The First Week as a Family of 9!

We had a lot of visitors since it was a weekend and we loved visiting with everyone, though looking at the pictures I see we are missing a few!  Sorry Matt and Jo, Amy and Charles, and Laurel!

When the boys first came in Ryan looked at me and with surprise in his eyes said, "Baby Tom out your tum! Mom, baby Tom out your TUM!"  It was adorable.  The boys were excited to see and hold him, but soon became much more excited about daddy's treats!

Most of these were from Melanie's phone so you get the cute Instagram college

Family of 9!

*sidenote:  After you have a c-section you are not able to have real food until you pass gas.  This didn't happen for me for a full day, so I was living on broth, juice, and Italian Ice.  I was really excited when I was able to have real food, which started Sunday.

Jacob's work mom Laurel gave Thomas this blanket which we instantly put him in and he loved it, often calming down when we wrapped him in it. Pretty much everyone who saw him commented on how cute and comfy it was.  We all love it.

Friends with their boys 4 weeks apart

 Our boys came back to see us again on Sunday afternoon.

Jacob loved to give kids rides in this bassinet

The nurses stress that you get up and walk around the halls to help with the recovery.  Before I could get my IV and catheter out I had to walk the halls like this, because my gown didn't cover my rear end enough.  I was stylish.  I was so excited to get those out and be able to shower and move freely.  The nurses were proud of how well I was doing and would cheer me on whenever I went for a walk.

We loved our time in the hospital getting to snuggle our sweet baby.

Thomas was a master nurser and would often latch on for 30 minutes a side.  His nose was often stuffy from mucus left over from the birth, so when he got really hungry he would snort.  It was adorable.

We decided we'd leave on Monday night, with the doctor's approval.  At Thomas's last check up the nurse noticed his breathing was VERY labored, his stuffy breathing was also worse.  She took him to the nursery to make sure he was getting enough oxygen.  His numbers were all fine but he still was taking in these deep breaths every time. They called a NICU nurse to come and take a look at him, since they are a bit more specialized in this area.  He came down and suctioned out a large piece of dried snot from his nose, no wonder he couldn't breathe!  We waited an hour or two more making sure that was really the problem, and it was.  He was just fine to come home with us.

* We had the same nurse for all three days and loved her!  She has 4 girls, the middle two being twins and her fourth coming 20 months after her twins, so she had some really good advice and knew what I'd be facing at home.  Not to mention she was on top of my medication which really helped!

My parents didn't tell the boys we were coming home, they just let them stay up a little bit longer.  The boys were excited to see us, but more excited to hold Thomas!

Christopher

Ryan

For the first few days after I was home, William would come and let me know that I had a new shirt on.  I'm not sure why this was so cool, but I thought it was cute.

William

The first night was a bit rough.  Thomas wanted to eat every 3 hours, which wouldn't have been a huge problem, but he nursed for about an hour then I'd swaddle him and put him down and just when I'd carefully get back in bed he'd start fussing again.  So I woke Jacob up to help put his binky in, but then Jacob couldn't get back to sleep for a while and I'd have to get up shortly after that.  Thankfully my parents were here to take care of the boys so we could sleep in.

Spencer and Max were asleep when we came home so they were very fascinated with Thomas when they woke up.

But they weren't the only ones.

My parents left Tuesday afternoon and after naptime we all went on a walk around the block, since walking helps the healing process of a c-section.  Our first family walk.

Then we came home and watched a movie all together.  Thomas was a fussy and since he only cries when he's hungry Jacob asked if we should try a bottle, but knowing we'd go into the doctor the next day I wanted to make sure I was giving him enough milk without supplementing. Tuesday night was a bit better; I had decided to let Thomas nurse until he pulled away instead of me breaking the latch.  45 minutes on each side. I nursed him for an hour and a half, but then he went peacefully back to sleep.  He only woke up twice, which I was very grateful for.

