first Jack story

Today we had our first with-baby outing!

The first thing to brag about is that we only forgot one item (his hat) but it was fine because we had extras in the diaper bag. The second thing to brag about is that we were going to a 1:30 PM appointment and literally arrived for the appointment at 1:29 PM. We had really wanted to make sure we were on time despite having all this new baby stuff to deal with (like him getting hungry fifteen minutes before we were supposed to leave), so that was a big success!

The point of the trip was to take Jack to the hospital to get his weight checked. It's a service that the hospital offers for free to new parents, and we were curious to see how he was doing on re-gaining his weight loss since birth. He is back up to 10 lbs, 2 oz and change, which is less than one ounce down from his birth weight! And he's only five days old. That is the result of very industrious eating habits and many naps. :)

We also saw one of the hospital lactation consultants for a final check-in to make sure that nursing was going okay. She checked out our technique and saw the log we were keeping of his feeding times.... and joked that I should give a seminar to other new moms, since we are clearly doing so well! In all seriousness, she invited me to attend the weekly breastfeeding support meetings that the hospital hosts, since I may be able to really help other moms who are struggling. (Yes, I will be going!)

The next stop was Starbucks, since the hospital is already so close to the store, and my co-workers are eager to meet Jack. It turned out that only the men were working, so we are going to have to go back for another visit to see the ladies! The guys admired Jack's big feet and his awesome scowl, so that was a nice visit. While at the store, Jack was getting a little stressed out -- he peed on one outfit, and while I was getting him changed into his next outfit, he spit up all over the neck.

We still had to go to the store (right across the street) to pick up a few necessities, so Alex and Jack stayed in the car and relaxed while I ran in. That was a good idea! It was much faster that way, and Jack didn't have to get any more over-stimulated than he already was.

After that it was time to go home. Jack was soooo tired out by all that travel that after some crying , he had to drain my entire right breast (quite a feat now that my milk has really come in) to fortify himself enough for a quick nap -- and then he woke up to drain half the left breast! Boy, he was working hard on recuperating from our outing. He has been napping ever since!

We learned that we definitely need to help him take it easy when we're going out places, so we are going to take it slowly for his future travels and make sure not to expose him to too many new things at once. But for now he did very well on his first day out and is okay -- just tired. :)