First Day Home With Baby

It was daylight savings time and we came home with a baby.

Who would have thunk that out of all the things we just endured there was going to be another challenge as soon as we got home. Just about everyone came to visit us at the hospital, my parents, his parents, my aunt and uncle, his brother and sister-in-law it was lit lol they bought food, smiles and good vibes ! When we got home though. WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY.

Let everyone know when you plan to accept visitors! First day home is off limits, unless you previously planned for day one visitors or are having some live in help for the first few days.

This visitor came in good spirits and was well intentioned, but had POOR TIMING. We literally just sat down after unloading the car and baby and Baby got hungry so we were about to begin our first at home feed. As I explained on the Delivery page, we had quite the process for feeding as we were still awaiting my milk to come in. I was not accustomed to feeding Baby by myself yet and my man was attending to our guest so I was doing the best I could. The syringe portion of each feeding up until now had been my mans job, since he was occupied I figured I would start feeding without the syringe and when he came back we would do the syringe part. Sleep deprived me forgot to ask my man to get the syringe ready and baby fell asleep so we never did the syringe. Which means MY BABY DIDN'T EAT ANYTHING!

Fast forward a little bit, it is about 8pm so we are ready to put baby and ourselves in bed.

Writing this now, I realize that there are a combination of things that are probably strong factors in what happened next. Baby is in a new space, it was dark in our room and the hospital had fairly bright night lights. It was warmer in our house than in the hospital. So lots of things for baby to adjust to. He was not having it. Baby boy was awake and crying for the longest. I felt so bad. We were taking turns trying to calm him down, but nothing seemed to really work. We just kept trying until he tired himself out. He probably was just hungry though, I honestly don't remember trying to feed him again after we got home. OOPS! #newbiemistake Once he finally fell asleep and woke again a few hours later we did feed him and he was a bit easier to get back down. Going down for that first bed time though was a huge hurdle.

Thankfully we made it through the first night and come Sunday night, he actually slept the entire night! My man was so happy because he was able to go to work the next day slightly rested lol.

On a very personal note, some reflection on my actions showed me that I did not ask for help. I remember feeling overwhelmed by having to take on the task of feeding Baby by myself, and annoyed by the fact that my partner was distracted. Don't ever stop yourself from getting what you need. As a woman of color who just ushered new life into the world, it is more important than ever that you advocate for your needs. Do not suffer in silence.

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What was your first day home with baby like? When did you first accept visitors? Does it get easier with child 2? I want to know what your experience was like! Feel free to share in the comments below :)

I didn't have the energy to find the scissors when we got home so he wore the band a couple extra days lol