Asher's First Days Home

I blogged about Asher's birth story and about his newborn photos, but I never wrote about his first days home from the hospital. 

It was absolutely amazing. He is such a special sweet boy and I was in heaven with all the newborn snuggles. It was perfect timing because Garth just graduated from University and so we had so much time to just be together as a family. 

Asher was sooooo sleepy. He also had jaundice which definitely contributed to the sleepiness. When the nurse came to my home to check up on him, she was a complete MORON. She obviously didn't have any kids. When Asher dropped from 8 lbs 15 oz to 8 lbs 1 oz, she very strongly suggested that I needed to put him on formula. Keep in mind, he was about 24 hours old and my milk hadn't even come in yet. I cried and cried and cried because she not only made it seem like I wasn't feeding my baby properly, and that jaundice was the absolute worst thing that could happen to a baby, she also made me very self conscious and insecure about my stomach. I just had a baby 24 hours ago lady, it's not gonna look pretty! Anyways, so luckily just as I was sending Garth out to buy formula (because the nurse kept calling and bullying me into it...) my SIL Michelle came over and reassured me on how ridiculously stupid she was and that I didn't need to put him on formula if I didn't want to.

So I didn't. The first week proved to be difficult, because once my milk did come in, he wasn't eating enough and so I was always so engorged and having to pump a lot. We would wake him up every 3 hours, and when he wouldn't wake up, we would wipe him down with a wet washcloth (sounds mean but honestly we tried everything else first!) After about 2 weeks, and a lot of doctor's weigh ins, he finally got back up to about 8 lbs 11 oz, his jaundice was going away and the nurses finally left me alone!

Even though I had second degree tearing with Asher, my recovery was a dream compared to my c- section recovery with Grant. I was walking around, showering, and being a normal human being right after the birth. When Grant came to the hospital to meet his little brother for the first time, Garth went out to meet him and his parents. When I heard them coming I went to the door to see Grant because I missed him so much. When he saw me, he sprinted toward me and I picked him up in my arms, causing Garth a mini-heart attack before he remembered how different things were this time haha.

Grant had a bit of a hard time adjusting to a new baby in the house so it was such a blessing that Garth was around to give him lots and lots of extra attention. After meeting him that first time, he pretty much acted like Asher didn't exist (unless Dad went to hold him and then a meltdown would ensue).

Our little Asher was a dream. He barely ever cried and was such a content little newborn baby. Besides the fact that it was so hard to keep him awake for a feeding, everything went so smoothly and I will never forget those sweet moments I had with Asher in his nursery, on our new couch, cuddling him on my chest or holding him in my arms. Garth would have to literally pry him from my arms so I could have a break from holding him.

It is so amazing how much love you can feel for your little ones. You don't know how you could possibly love anyone or anything more, and then once you have another one your heart only expands and you love him just as much. My heart is just bursting with gratitude for my two boys.

Here are some pictures of Asher's first days and coming home from the hospital:

-A