaghetti, then left Josiah there and went home. My parents said they could keep him busy for a while for us. I was so grateful to get to go to bed early! I nursed Timothy and was asleep by 7:30ish. I woke up to hear my mom bring Josiah home around 9, but I didn't get up. I just stayed in bed until morning. Well, except I get up and pee and take meds and change timothy's diapers and nurse him and stuff. But, even with intermittent sleep, I got quite a bit. I have been successful in nursing Timothy with the shield laying down, which helps me feel even more rested.
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| Set up i have yet to see the finished image of |
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| I think my mom will love this one. |
Friday was Timothy's 1'st Dr.'s appointment. It was at 10:20 and took about an hour. The doctor was pleased with his weight gain. He is up to 8 lbs 11oz. She said his tongue tie isn't horribly restrictive, but it could help me with nursing him to get it clipped. She set up a consultation Monday with an in house Pediatrician who does the procedure. She'll look to see if he needs to be clipped, and if so, she will be able to do that right then. We don't really see any down sides, and would like to do it if it helps him eat without injuring me.
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| While waiting at the Dr.'s office I attempted to take a picture timothy's blue eyes. Fail. |
Before heading home, we went to REI for some webbing they didn't have, and to Costco so we could have more easy to prepare food in the house. We had hot dogs for lunch. Gotta love feeding a family of 4 for $4.50. We played with Josiah and tidied up a bit when we got home. Bryan had a chiropractor appointment at 5pm on 28th and Burnside, so he tried to put Josiah down for a nap for me before leaving to minimize the amount of time I had to spend managing both kids on my own. It worked, and Timothy and I fell asleep as well! It was a glorious long nap too. I woke first after an hour and a half and got to eat a meal and work on the birth blog before Timothy woke up. I got Timothy mostly nursed before Josiah woke up. Turns out Timothy wanted seconds. So he cried a bunch while I got Josiah up and took him potty. Josiah played nicely while Timothy ate more, then it wasn't long before Bryan came home. He set up the house for "pizza night".
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| 40 weeks Timothy is here! |
We had my parents over and ate pizza, chicken, and salad. We watched some YouTube clips and passed on the movie since it was past 9 when we would have started it. It was nice to just be home and not have a long drive afterword. Their house would have been just as nice and no dishes for us, but not as warm or as many places to sit as their wood stove still needs the pieces to connect the pipe and they have yet to move the majority of the furniture.
Today has been the first day where we didn't have to be somewhere in the morning. It is so nice! Also, even though I went to bed late. Timothy let me sleep from midnight to 5 and from 5:45 to 9am!!!! So I am pretty well rested in spite of the late bed time last night. The Halls are bring us dinner tonight so we don't have any prep for that. We have just relaxed and played with Josiah. Bryan napped while I worked on writing all of this down for my memories.
It was great to visit with the Halls. We had fun trading babies and watching a football game. At one point Josiah saw Melissa and I both holding a swaddled baby and he wanted one too. So, he went and got Billy (the doll) and tried to swaddle him, but mostly he just mummy wrapped his head. Papa helped him do it right, and he excitedly took the swaddled doll to his rocking chair and rocked him for a while. It was really cute. Ellie really enjoyed the Christmas tree. She just stared and stared. It was a very nice evening. I am so glad they came!
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