At the Hospital

Our stay at the hospital was very......calm. quiet. the antithesis of our hospital stay with the twins. I told Ryan I was kind of sad sometimes that we didn't have lots of visitors and people to come see us like we did in Raleigh. But It truly was a quiet, peaceful time we could enjoy and prepare for the chaos of home. First, little man Easton fully cooperated in making our stay enjoyable. The night I delivered him, he nursed FANTASTIC. I was so thankful we seemed to have a baby who "got it." Then he fell asleep. And he slept....and slept....and slept. He probably went a solid 20 hours or so without waking up enough to eat more than 5 minutes or so. Oh, the difference in your first and second babies....I didn't really worry about it. If he was hungry, he would wake up and eat!

 

I told the nurses about his super slumber and how we noticed he was "gagging" and acting like he was trying to spit up. The nurses said they had been watching him in the nursery too because of his choking/coughing. Then they explained why. Turns out, when babies are born fast (as in hardly in the birth canal at all!) then all of the amniotic fluid in their tummies is not pushed out during the birthing process. Poor fellow flew out so fast he still had a tummy full of amnio fluid. That is what he was trying to spit up and that is why his tummy felt full without nursing. Either way, they said not to worry too much as long as he "woke up" around 48-72 hours old. So...we just snuggled and enjoyed our sleeping baby!

 

 

We had to do a bit more logistical planning for my mom to come up to the hospital since she was the only one up here watching the twins. She got to come up and snuggle with E while Ryan stayed home and napped with the twins....I'd say that was a win-win for everyone :)

After nap time, Ryan brought my first babies up to visit! And yes, it was that cold. I missed them so much, it was fun having them for a visit. Thank God I bought some stickers for them to play with. Huge hit! They were not too sure about Easton during their stay. They didn't want to touch him or really have anything to do with him.

 

 

We did manage to get our first family picture as 5. So thankful....

Something of note: The hospital up here was very persistent in asking me about getting my Pertussis vaccine. Is this something new? I didn't hear about it in NC and never heard about it when the twins were born! Anyway, they kept talking about it over and over so I went ahead and said sure, give it to me. They said it was combined with Tetanus which my mom reminded me would make my arm sore. So...thinking ahead....I asked them to put it in my left arm...you know, just in case. Well, the rest of this story will come later but for now,  heed my words: DO NOT GET THE PERTUSSIS VACCINE RIGHT AFTER YOU HAVE A BABY!! (or in my case....never, ever get it period. I certainly will take my chances on catching Whooping Cough from here on out).

Stop, Stop, Stop it. So precious!

 

 

We packed up and asked to be discharged on Sunday morning. We were packed up and headed home 36 hours after Easton joined us. Again, oh the difference in your subsequent children! haha

 

Yes, we have already introduced the lifesaving Wubbanub. Easton did great in the car ride home...he appears to love his carseat -falls asleep every time. yea!

 

Ryan got mega brownie points and went ahead and ordered Easton's initial and birthstone for my necklace. I asked him what he would have done if E had come 2 days earlier...in October (a different birthstone)...he said he honestly didn't even think of it! Bless his heart. Anyway, I LOVE it. So proud of all of my babies.

So that was our calm, easy hospital stay. Easton was not sent back to us from the nursery due to him being "inconsolable" (refer to Jenna/Caden's birth story - yes that happened). I did not and still have not had my ultimate breakdown in front of everyone. There was no desperate call for the lactation consultant to teach my baby how to nurse. In other words....lots of grace :)