Claire's Birth Story (Part 3): First Few Weeks at Home

Picking up where I Ieft off to finish out Claire’s birth story and journey home.  Luckily Claire’s jaundice was quickly resolved and only had to be on the bilirubin blanket for less than 24 hours.  Unfortunately, my follow up appointment for my blood pressure wasn’t as smooth.  We ventured back out for my recheck and it was high.  My doctor 'scared' it back down though, she told me to lay down and relax and if it doesn’t go down in the next 10 minutes, she was going to readmit me back in the hospital and put me on magnesium sulfate to bring it down.  Okay, I know people who have had mag sulfate and I’ve also read horror stories about how bad mag sulfate is and how you basically lay in bed and vomit continuously for 24 hours (sulfate is rough on the stomach).  So I concentrated on relaxing as much as I could and the nurse came back in 5 minute intervals checking my blood pressure and within a half hour it was completely normalized and I got the green light to go home with strict orders to take it easy and continue on my blood pressure medication.  Wheew!  Last thing I wanted was to go back to the hospital.

The first week, Aaron stayed home to help out with Claire.  I was still in a lot of pain and moving slowly and my blood pressure was making me feel less than great.  We sent Annie to daycare and kept her as close to her normal schedule as possible.  Claire pretty much slept for the first 2 weeks, only really waking to eat.  She was being a pretty easy baby for us which helped as we adjusted back at home. 

Aaron and I both were surprised how much more relaxed we were with baby #2.  I remember the first night we brought Annie home, I didn’t sleep a wink, I checked on her probably literally every 5 minutes and was so nervous about that first night.  With Claire, we had her set up in our room and I slept soundly, setting my alarm every 3 hours to feed her but had no troubles sleeping or worrying about her.  Aaron commented on how much more relaxed he was and how much more easily he was able to enjoy just holding her.  We both felt so nervous as parents the first time around that I don’t think we really fully appreciated those sweet newborn moments and taking in their tiny little selves.  

The newest of Claire has yet to wear off for Annie, which is great.  She wants to be the biggest helper, which is sweet.  The first thing Annie does when she walks in the door from daycare is run thru the house looking for Claire.  Claire is usually in the swing, the Rock N Play, or in the Pack N Play.  And when she finds her, she wants to hold her right away.  We are working on Annie with being gentle, her help is a little forceful at times.  Shoving a paci into the baby’s mouth forcefully is not being gentle.  Annie likes to go get the diapers and wipes and wants to change Claire’s diaper all the time.  And then if she is sleeping, well she wants to wake her.  When Annie is clapping along to Dora the Explorer, she will reach over and clap Claire’s hands for her.  When Claire is in the swing, Annie is pointing to the tummy time mat, wanting her down where Annie can play with her.  It is incredibly enduring but then there are times if I’m hold Claire and Annie is being ‘needy’ then Annie gets pretty upset.  We try to have a good balance of Aaron and I trading off between kids but sometimes Annie is very particular on who she wants at a certain moment.

My recovery overall has been going well.  I actually started feeling really good 2 weeks out and ended up over doing it and popped a stitch.  That was pretty painful!  That put me back in bed for a good week but now I feel like I'm on the homestretch of my recovery and am almost fully recovered now. Recovery the 2nd time around has been much easier than the first time. 

All in all, we are getting along okay.  Claire sleeps a lot still and waking up every 3 hours to feed her is tiring.  I don’t remember being this tired with Annie but I’m hopeful she will be sleeping thru the night by 8 weeks old like Annie did (fingers crossed!).  Our evenings are the most chaotic with Annie home from daycare, dinner, clean up, bath nights, the struggle of putting Annie to bed and just feeling overall fatigued by end of the day but we managing and thriving so far!