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Linus week 1
Apr. 3rd, 2008 12:19 pmFirst, thanks to everyone who sent well-wishes last week. As you can imagine, things have been pretty hectic, so if I haven't gotten back to you, I will once things calm a bit. I'm operating on a need-only basis right now. This morning was the first time I checked my email since before Linus was born.
B, you win the office pool!
It's been a tough ride since we got home. Things were looking overwhelming but good at hospital, and I had hopes (though did not believe) that everything would be _relatively_ smooth. Hah!
As I mentioned, breast-feeding was a little touch-and-go for a while. my milk came in quickly and without much pain (shocking!) but L was snacking every hour or so, and then would go hours and hours without eating. it qucikly became apparent that he had a lot of gas and could not get it out. He also went more than a day without a BM, which is like NOT OK according to people who think they know. In any event, it was clear he was very uncomfortable.
In the meantime, we found a pediatric practice but not a doctor we liked, and we just went with the guy they gave us, who was nice enough, but young and still believing of everything he learned in med school or whatever. J and i are both more comfortable with older people for such things. when the digestion thing wasnt working out, we made an emergency appointment for Monday morning. the guy we had been with wasnt available so we grabbed a name out of the air. as luck would have it, this guy was AWESOME. older, gentle hands, quiet voice, easy manor and a certain ease with natural processes and the ebb and flow of development. so that's something good that came out of it. but the night before the appointment, L turned a corner, had a BM, and seemed to get a lot more comfortable and a lot more regular feedings.
So the guy was super laid-back about it, said if we were still nervous that we could supplement with formula (only after exhausting my supply) but that he thought it would work itself out. Since we already had an appointment for wednesday, nothing else needed done.
So finally it looked like things were going to get easier. I woke on Tuesday and spent the day cleaning the house in preparation for the bris.
The bris? was great. it was hectic preparing for a party/surgical procedure on such little sleep, and there were some near misses (both grandpas were almost late as was the food), but all who came had a wonderful time, stayed long, talked through the evening, etc. the mohel was very good, working quickly and expertly, and explaining everything and giving translations as he went. i could not watch, though L was weirdly atease and did not cry at all. the entire evening of getting passed around, he was like the perfect baby. no one would believe that he had kept us awake for days. my theory is that he needs an audience. he kept us up because he would not sleep unless held. so there you are.
J decided to take most of the night tuesday so i could sleep. around 130 am linus started bleeding profusely, and messing diapers ceaselessly. i didnt see, but given what it looked like by the time i showed, it was gruesome. j felt tired and terrible. thankfully, we already had the apt so we went to the pediatrician, who sent us to a pediatric urologist in new brunswick. he was in the ER, so we went there. and there we stayed for the next 5 hours. without eating. or peeing on my end because i needed supplies to care for my own wounds. we saw the doc quickly enough, he did the thing to help L, and then we ran tests. for hours. without information about what was going on. it was terrible. and then one of the tests had a problem, so we had to run it again. and L has my sorry veins, so it took them like 45 minutes and a lot of pumping of veins in order to get it. i bowed out because the stress of everything and the sound of his crying made me unable to deal. J handled everything, thank god. a real trouper. we had to poke and poke at the staff to get our papers to leave.
good news is that the circ site looks much better.
we were so exhausted, and because of the lack of information, L had not been much fed yesterday. so we thought we were in for a long night. but J called his mother for help, nd we actually managed to have a good night.
so thing are finally finally improving. J feels more hopeful and i feel like less of a mess. i put linus in the sling today and we had a nice walk. the sling is the greatest thing ever. its how im typing right now. im still wearing the same clothes i was a week ago! but ive managed to sneak in a shower or two and a step on the scale this morning says im 15 pounds lighter than last week. these are the easy pounds of course, but it is nice to simply feel lighter. and since i only have 10 to go before im back yo PPW, it feels doable (dont worry, im eating plenty and then some, but its nice to feel like ill be able once the time comes).
thats the news. keep your fingers crossed that this pause in drama lasts.
love,
mwg
B, you win the office pool!
It's been a tough ride since we got home. Things were looking overwhelming but good at hospital, and I had hopes (though did not believe) that everything would be _relatively_ smooth. Hah!
As I mentioned, breast-feeding was a little touch-and-go for a while. my milk came in quickly and without much pain (shocking!) but L was snacking every hour or so, and then would go hours and hours without eating. it qucikly became apparent that he had a lot of gas and could not get it out. He also went more than a day without a BM, which is like NOT OK according to people who think they know. In any event, it was clear he was very uncomfortable.
In the meantime, we found a pediatric practice but not a doctor we liked, and we just went with the guy they gave us, who was nice enough, but young and still believing of everything he learned in med school or whatever. J and i are both more comfortable with older people for such things. when the digestion thing wasnt working out, we made an emergency appointment for Monday morning. the guy we had been with wasnt available so we grabbed a name out of the air. as luck would have it, this guy was AWESOME. older, gentle hands, quiet voice, easy manor and a certain ease with natural processes and the ebb and flow of development. so that's something good that came out of it. but the night before the appointment, L turned a corner, had a BM, and seemed to get a lot more comfortable and a lot more regular feedings.
So the guy was super laid-back about it, said if we were still nervous that we could supplement with formula (only after exhausting my supply) but that he thought it would work itself out. Since we already had an appointment for wednesday, nothing else needed done.
So finally it looked like things were going to get easier. I woke on Tuesday and spent the day cleaning the house in preparation for the bris.
The bris? was great. it was hectic preparing for a party/surgical procedure on such little sleep, and there were some near misses (both grandpas were almost late as was the food), but all who came had a wonderful time, stayed long, talked through the evening, etc. the mohel was very good, working quickly and expertly, and explaining everything and giving translations as he went. i could not watch, though L was weirdly atease and did not cry at all. the entire evening of getting passed around, he was like the perfect baby. no one would believe that he had kept us awake for days. my theory is that he needs an audience. he kept us up because he would not sleep unless held. so there you are.
J decided to take most of the night tuesday so i could sleep. around 130 am linus started bleeding profusely, and messing diapers ceaselessly. i didnt see, but given what it looked like by the time i showed, it was gruesome. j felt tired and terrible. thankfully, we already had the apt so we went to the pediatrician, who sent us to a pediatric urologist in new brunswick. he was in the ER, so we went there. and there we stayed for the next 5 hours. without eating. or peeing on my end because i needed supplies to care for my own wounds. we saw the doc quickly enough, he did the thing to help L, and then we ran tests. for hours. without information about what was going on. it was terrible. and then one of the tests had a problem, so we had to run it again. and L has my sorry veins, so it took them like 45 minutes and a lot of pumping of veins in order to get it. i bowed out because the stress of everything and the sound of his crying made me unable to deal. J handled everything, thank god. a real trouper. we had to poke and poke at the staff to get our papers to leave.
good news is that the circ site looks much better.
we were so exhausted, and because of the lack of information, L had not been much fed yesterday. so we thought we were in for a long night. but J called his mother for help, nd we actually managed to have a good night.
so thing are finally finally improving. J feels more hopeful and i feel like less of a mess. i put linus in the sling today and we had a nice walk. the sling is the greatest thing ever. its how im typing right now. im still wearing the same clothes i was a week ago! but ive managed to sneak in a shower or two and a step on the scale this morning says im 15 pounds lighter than last week. these are the easy pounds of course, but it is nice to simply feel lighter. and since i only have 10 to go before im back yo PPW, it feels doable (dont worry, im eating plenty and then some, but its nice to feel like ill be able once the time comes).
thats the news. keep your fingers crossed that this pause in drama lasts.
love,
mwg
