Serenity’s First Two Weeks

by Chrissie Wainright on July 23rd, 2008
No CommentsComments
Now that I have a minute I wanted to write some more about Serenity’s first two weeks!  The day she was born was such a wonderful, thrilling day!  My water broke around 11:30… although I wasn’t sure if it had at first =)  It was nothing like the movies!  The doctor told us to come in and get checked.  Since my water had broken, they had me stay at the hospital.  The nurse had us walk around the hospital to try and get the contractions going.  Eric paced it off, and he thinks we walked more than two miles!  The books all say childbirth is like a marathon… I just didn’t know they meant literally.  We paced up a hallway that had a statue of a hippopotamus in it… which I found a little ironic for the maternity ward.  After about three hours of walking, they gave me pitocin to move things along more quickly.  The nurses and doctors were just so helpful!  Especially John, the nurse we had for the busiest part of labor.  He helped us find different positions to try and help things along, and just explained everything very well and made it all go very smoothly.  After she was here he told us it was very nice to see a couple that were so happy and loving through the whole birth. The doctor came when I was pushing and she said it was crazy I was still able to smile (between pushes though =)  I pushed for just about an hour and then she was born!!  She was born at 10:21 am, 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long.  And she had hair!!  I really didn’t think she would!  I got to hold her right away, and Eric cut the cord.  After a little while they took her and wiped her off a bit, did the whole Apgar check and cleaned me up a bit, although I was really just watching her and not paying attention to anything else.  Then I got to try and nurse her!  Those were the two things I wanted the most, to get to hold her and nurse as soon as possible.  And I wanted to avoid the epidural, so everything was just perfect.  She was so nice to me! =)  Eric is still telling me how proud he is of how I did.  He was really amazing, so supportive and helpful!  He wrote in the baby journal “Working with Chrissie during labor was wonderful.  I realize that comparatively I had a bit part to play, but it felt like we were working through everything together.  She was very responsive to any suggestions I made (as long as it wasn’t in the middle of a contraction.)” He is so in love with our daughter =) It is such a joy to have our family!  I am SO happy!!!  
 ImageImage
After we had some time to bond, they took Serenity to the nursery.  Eric went with her, which I asked him to always do when she left me =)  He was happy to!  Mom left to call a bunch of people and I got moved to our new room!  Shortly after Eric and Serenity got back to the room, he was holding her and said he thought we should name her so that he could tell people her name when he did the next round of calls.  So he made me a deal.  He said he’d give me the baby back after she had a name.  So I quickly came up with a way to decide.  We each listed our three favorite names from the list.  We had two that overlapped, so we chose between those.  I just kept repeating them, and it seemed like a little light went on at Serenity.  She just looked like a Serenity!  We might call her Sera for short… but for now we call her Serenity all the time =)  She is so beautiful!  I love her little pink lips, tiny fingers, sweet soft eyebrows and lashes… ok, I love just everything about her =)
 Image
At the hospital we had so many wonderful visitors!!!    I’m so glad Mom got to be here in time to see the baby’s birth.  Serenity picked just the perfect day!  (the only day, by the way, that no one guessed in the baby poll!)  After we were in the room, Ann and Tina came to see us.  Then all our friends came to see her!  Even baby Aidan =) 
That first night she was a little fussy from one to five am… although she may have had an unchanged diaper.  Eric spent the whole time dancing around the room with her, singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  It was her favorite song =) She was perfectly snuggly during my shift =) 
Our first day home was so eventful!!! I was very worried after the doctor came that they wouldn’t let Serenity come home with us!  She was a little jaundiced, so Dr. Kernoff ordered a blood test to see if it was improving.  We had to give her a bottle of formula in the hopes that the extra fluids would do the trick, since she wasn’t getting much from me since I just had colostrum and we were having issues with breastfeeding.  It worked!  She was improving already, so she got to come home with us!  I was soooo relieved.  We packed up our stuff and left the hospital!
 Image
When we got home, it was so exciting!  Mom was waiting for us, and we introduced Serenity to her new home!  After Eric brought everything in from the car, it was time to feed the baby, and we got our second great experience of the day.  She latched right away and sucked strongly for the second time!!!  Eric was so excited and proud he sounded choked up =)  So far we’ve had to wake her for every single feeding…
 Image
I was bustling around, picking up, and Eric makes me pause by the photo in our room of his hand on my belly.  He put his hand on my tummy, and said “You are so beautiful.  I love our family.”  =)  We are so happy!
 Image
Our first week was wonderful.  It was very helpful to have Mom here while we started figuring things out.  She fixed us oatmeal for breakfast a lot!  (it’s my favorite thing that I just can’t make myself!)  We took Serenity for a stroller ride to Safeway a couple of times =)  Serenity also loves her swing, and she’s already interested in the mobile in her bed!!  It’s fun to watch her look at the mobile and coo =)  
 ImageImageImage
 Also while Mom was here, we took Serenity on her first trip to the fabric store =)  And Mom and I finished a quilt for my niece Raegan!  ImageImageImage
We’ve gotten into a pretty good routine.  At the moment she pretty much eats and sleeps like she’s supposed to!  I end up napping with her in my wonderful recliner for a little while each night.  It’s very cuddly and fun!  She is usually a very calm and snuggly baby =)  Eric has been giving her a bottle at one nighttime feeding so I get four hours of sleep in a row most nights. 
Eric is very excited by tummy time!  At our first doctor visit he asked when we could start giving her tummy time.  She said when she was really awake we could do it, but she seemed very surprised that he’d want to make such a tiny baby do tummy time.  She seems to be fine with tummy time though, and she does work on picking up her head!!
 ImageImageImage
She lost her umbilical cord when she was eleven days old!  There’s still a little scab but it’s mostly healed =)  So soon she’ll get her first tub bath!
Eric has gone back to work now.  The first day he came home he walked right over to us and claimed his turn with the baby.  He missed her so much! 
The first two weeks really flew by!!!  Serenity is such a sweet, calm baby at the moment =)  Everything is just wonderful!

Categories: News, Serenity