Home Sweet Home?

After so many days (4!) with Gabriel in the hospital, surrounded by such a great nursing staff, coming home was bittersweet.  I myself was happy to return home after over a week at the hospital, but both Craig & I were nervous about caring for Gabriel by ourselves after having had such great support at the hospital.  Not because we don't have any experience with newborns, but because we knew that sleep would be elusive and there would be challenges ahead, like breastfeeding and establishing routines.

The LaTour Family - New & Improved!

We finally arrived home mid-afternoon on Wednesday the 5th.  The car ride was more painful than I'd expected (stupid c-section incision) even though it's only 2 miles.  Gabriel was a champ and slept the whole ride!

Gabe wasn't so thrilled to be strapped in!

But once in the car, he fell asleep.

Bringing Home Baby

The first afternoon & night were fairly miserable.  I was, of course, experiencing a hormonal rollercoaster of emotions, which, combined with little sleep and the stress of having a newborn at home, made for a very rough first day home.  That night, Gabriel slept about 1.5 hours between feedings, and we struggled to make the feedings a pleasurable experience for both of us (no one has yet to document the soreness of a woman's chest from initial breastfeeding that can fully explain how my body was reacting to this "torture!").

Such a cutie!

Mommy loves this precious boy!

The next morning was much better - I got to sleep (haha, that's funny) in my own bed next to Craig (finally after a week away!) and shower in my own bathroom.  I found it less-than-humerous that I now need a stepstool to get into our bed without tugging on my incision (serves us right for getting the extra-deep mattress, I guess).  Gabriel was in a much better mood in the morning, too.  He even slept about 3 hours between his first morning feeding and "lunch."  We made it through the day without much fuss (albeit for a little mishap with the drain pipe for the house...).

Our first pediatrician appointment was in the afternoon.  The doctor seemed nice enough; you can't beat an office that is a mere 1/2 mile away from home.  We had our list of first-time parent concerns to discuss, of course.  Gabriel is now down to 7 lbs 3.5 oz (almost a pound less than when he was born!).  This was of some concern, because doctors don't like it when babies lose more than 10% of their body weight after birth (he's down 12%).  We're hoping that the next few days will be better now that my milk has come in, and we're also adding in a little supplemental formula mixed with pumped breastmilk; we have a recheck on Monday to see if his weight has at least stabilized (and hopefully increased).  Otherwise, our little one is the picture of good health.  We did find out that they don't give any vaccinations until 2 months of age, so until then we have to be vigilant about who and what he is exposed to. 

So, here's to hoping that things continue to get better as days pass.  And now for a couple more cute pictures!

Our son, the future model - check out the pose!

Wearing his elephant outfit from Grammy