Thanks to a c-section, we stayed in the hospital for 4 days. As hard as it was to be away from home, I am really glad we were able to stay that long and get some much needed help and tips for taking care of our new little guy. I delivered at IMC and had an amazing experience in the maternity ward. The nurses were great, P and I were always taken care of, I never felt like I couldn't ask questions and Parker was able to stay in the room with me at all times.
One of the major benefits of being in the hospital came on Day 1. I chose to exclusively breast feed and believed Parker was doing great because he was latching like a champ and I didn't have any reason to believe he wasn't getting enough food. On Day 1 we decided to give him his pacifier to help soothe him after his circumcision and that day he slept most of the day and didn't eat. At weigh in that night they found he had dropped almost a pound, which is normal but was a little more than the 10% they are ok with. The nurse suggested we do what they call SNS where they put a strawlike tube on your nipple so they still have the motion of breastfeeding but you push formula through the straw so the baby gets more food. We chose to wait to try the SNS but when I tried to feed him around 8:00 pm, Parker wailed and wouldn't latch. After an hour of him screaming and not latching, we called the lactation consultant and she worked with us for 3 hours until he finally calmed down enough to latch and eat. Mike and I were so frazzled and felt so bad for Parker and we are really glad we were at the hospital because if we had been home, he surely would have gotten a bottle and then who knows how breastfeeding would have gone. After finally getting Parker to latch, we chose not to give him the pacifier because they thought he was having "nipple confusion", which contributed to him not eating.
The next day we kept with the no pacifier and it was horrible. Parker wouldn't let anybody hold him besides me and wanted to be attached to me every second of the day. I was glad he was latching well now and felt we were doing well but at weigh in we found he had lost more weight even though he had been feeding all day long. Due to his irritablility and weight loss, we decided we would try the SNS and boy was it a lifesaver. He gulped down 2 oz of formula and once he finally got some food in his belly he was back to his sweet self. We did SNS a couple more times until my milk came in and he has been gaining weight and eating like a champ ever since.
While in the hospital we were spoiled with visits and gifts from our family and friends and we soaked up these first few days of parenhood by snuggling Parker and enjoying being taken care of so we could give all of our attention to him. Even though I was in pain, these 4 days were magical and we will cherish these moments for the rest of our lives.
Some pictures from our days there... don't mind Parker's blotchy skin. He was born with an awesome case of Erythema toxicum, which is a harmless rash that many newborns get. Our pediatrician said he could be the poster child for it though since it was all over his body. Poor little guy got his mama's sensitive skin.
Parker and his Mimi
Grandpa Bob and Grandma Cathy
Parker and Grandma Cathy
Parker, Aunty Hannie and Baby B
Parker, Daddy and uncle Robert
Parker and uncle Nate
Parker and Aunty Aubree
Parker and his G-pa
Our favorite nurse Donna. She was the best and even rubbed my swollen feet!
Getting ready to go home!
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures with all our visitors but we really appreciated everyone who stopped by, who sent flowers and gifts and for all the texts, emails and facebook messages both before and after his birth. We are so blessed to have so many amazing people in our life and felt extremely loved during this entire process. Thank you everyone for being a part of our miracle and for all of your love and support of getting Baby Parker here.
