It’s hard to believe L.’s been with us for a week now. It’s been a busy time, with two of my out-of-town sisters-in-law coming to visit, the in-town relatives coming over often, and of course many more visits from friends and neighbors. It’s been fun but we’re happy that things are slowing down and we can begin taking some deep breaths and establishing our new normal.
Here’s an attempt to update you on what we’ve experienced over the past week.
All went well last Friday. The c-section was smooth. It’s a great thing to hear your child screaming as she takes her first breaths. Things were kind of loose in the OR. S. had cherry-picked many of her favorite people and asked them to be there. I’m sure everyone is always positive when a delivery goes well, but there was a real vibe of happiness in the room, with everyone going over and checking out L. on the warming table, people coming over and patting me on the back, etc. I like to think it’s because my wife is a great woman first and a terrific doctor second and they were extra excited for her. Or perhaps it was because they knew we have good insurance and they’ll be getting reimbursed!
I’ll admit, in those moments when dad gets to wait outside the OR, I had a few bad scenarios go through my head. We’ve been so lucky with all three pregnancies, I wondered if, since this is our last pregnancy, we might be tempting fate and something could go wrong. I’ll hazard a guess that I’m not the first father, or parent for that matter, to have that thought. There was a monumental feeling of relief when we made it to the recovery room and all was well with both mom and baby.
L. was awesome on Friday. She hung out on the warming table in the recovery room and looked around for about half an hour. S. was working to get her pain under control so I got to give L. her first bottle. She took about an ounce, burped, and went to sleep for most of the next five hours. Seriously. This newborn shit is easy.
Friday night was pretty good, too. I stayed at the hospital that night and we were able to send L. to the nursery for a couple stretches. It was no fun getting up every 2-3 hours to feed/burp, but unless we had the nerve to change her diaper, L. mostly stayed quiet.
The big sisters were super excited to make their first visit on Friday afternoon. M. was off-the-charts excited. C. was excited, too, but she also had a look on her face that suggested she understood her world had just been rocked. “Wait, I’m not the baby anymore?”
Coincidentally, C. seems much older to me since L.’s arrival. When did she get so big?
We did go the hospital knowing that L. would be named L.. I’ll post in-full about the name selection process later, but it was a difficult process. We settled on L. about two weeks before birth. It was kind of a 90% choice for me, meaning I wasn’t completely sure about it, but now I love it. We chose well.
Of course, I keep calling her C..
Saturday afternoon was kind of fun. I came home in the morning and relieved the grandparents. I got the girls cleaned up, posted the first round of pics, and took them to the hospital. We came home and ate lunch. The lack of sleep was kicking in for me, and my already short patience with the girls was pretty much non-existent. They kept jacking around at lunch, refusing to eat, pushing food at each other, etc. Meanwhile, KU was getting pounded by Iowa State on the TV. I was tired, annoyed, and pissed. I looked out into the sunroom and saw M. picking up her plate and dumping her crumbs all over C.. I’m not sure what my first words were, but I did jump up and start screaming at her. At some point, as both girls cried, I said, “Everybody upstairs! It’s naptime.” Best three-hour nap I’ve ever had, and thankfully, the girls slept for three hours, too.
The best part, though, was when C. woke up at some point before M. and I. She was sleeping in her bed and M. and I were in my room. I heard C. walking around in the hall, crying. I wasn’t ready to get up so I kept yelling at her, “C., come in here.” but she just kept crying. I thought she went downstairs and I hoped she wasn’t climbing things or doing something else that could hurt her, because I was keeping my ass in bed. I finally woke up for good around 4:45. I looked in the hallway and C. was passed out on the floor outside our room. The door had been open the entire time, so I’m not sure what her deal was. There’s a pic of her on our picture site.
Everyone came home Monday. That night was rough. L. would only sleep on me, so I ended up being awake until 4:30 or so, with a couple 15 minute naps thrown in, as I let her sleep on me. Tuesday and Wednesday were great. Thursday night she struggled to go back to sleep after her 11:00 bottle, possibly because she was downstairs with me instead of up in a bedroom. I took advantage of her restlessness to make her watch the last half hour of The U.S. vs. John Lennon and the first half hour of the Classic Albums episode on John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band. It was the man’s 68th birthday and seemed like a good time to start brainwashing L..
L. came home at 6.2 pounds. She had a weight check on Wednesday and was back up to 6.7. Girl is growing just like she’s supposed to.
She’s had her first outing, a lunch-time trip to our finest local burger joint. She slept the entire time. She took her first walk tonight. We decided to let her stay at home while I took M. and C. to the pumpkin patch on Thursday. Next year she can pick her own.
So that’s kind of where we stand after one week. L. is very sweet, like all new babies. I’ve been calling her chicken because of a nurse S. works with who calls all babies chickens. M. was Tootie and C. was Stinky, so I think L. got the best first nickname of the bunch.