The first month

Wow – where does the time go?  Our little Troy is already 5 weeks old!  We’ve just been loving watching this little miracle grow and develop it really has gone so fast.
 
After Troy was born we stayed in the hospital for the first three days, sine I had, had a c-section they keep you longer to make sure your recovery is as smooth as possible.

Adam stayed with me pretty much every minute of every day there and I don’t know what I would have done without him.  Since you’re pretty much confined to a bed those first few days as you really can barely move.  Adam got up and changed every diaper, he brought me the baby whenever I needed to feed or just cuddle him and he just took to being a Dad like it was the most natural thing.  It really made me have a whole new level of love for him.  I am so thankful to be married to someone who I can really see now as a family man, not that I ever doubted he wanted to be a Dad, but you never know how it’s going to be, ya know?  I had no idea how much Adam hated being stuck in that hospital until we got home and he was just so relieved.  There were a few traumatic experiences in the hospital that I think made things hard on him.  First there was the whole – ok Mom – it’s time to get up now and walk to the bathroom – 12 hours after having major surgery that produced a child, without having eaten anything, but being on a lot of pain medicine, with very swollen legs and feet.  The most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.  I made it to the bathroom successfully and they asked me to sit on the toilet, I felt ok and that’s when the nurse asked me if I would be ok in there alone for a minute, I said sure.  Little did I know that wasn’t true.  Soon enough I became incredible light headed and called out telling her I thought I was going to pass out.  I became super dizzy and basically was blacking out.  They whipped out the smelling salts and I sat back down and started to feel a bit better.  Then it was time to try and walk back to the bed, but I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out again.  All the while Adam is just hearing this commotion, and several nurses and personal care attendants rush into the room, they brought in a steady cart to move me back to the bed, and somehow I managed not to pass out and get back in bed.  I needed food and water, no more of this, we want to make sure you aren’t nauseous from the surgery.  I couldn’t take any more pain meds on an empty stomach.  The rest of the night was not restful at all.  You see I have a low heart rate, typically my resting heart rate is between 40 and 50, this has to do with the amount I exercise.  However the machine they hooked me up to was set to sound an alarm if your heart rate drops below 50.  Well as soon as I would relax and start to fall asleep my heart rate would go below 50 and this loud noise would sound.  It was truly awful.  Eventually they just took me off that machine, but not until morning and neither Adam nor I really got any sleep. 
 

I was so sleep deprived, but I was so in love with this little boy it didn’t seem to matter that much.  We enjoyed having several visitors in the hospital.  Adam’s Parents were there, as well as my parents, my sister and Adam’s cousin.  We felt so loved and enjoyed showing off our little tank of a man.  A couple of the nurses mentioned that Troy really was a baby they grew attached to and really thought of as one of the good ones, right off the bat. 

Grandpa Blaesser and Grandma Jun

 

Nana Carol

 

Auntie Sarah

 

Papa Jeff

Our celebration meal at Hoag Hospital

I was very sleep deprived

Adam getting some cuddle time

Cousin Allison

Time to go home

 

We’ve been lucky that he’s pretty much stayed that way and the first month of life for Troy was pretty smooth.  While the recovery from the c-section was less than fun.  I had a lot of support.  Adam was able to be home with me the first 4 days we were home and my mom and little sister came to make sure I always had support.  Then my older sister and her daughter came down the second week to help out and it was so great to have them.  They helped me with cleaning, cooking, getting to doctor appointments and just keeping me company. We also had visits from great Aunt Pam and Adam's brother and sister to meet our big guy.

 

Nana Carol came to help us give him his first bath

Sister Julie and my niece Mia

Auntie Katie and Uncle Nat

Nursing did prove to be a challenge for me, as I imagined it with, given I was new at it and I had a c-section.  After 2 weeks of struggling and very sore nipples, I went to the lactation consultant at Hoag.  Let me tell you, that saved me.  She really showed me exactly what I could do to be more successful when it came to nursing my little man. I had to do a lot of pumping to get Troy back up to his birth weight and at his 3 week check up he was all bulked up.  And from that time forward it’s been a breeze and I love spending time with him nursing and just staring at this little miracle. 

 

All in all the first month has been a lot of fun.  We take a lot of walks, try to get out occasionally to run errands.  Went to the beach, the library, central park, church for the first time, we went to a pumpkin patch, and introduced Troy to lots and lots of friends, co-workers and family members and just were amazed at how quickly Troy has grown.  He’s now about 10 and half pounds.  He loves bath time, and his happiest time is in the morning.  He loves to cuddle and sleeps great in the Rock n Play sleeper.  He doesn’t really like his crib yet.  He’s doing a lot of cooing these days and started smiling too.  Being a family of three really is such a blessing.  We are so in love and can’t wait to see what the next month brings. 

First trip to the beach at 6 days old!