Our Hospital Stay

I remember my hospital stay with Fox as a complete nightmare. I was so out of it and we had tons of people there with us at any given moment, so I was unable to rest or hold my own baby, so this time, I swore I would do it differently.

I just wanted to rest and bond with Finn and enjoy some peace and quiet while I was recovering from the surgery. And looking back, it was perfect and even felt like a mini vacation.

I stayed for three nights and could've easily stayed longer (hello room service!), but I think they were ready to kick me out and there was no reason for them to keep me any longer.

The recovery was so much easier than the first one, they made me get up and walk around only a few hours after the birth and I was able to shower the next day, with Fox these things didn't happen until the night of day three.

Katie stayed with me for two nights and I was by myself for the third night, so she could go home and be with Fox. 

This is basically all he did during our hospital stay...we even had to wake him every three hours so he would eat and he would go right back to sleep afterwards. 

His first bath...not a fan! He's also not very fond of diaper changes.

It was a little surreal being at the hospital with just Finn and Katie, kind of like a deja-vu. He looks so much like Fox, I even called him Fox a few times (might have been my tired brain...ha!). 

He passed his hearing test and all of the other newborn screenings they did!

A rare moment of awake time! It was so nice to just be able to relax and we even took a few naps while we were there!

I was very nervous about the weight checks they did every night, because with Fox, he lost too much weight which resulted in us having to supplement him with formula and me solely pumping and bottle feeding for the first two weeks, which I hated. Luckily, he didn't lose as much and we were given the clear to continue breastfeeding. 

Every morning the pediatrician would come in and check him and they would comment how content and mellow he was, which is when Katie gave him his nickname "Mellow Mushroom".

While I had initially said that I didn't want any visitors during our stay this time around, we ended up inviting the grandparents and a couple of my friends, because my recovery was going so much better than anticipated. 

I didn't get pictures of everyone, but this is my friend Lindsay, who is having her baby only four weeks after Finn was born! It's been such a blessing for me to go through this horrendous pregnancy with her by my side and I can't wait for all of our baby playdates!

On the third day of my stay, we had scheduled a photographer to capture the moment that Fox would meet his new sibling. I'm still waiting for those pictures and will post about that moment when I get them. This picture was taken by Katie on her phone. 

Loving all the baby snuggles and will soak in every single moment, because I will never get to experience this newborn stage again!

Celebrating his Birth Day with a cupcake. Unfortunately I wasn't able to eat anything until 24hrs after the birth, they gave me some broth and apple juice, but I wasn't able to keep anything down on that first day. 

Our hospital room was much smaller than the one we had with Fox, but we had a great view this time around and I loved having the window by my bed. 

Ready to go home!

They released us so late that we had to pick up Fox from school on the way home and he was so surprised to see his baby brother in the car seat next to him.

Going home was hard for me. While I was happy that he was here and healthy, I wasn't expecting him to be born early and had counted on having another week to say goodbye to my belly forever. I took it very hard that I didn't get the chance to do that, didn't get the chance for my last pregnancy picture that I had scheduled with my photographer, didn't get the chance to tie up some lose ends to get ready for his birth and didn't get the chance to have the scheduled c-section like I had planned it. But most of all, I mourned the belly. I was never going to be pregnant again, never feel a baby move inside me again...which is kind of funny considering that I hated being pregnant. I'm sure post-partum hormones didn't help my state of mind and nobody could understand why I was being sad, but that's how I felt.

Of course, getting to snuggle that sweet boy a week early helped! :)

Welcome Home, Finn!