Life is Wonderful: 1 Week Old

I can't believe that it has already been a week since Josie was born. It has been a crazy and exhausting week. I am sure this post is going to be all jumbled and not flow well. I'm just going to blame that on the sleep deprivation.

I only stayed in the hospital for two nights and left on the third day. Josie was doing great besides losing some weight (she dropped down to 5 lbs. 9 oz), though that was to be expected. I was doing pretty well, too. Both my doctor and Josie's doctor said we were fine to leave the hospital early and we jumped at the chance.

Getting ready to go home!

I have to say, I was a little surprised at how different Josie and Sophie (when she was a newborn) look from each other. There are similarities (nose, ears, hair color, etc), but they still look pretty different. I guess when I was imagining what Josie looked like, I was picturing a bigger version of baby Sophie. Regardless, Josie is beautiful and perfect. She is a pretty pink color and has been since the moment she was born. She has a head full of dark hair (with her dad's hairline) and big, dark grey eyes. When she opens her eyes (and even in her sleep) she gets the most concerned look on her face. These little forehead wrinkles appear which accentuate the concerned look. She has a very prominent chin, which throws me off when I am trying to figure out who she looks like. Her chubby cheeks make it seem like she is a rolly polly little thing, but that isn't really the case. She is actually pretty small (6lb 2 oz). She has a little round stomach and what looks like a future innie belly button (we will see when the umbilical cord stump falls off). Her little thighs have a few small, adorable rolls. When she actually stretches out her legs (she loves being curled up in the fetal position), they seem pretty long. She has long fingers that love to wrap around pacifiers and our fingers. She is just perfect!

Josie is such a sweet baby. I could hold her forever. As soon as she is in my arms, she gets comfy and goes right to sleep. I can't get enough of snuggling with her. The only good thing about those hideous hospital gowns is the fact that they unsnap so easily for skin-to-skin time. I'm pretty sure Josie and I spent half our time in the hospital snuggled together under my gown and blankets. It was like a little slice of heaven. Even though it is frowned upon, I have been sleeping with her on my chest while at home (I did at night at the hospital, too, when the nurses weren't looking). Having her there has helped me sleep better. I know I need to stop, but she is so darn sweet that I can't help myself. *must learn self-control*

Besides being a little sweetheart, Josie is a calm baby. She doesn't cry too much. There are really only two things that make her cry. One is when we change her diaper or her clothes. I'm sure she just doesn't like the cold air hitting her. The other is when she is hungry. Yup, she actually gets hungry! We don't mind that crying at all because it means that we have a child who actually likes eating. What a relief! It is strange to us though to have a baby who wants to eat. That is going to be an adjustment (a good one) for us after all the struggles we had with Sophie's lack of interest in food.

We are hoping that Sophie will want to drink more after seeing Josie drink. It worked at the time of this photo at least.

In addition to adjusting to a baby who enjoys eating, we also have to adjust to a baby who spits up. Sophie never really spit up. This was probably due to the fact that she never ate that much. Josie however spits up a lot. The first night we were home I took the overnight feeds. After one feeding I went to burp her and she spit up all over me - my shirt, my pants, my arm. It was like a fountain of formula had exploded on me! She hasn't exploded like that since, but she still spits up a ton. A lot of what she is getting out is mucus-like, which they say is common for c-section babies. I feel so bad for the poor girl, but she doesn't seem too fazed by it all.

A random, funny thing about Josie is that she has sneezing attacks. I'm talking up to ten sneezes in a row. When she is finished she will give a sigh of relief. I can't help but smile over these sneezing attacks because it means that she fits right in with our family. Joe and Sophie sneeze at bright lights and I sneeze when I am full (big sneezing attacks like Josie). I love that we all have strange sneezing issues.

The best part of this week was actually getting to take my baby home with me. When I was discharged from the hospital after having Sophie, she had to stay behind in the special care nursery. Being wheeled to the hospital entrance empty handed and leaving the hospital without my child was the most awful experience I've ever had. The ride home without her was probably the worst car ride of my life. This time though, I was wheeled to the entrance of the hospital with my baby in her car seat, which was securely in my arms. I waited happily in my wheelchair while Joe went to get the car. Josie rode home with us, crying half of the way home. It was wonderful! Once we settled in, I called my mom to ask her to bring Sophie home to us. She had been keeping Sophie overnight while we were in the hospital. We couldn't wait to have our family together for good.

It has been an adjustment having two kids. Trying to meet the needs of a newborn and toddler is difficult as they are demanding in different ways. I am so glad that Joe took two weeks off of work so that we can tackle this adjustment together. We are trying very hard to make sure that Sophie doesn't feel ignored or abandoned. The last thing we want is for her to resent Josie. Luckily for us, Sophie absolutely loves her baby sister! Since the moment she met Josie, she has wanted to hold her, kiss her, and hug her. As soon as my mom brought Sophie home to us after our hospital stay, Sophie made a bee line for Josie. When she woke up after our first night home, the first thing out of Sophie's mouth was, "Where's Josie?" It is so sweet to see them together.

Sophie wanted to hold Josie as soon as she came home.

So sweet!

Even though Sophie is doing really well with all of the changes in our lives, the one thing that she does not like is sharing her dad. Sophie is a complete daddy's girl so she has been getting pretty jealous with sharing his attention. She doesn't really mind sharing me as much, but man does she gets upset when she has to share Joe's attention. Joe has been really great about making sure that he spends one-on-one time with Sophie. Hopefully this will help with the jealousy issue. The jealousy things has provided a few humorous moments though. For example: (as told by Joe)

While I was holding Josie, Sophie came up to me and asked me to read a book to her. Halfway through it Josie started fussing so I stopped reading to find a pacifier. When I turned my attention back to the book, Sophie was turned away muttering to herself "damn it....damn it....". I finished the book, and she hands it back to me, saying "Try again!"

I can't help but laugh at that story. In case you were wondering, Joe did in fact 'try again' with the story. Sophie was pleased the second time around.

Besides adjusting to adding a new baby to our family, I am trying to adapt to all of the changes going on with me. First of all, I miss my pregnant belly. It is a little sad to look in the mirror and not see it (though I do enjoy how much smaller I am). And while having Josie in my arms is wonderful, I can't help but miss feeling her moving around in my stomach. Another issue is this whole trying to use my poor mistreated stomach muscles (Okay...my doctor took the best care of them that he could, but you know what I mean). I have to be very careful and take my time when moving around so that I don't hurt myself. Not being able to do things as quickly or as easily as before is very annoying. This week I have also developed a cold, which is no fun when trying to recover from a c-section. Sneezing and blowing my nose really hurts my incision area. It also hurts when I start coughing. (I've been harboring the irrational fear that I am going to tear myself in half while coughing. There is no blood or popped stitches yet,so that is a relief.) Another adjustment is with my hormones, which have been all over the place since having Josie. I've cried both good and bad tears just about every day this week. It is pretty frustrating. Now even though I just complained a bunch, the recovery from a scheduled c-section is much better than trying to recover from going into labor and then having c-section. (Actually, everything about this scheduled c-section is better.) I am amazed at how quickly I seem to be bouncing back this time around. I am now able to sit crossed legged on the floor, squat, kneel, and get up without too much pain now (as long as I take it slow). I wasn't like that a week after my first c-section. I am still a little nervous about sleeping in my bed upstairs due to how high up the bed is and the fact that I would have to lay down flat. I've been sleeping propped up on the couch, but I think I can handle my bed very soon.

Josie is such a blessing. She is worth every amount of pain I've gone through and every minute of lost sleep. I am so glad that she is our baby. I love her so much!