After a few sleepless nights in the hospital, it was time for us to bring our little man home for the first time. Justine (who had been relegated to a hospital bed that looks comfortable at first glance-- not so much after several days) and myself (who was relegated to a pull-out that would only pass for a bed in third-world countries) were happy to get home to our comfy furniture, familiar surroundings, and, yes, Layla.
Layla and Chase get along famously. Chase is nonplussed by her being around, and Layla sees Chase as the new little creature that she has to protect (even from his own mom and dad).Chase's grammy was a saint, and came to stay with the new family for a few days to help us with cleaning, cooking, etc., which was real godsend. Especially, seeing as how we had to take our little man to the doctor's 3 days in a row.
Yep, for having a father whose appetite is surpassed only by his waistline, Chase had lost a little more weight than he should've, and was pretty jaundiced. We had to put him on the bottle with both formula and milk, and, after a little scare, Chase is doing just fine. Actually, fine is an understatement. If the amount of, ahem, "stuff" in his diaper is any gauge, Chase is doing fantastic.
As for sleep, well, let's just say that the Rookie may have his days and nights mixed-up. For instance, when the doctor says that he should be fed every 2 hours, you don't immediately assume that the 3:30 a.m. feeding will end 15 minutes before the 5:30 feeding. But, we steal shut-eye when we can, and, to be honest, it's amazing how far a one hour nap can go.
It's quite an experience so far, and completely rewarding at that. He makes us laugh and smile and giggle every day. As each day passes, his personality comes out more and more. It's tough to decipher whether or not he actually enjoys peeing on his mom when she changes him, or keeping his father awake for as long as humanly possible because sleep isn't "the cool thing to do" at 4 a.m., but we take it in stride. It's what makes Chase... Chase.
