Lessons Learned - Fin's Second Week

I have come to the conclusion that being a pediatric PA in no way prepared me for the actual EXPERIENCE of parenting a newborn (I know, I know...all of you parents out there are chuckling...like DUH).


Lesson#1: It's difficult to wake up a sleeping newborn to eat - the "stroke his feet," "undress him," "change his diapers" tactics that I tell parents to try do NOT work; the best way we found to wake the sleeping little bugaboo is to dunk his feet in cold water (I hear the collective *gasp* from all of you non-parents but all of you parents are like, "yup, tried that"). When my milk came in, Fin couldn't latch well, which made him hungry, which made him drowsy, which made it harder to wake up to feed - it was a vicious cycle and at our first doctor's appointment last week, Fin had lost 11 oz from his birthweight. When we went back 2 days later, he'd already gained back 3.5 oz, and now he's back to birthweight, so he's got the eating thing down finally, and he's easier to wake up. However, he still doesn't LIKE to wake up. We have a hilarious video of him trying to wake up - our favorite noise is the little squeak he makes after he fusses a bit.



Here are pictures of us at his first doctor's appointment at my office - my friend, Jonathan, was the one who saw us for the visit.



Lesson#2: When you change a baby's diaper, make sure you leave the old diaper under him/her while you wipe him/her off; otherwise, you set yourself up for a runny mustardy poopy mess all over your brand new changing pad cover that will NOT come off with laundering, even with using super strength Zout stain remover (why didn't anyone TELL me about this?!?)

Lesson#3: When you prepare your child's wardrobe, don't assume that 0-3 months actually means 0 months - it's more like 1-3 months; make sure you have plenty of NEWBORN outfits, like this adorable one (of only 4 that we have) that Fin wore to church on Sunday.


Lesson#4: Newborns CAN do tummy time almost immediately - here's a video of Fin on the tummy time mat; it's amazing how he's already using his legs and arms to push himself up.

Lesson#5: Do not attempt to sponge bathe baby on the floor vs. the bathtub (please refer to Lesson#2 for why this is a bad idea) - at least tile is easier to clean than the changing pad cover! Here's Fin about 30 seconds before the explosion - doesn't he look like he's planning something?!?


Lesson#6: When swaddling a baby, make sure you wrap him tightly, in case you have a little escape artist like ours. Here's a shot of Fin about 30 minutes after I put him down swaddled "tightly."



Random photos of our little man during his second week...

Elvis lips - he inherited these from his mother


Chillin' with Daddy

Listening to one of Daddy's silly jokes

Shock and awe face

Fin's First Week

One Week Old

Wow...hard to believe our little man is ONE WEEK old already! Everyone with children has told us to treasure every single moment of our child's life because those moments are here then gone so quickly. Must be true!

This has been a week of firsts for us. We had Fin's first "coming home" party - the evening we came home from the hospital, our dear friends the Salisburys came over to cook dinner for us. Mark brought port and cigars for him and Dru to celebrate the arrival of Fin "New Zealand style" - that's where the Salisburys are from and it's tradition there for the men to celebrate the arrival of sons with port and cigars (I don't know what they celebrate the arrival of girls with....fine wine and chocolate???).

Dru, Fin, and Mark

I also had my first drink of alcohol in 9 months!! Our friend Steve got us a lovely, smooth Spanish merlot to celebrate Fin's arrival. So, I availed myself of a little liquid heaven - delicioso!

Enjoying the sights and sounds of his first party :)

Fin also had his first sponge bath. He was NOT a big fan of his first bath but by the second one, he was a little less fussy, especially since Dru and I have discovered that Fin LOVES the sound of running water - it's the number one way to soothe him. So, we just let the bath water run while we sponge him off.

Fin's first bath

Calmed down with a warm, fuzzy towel

Call us crazy, but Fin also had his first visit to church on Sunday when he was only 5 days old. He was a huge hit; everyone wanted to get a good look at the Smedshammer baby. During the service, he was so good - not a peep, just slept through the whole thing.

Church visit!

Fin also had his first nap with Daddy. These pictures are absolutely precious. Dru's still figuring out the whole baby thing, but Fin can't tell that his daddy isn't a baby expert; Fin loves to snuggle down with him.

See the resemblance?!?

The following are random pictures of Fin during his first week....

Snuggled up in his swaddle

His "fish face" - he likes to purse his little lips a lot; maybe he just really likes his shirt??

Our congratulations bouquets from various friends and family

Who says he doesn't look like his Poppy Findley?!?

