Ack…I don’t know what it is…I’m sucked in!  I think I’ve watched another 3 more episodes.  I can’t turn it off!  It’s like an addiction…I can’t wait to see what challenge Paris will put her faux-friends through next, what humiliation they will endure (seriously- being called her “pet” is a priviledge?  WTF?) all for the publicity stunt of being called her BFF (best friend forever).  Forever, in celebrity land?  That’s what, like a week and a half?  Guaranteed the winning chick (I’m rooting for Brittany or Vanessa) will be dumped long before casting begins for the next season.  Anyhoo…

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Anyone want to hear more baby stuff?  Our first week home from the hospital was stressful.  In addition to the usual stress of bringing home a newborn, not sleeping, barely eating and also having a toddler to care for and a house to run, we had feeding issues.  I’d never entertained the idea of NOT breastfeeding Henri and when it didn’t work well in the hospital I figured it was just because I’d spent so long in recovery.  I’d had similar problems with Jakob, but once he regained his birth weight he bfed successfully until I weaned him at 7.5 months (due to a family trip, otherwise I’d have continued until at least I returned to work).

In Henri’s case, he never lost weight outside of the normal realms, but his latched just sucked.  (Or didn’t- pardon the pun!)  By the time we’d left the hospital the few times I’d managed to get him to feed were behind us, and he didn’t latch again.  I had to pump and feed him with bottles, and supplement with formula when I didn’t have enough pumped milk.  It was rough!  Let me tell you- any woman who pumps exclusively to feed has my utmost respect, because it is tiring!  The animosity I feel towards my pump right now…

The CLSC nurse came to the house 2 days after we got home to take out my staples.  My surgical site wasn’t healed as well as she would have liked, so she only took out every 2nd staple, and said she’d come back 2 more days later to remove the rest.  After the feeding issues I wasn’t thrilled to have something else become an issue, but I didn’t have a choice.  The nurse tried to help us with the bfeeding, but it didn’t work.  The best she was able to do for us was to give me some feeding tubes so I could finger-feed him to avoid some bottles.  The hectic around-the-clock struggles of feeding and caring for the cut area were added to that evening.  My mom and I were home alone with the kids while Yannick was at bowling and I’d left her with a sleeping Henri (Jakob was already in bed) while I went to lie down for a little bit. 

Next thing you know she hears Jakob through the baby monitors coughing and then he threw up.  She put Henri in his crib and went to care for Jakob, when Henri started screaming.  That’s what woke me up.  What a rough night- I was caring for Henri while my mom was cleaning up Jakob and his crib, and he was crying and then started retching again and she was holding him over the toilet while I was pacing the hallway, bawling my eyes out because I couldn’t take care of my first baby.  It’s a really hard thing to be there but not be able to help because that’s MY child and I wanted to take care of him.  At that point Yannick got home and helped us with the linens and stuff, and soon enough Jakob was back into his crib and fell asleep instantly. 

The next day (Wed) Yannick checked out the cut area and said it was still bleeding and some spots were oozing.  Great!  My mom brought me to the CLSC and they took out the remaining staples and cleaned everything up.  They didn’t seem alarmed, and said to have the nurse take a look at it the next day when she came over.  Jakob had been fine the rest of the previous night and was perfect this morning, so we’d sent him to school.  He’d had a great day and had a good evening, although we were careful with what we gave him to eat because we didn’t want to irritate his stomach.  All seemed well until about 11:00pm when we started hearing Jakob through the monitor again.  It was like a repeat of the night before- a few coughs and then he threw up.  Yannick ran upstairs and I followed with Henri.  This time the cleanup wasn’t as bad- Jakob had the foresight to stand up and throw up over the edge of his crib, so it was only the floor and opposite wall to clean up.  But he started retching again and Yannick brought him to the bathroom, and again I couldn’t help.  I felt horrible, but I knew that I’d at least be able to be with him the next day as he was going to be staying home from school since Thursday was a special day.  I didn’t know what I’d do if he was sick, but once he was back in bed he was asleep instantly, just like the previous night.

The next day (Thurs) was not only 1 week after Henri’s birth- it was also the day of his bris!  In addition to taking care of both boys and me struggling with feeding Henri and making sure we had the clothes and ourselves dressed and everything ready to leave for the synagogue by 11, at 8:30 am the CLSC nurse rang the doorbell.  She couldn’t have picked a worse moment- Jakob, who had been fine and sitting happily in his high chair eating breakfast and babbling away, had just leaned slightly to his left and thrown up over the side of his high chair…directly onto our cat Sam.

*sigh*

What a fun day.  This recap is getting a little long, but suffice it to say that poor Yannick was caring for Jakob and cleaning up his 3rd (and later 4th and 5th) round of vomit, after chasing down the cat and scrubbing him down.  He got Jakob dressed all nicely for the bris and then we covered him with one of those long-sleeved, smock-like bibs to protect his clothes just in case he threw up again.  While Yannick was doing that, I was with the nurse showing her my c-section site, strugging again (unsuccessfully) to get Henri to bfeed, then trying to get both of us dressed for the party and making sure the diaper bag was packed, then packing a bag for Jakob with toys and Pedialyte… and the whole time I’m keeping an eye on Jakob and thinking what kind of mother am I for bringing him out when something’s clearly wrong. 

Luckily Jakob didn’t throw up again, and his mood, while a little cranky, was great.  He was a perfect angel the whole time (we joked with the Moyel that it was a good thing he didn’t remember him from HIS bris!) and hasn’t thrown up again since…so it must have just been something in his system.  Henri was also a real trouper.  He cried a little more than Jakob had, but only briefly, and then slept through the rest of the ceremony and the party.  As soon as it would be polite we got both boys back home, we all changed into pjs and spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home and taking care of our kids.

And THAT was the end of the first week of Henri’s life. 

Mommy with Henri at 1 week old.

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Coming soon…weeks 2 through 6, some knitting, and a finished item!