It's hard to believe that it's been almost three weeks since we brought Cody home from the hospital. We are tired, our house is a mess, and we couldn't be happier. We are starting to find our rhythm as a family of 4; some things have gotten easy and some things we are still working on. Overall, we are doing really well. I am having a slower recovery in terms of the C-section this time around, but when you have an almost 10 lb baby, it's to be expected. Cody is a very sweet baby and hardly ever fusses.(I'm sure I'm jinxing myself by typing that!) He is starting to 'wake up' more and more and it's so fun to see his little personality starting to show.
These are pictures from Cody's first night at home. We still don't have a solid bedtime routine down. The first few nights Jake went to bed much later than he usually does, but thankfully it was spring break, so it really didn't matter that much. He was pretty flexible with us on that part of things.
The first week at home was definitely an adjustment for Jake. His favorite line was, "Cody, Cody, Cody! It's ALL about Cody!" Poor guy! It was definitely hard for him to share our attention with little brother and share Stephen's attention since he was having to take care of me as well. There was a good bit of acting out, showing out, fit throwing, etc. It was a rough week for everyone though since we had a little bit of medical issues to deal with that week with Cody. We got through it though and weeks 2 and 3 have been MUCH different. Jake is quick to tell you that "Cody gets more and more fun every day."
We have also had a few visitors. One of my dear friends and college roommate, Mary, came to meet Cody with her sweet boy, Elijah. She also brought us dinner because she is awesome like that! (Our Sunday School class at church and friends from work have also been keeping us well fed! Such a blessing!!!)
Napping in his swing (thank you so much Aunt Christy for the loan!) Jake NEVER liked his swing and I am so happy that Cody is content to nap/hang out in it.
Our first morning home from the hospital.
Love my boys!
We didn't get to relax too much on our first day home. Cody had an appointment with our pediatrician first thing in the morning. Dr. Sadler wasn't able to come to the hospital each day so this was her first time meeting Cody. We also needed to have his bilirubin levels checked because our sweet boy was jaundiced. Here he is getting weighed in by Ms. Betty on his first trip in.
Unfortunately, Cody's jaundice only got worse each day that week. So, we got to start each day with a trip to Dr. Sadler's office to have a heel prick done so that they could check his levels. It was very tiring and all I wanted was a day that we didn't have to go so that we could start settling in. More than anything we just wanted his levels to drop! Each day the whole family made the trip to the office. (I can't drive for 6 weeks so Stephen had to drive us, which meant the whole fam got to make the trip!)
It took a few days for us to get good news. His levels kept rising each day until finally Dr. Sadler told me our only way of keeping Cody out of the hospital was to stop nursing and formula feed him every 2 hours. It was not ideal and was quite exhausting. We had to bottle feed Cody, but I also had to pump in order to keep my milk supply going for him. We had to do this for 2 days (2 long, sleepless days!) but in the end it was worth it because on Friday, his levels FINALLY dropped and we did not have to admit him to the hospital. What a big praise!
Here is Cody's first tummy time...he was NOT a fan!
After just a minute he settled down. He actually prefers to be on his tummy and I think he really wants to be a tummy sleeper, but I'm not brave enough to let him do that yet!
You can see how yellow he is here, my poor jaundiced boy!
I honestly can't remember if it was night 2 or 3 of being home, but one of those nights Cody got his first bath. (Please excuse the messy kitchen in the background) As expected, he was NOT a fan of the bath.
He did like having his hair washed though (just like his big brother.)
Thankfully, there were some warm and sunny days that week so we stripped Cody down and took him outside often so that the sunshine could help break down the bilirubin.
Here are some fun pictures of Cody on his 'one week' birthday.
big yawns!
love this one!
Happy boy! This was also the day we got the good news that we did NOT have to take him to be admitted to the hospital.
I love sleeping baby pictures :)
By the start of our second week home, Jake was starting to get into the 'big brother groove.' He liked helping Stephen do tummy time with Cody.
Showing Cody how to do a push up...what a good big brother.
He took lots of naps with Daddy
Wearing green on his first St. Patrick's Day...no pinching this baby!
More sweet, sleeping baby pictures
And some awake pictures too...
And more tummy time, he loves looking at his own reflection.
baby feet
More help from big brother
Jake thought he needed LOTS of toys :)
Playing Wii with Daddy and Jake
Great Grandma and Grandpa Rohmer came to meet Cody
Sweet boy
Brother time
My favorite picture of the boys so far, love this moment!
Grammy arrived when Cody was 2 weeks old. He was very excited to meet her!
More pictures of my cutie
I was finally feeling good enough to take the boys for a walk. So thankful for beautiful spring weather.
Happy 3 weeks old Cody!
I think we are somewhat settling into a routine. Grandma is still helping me get Jake to school until I feel strong enough/am cleared to drive. We still have meals coming to help us out at dinner time. My Mom has been here all this week. Next week, will be my first week home with the boys by myself. I think I'm ready for it :) Nights are still hit and miss as far as sleeping goes. Some nights Cody does great and eats every 4 hours, which means some nice chunks of sleep for me. Other nights, he is hungry again before I can barely fall asleep. Hopefully, we start having some consistent sleep patterns soon! I remember that when Jake was a baby things started feeling 'easier' after 3 weeks and I'm hoping that's true for Cody as well. The hardest part really is not being able to drive/not wanting to take Cody out for another week or so. Mama is getting a little bit of cabin fever, for sure! I'm ready to be able to get out for a little bit here and there, even if it's just to the Sonic or Starbucks drive thru. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer before we can do that. For now, we are going for lots of walks since that is my only way to get out of the house for a little bit. Jake is such a big helper, he loves to get things for us and help Daddy at bath time. He doesn't like that there are times that he can't be as loud as he'd like and doesn't understand that Cody doesn't like loud toys close in his face, etc. He loves reading to Cody, playing peek-a-boo, and helping with bath time.
