Day Four

I am at day four postpartum and we have been home from the hospital for two days now. Even with the discomfort of my healing abdomen it has been a struggle for me to do nothing but rest while we settle in at home and find a groove for our new family of four. I have been told by my midwives not to do anything in this first week - no outings, not even walks - and Chris and my Mom are on me constantly to go back to bed. Even Eloise seems to grasp that I need time to heal, so really, I am my only adversary.

The biggest difference this time around is that by day four we were just leaving the hospital with Eloise. This means I had had two additional days of monitoring by nurses and more rest with Eloise in the nursery. My Mom keeps reminding me that if I was still at the hospital I'd basically be in bed, so get back in there already! Mom, I promise, I am working on it, it's just hard.

Things are so far going pretty well. Eloise has been a little extra emotional but this is to be expected. Last night she had a full on meltdown as we neared bedtime and would not bathe or even agree to put on her pajamas. She has been in the garden all day with my parents, her hair was a matted mess, her dress grimy and she had dirt up the back of her legs, but it didn't really matter. At that particular moment she just needed to do what she needed to do and her request was to rock on the glider with me and her milk. So we did. Looking down at Eloise I could not believe how huge she felt; she is a fully formed little human who just a few days ago felt small as I carried her around. Now she is a giant compared to her little brother.

Our new bundle, Spencer, is one chill little dude. He has found his lungs but reserves these for diaper changes with Chris. He is eating well although now that my milk has come in I am a little concerned at how much he is getting. It's both good and bad that I don't struggle to produce breast milk but my supply seems to be a little more than his demand and he often chokes while feeding from my fast-flowing let down. I am trying different nursing positions and letting him feed constantly, I just hope he is getting what he needs. Last night he slept for nearly four straight hours, impressive for someone who is just four days old, so I think we're on the right track.