Week 1 (slightly late, almost to 2 weeks!)

(I put her back in the belly cast and she still fits! 1 week old)

Well, the first 1/2 of the first week of Kalaya's life was, of course, spent at the hospital. Everything went really well and I started recovering quickly. We stayed until Saturday afternoon. (4 days) We considered staying another day, only because it was so convenient to have food on demand and any help we needed. However, by the time Saturday came around, we were ready to go home. My pain levels weren't too bad. There was one time the nurses let me sleep instead of waking me up for my meds; BIG MISTAKE! I was in a lot of pain and didn't realize it until I had started getting up to try walking and ended up crying and in a LOT of pain. The nurses didn't seem to realize that it was higher pain than when my meds were working and tried to get me to keep going and OUCH. Other than that, my pain was managed very well. All of the nurses were great! They were so helpful and friendly. Kalaya got to stay in the room with us the whole time other than once each every evening when she was weighed. She dropped a few ounces (I think she was at 6 lbs 11 oz at her lowest), but we expected that. She did GREAT with nursing and as a result, my milk came in after only 2 days. And, luckily for Nelson, the muconium (sp?) poops went away quickly as a result! She slept pretty well at the hospital too, we co-slept with her. I loved waking up and having her next to me in my bed. The nurses were very supportive of her sleeping with me, it made nursing easier and kept her really warm! We had some visitors in the hospital, but not too many, which was perfect. We got a lot of time just the 3 of us, which was what we wanted.

Kalaya came home on Saturday, May 9th. My parents met us at our apartment, along with Pippy. We had sent home a blanket with them, from the hospital, so Pippy could smell Kalaya, but she apparently wasn't too interested. She sniffed Kalaya and didn't react much, but at least she wasn't mad! She acted a little worried about Kalaya's cries the first day, but after that has done great! She likes to give Kalaya kisses.

Being at home has been a special time for all of us. My recovery gets better every day and I feel more active as time goes on. We went for our 2 day Mommy/Baby check-up on Monday and Kalaya had already gained back her lost ounces and a little more! (7 lbs, 4 1/2 oz) The nurse said she must be eating well and to keep it up! She raved about how well she and I were doing. (Nelson too of course!) She acted really surprised that my milk had fully come in and that Kalaya's digestive system was on track already. Kalaya tested slightly jaundice, but the number was low enough that there's nothing extra we need to do. All in all, healthy baby, healthy mama!

As far as sleep goes, she's doing alright. She sleeps longer if she's on one of us, like we did in the hospital. We continue to co-sleep with the 3 of us in our bed and wouldn't have it any other way! It's wonderful to wake up to her little noises in the night, no matter how tired we are. Nelson has been great about changing diapers, doing laundry, cleaning and preparing food, as it is still hard for me to move around and get up and down. Kalaya eats often and therefore needs to be changed often, which means she is healthy! She only really cries when she's hungry or getting changed, there's not much guessing with her. We can sometimes get 3 hours at a time of sleep, so we're trying to take everyone's advice and sleep when she sleeps. We've had some visitors, but haven't been overwhelmed, which is good. She is wearing only Newborn size clothes, everything else I've tried is too big! We are thankful everything is going well and glad to be home together as a family!