Home Sweet Home

We were lucky to leave the hospital a day early - we got home Monday around 4:30pm and couldn't be happier.  Generally my hospital stay was fine and the nurses were great, but that last day I was getting very frustrated.  My sheets hadn't been changed since Saturday morning and were covered in my sweat and Charlie's spit-up, my bathroom hadn't been cleaned once (I even had to request more toilet paper), my trash was overflowing, and I had a neglectful nurse Monday morning (I had to remind her several times that I was due for pain medicine).  So, needless to say I was ready to go home!!  And so was Charlie...

Home at last!

Jason picked Jack up from school and they came to pick Charlie and me up.  Jack was so excited to push our cart full of stuff out of the hospital and loved that the baby was next to him in the van.  However from the moment we got home, Jack became whiney and very challenging.  It was probably a combination of tiredness and other factors, but I think mostly "holy cow, this baby's here to stay and I have to share my parents' attention with him??"  Already Tuesday he was much better and is doing really great with his baby brother.  He always wants to know what he's doing - looking for him as soon as he wakes up in the morning, pulling a stool up to watch me change Charlie's diaper, attempting to climb into my lap while Charlie is nursing.  He's generally very good with him, albeit a little rough at times.  He's tried a few times to pull Charlie's hands or feet and when he holds the baby, he doesn't want help and tries to yank him out of our hands.  This will just take time and lots of reminders of how fragile little Charlie is.  In general, Jack is a great big brother already!!

We went Tuesday morning for Charlie's first pediatrician check-up.  He's already back to 9lbs, 0.5oz, so getting close to his birth weight.  His length was 21.5" in the hospital but Tuesday at the doctor they measured him at 20 3/4" - they said often when the baby's head flattens out they get a little shorter (strange since he wasn't delivered vaginally, but OK).  His head circumference was 14.5" at the hospital and 14.75" at the doctor's office.  They asked us to come back next week for a weight check which is common practice when baby is being breastfed.  The doctor looked him over and said he looks great!  We learned that his weight is in the 95th percentile, height is 90th percentile and head is 75th.