baby's first week – Simply Stoops

After bringing baby home and surviving the first night on our own, it was time to take our next venture out into the world – to the pediatrician! They like to see the baby 24-48 hours after leaving the hospital, and since we left Thursday evening, Friday was our only option before the weekend. Attempting to get the baby all packed up and get semi-dressed with my newly postpartum body that was now somewhere in between maternity clothes and normal, was a challenge to say the least. I have no idea what I ended up wearing, but getting some clothes on was a win. 😂

Another scary car ride, this time a little bit longer. I can’t quite remember, but I have a feeling she may have screamed the whole way, or at least part of it. We did figure out that she liked classical music and this would calm her down, luckily. She also spit up, and pooped along the way so we had to change her in the trunk once we got to the office. Thank goodness the snow and freezing temperatures from earlier in the week had passed!

Our pediatrician is such a gem! She has a sweet and friendly demeanor, and helped to put us tired, and uncertain new parents at ease.

Vivian was born weighing 5 pounds and 12 ounces. When leaving the hospital, she weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces. At her first pediatrician appointment, she was down to 5 pounds and 4 ounces. It is completely normal for newborns to lose a certain percentage of their weight in those first few days because mama’s milk hasn’t quite come in yet, and since she was especially small, it was extra important to keep any eye on her.

Because she was so tiny, the pediatrician wanted to see us back in on Monday to see how her weight was looking after the weekend, and she recommended that I try to pump some colostrum over the weekend and give it to her in between feedings to get her as many calories as possible.

Saturday morning, I pulled out my pump to see what would happen. To my surprise, not only did colostrum come out, but in a moment, it was actually milk! As a new mom, this was the most exciting thing! Especially with a hungry baby who wanted to eat 24/7.

Over the weekend, the exhaustion intensified. Vivian seemed to be eating constantly, which made me fearful that I wasn’t able to give her enough milk. The hard part about breastfeeding is that you have no idea how much they are getting, and I was getting very discouraged.

Come Monday morning, we prepared for our second visit to the pediatrician. I was terrified that Vivian was going to have lost more weight, and I could feel myself getting emotional as they got ready to weigh her. To my surprise, she was back up to 5 pounds and 12 ounces; her birth weight! She had gained a whole 8 ounces over the weekend. The pediatrician was overjoyed as getting back up to birth weight that quickly seemed to be unheard of. I was so unbelievably relieved that my milk was working out for the both of us. This was just the boost that I needed.

The rest of the first week was a bit of a whirlwind. Not much sleep was involved so I was tired and emotional, which is to be expected after having a baby. My body would grow tired very easily, or if I tried to do too much. We went for a short walk around the block, and I washed some dishes and that was enough for my aching body.

Here are some pictures from Vivian’s first week: