Co-Sleeping & Eli's Story

Well our sleeping has been getting a bit better, hopefully for good. Hubby has been doing his feed between 10pm-12am and then I usually have to feed at 2 or 3am and 5 or 6am. Eli has been sleeping in a little cat bed in our bed and he does after Hubby's feed but from my first feed till morning I usually bring him out and just have him right next to me. Then I barely have to even wake up! I was definitely nervous at first about all the "co-sleeping nightmares" people tell me and what I've read online and in books. But I find myself very aware of sleeping next to him even when I'm awake. When I wake up I usually haven't moved one muscle since falling asleep. Plus I get more sleep so I'm less tired and the number one problem with co-sleeping is being so tired you aren't aware of your child next to you. I'm still a bit nervous about it but it's been working and he makes so much less noise and seems so much happier sleeping next to mom.

I love weekends. Hubby will usually do the mid-sleep diaper change for me and then first thing in the morning he always stays in bed with Eli and has Daddy-Son time while I can go feed our ferrets, have a shower, pump some breast milk or even have a minute to myself! Then we always go for a Saturday walk as a family which is so beautiful, it's been beautiful sunny spring weather for it too! I think Eli is doing some serious growing because he has been sleeping so much today! He has been going 4 hours between every feeding which is twice as long as what he was doing. We actually had to wake him up to eat at his last feeding! Crazy! Hopefully it lasts through the night too. Maybe he is getting used to going longer between feedings or he's getting more food per feeding. Whatever it is I hope it lasts!

So I never did end up writing the Eli story or to be corny "The Book of Eli".

First I must tell you about the chiropractic curse of the Hebert family. Justin's mother went into labour with both of her boys the night after going to the chiropractor. My hip was out and keeping me from sleep so I made a chiropractor appointment thinking the curse won't effect me it's way too early, Teresa went 2 days before her due date so that's why it happened. So I got an adjustment on the Wednesday and everything started happening Thursday night.

I was 35 weeks pregnant and 4 days and was having some pains in my pelvis throughout the night but I had been having the hip issues so I thought it was related to that and it wasn't keeping me awake so it didn't even occur to me that it could be contractions. Then at 4:49am my water broke. That was a huge surprise! Telling m hubby was scary and hilarious. I will never forget how he jumped out of bed going, "what? how is that possible?" So we paged my midwife, and didn't hear back in the 10 minutes, so we paged again. I'll never forget the fear and uncertainty as my hubby and I just sat on the couch cuddled together in silence. We were not ready, we had just moved into our new house 12 days before (I had unpacked the last two boxes that night before). Also I knew that if you are under 36 weeks our hospital will not deliver you here and you could be transferred anywhere across BC or possibly even Seattle and the husband has to find his own way.

So with all that weighing on our shoulders our midwife told us to head to the hospital, pretty much unbelieving that my water had broken. I mean what else could that be? I was pretty sure. We got to the hospital at about 6am and I updated my hospital card and my Hubby paid for parking. We made our way up to maternity and they hooked me up to the heart monitor. My midwife arrived at 6:30am and checked me over and told me I was 3-4 cm dilated and she could see hair! They told my husband to go check me in officially into the hospital and then paged the Obstetrician and Pediatrician coming on shift which would have to be present since I was delivering so early. By the time my husband got back I was feeling like I wanted to push and sure enough I was 10 cm! We called my best friend who's a maternity nurse and was supposed to be present at the birth and basically told her don't do more than brush your teeth or you're not going to make it! I had to wait for everyone to arrive which took about until 7:20 or so and we were being told "It's a boy!" at 7:59am.

They checked him over so I didn't get to hold him immediately but both Justin (hubby) and Erin said he looked like an Eli so it was done. The middle name took longer but my husband and I both at the same time decided on Alexander which is my dad's middle name as well. I think he was pretty touched at that tribute.

I quite honestly did not mind labour. I wouldn't say it hurt, it was definitely uncomfortable and it was like the hardest workout ever for how hard you have to work and push. Honestly the hardest part is between weeks 2 and 3 when the surviving on love period ends and you realize how tired you are! Apparently about a minute after it was all done I even said, "yup, I could definitely do that a couple more times." That was a first to hear so close to labour for many of the people in the room I was told.

Eli was premature but he was 19.5 inches long and 6 lbs 8 oz which is respectable for a term baby. Right away they told us the earliest we could leave would be Sunday which was 2 nights in the hospital. We were disappointed but understanding due to how early he was. They were worried about a heart murmur they heard which is normal in premie babies due to a valve that still needs to close. But to be sure they wanted to do a chest x-ray and and ECG. They also did a newborn hearing screening. He passed both the ECG and x-ray as well as the Bili Rubin (spelling?) test for jaundice but they could not get a hearing reading probably due to fluid in the ears. On sunday they told us that they really wanted to check out one more test for his heart, an echo-cardio gram, and if we stayed one more night we'd get in the next morning but if we went home it would be weeks. We were upset since we thought we could go home and the test was only precautionary anyway but we gave in and stayed. The next morning after the echo-cardio gram they told us he was borderline jaundice and it wouldn't normally be a problem but since he was early they wanted to put him under the lights for a day and night. By this time we were so sick of hearing... "you can probably go home tomorrow" and "just to be safe". We had a bit of a breakdown and I will never forget that night cuddling on Justin's cot looking up at the incubator at our little boy. Finally the next day he passed his jaundice test and we were given the go ahead to go home since his echo-cardio gram was fine as well. I don't mean to take away all the good that the nurses and doctors do at the hospital it's just my husband and I feel like we live in a different world for the medical world. We believe Eli was on time rather than early. He was the right weight and he was ready and he knew it. We believe that everything will be fine and the doctors always want to run that extra test... just in case. So I really do appreciate all they did for us and despite the inconvenience at the time I'm quite ready to love the experience and let it go. It was all meant to unravel that way.

Eli's growing like a weed! I'm excited to see how much more he's gained at my next midwife appointment on Tuesday. He was past his birth weight by 9 days weighing 6 lbs 9.5 oz. Then 3 days later he was at 6 lbs 13 oz. I'm sure he's near 8 lbs no for sure. It makes sense really, we're approaching his due date. I'm pretty thankful that I don't have to deliver him at my due date since he'll at least be 8 lbs if not more! This worked out much better!!

Well I've written over 2 posts worth now so I think I will end it here. We did our newborn photos yesterday so I'm so curious to see those and hopefully post a few on here!

Goodnight for now!