Wednesday morning I took Thomas to the hospital to get his bilirubin checked since he was on the border when we were leaving the hospital.  Then we went over to his doctor's office to make sure his breathing was fine (after the scare when leaving the hospital).  He had lost almost a whole pound (10% of his body weight), the doctor was a bit concerned and suggested with his bilirubin being so low and his losing weight we should supplement for the next few days until everything comes back up.  While talking to him I realized that my milk had come in sooner than with the other boys, but was not as full.  I thought it was because Thomas was such a great nurser but I realized that I wasn't producing as much milk as with Steven and Christopher and that's the reason he was nursing so long; he wasn't getting enough.  Jacob and I decided we'd just formula feed.  It was would be better for Thomas now, and for our family if I could feed Thomas in 20 minutes instead of an hour every 3 hours.  Not to mention he'd sleep better, so I'd sleep better and be able to take care of our family better.

We got the results back from the hospital and Thomas was now in the severe zone which meant he needed to have some phototherapy.  We had the light bed and jacket for 2 days and just the jacket for the third day before his levels were back where they needed to be!

It was really sad to not be able to hold and snuggle him.  The boys did think he was a bit more interesting to look at when he was all lit up.

Thanksgiving!

It started like every morning with me and Thomas in the hospital, but I made sure while he could wear clothes (he couldn't while in the bed) he'd wear the turkey bum pants.  He was our Turkey Tom!

The nurse thought it was cute and took a picture of it.  She was a twin and from a family of 9, we had some good talks of how it was growing up as a twin in a large family.

Our Thanksgiving Feast!

It was a bit weird to just have us for Thanksgiving, but fun at the same time.  Jacob and I commented on the fact that we were having 7 people over for dinner and none of them helped cook; all they wanted to do was play games, make a mess, and complain.  Sounds bad until you realize it's all our kids and they're all under 7.

We had Jacob's brother, Andy, and my brother Matt and his friend Max over for pie.  So we did have some family which was nice.

Once we switched over to formula Thomas was filled sooner and he started sleeping for longer stretched (4-5 hours!).  He really is such a great angel baby!

We spent 4 mornings in the hospital in his first week of life.  He did really well though and his last time getting his foot poked he didn't even cry!

Jacob was able to be home with us the whole first week thanks to the holiday.  I had imagined that we would spend it just watching a bunch of movies together, which we did...

...but I also was feeling much better than I did after Spencer and Max, or after any birth as a matter of fact.  So we went out quite a bit!  Jacob would often take some of the boys out for adventures while I was taking some much needed naps.  But when Thomas was just a week old, we went to Lowes to get some materials for a project Jacob did for me.

We were quite the sight and when we were finally done we were all tired of being there and hungry, we went to Dickey's!  Which most of the boys did great, except Max and Spencer had some melt downs.  Max was okay as long as he had ice cream, but Spencer was a guessing game what he wanted and if you offered him something he didn't want, he'd start screaming again.  Other than that, it was perfect!

I felt weird being out and about after just having Thomas, but I figured if I felt good enough I might as well be out with my family.  We also went grocery shopping.  I'm not allowed to push a cart so Jacob wore Thomas (he insisted) and then pushed the cart around while I got the food we needed.  Also didn't think I'd go shopping for a while either, but I'm grateful I've been able to.

Christopher with his new hat Jacob bought him from the D.I.  I thought he looked so cute and like a character on Little Rascals.

Jacob's new project!  He was cleaning that area out (we caught our third mouse. gross is right, hopefully they were our last).  I mentioned to him what I really wanted for that corner and he just went with it.  It turned out just like I had imagined. It will make doing laundry so much easier!

Thomas's first bath

Thomas's first photo shoot while everyone else was at church.  Thomas really is the best baby we've ever had and is so darn cute!  We all love him.  Christopher says he loves him more than anyone in the world, even more than me.  Ryan, while holding him, said, "Baby Tom so cute!  Baby Tom so little!"  

It's funny how he's only been with us a week and but seems like he's been a part of the family the whole time.  We can't imagine life without Thomas now!