Week 1: Our first week home was pretty good! I was not as scared as I thought I would be with a newborn on our own. Neither was John! Our first full day home started with taking Savannah for her first trip to the doctor. I showered and looked pretty good for having just gotten out of the hospital (if I do say so myself!). Savannah was slightly jaundiced and so they wanted to see us the day after we got out of the hospital. Our appointment was at 9am- I remember it being kinda difficult to walk much that day. Her appointment went well, we LOVED her pediatrician- Dr. Sarah Atkins. Sarah checked her out- she weighed in at 7lbs 4oz- so almost the max amount she should lose after coming home. She also answered our million questions! We were instructed to supplement with formula since my milk had not yet come in and she had a combo of weight loss and the jaundice.Their bilirubin machine was down :( So we ended up having to take her to Wake Med to get tested. We stopped at Chick-fil-a on the way and got some food. Once we got to the Wake Med in Garner, it took all of 10 minutes. Then the doctor called us with the results about an hour later. She was fine, but they still wanted to see us the next day since her levels were still a little high. Still not high enough for us to have to do anything, they just wanted to keep an eye on her. Little Savannah slept the entire time we were out, so since it was election day- we decided to see how long the line was at our poll. There was no line! so we made a quick stop and did our civic duty :D Then we headed home to feed her and nap ourselves.
My whole heart.
HOW ADORABLE IS SHE?!
Getting weighed
Daddy got to help feed her when we did supplements!
Starting her young :D
The next day we went back to the doctor and she had gained 6oz!! So we were told to keep doing the supplement for 2 more days and then stop over the weekend. YAY! Otherwise, she looked good! To celebrate we decided to even go out to lunch! I hated the thought of chicken wings when I was pregnant, but I wanted them really bad now! So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. They were okay. We were both disappointed, but it was nice to be out doing something! I also remember the hormones coming on and I started to cry for no reason. This would end up happening every now and then. But it's okay :D It's to be expected.
Snuggles with daddy!
Carterbutt getting some love in! He's still not so sure about her.
Day 2 at the doctor
Be. still. my. heart.
Lunch with my favorite two people in the whole world.
At some point this week, we had a handful of different visitors. The Kinlaws came by- and bless Krystal's heart, she made us a few different meals. My aunt Rhonda and Uncle Marcus came by and spent part of a day with us and some family came by. The first week was a lot of healing for me and John changing a TON of dirty diapers. I didnt change ANY for a long time. :D Honestly, those first few days were a blur. There were lots of naps, tons of feeding, and just lounging.
John did get his haircut one day and Savannah and I went with him! We had to introduce Savannah to Kala :D She wore her messy hair shirt for the occasion :D
Carter was a trooper. He lounged with us in the livingroom a lot.
He got creative sleeping on the pillows. I dont think he understood why
we were up at all hours of the day/night.
All the snuggles
She was SO tiny!
Week 2: Kicked off with watching our first football game at home with Savannah! We had the Kinlaws and Mortons over and watched our game :D Savannah also had not pooped for a few days! This scared us. We called the doctor and they said it was normal. I remember now praying for poop. There were so many things that went through our head- was she eating enough? Was she constipated? ugh. It was stressful! Luckily, it was normal. When she did finally poop after 3 days- it was massive. SO massive. It happened during the State game and resulted in a wardrobe change. Her first blowout. haha. Of course it would be during a State game :D
That yawn! Big yawn for a little girl!
Not so sure about the Wolfpack sign
Silently working on that massive poop.
Outfit change! and she's milk drunk. haha
This first weekend was probably one of the toughest for us. Savannah started having a difficult time latching and we would spend hours trying to get her fed. We would both end up in tears. John did everything he could to help us. But it was hard. Very hard. Nobody tells you how hard breastfeeding really is. We got to the point that something had to give. We had to get help. I called the hospital and they were no help at all, I posted on some message boards, and ultimately a friend from high school reached out to me because she saw one of my posts in a breastfeeding group. She invited me to a breastfeeding support group the next day. We were at out wits end. We HAD to get help, and if that didnt help- we were looking at me pumping in bottles or moving to formula. I did NOT want to go to either of those. But we had to make sure Savannah was eating enough. Breastfeeding had always been so very important to me. Yes, it's great that it's SO healthy for them and it's free. But I really wanted that bond with my baby. This just made me even more upset. Looking back now, I am beyond thankful for that high school friend and her invitation. That visit to the support group fixed her latch and everything just started to click. From there on out we have not had any issues with her feeding! I wish I could explain in words just how hard it was. I want other people to understand how difficult it is, but that it can still work! Through my cracked, scabbed, bleeding nipples and all. It can still work. and it's one of my favorite things in the whole entire world. Knowing that I am the reason she's gaining weight and growing- it's such a cool feeling. Every time she's weighed- I'm like- I did that. How awesome is our God that he made our bodies so that we could create, grow, and sustain an entire baby?! I am still in awe :D
Anyways, that weekend my in-laws also came over and spent some time. Jane was wonderful and cleaned and did some laundry and Jim went grocery shopping with John. John and I binged on Shameless the rest of his time off and otherwise enjoyed each other. John started to do some projects around the house- that man cannot sit still! and we got to know our sweet daughter. We started to take shifts in the night- he would stay up with her at night (unless she needed to eat and then he would get me) and I would get up early with her. It worked out really well for us. Some mornings, I would get her and just go into the livingroom and let her sleep on me. She was in a Rock N Play next to our bed but didnt always love being in it. She needed that skin on skin love :D I didnt mind. I dont even know how I survived on such little sleep those first weeks, but it didnt even seem to bother me. I did try to make coffee one morning and forgot to put a cup down on the keurig. So it brewed onto the counter and floor. I just started laughing. During this week we learned that she loved to be swaddled, sleep on us, and ate like a champ. The Klings came and brought us dinner one night and got to snuggle on Savannah. They ended up staying to watch the Walking Dead and it was awesome time spent with them :D Nana also came to visit!
All swaddled up! We nicknamed her goat ninja this week. LOL. She's fast like a ninja on getting her arms up (as you can see in the picture) and she makes a little noise that sounds like a goat. I will miss that noise!!
All the sleeps
Even more sleeps! I love when she sleeps on me :D
and again! Newborns sure do sleep a lot :D Basically- eat, poop, and sleep:D
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