Post Postpartum at the Hospital

Luckily my first night in the hospital, I had an excellent nurse.  She helped me with whatever I needed and took Sydney to the nursery when I requested it.  The hospitals now have a "Room In" policy which basically means that they want the baby in your room with you at all times.  It was fine with Austin because it did help us prepare for when we took him home.  This time I already know what I am doing and after labor I need some sleep.  Brian had to go home with Austin anyway (plus he was still sick and coughing).  Sydney was with me all for except for 3 hours in the middle of the night when I was able to get some sleep.  Sleeping in a hospital is almost impossible.  Someone is always coming into your room for something which wakes you up.  I got about 4 hours of sleep that first night.

My plan is to exclusively breast feed Sydney for 6 months (just like I did Austin).  With Austin, I said that breast feeding was worse than labor and, with him, it really was.  Austin did not latch well.  We did not do well with breast feeding.  So I went to only pumping so he only had breast milk.  That was A LOT of work.  I had to take time to pump and still fed him.  This time I am hoping for a better solution.  Sydney has been able to latch on since night one.  She nurses very well.  The only problem is my nipples are so sore.  They are cracked and bleeding.  That is to be expected a little bit.  It should get better with time.  Right now because of Sydney's weight I have to nurse her every two hours in the day and every 3 hours at night.  The issue right now is my milk is not in yet.  I have some colostrum (very little high fat breast milk) but that's it.  She doesn't seem to mind too much though.  Hopefully my milk will come in soon.

In the morning, Brian, Austin, and my parents came to the hospital to see us.  Austin did not know what to think.  He does not understand that he has a sister.  He was not too interested in her at all.  Everything else in the hospital room was much more exciting.  We got Austin a toy plane that was from Sydney.  He seemed to like that.  It was great to see Austin.  He looked so big compared to Sydney.  It's sad because I really don't remember Austin that small and it's only been an year and half.  When it was time for Austin to go home for nap, he was sad.  I was sad too because he wanted me to come home and I could not.  Brian walked him out to the car and he was very happy with that.

It was so nice of my parents to take care of Austin for all the time we were in the hospital.  They had been on stand by for a few weeks since we did not know when she was going to arrive.  Austin likes playing with them and they enjoy it too.

Brian stayed the afternoon with me and Sydney.  After dinner he went back home to be with Austin.  Brian always puts Austin to bed so it was good that he could do that.  When Brian got home that night my parents said Austin had been a little cranky.  Brian did not think too much of it.  They had to run to the store to get some newborn diapers (we did not know her size so we did only bought size 1 diapers not any newborn).  Since she is so little we needed some newborn diapers.  After the store, they went for a walk around the block.   We walk every night so when people did not see me they wanted to talk to Brian about the baby.  Finally Brian and Austin got home and Austin got his bath.  Right before bed, Brian took Austin's temperature and it was 102 degrees.  No wonder he was a little cranky!  Brian gave him some medication and put him to bed.

In the morning, when the pediatrician visited I told her about Austin.  Her suggestion was to keep them separate.   They live in the same house, but since Sydney does not move it is easy to keep them apart.  Plus Austin is not really that interested in her yet.  Sydney's bilirubin level was still a little high so the doctor wanted us to come in for an appointment the next day to check her jaundice and weight.  She was down to 7lb 3 ounces.  Austin's fever was down in the morning so Brian took him to daycare so he could come up and bring us home.

We went home after lunch.  It was much different this time bringing Sydney home.  With Austin, we were scared but now we were ready to go home.  When we got home we got a few things organized before going to pick up Austin.  I went to get Austin since I had not seen him much over the past 2 days. I was happy to see Austin and he was glad to see me.  We came home and ate dinner together like we normally would except now Sydney was in the living room on the Boppy Pillow sleeping.

We even went for our nightly walk together.  We now have a double stroller.  Austin gets to sit up front and Sydney is in her carrier.  Austin likes his new stroller.  He really likes that all the neighbors stop and talk to us.  Of course Austin thinks they are stopping to talk to him.  After our walk we put Austin to bed and waited to see how Sydney's first night at home would be.