Sleeping in the sun

Curled up on his hands

Our little koala bear - he loves to wrap both arms around our torsos with his ear to our chests - I think he likes to hear our heart beats

Fin likes to sleep with his arms and legs crossed - this is exactly how he was sitting in my womb (just a little more tightly curled) :)

The boy loves his fingers and hands! He's always sucking on his fingers or has near his mouth. In fact, he was born with two small suck blisters on his index and middle fingers from sucking in utero.

What's this??? He's starting to focus his little eyes already - he loves looking at his hands and our faces.

HE'S HERE!!!

To our overwhelming joy, our son has arrived! Findley James Smedshammer was born nearly 3 weeks early on July 14th at 7:35PM. He was 6lb 12oz, 19inches long, and had a head size of 13.5 inches (ouch!) :) He has light brown hair (just a little bit of it) and big blue eyes. He has his daddy's nose and ears and his mommy's chin.

Findley James Smedshammer


I woke up at 2:30 AM on Tuesday morning with contractions. I started timing them at 4:15 when Dru got up - they were about 4-7 minutes apart. Because I had tested positive for Group B Strep (a benign bacterial infection for me but potentially very dangerous to our baby), I wanted to get to the hospital before my water broke in order to get IV antibiotics. So, we headed in around 6:30 AM. At that point my cervix was 4cm dilated and 90% effaced, and my contractions were irregular, so they had me walk around for 1.5 hours then re-checked me. I was now 5cm dilated, so they decided to admit me and start the first round of IV antibiotics. Here's a shot of me during the early contractions.

Early Contraction


My contractions continued to be irregular (every 4-10 minutes) but increasingly strong. I got my second round of IV antibiotics at 2:00PM after which I was 7cm dilated so my doctor (who happened to be on call that day and was there for the entire delivery!!) broke my water. Once that happened, my contractions were immediately fast, regular, and strong (every 1-2 minutes, lasting 1-2 minutes each). I labored in the bath tub for about 3 hours, which helped ease the pain a bit. Dru was amazing and was an incredible labor coach through the entire thing. Here's a shot of us in between contractions.

Between contractions


Around 6:15, my contractions were even stronger and right on top of each other - some overlapped even, which prevented me from getting a break between contractions. This is the lovely stage of labor called transition, when you feel like you're losing grip and get to the "I can't do this anymore" point. Dru and the nurse, Darci, who'd been with us the entire day and was absolutely fantastic, walked me through it and helped me breathe through the pain. At 6:30, I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. I can't describe to you how incredibly powerful the pushing sensation is - I was absolutely amazed at how STRONGLY I could push. I pushed for over just over an hour and at 7:35, Fin's head, shoulder, and then body slipped out. We had done it, and all without any pain medication at all!!! Fin was placed immediately on my chest so that we could bond. I had a postpartum hemorrhage which required immediate attention - they gave me an injection of a medicine to help my uterus contract strongly and my doctor had to massage my uterus HARD - it hurt almost worse than the pushing. Once the hemorraging was under control, my doctor then had to stitch me for an hour - I had a 2nd degree perineal tear. But in the next few pictures you can see why it was all worth it.

Immediately After Fin's birth - Our Family


A tired but overjoyed mommy






Our Little Family


After I was done getting stitched up, Fin breastfed for about 30 minutes. He had some trouble getting the hang of it, so we had to use a nipple shield, but he drank well. Then we enjoyed some time with dear friends of ours from church. Finally, around midnight, it was time for bed. Fin slept very well the first night - he only woke to feed once and had the whole breastfeeding thing down much better the second time around. We spent a relaxing day at the hospital, and rested in between our many visitors and well-wishers. Dru took a nap with Fin cuddled in his arms - I couldn't resist taking a few photos! Dru is brand new to this whole baby thing, but he's doing a great job. Yesterday, he received two lessons in diaper changing from the nurses - he conned the nurses into doing both the changes: "Could you show me just one more time?" But then, when we were alone, Fin made a loud, wet sound from the area of his diaper. Dru's immediate response was, "Oh no!" after which I couldn't stop laughing even though I was so sore. I wasn't much help, so Dru knew he was on his own - sure enough, he had to change Fin's poopy diaper all by himself, but he did it and did it well.







Today it was time to go home. Fin got circumcised this morning, which neither Dru nor I could bring ourselves to attend. But it went well and it's already healing nicely. Then it was time to get him in his little going-home outfit and into his carseat for the first time!

We're going home!




First time in the carseat




Leaving the hospital


We're Home!!!


We are now home and doing well. We all took a nap - Fin fell asleep in his new crib. We can't stop staring at him and marveling at the fact that he's ours. Every little sound he makes, every little twitch of his eybrow, every purse of his lips is amazing to us to behold. We are enamored and feel so blessed that God entrusted us with this little life.

Fin in his new crib