Birth Week: Hospital Stay

Oh I think I could have stayed at the hospital for weeks. The food was great, the nurses were awesome...I felt safe, my baby was safe. My bed for the first time in months catered to me and my every need.  It was a very comfortable environment. Not to mention we were in a gorgeous corner room overlooking Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. The only thing I hated was the stupid I.V. stuck in my arm. The best part was I didn't have to worry about cleaning up after myself...and I had no agenda to be anywhere or do anything or entertain anyone...it was just time to bond with my beautiful new baby. What was there not to love about that?

I did have some weird complications the first night.  At one point I was having a hard time breathing...the nurse came in to check me and she said it was just my body slowing down and catching up from labor.  And then there was the rock in my stomach.  That freaked me out. I expected a somewhat inflated belly but I was not expecting to feel a rock hard mass in my tummy that hurt like the Dickens when you touched it.  The nurses weren't quite sure what to make of that...their best guess was the it was either my uterus already shrinking up or it was a blood clot. They decided it was a blood clot and at one point I had 2 nurses kneading my belly like pizza dough....they thought this might help get the clot out...but it just made me more uncomfortable.

There was some fear that Gunnar might be anemic or something and so the nurses felt it was necessary to give him a bottle of formula to get his blood level up. This was extremely disappointing to me because I didn't want him to have any formula or bottles...I was set on breastfeeding and I had hardly begun. I was so worried that he'd get addicted to the bottle from the get go...so after the first bottle I put my foot down. I was going to feed him, he didn't need a bottle...I could do this. So despite the nurse's protests....I kept him and fed him like there was no tomorrow. Thankfully his next tests showed much improvement and I didn't have to fight for my right to breastfeed any longer.

The nurses were shocked when they saw how much milk I already had from day one.  When they tried to show me how to cup my breast they were flabbergasted when milk squirt right in their eyes! Haha! They tried to help  G learn a better latch (it was awful..very tight mouthed) but he never caught on. To this day his latch is still terrible (don't let bad latches discourage you from breastfeeding unless it really is hurting you...I never had any pain despite G's terrible latch. I continued to try to correct it for weeks but gave up when I realized he was definitely getting enough and I wasn't suffering so who cared!)

skyping with Erika while Gunnar was at his 24 hour checkup

loved having him next to me in reaching distance....

Our little pumpkin ready to go home...hat made by Siba!!

He wore the sweater and hat that his daddy and grandpa wore home from the hospital.

Home sweet home!

The Grandmas made this cute welcome home sign!

I think John was very relieved to be going home (and to his own bed...the bed for him wasn't too comfortable)...but I was wishing I could have a few more days.  For some reason it felt like a mini vacation with my new little present and I just wanted to cherish that a bit longer before getting back to reality.  But 2 sets of grandparents were waiting at home ready to help us out...so I knew it would be okay.