Noah's Arrival - Part 2

After Noah was born, I did have to get out of the tub to get cleaned up. Of course at that point, I was holding my new baby so I didn't care where I was. With the help of the midwives and Dan and my doula, while holding Noah, I got out of the tub, was toweled off, given a blanket for Noah and walked over to the bed. Walking was not fun, but I was soon given ice packs and things started to feel a little better once they were numb ;) Noah and I stayed skin-to-skin for a long time after we got out of the tub, a standard practice at the birthing center and one that I loved. When I had Joey at the hospital, first I had to tell the nurses that I wanted to do skin-to-skin after he was born and we only got to do it for what felt like a really short time before he was whisked away to get cleaned up and checked out. Noah came out pretty clean, thanks to being born in the water I'm sure, but the midwives were not in any hurry to take him away from me. We even started breastfeeding when he made fussy noises, he latched on and sucked like a champ, everyone was very pleased to see it :) I even still held him while getting stitched up, I almost didn't need the stitches but I would have healed up funky without them, so I got 2 haha.

We stayed the minimum of four hours, where my postpartum nurse did final checks on us (made sure I used the bathroom and that Noah didn't have any respiratory issues), and then we headed home for some much needed rest! I tried taking a nap at the birth center, but it wasn't my bed and I was still too wound up from the delivery. We ended up getting home just after midnight and Joey stayed at my parents' so that we only had to worry about getting up for Noah that first night. Noah slept better than Joey did his first night and for that I was grateful, we still have nights where I wake Noah up to eat because he enjoys sleeping so much. That happens less now that he's two weeks old and loves the boob, but sometimes.

Recovery this time around has been SOOOO much different. Between staying at home, not being pumped full of drugs, and knowing what to expect, I've had a much easier time recovering than I did with Joey. If you had asked me the day Noah was born what I would do for the next baby (hospital with epidural, or no drugs and go home early) I wouldn't have known for sure what I would pick, but now that I'm a couple weeks into recovery and feel almost 100%, hands down I'm going back to the birth center! Joey has been amazing with Noah. We're still working on how to be gentle, but for the most part he is wonderful! When the home visit nurse came over a few days after Noah was born, Joey was extremely protective of Noah when she pulled out the stethoscope and was listening to the baby breathing. Joey did not like the strange lady putting something on his baby! Joey also likes to show off Noah whenever someone comes into the house, just like he likes to show off some of his toys ;) He's even better about seeing Noah nurse than I expected. The first couple of times he was jealous, but now he knows he needs to share and even waits patiently for it to be his turn! Sometimes Joey is in full-on toddler-mode and needs some nom-noms right then and there, and we're working on making tandem nursing more comfortable for me since the boys are two different sizes, but for the most part having both of them nursing isn't as difficult as I thought it might be.

Noah's first couple pediatrician appointments went well. His first was a few days after he was born since the birth center doesn't have a pediatrician on staff and there were a few things he needed to have done. Then our pedi likes to see babies a week after they're born for a weight check, where we found that Noah was not only back to his birth weight but had surpassed it! At that point, his cord stump had fallen off but still looked a bit funky so the doctor used silver nitrate to help cauterize it and seal it off. We went back today for a second treatment of the nitrate because his bellybutton is deep and there was one tiny spot that needed just a bit extra. At today's appointment, Noah weighed in at over 8lbs! That means he gained more than one pound in 17 days, which is awesome for a breastfed baby (usually they will gain weight slower than babies who are given formula).