Shark Bait's First 48

Imagine that, I've fallen a little behind on blogging again. But at least this time I have the best reason in the world. His name is Shark Bait and I spend pretty much every spare moment I have snuggling him which leaves little time for blogging or anything else! But just in case he is my last, I have to soak up every moment of these precious newborn days and I don't regret it for one second.

Since Shark Bait is snoozing peacefully, it seems like a good time to back track a little bit and fill in some holes. Let's rewind to the day of and following his birth.

The first 48 hours after Shark Bait's fast and furious arrival were just as much a whirlwind as his birth. I had hardly slept in five days, yet, as is customary after I have a baby, I was unable to sleep due to the adrenaline rush of giving birth. I attempted to sleep for about an hour/hour and a half while Bruce took the girls to his dad's house, but it wasn't quality sleep by any means as I kept waking up to peek over at the sweet little boy laying in the bassinet next to me. I was so enamored with him from the moment he was placed in my arms. I couldn't stop staring at him long enough to get any true rest.

While I sat in the hospital not sleeping, Bruce was able to get a little rest laying next to me in my hospital bed while KJ sat nearby putting in a few hours of work. The girls were with Grandpa and they too were unable to sleep and instead spent their morning hours having a waffle breakfast then going to see the Minion Movie. Man Cub was the only one of us who got any real sleep and he didn't wake up until gone 9:30 that morning at which point I was able to Face Time with him and show him our new baby. His response when I told him our baby had arrived was "Really!?" in an excited tone. Then he quickly ran off to play with Papa Blas. He was having so much fun with Barb and Blas that I managed to hold off sending Bruce to pick him up, even though I was so anxious to have him there at the hospital with me.

Around noon the visitors started coming. Bruce's brother stopped by with his wife and son around the same time that a hospital employee stopped by to do Shark Bait's hearing test. Then Bruce's dad came by with the girls and he got to meet the baby and enjoy a few snuggles. After he left, I decided I couldn't wait any longer and sent Bruce to pick up Man Cub.

Man Cub's meeting with Shark Bait was pretty funny. He looked at the baby and got just close enough for us to snap a picture, then he just wanted to run around the hospital room. My favourite part was Man Cub's conversation with me- he wanted to know "who him mom is", pointing to Shark Bait. I told him I was and he responded "No! You my mom!". I explained that I was his mom, and Beebs' mom, and Sunshine's mom and now I got to be Shark Bait's mom as well. It took awhile, but eventually he started to understand that he was going to have to share both Bruce and I with this new baby. Sine we finally had all of the wee ones together, we took the chance to give each of the older three a gift from Shark Bait- everyone got a new book.

As afternoon turned to evening, my friend Amy stopped by with a beautiful bracelet for me and Sonic drinks for everyone. She is always so thoughtful. She enjoyed some quality time with Shark Bait and then Bruce's dad came back and brought Bruce's grandma with him. She was so excited to meet and snuggle her 11th great grandchild. Everyone kept asking me who Shark Bait looked most like, so while he was being passed around, I pulled up newborn photos of each child on my phone and put together a little collage. I think Shark Bait looks most like Man Cub, but with Beebs' very round face shape.

Top Row: Left- Sunshine, Right- Beebs
Bottom Row: Left- Man Cub, Right- Shark Bait

Once Bruce's dad and grandma left, Bruce and KJ headed back to the house with all the kiddos to get them settled for the night. No one was shocked when all three sleep deprived wee ones fell asleep on the short drive home. After tucking them into bed, Bruce returned to the hospital to stay  the night with me and the baby. We watched a little HGTV before I was finally knew I was exhausted enough to fall asleep. Unfortunately, despite sleeping soundly all day long, Shark Bait had a hard time sleeping for the first half of the night... He was extremely gassy and I was so scared that something I had eaten was upsetting his tummy. I had visions of needing to eliminate all sorts of foods from my diet to help calm his tummy. It ended up being the percocet I was taking for my after-birth pains that were wreaking havoc on his little system and as soon as I stopped taking it, his tummy ache cleared up. From that point on, he's been a great sleeper, often going 4-5 and even 6 hours between feedings, especially at night. I've never had such a good sleeper, which is a blessing since I was so incredibly sleep deprived before he even got here!

At 2:30am, Shark Bait was scheduled for his 24 hour newborn tests. Bruce got up and went with him and this was my first chance at getting a good chunk of rest. During the testing they discovered that Shark Bait was jaundice so things were a little chaotic for a bit while the nurse got him situated with a bili-blanket. He was the cutest little glow worm baby and I don't know whether the percocet had finally worked it's way out of his system or if he just really liked the bili-blanket, but he slept very soundly from that point in the night onwards. I was beyond excited to finally settle in for some quality sleep after six very long days and nights. The jaundice did end up pushing back our release from the hospital, but only by a few hours. We were very blessed in that regard as it could have prolonged our stay by a night or two, but he improved quickly and we left the hospital just before 5pm on July 14th, about 38 hours after his arrival.

Bruce, KJ, Beebs and Man Cub escorted Shark Bait and I home from the hospital (Sunshine was at Grandpa's house, helping him to rearrange some furniture and hang pictures on his walls). Once arriving home, we just took things easy and started to figure out our new dynamic as a family of six. Beebs and Sunshine had no problem adjusting to our newest member, but it took Man Cub a little while before he really caught on to the fact that Shark Bait was ours and was here to stay. At one point, he was convinced that Shark Bait would be leaving with KJ when she returned home to her family. It was so funny to watch him figuring out Shark Bait's place in our home. And of course now, six weeks later, we can hardly remember what it was like before our sweet baby boy arrived. He has been such a wonderful addition to our family. He is so calm and peaceful and we all just adore him, Man Cub included.