Just because Linus is baby boy #4 for me doesn't mean I actually feel confident that I'm doing anything right. Maybe that's putting it too strongly. For his first four days, he barely hit the one-pee-per-day-of-age minimums, but he pooped plenty. Then Tuesday (day 5), he stopped pooping entirely but began peeing a lot. Now three days later, the lack of poop makes me question whether his not-that-vigorous nursing is getting him enough food and is there something horribly wrong with his latch? I thought maybe I could blame tongue-tie, but his tongue reaches past his lips so that's not it (at least according to what the ENT told us when we brought in newborn Tim). He almost always nurses for 30-45 minutes and I often have to unlatch him at that point to save my nipples from getting chewed up. It seems like twice a day he cluster feeds and I pretty much switch sides back and forth for 2-3 hours. Lately I've been trying to keep him off a little more between sides to see if anything else will make him happy but it usually doesn't. But after the cluster feeding, he does sleep for 3-4 hours, so he must be filling up. I'm just surprised how much I'm second guessing myself.
Nursing Linus has been harder than I remember from Leo or Tim. Still easier than Peter, but almost anything would be easier than that. He latched on really well immediately after birth and pretty much nursed non-stop until we left the birth center 4 hours later. But the next few days, I had to fight to get him to have a deep enough latch. By days 3 and 4, I was somewhat engorged and hurting from that and a bad latch meant that my nipples hurt and the whole process was making me cringe. Now I think my supply has balanced out but I often still have to work to get him to latch well. C'mon kid, figure this out!
The boys adore him. Peter began reading to him from a Children's Encyclopedia. Leo asks constantly to hold him. Tim tells him that he is his big brother and the other boys are his big, big brothers. Then he tells me to put him in the rock n play so I can play a game with him. He hasn't quite understood that I'm essentially planted to the couch for the time being.
I did figure out how to nurse him side-lying around day 5. My back hurts in the morning, so I'm probably not doing it well, but it's better than moving to the couch at 3am.
I had a first degree tear with two stitches and I'd guess that it's mostly healed now, although I have a history of recuperating slowly so I'm still afraid to sit on hard chairs or assume that I'm okay. Too many people I know are developing hemorrhoids up to a week postpartum or dealing with prolapses and I'm doing my darndest not to join them. Today, walking around the house has felt pretty decent (although my 3 hr nap around noon might also be helping everything).
We've been using more devices than we did with the other boys. If Linus has been nursing for hours, Dan gives him a pacifier. My sister loaned us her rock n play and it's nice to have somewhere to put him off the ground both when we go to bed and when we dare do things like eat or take something out of the oven. More often than not, I just want to hold him when he's sleeping. I know the tininess won't last long.
Leaving the birth center after 4 hours was a pretty scary concept, even after our Early Discharge class. But in practice, it made sense. We had lots of time with the nurse during that four hours when she reminded us of what we needed to do and answered questions. I was just starting to yawn when it was time to go. Thankfully, the baby didn't cry during the 25 min drive home and we were able to go to sleep in our own bed that night. Taking vitals (every 4 hours on day 1, 8 hours on day 2, twice on day 3, and once on day 4) did more to reassure us that he and I were healthy. Dan took the baby's temp and counted a minute of respirations, then he took my temp and counted out my heart rate. We counted and marked pees, poops, and nursing sessions until his pediatrician visit on day 5. A midwife came to check us both out around the 40 hour mark and did his hearing test and the newborn screening test. She showed me an effective way to hand express milk and told us he wasn't as jaundiced as we thought. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz at birth, 7 lbs 15 oz at the home visit, and 8 lbs 5 oz at the pediatrician. I weighed him today, day 8, and got 7 lbs 15 oz again (adding to my fears) but I suppose that might be at least partially due to the change in scales. He won't go back to the pediatrician until 2 months unless something's wrong. I'll be checked at the birth center at 2 weeks and 6 weeks and I assume we'll weigh him then too.
Dan had to start his summer job on Monday and that was rough. This week, he was gone from about 11-6 Mon-Thurs. He took 3 weeks off and we figured the baby would come sometime during the first two weeks (1 week early to 1 week late). Ha ha. So we made do with a team of family and friends driving the boys around. Peter and Leo have a park program from 1-4 Mon and Wed, Tim has a similar program from 9:45-11:15 Mon/Wed, and all of them had swimming Tues and Thurs 11:30-12, but a 15 min drive away. Dan was able to drop Tim off at 9:45, but I needed someone every day to do the other shuttling. By Thursday, I think we were all getting stressed out and the boys were awful for my mom going to swimming. Meanwhile, I needed to be up getting people lunch and it didn't feel that great. On Monday, I was screaming at the kids by 4:30. Tuesday I made it until evening before I started crying over something minor. I felt like I could handle the baby during the day but adding the other kids put me over the edge. By Thursday afternoon, the kids realized it was best to stay out of my way and they played for hours in the basement knowing that I'm not taking stairs yet. It worked out. I'm grateful for Dan's three day weekend.
