Baby Update - 1 week

Well I didn't expect to be writing this so soon (although I'm actually a few days late) but our little man made a surprising arrival at 35+6 weeks and we made it home from the hospital 5 days later.  My waters broke at 35+1 and I was going to do a full update in my 36 week pregnancy post but I never quite made it there.  I'll do a full update on the events preceding and following the birth but it was all quite traumatic and is going to take me a while to get my head around so, for now, here's our first baby update.

Age:  1 week

Weight: 5 lb 4 oz (on day 5), due to be weighed again tomorrow

Feeding:  I feel like feeding has consumed my entire life in the last week.  Finley took to the breast relatively quickly after being born, albeit in small sittings, but I had a really hard time with sore and bleeding nipples in the beginning and his latch wasn't great.  With him being premature he tires quite easily so often falls asleep very soon after starting to feed.  He was born at 5 lb 11 oz but when he was weighed on day 3 he was down to 5 lb 2 oz, which is a loss of 9.3%.  The hospital weren't happy with that and he also became jaundiced so I started pumping and giving him the odd bottle too.  By day 5 he had gone back up to 5 lb 4 oz which means the loss was only 7.4% so they were happy enough to let us go home.  However, due to the pumping and constant feeding, my milk has come in and I seem to have developed a bit of an oversupply.  My breasts are incredibly swollen and painful which, added to the nipple soreness, has made feeding really hard.  Fortunately things seem to be settling down a little bit now and we are gradually getting more comfortable and finding our stride with feeding.  We are only giving one bottle a day, sometimes none, as I'm trying to slow down my supply a bit to get some relief and he's due to be weighed again tomorrow so hopefully he has put some weight on.  It has been nice for Ant to be able to feed him although I'm constantly conscious that he's going to start rejecting the boob for the bottle, although at the moment the bottles seem to be a bit fast for him and he often vomits afterwards.

Sleep: Sleep has been very hit and miss.  We spent the first five days in the hospital so I was getting very little in the way of sleep between feeding Finley, observations, other babies on the ward and general hospital noise.  However, I was getting fed very well and managing to rest during the day and have little naps so I was actually coping quite well.  Since coming home I am much more tired as I'm physically a lot more active and obviously can't really sleep in the day as I have Oscar around too.  I've had a couple of little catnaps on the sofa with Finley on my chest while Ant entertains Oscar or he watches TV but night-time sleep isn't great.  So far Finley hasn't really disturbed Oscar at night which is helpful but he doesn't settle very well.  We have a new next-to-me crib so he's close to me but he fidgets out of his blankets, wants very regular feeds and also often settles then poops so wakes and needs changing.  Ant has been great as often I've not heard him when he's been just a bit unsettled so he's taken over. It's all a bit of a learning curve but in the day he's very settled between feeds and unfortunately I can't "sleep when the baby sleeps" with him being the second child.  All things considered though, we are doing okay.

Routine: Well, given that we spent a large portion of the week in the hospital and then came out just in time for the bank holidays, I think it is safe to say that we don't really have any sort of routine yet. I had got into a little bit of a routine at the hospital because there were fixed timings to focus on (meals, drug rounds etc) but I was mostly just staying up until the small hours then settling and dozing between feeds until around 8AM when breakfast was brought round.

Likes/dislikes:  It is a bit early for the little man to have any real likes or dislikes and with him being preemie he is generally quite calm and sleepy. He isn't keen on being undressed but Oscar was the same. He loves being snuggled or swaddled in a blanket. Generally though he has no real opinions about anything yet as he should still be in the womb.

Firsts: We've had a lot of the standard firsts this week - first feed, first cuddles, first nappy change etc. However we have also had some more unusual firsts that we didn't really experience with Oscar such as first blood tests and first bottle. He did also have his first trip to the park which he wasn't thoroughly impressed by!

Milestones: No major milestones in terms of development etc but we managed to establish breastfeeding, recover from jaundice, start putting weight on and get discharged from the hospital which was quite the journey.

Things we did:  We haven't really done much due to spending the first five days of Finley's life in a tiny cubicle on a hospital ward. After coming home we did take the boys to Markeaton for Oscar to have a bit of a runaround - we were utterly unprepared and then it rained so it was a fleeting visit!

Me:  My weight is down to 65.8 kg and physically I'm feeling quite good. I'm a little constipated and my core feels incredibly weak but otherwise I'm doing okay. Emotionally I've really struggled with the baby blues this week, especially in the last couple of days at home but hopefully that will settle down again soon.

Here's a few photos of our first week:

Just born, following some skin to skin and getting ready to go to the NICU to get his antibiotics.

Little man being weighed - he looks incredibly long here!

A close up when Daddy came to visit and got to hold Finley for the first time.

A photo from Aunty Amy who put Oscar to bed on his first night as a big brother.

The next day we got to see his eyes for the first time, it's only a tiny bit terrifying.

Phototherapy blanket, albeit only for an hour as his blood results turned out lower than expected.

Poor little monkey with his cannula in.

A teeny tiny baby burrito in the middle of the night keeping Mummy company while she was having a bad day wanting to go home and missing Oscar.

Actual phototherapy for about 18 hours with a dummy that's almost as big as his face.

Wide awake and waiting to be discharged.

On our way home from the hospital after five very long days!

Safely home and waiting for Daddy to fetch his big brother from nursery.

My boys meeting for the first time <3

Bonding right away over a shared blanket.

Looking super teeny tiny in his crib, so much so that we put him in it sideways.

Finley's first trip to the park, albeit a short one.