This Hetrick House: Week One Recap

Our baby girl is over one week old and time is flying already! She is so precious and we love her to pieces.

Our first week at home was not as exhausting as I thought it would be because she has been a great sleeper at night. Yay Addy! Plus we had my mom and sister here to help us and they were a huge help with nighttime feedings. She really has only been getting up once in the middle of the night to eat and then she has been going back to sleep fairly quickly. We actually had been waking her up at the 3-4 hour mark to feed her since she is a newborn, but I think we're gonna stop that and see how she does.

We came home on Saturday, January 29th around noon and Tina was waiting here and she had balloons on the mailbox and banners above the garage and front door! It was so nice and as soon as we turned onto our street I noticed it.

Mom (now a Grandma!) arrived later that afternoon. Both she and Tina were a HUGE help all week. From cooking meals, to doing laundry, to taking pictures, changing diapers, and helping with the feeding and burping. They did it all and we love them for it. Both were here for one week after Addy came home from the hospital. Tina ended up being here for 3 weeks total since Addy decided to delay her arrival and arrive fashionably late. I loved having them both here and I'm sad that they are gone now. But my Dad and stepmom are coming tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to that!

Addy had her first pediatrician appointment on Monday afternoon and they told us that she lost too much weight. She was 8lbs 10oz at birth, 8 6 the next day, 8 3 the day after, and 7 9 at the doctor's office. Seriously??? I thought for sure she would've gained some weight back. Then I felt terrible because we hadn't been feeding her on the strict 2-3 hour schedule overnight. We let her go to four hours. The nurse practitioner (who was also a lactation consultant, yay!...more about those difficulties later) told me to breast feed her every 2 hours and then pump after each feed and give her that as well. Then go back for a weight check the next day. If she hadn't gained any back by the next day, we were going to have to supplement with formula. Mike and I really didn't want to do that, but if she needed it we obviously would.
So we took her home on Monday and beefed her up for her appointment on Tuesday. We fed her strictly like they told us to, and it was almost sad because it was like we were force feeding her! She was not interested in eating that much that frequently. But, low and behold, she gained weight by the next day's appointment! In fact, the first scale said 8lbs 6oz! Up from 7 9 the day before????? That's a huge gain, so they weighed her on their other scale, which said 8 3. They went with that weight, which was even a lot for one day. But the important thing is that she gained, so no supplementing neccassary! Yay!

We are still keeping track of all of her feedings and diapers to go over with the pediatrician at the next appointment, which is this week. But we all think she is thriving. She is eating well, she's content, and she has plenty of dirty diapers every day. So I'll be interested to see her weight this week.

All in all I'd say Addy has been a very happy baby in her first week of life. She definitely cries at times, but she hasn't been inconsolable. She usually cries when she is hungry or dirty, and sometimes it seems like she might have gas pains, so holding her upright makes her feel better.

She has been sleeping in her crib in her room from night one at home, which is what we always said we would do. I understand why some people have their babies in their room at first, but Addy's room is directly across the hall from ours, so if we leave our door and her door open we hear her right away if she cries. Babies are such noisy sleepers, so I don't think we'd get much sleep with her in our room. Plus we wanted her to get used to sleeping in her crib from day one. And she has done great with it. Like I said, we had been waking her to feed her at night.

Our first week at home was so much fun, and I already can't imagine life without her in it. She makes such hilarious faces (which I am trying to capture on the flip cam but haven't succeeded yet), she farts like a man (you can seriously hear it from another room!), and she is so alert and aware.

We laugh at the "wild eyes" that she gets sometimes.

When she cries her pitiful little cry, it makes me want to cry.

We marvel at how well she can pick up her head already and how it looks like she's trying to crawl when we put her on her tummy.

She makes a Zoolander face with her eyes wide open and her mouth in an "O" that makes us laugh every time.

She hates to get her diaper changed and she hates bath time, but she loves getting her hair washed. She could be screaming throughout the whole bath, but when you pour that nice warm water on her head, she gets a glazed, content look in her eyes.

We jokingly call her "narco baby" after she eats, because she beomes almost narcoleptic. She is totally floppy and relaxed after eating, and its so funny. At this point her mouth is hanging open and the fam has been saying that she sleeps just like me....mouth wide open. Haha!

We also call her "lanolin head" and "milk mouth" because after she eats the poor thing has a red face with a lanolin sheen and milk all over her mouth. Gotta love the lanolin breast cream...like I said, more on my breastfeeding journey later.

I could go on and on.

We love our little girl so, so, so much.

Here are some pics from Adilyn's first week of life!

Ready to come home from the hospital!

Holding hands with Daddy

She met her great-grandparents.

Her Aunt Tina loves her so much!

She napped in the cradle that my uncle made for me when I was born.

She got flowers delivered to her from her Grandpa and Grandma Hertzler

Narco baby in full force!

Our helpers, Grandma and Aunt Tina. Getting in the hot tub with a glass of wine was a nightly occurrence for them on their visit. Hopefully in about a month I can get in there too! It's been almost a year since I've been in it! I've been hanging out with my legs in when they get in, but it's not the same.