This Week's Question is:
What was it like going home from the hospital for you? Did your baby have any medical issues?

Coming home from the hospital was actually very nice. With Kayla I was a bit out of it mostly because as a new Mom you're in unchartered territory. The main pain I had was from my stitches from my tear. But within 3 days I was in no pain at all. In her first week, Kayla was a dream baby. She slept all the time - her first night home she slept 5 hours b4 I eventually woke her up to eat. We were then told to wake her up every 3 hours to eat. My Mom stayed with us the first week which was a big help.

When I was pg with Kayla, I planned on b/f'ing. It was very important to me. She did great in the hospital - she latched on like a champ. Although, I had issues with her intake and the lactation support at my hospital was pretty pathetic. The major problems arose at home. She would latch on and then pull away b/c basically I was not producing. So her first week, although she was a dream, was filled with feeding anxieties (ironic that it foreshadowed all her problems to come). I even had a lactation consultant come to the house (private, so we paid her) b/c the one at the hospital wouldn't even return my call. At the end of an hour, even she had me give her a bottle. Basically, my milk took 8 days to actually come in, but by then, Kayla was on a bottle. I pumped for another 2 weeks or so, but it would take me 3 days to get a 3 ounce bottle (and I pumped 4 times a day). So unfortunately I had to give it up. It devastated me that I could not b/f and I agonized over the decision and my inability. But I also came to find out that it was a very common problem after suffering from hormonal infertility. But also looking back, part of her irritability may have been partly from her beginning reflux disease symptoms. And once I stopped pumping, I could more enjoy Kayla as I had more time to bond with her since I was spending less time attached to a pump. ;)

When Kayla was a week old is when her reflux disease started to show up. She would cry after every feeding. Within a week, she'd cry for 2 hours after every feeding. We obviously stopped waking her up to eat b/c when we finally got her to sleep, she needed it and she'd zonk out for 5+hours at night. She ended up in the ER at 2 1/2 weeks old b/c she refused to eat at all. That is when she was started on Zantac. Little did we know then, she was also showing signs of her dairy allergy.

I really didn't have any post-partum issues with Kayla. I cried a lot, but it was mostly at night when she was screaming endlessly. I'd sit and cry with her b/c nothing I did would comfort her. It was heartbreaking and extremely difficult to witness.

Alysa was "easier" in that she didn't show her signs of reflux disease until later. And although she really fought her feedings, once she was "done" eating, she was content. But we had the same frustration with feeding her. It was harder in some ways coming home with her b/c Kayla had a really hard time sharing Mommy. She was fine as long as she could sit with me and Alysa. In other ways it was easier, as we'd done it all before, so we were more confident and knew what to expect. I did have some post-partum depression with Alysa. But luckily it was short-lived and wasn't severe. With all I went through with Kayla I made the decision while pg not to try b/f'ing this time. It was a hard decision, but I remembered how hard it was on Kayla and didn't want to put either of them through that. It was the right decision, as my milk never even came in with Alysa. But even though the decision had been made early, it was still hard on me when she was born and I had a lot of doubts, even though I knew (and still know) I made the right decision considering the outcome would have been the same.

Alysa did not sleep quite as much as Kayla, but she wasn't a horrible sleeper. She was fussy from about 9pm to 2am. Actually, for the first 8 weeks of her life, she slept on me. It was the only way she would sleep which means I somewhat slept.

Overall, I can't complain - they were both good babies. Even through Kayla's screaming, the few moments of time that she would not scream, we could see the easy-going personality that she had and still has (for the most part). We loved having them home with us and cherish every moment we get with them. I can even say I never even resented midnight feedings - who could resent being woken up by someone so precious???