Welcome baby Shrekles

Seth arrived via c-section at 8:16AM on May 10th weighing in at 8lb 9.6oz and 21.5 inches long. Seth was born very plump and very perfect. His billirubin was/is fine, so no worries about jaundice. I know I am one of those people who always thought that parents who think that their newborns are really good-looking right away are insane because all newborns basically look the same, but Seth is really good-looking. I am sure a month from now I will look back and think yeesh! But for now I stand by my claim that he is exceptionally handsome.

When Wyatt was born I thought he was pretty terrifying. He was so small, skinny and long. I thought he bore a slight resemblance to Gollum from LOTR. Luckily, Gollum never morphed in to any permanent nicknames and he quickly grew in to a very handsome lad. Seth on the other hand, looks a bit like Shrek. I have started to call him Shrekles. It's something about the shape of the head and the ears. I think that had Wyatt been born full-term he would have looked a lot like Seth, but the thinness made him more Gollum like. I have no doubt that Seth is going to be very handsome, too. As I said above, he is a good-looking baby, but for now Shrekles it is. Put that on my "bad mommy" list.

The c-section took much longer than expected. I was out an hour later than Dr. Walton thought. He made some comment about it being a really long c-section due to having to go through a lot of scar tissue and Seth having a large head. He had a hard time getting his head out through the incision. He also did the same thing he did when Wyatt was born - say "Here's your baby." and hold him over the curtain for about 3 seconds.

I had a spinal, which about 40 minutes in made me start to itch, then about 15 minutes after that I got the shakes. I don't remember having the shakes last time, but definitely remember the itching. In a number of pictures in the hospital you can see my nose is red from furiously itching it. Most of the information on the spinal was the same as last time, but I don't remember them telling me that some women panic because they can't feel their chest move, but just remember if you are talking you are moving air. I wish they wouldn't have even mentioned that as I don't remember even noticing last time, but I was VERY aware of it this time. Between that and the oxygen mask and the curtain so close to my face, I did start to panic a little.

As soon as Seth was born, Rus went over while he was checked out, came back with pictures and then went back to him again. They asked if I wanted to hold Seth, but since I was shaking so bad and so itchy I didn't think it was a good idea. We all went to recovery together and Seth had his first bath. He did not approve.

We then went to the dreaded Family Recovery Unit. God, I hate that place still. Actually, the first night was OK. I was in a room with three beds in it, but no one else was there. Early evening the next day I was told there was no one on that wing and I was asked if I could move. The nurse who asked me to move was the same a-hole that banged me against the door jam the first night she wheeled me to NICU to visit Wyatt. My first instinct was call the charge nurse and get her away from me, but she introduced herself as the charge nurse.

Anyway, we moved to a private room. Only then did she tell me that I had to share a bathroom and the DVD player didn't work. Nice. Anyway, I will just end with this negative tirade by saying I couldn't wait to get out of there and asked to be discharged after two nights. The only person who immediately said OK, I could be discharged after two days was Dr. Walton. All the nurses kept asking me if I was sure. I don't understand why ANYONE would not get how insane it is to stay in the hospital.

Wyatt was so excited by Seth during his first visit. He barely paid any attention to me, which kind of hurt my feelings because I missed him terribly and it hadn't even been a day yet. But I was relieved to see he was so excited about his brother. He kept saying "babies" over and over again and "sad" if Seth cried. His initial attempts to say Seth turned out more like "sex", but he is getting the hang of it now.

Once we were home it became apparent that Seth's crying was very concerning to Wyatt. We can't put him to bed or get him to sit through a meal if Seth is crying. It's all "baby sad!" and "all done" so we will take him out of his feeding chair. He has started to climb on the first shelf of the changing table to see Seth since Seth cries loudly every time he has his diaper changed. Probably not a good idea. We bought Wyatt an Elmo potty yesterday that can be used as a stool, which we will put in the bathroom so he can see Seth and start washing his hands in the sink maybe. Good lord, Wyatt loves Elmo, although for the life of me I don't really understand why since we haven't watched TV with Elmo.

Speaking of TV, we got Wyatt a stuffed "Toe Toes" (Totoro) as a gift from Seth. He seems to really like it.

Seth wore the same going home outfit as Wyatt did. When we left the hospital we had about a 1" binder full of reading materials, which I will likely never bother to read. The standard newborn packet of materials was supposed to be given to us on the L&D floor, but we didn't get it. Our discharge papers kept referring to them though, so we requested them repeatedly. We finally got them on our way out. When I got home I saw it was a Spanish language packet.

Did I also mention I almost got in an argument about whether Seth had gotten the HEP B vaccination? The one nurse kept saying no that was a vitamin K shot and I kept saying I don't think so. Thankfully, she did not come back. Where is that customer service survey I was promised?

I don't have much else to report on Seth's first week. He sleeps a lot as you would expect. He has one session of tummy time so far and did not object. I think as far as babies go, he would be classified as easy, but we haven't hit the fussy period yet. There are so many things I forgot about little babies. Like they are super-noisy when they sleep sometimes and poop very loudly. There are some things I didn't have to worry about with Wyatt like feeding on demand, losing the umbilical cord stump, waking him up to feed every 2-3 hours. He's so very cute.

And I leave you with a first family photo.

And many thanks to Oma and Opa who were kind enough to stay the week and take care of Wyatt while we were in the hospital. They even took him to Gymboree and out to lunch. And Oma even found a source for Strauss Family Creamery soft serve with olive oil and sea salt right down the street from us. (Oma didn't realize though, I only noticed when I looked over the menu.) Wyatt clearly had a good time with Oma and Opa, he still talks about them. I am not sure that Wyatt even missed us really. Hopefully, he will have a visit from his Gran and Grandad soon assuming Gran gets the OK.