Home life

Life since Ben has been home has been a little hectic.  I think he is really a pretty good baby, he doesn't have too many fussy periods and he is usually pretty easy to get calmed down. He wants to be held 24/7, which is hard in the middle of the night when I need to sleep. When he's awake he doesn't mind doing tummy time and stuff like that, but when he's sleeping he just wants to be held!  The first night he was home was awesome, he'd wake up and I'd feed him and then lay him down in his bassinet and he'd go right back to sleep! The second night I was up with him until 4 a.m. because he wouldn't lie down, he'd fall asleep for like 5 minutes and then wake up crying. I felt like he was over tired, too much stimulation that day maybe. So I finally let him sleep on my chest on the couch for 1.5 hours, he woke up to eat, then we went back to sleep the same way for 1.5 hours. Thankfully I got a one hour nap that day.  But I'm here to tell you that 4 hours of broken sleep stinks! I am pretty uncomfortable sleeping with him when I am sleeping but at that point I was completely desperate.

At his weight check on Friday he had gained 2 ounces since Wednesday, so that is pretty good I think.  The doctor was happy.  He is up to 7 pounds!  He wants to eat about every 2 hours, but sometimes more like 1 or 1.5 hours. Or sometimes he'll take one side, go to sleep for 10 minutes despite my best efforts to keep him awake...then he'll wake up and be all "Hey! Still hungry! Right now! Feed me!"  More often than not he is satisfied with just one side though. Which seems unreal to me.  Everyone is very impressed that he is nursing all the time; lots of preemies develop nipple preference for a bottle and never get the hang of breast feeding.

I feel like my supply has increased exponentially. Today I pumped twice (when he got his two bottles of Neosure) and each time I pumped over 2 ounces. Before I'd never be able to get 2 ounces at once unless I slept through an alarm in the middle of the night.  So my "freezer stash" is growing. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with all that milk but hopefully it will come in handy.  I have several days worth of milk at this point.  At the very least I guess if we don't need it I can donate it to a mother who might need it! Wouldn't that be quite the turn of events.  

His pediatrician said that if he keeps growing well for the next month or so we can maybe stop giving him the formula. Which would be nice. It's just a pain to have to give it and pump. Normally Brian gives him the bottle while I pump, but he was gone tonight so I did both. I fed Ben first so he was happy and I put him in his bouncy seat right in front of me so I could still talk to him while I was pumping. It actually worked great!  The other kids were in bed so that was a big help too.

Miss M seems to have regressed with her potty training which is frustrating but I think it is normal. Even though Ben has been born for a while he wasn't in her world up until a few days ago really. Otherwise I feel like she is acting pretty normal, she doesn't seem to be any naughtier than usual. :)  

So, I don't know, having a newborn is hard work.  It's rough to not just be able to go back to sleep when he wakes up. Once he is fed if he doesn't want to go back to sleep, well, I don't get to back to sleep either!  And like, right now I'm ready for bed...but he is Mr. Wide Awake, so we are hanging out.  Overall it's good to have him home. I'm not sure that I am going to be able to get as much accomplished in this time as I had hoped, but I just have to do the best I can and hope for the best.  Right now I'm staying on top of laundry and sort of staying on top of food stuff, so that has to count for something right?

Comments

  1. KimApril 1, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    do you have a white noise maker going for him? I've heard premies get used to all the constant noise in the nicu and the quiet at home actually wakes them up/keeps them up...this is not coming from a premie mom, but from someone who had a child who refused to sleep unless a hairdryer was on full blast next to her head!

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  2. AnonymousApril 1, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    You should get a baby carrier for him! Then you'll have 2 free hands for the other kiddo's and chores. I would suggest the Boba wrap, Manduca, Tula Standard Baby carrier or Ergo with infant insert!

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  3. GApril 3, 2013 at 12:12 AM

    I think staying on top of the laundry is an accomplishment by itself! (But I might be projecting....)

    So glad everything with Ben is starting to fall into place. On the extra frozen milk, I also used it when we started cereal -- the cereal was powdered and needed to be mixed up with something. I think it's OK to use water, but I used to mix it up with breast milk, especially when we first starting offering it.

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