The first (almost) three weeks

I cannot believe that this Tuesday, my little guy will be three weeks old. It has been an interesting time so far.

Week 1

Eliot was born on a Tuesday morning, and we spent a relatively short time in the hospital. After the delivery, Eliot, Justin, and I got transferred to our teeny, yet private (thank goodness) room. Since it was 5 am, Justin fell asleep immediately. I was not able to, as I could not take my eyes off my new little boy, who fell asleep sucking his fingers.

A couple hours later, Justin headed home to be with Emerson and bring her to the hospital. My sister and mom came by the hospital and their arrival began the family visits. All in all, Justin's parents, my dad, my sister, my mom, my grandmother, my cousin Beth, and our friend Jennifer came by. Most of them brought some sort of sweet thing for me to eat--highly appreciated. :)

Wednesday we got the go ahead to go home. Eliot passed all his tests, and he appeared to be healthy enough to go home. We weren't quite breastfeeding champs yet, but we had a good start.

So Wednesday evening was our first night home. It was good to be home. I felt completely zonked, but it was great to have family to keep Emerson entertained. Eliot and I persevered with the breast feeding, but it became apparent to me by Thursday that things were not as good as they could be. My milk had not come in yet and his cry was really hoarse. Plus, he had virtually no wet diapers.

Friday was our first medical check, and I was not surprised when we found out he had lost too much weight. I was pretty upset, but not surprised. They gave us a bunch of formula and a pumping plan (oh, how I didn't miss that). When we came back on Saturday, Eliot had gained five ounces (the doctor had said she would like him to gain an ounce...an ounce kid! You overachiever.) The new doctor on Saturday noticed that Eliot's tongue may have been causing the issue because the the ligament connecting the tongue to his mouth, so she referred us to a specialist.

Over the weekend my sister and her family came up. It was great to see her and her little boy, Owen. We just hung out and chatted most of the weekend. The weather was terrible, so there wasn't much else to do.

On Monday, we took El to the specialist, who sniped his frenulum. This was highly unpleasant for mommy. It also opened my eyes to what it will be like having a son. After performing the procedure, the doctor joked, "I have just made his future girl friends very happy." Ew. No one says dirty crap like that when you have a girl.

Week 2

Justin returned to work on Tuesday, and my mom stayed in town for the week to help out. She tends to be a night owl, which was wonderfully convenient. I have found that I start to get really tired 11 or so, which just happens to be when Eliot gets gassy and has a hard time falling asleep. Every other feeding the little guy follows the "plan" perfectly: eats, gets a diaper change, hangs out for 15 minutes or so looking at his hands, and falls asleep on his own. The feeding between 9 and 11 is a different story. Luckily, my mom was on hand to watch him so that I could get to sleep for a couple hours. For the next two feedings I would feel fine, and for the most part, he would go to sleep okay.

The rest of the week went quickly. Emerson went to pre-school and hung out with my mom most of the week. I started to get the hang of things, and I was feeling good about being on my own, when I got slammed by a terrible sore throat.

By Saturday, my sore throat was accompanied by pink eye.

Seriously. Effing pink eye.

I got a prescription and hoped to see some relief quickly. I was not so lucky.

Week 3

This past week was pretty intense. First, I paid for my procrastination in terms of not writing my evaluations. I basically wrote all week to get them done in time. (I still have one to go, but I should be able to make short work of it.)

Second, my eye infection turned out to be super stubborn. My throat killed me all week and I lost my voice. This was fine when I was at home with Eliot during the day, but not so great when Justin and Em came home.

About Wednesday, I called uncle and asked Justin for help at night. It was (and still is) my intention to do the nighttime duties on my own during my leave. Justin works really hard, he has a terrible commute to Stockton at a terrible time, and he does most of the cooking and cleaning. I think it's only fair that I take care of the nighttime stuff, which I am totally willing to do.

However, the cold and pink eye proved too much and I needed a little help from him. So Justin stayed up with Eliot until he would fall asleep at 11 or 12. Then Justin would pull his tired butt out of bed at 5 to go to work. Luckily, he only did it two nights, but it took a toll on him.

On Friday, Eliot and I had a big day. I wore something other than my yoga pants, we took Em to pre-school, and we headed to my work to turn in the evals. And do a little baby showing off. Immediately after, we headed to my doctor's appointment to deal with my stupid eyes. Later in the afternoon, my friend Janet and her daughter came over and we hung out for a bit.

I was all set for a fun weekend with friends and family visiting when I looked down and saw Eliot's eye was all gunky (technical term I know.) I cancelled the visits and called the doctor. We got a prescription and so far his eye seems to be responding, as has mine to my new medication.

Today we all slept in a little bit (our little angel boy fell asleep after his 8 am feeding, so I followed suit.) Em and I had a mommy-daughter trip to lunch and Target, and Justin and Eliot rested at home.

Tomorrow also looks to be pretty quiet. I need to finish that last evaluation and tackle the ridiculous pile of laundry hiding in Eliot's room. Monday we have his doctor's appointment, and I'll be interested to see how much weight he has gained.

So far our little family of four is doing well. I do wish we were healthier, but Eliot is fitting in quite nicely. :)