Now Peter left tonight for Grandpa Camp and it's going to be a weird week. I just managed to teach him how to rotate the laundry and when he hasn't been sneaking screen time, he's been really helpful. I suspect Leo's going to complain a lot more of boredom without Peter here. Then in a week, Leo and Peter will both go to YMCA camp for 2 weeks and it's really going to be strange having only a 4 year old and newborn. At least I should feel more comfortable driving by then.
Nursing Linus has been harder than I remember from Leo or Tim. Still easier than Peter, but almost anything would be easier than that. He latched on really well immediately after birth and pretty much nursed non-stop until we left the birth center 4 hours later. But the next few days, I had to fight to get him to have a deep enough latch. By days 3 and 4, I was somewhat engorged and hurting from that and a bad latch meant that my nipples hurt and the whole process was making me cringe. Now I think my supply has balanced out but I often still have to work to get him to latch well. C'mon kid, figure this out!
The boys adore him. Peter began reading to him from a Children's Encyclopedia. Leo asks constantly to hold him. Tim tells him that he is his big brother and the other boys are his big, big brothers. Then he tells me to put him in the rock n play so I can play a game with him. He hasn't quite understood that I'm essentially planted to the couch for the time being.
I did figure out how to nurse him side-lying around day 5. My back hurts in the morning, so I'm probably not doing it well, but it's better than moving to the couch at 3am.
I had a first degree tear with two stitches and I'd guess that it's mostly healed now, although I have a history of recuperating slowly so I'm still afraid to sit on hard chairs or assume that I'm okay. Too many people I know are developing hemorrhoids up to a week postpartum or dealing with prolapses and I'm doing my darndest not to join them. Today, walking around the house has felt pretty decent (although my 3 hr nap around noon might also be helping everything).
We've been using more devices than we did with the other boys. If Linus has been nursing for hours, Dan gives him a pacifier. My sister loaned us her rock n play and it's nice to have somewhere to put him off the ground both when we go to bed and when we dare do things like eat or take something out of the oven. More often than not, I just want to hold him when he's sleeping. I know the tininess won't last long.
Leaving the birth center after 4 hours was a pretty scary concept, even after our Early Discharge class. But in practice, it made sense. We had lots of time with the nurse during that four hours when she reminded us of what we needed to do and answered questions. I was just starting to yawn when it was time to go. Thankfully, the baby didn't cry during the 25 min drive home and we were able to go to sleep in our own bed that night. Taking vitals (every 4 hours on day 1, 8 hours on day 2, twice on day 3, and once on day 4) did more to reassure us that he and I were healthy. Dan took the baby's temp and counted a minute of respirations, then he took my temp and counted out my heart rate. We counted and marked pees, poops, and nursing sessions until his pediatrician visit on day 5. A midwife came to check us both out around the 40 hour mark and did his hearing test and the newborn screening test. She showed me an effective way to hand express milk and told us he wasn't as jaundiced as we thought. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz at birth, 7 lbs 15 oz at the home visit, and 8 lbs 5 oz at the pediatrician. I weighed him today, day 8, and got 7 lbs 15 oz again (adding to my fears) but I suppose that might be at least partially due to the change in scales. He won't go back to the pediatrician until 2 months unless something's wrong. I'll be checked at the birth center at 2 weeks and 6 weeks and I assume we'll weigh him then too.
Dan had to start his summer job on Monday and that was rough. This week, he was gone from about 11-6 Mon-Thurs. He took 3 weeks off and we figured the baby would come sometime during the first two weeks (1 week early to 1 week late). Ha ha. So we made do with a team of family and friends driving the boys around. Peter and Leo have a park program from 1-4 Mon and Wed, Tim has a similar program from 9:45-11:15 Mon/Wed, and all of them had swimming Tues and Thurs 11:30-12, but a 15 min drive away. Dan was able to drop Tim off at 9:45, but I needed someone every day to do the other shuttling. By Thursday, I think we were all getting stressed out and the boys were awful for my mom going to swimming. Meanwhile, I needed to be up getting people lunch and it didn't feel that great. On Monday, I was screaming at the kids by 4:30. Tuesday I made it until evening before I started crying over something minor. I felt like I could handle the baby during the day but adding the other kids put me over the edge. By Thursday afternoon, the kids realized it was best to stay out of my way and they played for hours in the basement knowing that I'm not taking stairs yet. It worked out. I'm grateful for Dan's three day weekend.
Now Peter left tonight for Grandpa Camp and it's going to be a weird week. I just managed to teach him how to rotate the laundry and when he hasn't been sneaking screen time, he's been really helpful. I suspect Leo's going to complain a lot more of boredom without Peter here. Then in a week, Leo and Peter will both go to YMCA camp for 2 weeks and it's really going to be strange having only a 4 year old and newborn. At least I should feel more comfortable driving by then.