Since We've Been Home

We discharged from the hospital at 1:00 pm on Wednesday. We were so ready to come home and introduce Jackson to his new home and the kittens. It was a beautiful day to come home! The sun was shining with a slight breeze.

At first the kittens were slightly curious. More so interested as to who was in their sleepy chair! Sorry, kittens! No more sleeping in the carseat for you!

Emily sniffed him a little but scampered away real quick when he squirmed. She has now gotten used to having Jackson around. When he cries she come over to him and has a concerned expression on her face. If he really gets going she leaves, but I think she just doesn't care for the noise.

Maxie cat was super curious about his new housemate right away. He sniffed at Jackson in his carseat and froze when he wiggled. He didn't run away though. He has since enjoyed watching Jackson while he's sleeping, as shown below. Now that Jack has been home for a few days, Maxie seems to have gone about his ordinary schedule.

We've loved having Jackson home! It's so hard to get anything done! Thankfully, there's not much we need to do at this point! There is laundry that needs to be put away... but at least it's clean, right? The house has remained pretty clean, mostly because I want to be sure germies are kept at bay. We have to put things away so we can sanitize everything!

This baby is such a blessing! He is such an easy baby, at least I think he is! He only cries when he needs something: he wants to be held, he needs to be changed, he's hungry, he's gassy. The only crying we can't stop quickly is when he's gassy. It's pretty sad. He'll go for about an hour and we can feel/hear him tooting or burping. For all the other times, it's very rewarding to be able to calm our baby.

Jack hasn't been cutting into our pleasure activities much. I can read or watch Gilmore Girls while he feeds or sleeps. Daddy has discovered that Jackson can help him with Skyrim! Well, not really, but at least he can spend time with his son while still keeping up with his videogames!

Surprisingly, I haven't felt too exhausted or tired. I have been taking the night shifts with Jackson since he feeds so often. Matt has been sleeping in the guest room so he can get a sound nights sleep. I stay in our bedroom with Jackson. He is up every hour or two to feed. Sometimes he needs me to hold him while he sleeps, but often he's quite content to lie in his sleeper. I'm getting much better at falling asleep quickly since there isn't a lot of time between feedings to catch some ZZZ's. I was worried that I would crash and not hear Jackson when he cried. Matt said that the first night we had him home I would fall asleep quickly and begin snoring but then Jackson would make the slightest sigh and I would pop awake and check on him. That is very reassuring. Jack seemed to have his days and nights mixed up... but we're slowly trying to get him in line with our schedule. For now, I'll sleep as much as I can at night and then pass him off to Matt in the morning (usually around 7) and he'll watch him while I get a few hours of sleep. Of course, Jackson still needs to feed, but I don't have to worry about his little sighs that just mean he's contentedly asleep.

Speaking of Daddy's shifts: It is such a blessing to have a husband who not only loves his son, but also wants to cater to his every need and want. When Jackson cries Matt wants to discover what he needs and fix it rather than just pass him off to me. He changes his dirty diapers. He worries about anything abnormal in Jackson's behavior or schedule. He takes his job as Dad seriously and wants to be as involved as possible in Jackson's care. He wants to learn about dressing baby, feeding schedules, baby habits, working the carseat, etc. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband as a partner to parent.

Jackson had his first Dr. appt on Friday. He lost 8 oz., which was a little drastic for typical after birth weight loss for nursing babies. That was initially the only concern of the doctor's. She showed me a few techniques to try with nursing, plus my milk came in on Thursday so hopefully that will help him put on some oz. We mentioned some little bumps that appeared on his face and body. The Dr. thought they were just ordinary baby acne, but when she checked his body and found some in his armpits she decided to check further. Baby acne on the face, chest, and limbs is normal, but she had never seen it in armpits before. After swabbing some and testing it... he has Thrush.

He has some creamy residue on the insides of his cheeks, on his tongue, and the roof of his mouth. This isn't too out of the ordinary for newborns as the infection preys on the baby immune system. The infection can get into the bloodstream to cause breakouts like the one Jackson has. He also had some spots on his diaper area.

Here is a picture showing some of his Thrush marks. It's kind of hard to see them, but there are some all over his chin, around his lips, and on his right cheek. If the picture was full sized it might be easier to see. This picture was taken today (Saturday). The medicine Jackson received for the Thrush already has had such an impact! The marks are already much less noticeable and there aren't any that have pustules. The inside of his mouth is starting to look much better too.

These are the three medications Jackson needed for his Thrush. On the left is a topical medicine for the inside of his cheeks and tongue. We squirt it all over on those surfaces. After applying it I have seen patches of the creamy substance coming off his cheeks. I try to wipe them up, but most of them he swallows. I'm assuming that is ok. In the middle is an oral medicine for the Thrush that traveled to his blood stream. It helps the marks on the outside of his skin. It is incredible how much better he looks after just 24 hours! Medicine is amazing. On the right is the cream to put on his diaper area. This is in conjunction with the cream for his circumcision. Poor baby has such a hard time with diaper changes.

Not even one week old and Jack already had to visit the pharmacy. Sigh.

We had a follow up appointment today to check his weight. He gained 3 oz. with the nursing techniques the Dr. suggested. So thankful he is a happy, healthy baby! The Thrush should be cleared up within a week. The circumcision should also be completely healed by that time.

Sometimes it's so hard for me to believe that he is really ours. He is such an amazing baby and we are so blessed! He is such a normal part of our lives now.