Postpartum hospital stay and going home

Just getting around to updating about our December {it will be a few posts before I completely update about our whole month}. Westin was the best little stocking stuffer ever! We've enjoyed him as a wonderful addition to our family :)

{Caution: this post is likely going to be picture and video heavy.}

After Westin was born, Ryan and I were completely exhausted but couldn't sleep. I ordered some food from room service. Ryan on the other hand for some reason was craving Taco Bell but had to settle for Subway as it was the only late night food option available in the hospital. I ordered grape juice with my meal and it tasted so good. I rarely drink grape juice but for some reason, it hit the spot :) After eating and nursing Westin for the first time, my nurse encouraged us to try to get some sleep and she posted a do not disturb sign on our door. I had a hard time sleeping even though I was completely exhausted. I had way too much adrenaline. Ryan was pretty tired too and by 3 or 4 in the morning, Ryan was completely passed out and snoring - ha! I would doze off for a little bit until I'd hear Westin make a little noise and I would wake up to check on him. Talk about mother's instinct - man it kicked in right away! I probably got two hours of very sporadic, interrupted sleep but I got plenty of cuddles with my new little guy :)

I knew that OB morning rounds start at 7 am and anticipated I'd probably start seeing residents trickle into our room by 6:30ish {we, unfortunately rarely let OB patients sleep in}. They kept us on labor and delivery for most of the morning since postpartum was full. Once some of the postpartum patients started discharging home, they moved us back to postpartum. We had a bunch of visitors on this first day and by the afternoon I was completely exhausted. It was good to see a bunch of the residents, nurses and my attendings to show off Westin but in addition to these visitors, we had plenty of other people in our from the lab, to the birth clerk, to a person taking a food service survey and another person taking a patient satisfaction survey, lactation, my nurse taking my vitals and asking if I needed pain medication, etc etc etc. Since Westin was preterm {yes only two minutes technically} hospital policy is to check blood glucose levels. Poor little guy, he was such a trooper getting his little heel poked over and over. Even with all of the pokes, he really didn't cry much. Also, because he was preterm, he had to do car seat trending which is where they put him in his car seat and put an oxygen saturation monitor on him. They monitor his oxygen saturation for 90 minutes to make sure they stay fine. He passed with flying colors.

Ok, on to some pictures!

Westin getting ready for his first bath.

Our nurse Kim starting Westin's first bath.

Look at that little cone head!

Westin is not a big fan of the bath.

Finishing with a sponge bath.

Getting warm after his bath. So stylist with his little mohawk Kim gave him :)

Not looking too bad considering I haven't slept but a couple hours in the prior two days.

Love our little guy soooo much - could stare at him for hours.

So sweet!

This picture adequately demonstrates my utter sleep deprivation - check out those bags under my eyes!

Love these two so much!

Westin sleeping through his car seat trending.

Getting ready to go home! {We were so excited to discharge home!!}

Not the biggest fan of getting tucked into the car seat!

One of Ryan's co-workers took a few more pictures of the three of us while we were at the hospital. When we get them I'll post them. Looking over all of these pictures makes me realize that we didn't take a lot of pictures the two days postpartum we were in the hospital - we were likely too busy sleeping - ha!

We discharged from the hospital around 7 or 8 pm on December 3rd. {We hadn't officially named Westin and turned in his birth certificate documentation until close to 5pm on the day we discharged home - needless to say we had a hard time deciding on a name and thought we had a few more weeks to figure it out!} Ryan drove while I sat in the back with Westin. I just couldn't stop looking at him! We stopped at target on the way home to pick up somethings - we were a little unprepared for bringing home a baby to say the least! Ryan stayed in the car and I ran into the store. Really what I needed was a breast pump since Westin would latch but was so sleepy {preterm and jaundice} that I would have to pump as well. The good thing was was that the breast pump I had planned on getting was on sale. The bad news was, it was sold out. I tracked down one of the employees who was able to call to another Target and put one on hold for us. Once we got home, Ryan got us all settled in and then ran to the other Target to pick up the pump.

Cooper cuddled right in. He was pretty curious about Westin.

Westin and I had some quality cuddle time while Ryan was out. {This is one of the rare times that Westin has ever had a pacifier. In fact, I'm not really sure why he has it as he really doesn't take to it.}

I never want to forget our first night home. When Ryan was out running to Target, it was just Westin and me at home {with Zoey and Cooper of course}. The house was so quiet - I welcomed that quiet, it literally was blissful as the hospital was not a place of silence. The lights were dimmed and I sat cuddling Westin in the glow of the Christmas tree lights. It was perfect. Westin was perfect. I felt so content and so happy. I just sat and stared at Westin. What a little miracle! The best Christmas present ever! He is so absolutely precious and words can not describe just how much we love him.

When Ryan got home from Target, he took Westin for some cuddle time and I tried to get some sleep. I don't remember much more from the first night home other than it went pretty well. I ended up "sleeping" on the couch with Westin as he mainly just nursed and cuddled so that Ryan could get some sleep.

Our lives are no longer the same. They are so much better!

~Ashley