First Few Days Home with Cutler

Better late than never... I previously posted Cutler's birth story. We went home basically 24 hours after Cutler was born. It was immediately just the four of us. Kinley seemed to struggle a little bit that first night. When we got her showered and in bed, she was literally looking at her video monitor that's still in her room and going "waaaa,waaaa" fake crying like a baby. At one point we could hear her saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Lucky, Alex, baby brother in Mommy and Daddy's room... Kinley in Kinley's room." Colt ended up having to sleep with her that night. For several days she kept saying "Kinley sleep in Mommy Daddy's room?" or when I would put her to bed she would say "Mommy sleep with me?" For a while there it took her forever to go to bed too. She would literally sit in her room in bed playing with her stuffed animals, singing, etc. for an hour or more. I definitely think she realized that all of us were in the same room and she wasn't, and she wasn't very happy about it. Even after that first night, there were a few more nights that Colt ended up in her room. There was even one night when Colt was working that both Cutler and I ended up in her room until she fell asleep too.

Kinley has gotten better and better with Cutler. She likes to "help" sometimes and sometimes helps a little too much. She means well (most of the time I think). She also likes to sing to him. Just today, she wanted him to give her kisses back. I think she likes that he's getting a little more interactive. We put him in his jumper for the first time yesterday and today and she liked playing with him and showing him how all of his toys on his jumper worked. 

At first, whenever Cutler would cry, Kinley would always say, "Mommy, baby sad?" When he smiled, she said, "Baby happy?" or "Brother happy?" She always says, "My brother so cute!" She also always says "Tickle, tickle" and tries to play with him. If we're ever around anyone knew or go anywhere, it's almost like she presents her brother. She's a little protective of him. She'll tell everyone that it's her brother. It's pretty cute. 

Day 5 or so after we were home, Kinley was real whiney all day. I was worried it was jealousy but turned out she was getting sick... which seemed to be the theme at our house there for a while.

The first day that Colt went back to work, I got both kids out with me and we did grocery pickup. Thank goodness for grocery pickup! I used to not do it that much, but since Cutler has been born, I do it every week and it's the best thing ever! I think Kinley misses grocery shopping though because we'll pull up to get the groceries and she'll say "Mommy, I go in?" 

Cutler lost his umbilical cord on Tuesday after we were home and then on Wednesday his plastibell from his circumcision fell off. The whole circumcision stuff was new to me. I actually called the doctor once because it looked red to me and I was worried! I was glad when the plastibell fell off and he was healed completely. That way I didn't have to worry about it!

One of those first few days home, while Kinley was at school, I tried to cut his fingernails for the first time and cut his finger. He bled like crazy! With Kinley, I was scared and filed them forever. I thought I was supermom this time and I was wrong! I felt awful!

We ended up having another yellow baby and jaundice scare with Cutler those first few days too. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as with Kinley. They mentioned us having to go back to the hospital at one point, but thankfully, we never had to go. When Cutler was born he was 7 lbs. 13 oz. When he was released from the hospital, he was 7 lbs. 10 oz. We got released from the hospital on Thursday and I had to take him in on Friday morning to his pediatrician for a follow up. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. All was good at the checkup until they checked his bilirubin. It was high. His head was 8.6 and his chest was 10.3. They went ahead and did a heel stick to get a more accurate reading and it was 12.6. They wanted me to come back into clinic the next morning to get another heel stick. They said that if he hadn't improved, he would need to be admitted to be treated. I might've ended up crying that night because I didn't want to end up in the hospital like we did with Kinley, especially with Kinley at home. My mom and dad came Saturday morning to stay with Kinley while Colt and I went to the doctor with Cutler. They brought their things because we were prepared for him to have to be admitted and them have to stay with Kinley. Luckily, when we went in and saw a different doctor. She checked his levels and he was about 3 points away from what he would have had to be to be admitted. Usually heel sticks read higher but thankfully, she didn't want to heel stick him to verify. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. She said since he looked good, was gaining weight and eating well, she didn't see the need to stick him. Colt said if she would have done a heel stick and if he would have been borderline, she would've been forced to admit him so I'm glad we got to go home. She also didn't even want to follow up the next day. She just wanted me to wake him up every 2-3 hours to keep him eating and keep flushing out the bilirubin. Thankfully it worked and we got to stay home with our babe this go round!

Week 2, we took pictures on the 15th when Cutler was 1 week old. Kinley was all about having her picture taken! We told her the night before that we were taking pictures. She woke up saying "Mommy, Daddy, Kinley, Baby Brother pictures. Say cheese." Unlike her Christmas pictures, she smiled and wanted her picture taken. She gave her bother kisses... even though she was a little fast and didn't always leave her lips there long enough for them to snap the picture. Once she started, she wouldn't quit kissing him! While Cutler and I stayed at the studio to finish his pictures, she got to go get a smoothie with Daddy, birdwatch and go to the Sonic playground! That weekend Kinley went to stay with Giggy and Pa to give me a little bit of a break. She was excited about it. The night before when the doorbell rang, she ran to the door and said, "Oh, Giggy and Pa here to see me?" I had to explain to her they were coming to get her the next day.

We had his 2 week checkup on February 21st, the same day that I found out that my Uncle Butch had suddenly passed away from flu complications. It wasn't the best news to hear before we went in for his appointment, and it still doesn't seem quite real. At Cutler's 2 week checkup, he was 8lbs. 8 oz. He was 21.2 inches long and his head was 15 inches around. The only thing they mentioned was that he had a little herniated belly button. She said it wasn't bad and that it should clear up by the time he's 1-2 years old. She mentioned that if it wasn't by the time he was 6 years old, then we would look at surgery options. Luckily, it's resolved itself already. She also noticed a little stork bite on the back of his head that I hadn't noticed prior to then. He does still have that, and I assume he will for the rest of his life. It'll probably be covered up almost completely when he gets a little more hair.  I remember at Kinley's 2 week appointment, we were still worried about putting weight on her. We definitely didn't have to worry about that with Cutler.

A few other little things from those first few weeks home...

Cutler didn't seem to like to lay on my chest like Kinley did. He preferred to be cradled.

At 2 weeks, his nose was stuffy all the time. He actually got a cold at 2-3 weeks and quit sleeping. I think he just couldn't breathe.

 I moved him from newborn to size 1 diapers at 3 weeks old.

 I ended up having to have kidney stone surgery when he was 5 weeks old and had to leave him. I didn't have enough milk pumped and in the freezer yet for the time I was having to be away from surgery and the additional time to clear medications out of my system before I could nurse him again. I had never given Kinley formula so I had to figure out what type of formula even to get. Luckily, Brianna brought me some over for my mom and Colt's mom to use while I was at the hospital and that day or so after. Since then, I still supplement a little with formula when needed. I'm sure being away from him and not being able to really hold him all day long was much harder on me than it was on him!

Those first few days and weeks seem like so long ago but yet they seem like just yesterday at the same time! Even though some days were still thrown for a loop, most days we have our new routine as a family of 4 down! Luckily for me, Cutler is pretty easy going most days. He's way more calm and laid back than Kinley ever was. I think he has to be since he's a second child!