Week one with a newborn...

Day one:  If you are ever lucky enough to have a sixth child at the hospital make sure to go with an arsenal of comments like --"we love having a house full of kids!" and "I'm so glad I'm the one with these kids too!" or "we just take it a day at a time."

 Didn't sleep one bit in the hospital.  Jackson spent the night with the nurses who were all nervous about his grunting and choking episodes. We went home a little before our 24 hours were up.

Day two:  Jackson still kind of chokes when he spits up.  He isn't grunting as much as he was in the hospital since he threw up a bunch of mucus but he still makes me nervous enough that I am extremely hyper vigilant.  He hasn't cried even once.  Just kind of grunty.  Not much sleep.

Day three: I've never been so swollen in my life.  My hands and feet are shiny and my face has swollen so my eyes look like I belong to a raccoon family. I'm sure the copious amounts of IV fluids during labor and delivery haven't helped the situation.  Even my jaw is so swollen that I can only touch my front four teeth when I close.  Is my body going to recover from this?

Jack eats pretty regularly every three hours.  He falls asleep quickly so if he acts like he's hungry within 30 minutes or so I feed him on the same side and count it as the same feeding.
Comment of the day comes from Benson.   "Hey mom, are you done milking yet?!"

Day four:  My mom is still coming over every morning and does a couple of loads of laundry and makes me breakfast.  I'm spoiled.  Jackson isn't grunty anymore and I am not nearly so worried about him choking.  Night wasn't too bad last night.

Day five:  I still don't want to leave my room.  Thankfully lots of friends are helping drive the kids to all the activities.  It was Sunday today and I slept the entire three hours with baby Jack.  He cried for the first time today.  Cute little wail.

Day six.  I am starting to feel normal again.  I can finally touch my teeth together.  Jackson is adorable.  He still very rarely cries but I am tired.  I am not nearly as tearful this time around as I have been sometimes.  Though I did almost cry today when I saw a picture of a newborn penguin and its mom...

One week:  I seems like an eternity ago that I was pregnant.  Almost immediately after Jack was born I felt the absence of his movements and his little spirit in my tummy. I found myself wishing I was still pregnant more than once.  I can't believe I would say that.  The difference between this time and the other times is that I know this sweet stage in life will be over in just a heartbeat.  Missing a nap or two is such a temporary state of existence.   I'm enjoying every minute--except the first few seconds when he starts to nurse--yeouch!  As my mother always says--"this too shall pass" whether it is a good time or a bad.