Week 1

Our first week at home was a busy one. Grammy made a really neat banner that she hung outside to welcome Maddox home. She also brought him his first Easter basket complete with his first Hot Wheel. I have a feeling that there will be many, many more Hot Wheels to come. Our first day home we watched the Reds loose opening day so that was a bummer but Nanna and Maddox looked so cute in their Reds gear. We also introduced Maddox to our other kids, Casey and Laila. They are being pretty good around him. Mostly just curious, they sniff him and his stuff a lot but thats about it, at least for now. I am sure that will change once Maddox is crawling and walking. Even though he won't be sleeping in it for awhile, we put Maddox down in his crib, it was so amazing finally seeing a little baby in it. Jay and I have been staring at an empty crib since January just imagining what it would be like once our little man was here. He looks so small in there right now, but something tells me he will grow into it in no time and we will be looking back at this pic trying to remember him being that small. We didn't get any sleep at all the first night, Maddox was pretty much up the entire night so by now we were beyond exhausted. He slept through all the excitement through out the entire day but we had visitors and things to do during the day therefore we did not get in any naps.

This is currently Daddy's favorite pic. He thinks it is so funny how he is all folded up and completely surrendered.

The home care nurse came to visit us the second day. She had to stick Maddox in the foot again to test his jaundice levels. A few hours later we got the news that the levels had risen to 17 and Jay would have to go to the hospital to get this thing they call a photothearpy belt. Its basically a light that straps around the baby and is supposed to help lower the bilirubin levels in the blood that causes jaundice. This belt thing is very similar to being put under lights in the hospital but this way we get to stay home. It was a little annoying because the cord would only reach so far so we were confined to one room for the next 24 hours and sometimes it was hard positing him so that he was comfortable but also trying to keep the light where it needed to be. The good news is that it didn't seem to bother Maddox one bit, he slept right through the entire day again and not so much that night. We also had to feed him around the clock, at least every 2 hours and this was very difficult during the day cause he did not want to wake up for anything, especially to nurse, so I pumped and bottle fed him and this made it a little easier to get food in his little belly. During this time he took on the nick name of Little Glow Bug.

The third day home the nurse came back to sick my Little Glow Bug in the foot again....this was starting to make me sad cause this was the 3rd day in a row that he had to have his foot drained for blood work, it is not a quick stick like you would think. It is a pretty deep stick and then they have to squeeze it forever to fill up a vial of blood. At least this time we got the call that his jaundice level had dropped back below 15 and we could remove the belt thing. This was a relief because I was really starting to worry that we might have to go back to the hospital. Maddox had round the clock visitors on this third day, including Jay's 3 Aunts on his dad's side, Grammy, Toni, Aunt Tisha and Papa. Papa just loves Maddox's hands, he is amazed at how long his fingers are, of course next to his extremely large hands Maddox's looks much smaller than he actually is. We did take advantage of Maddox's extremely lethargic state and took a bunch of naked pictures, and he only peed on us twice. He also had his first sponge bath at home. He can't have a real bath until his belly button cord falls off. He didn't like the sponge bath too much, I think it was just too cold, we can't wait to give him a real bath. I think he will like that much better.

The forth day home started off pretty good, mostly because we finally got a little sleep. Grammy was nice enough to come over around 10:00pm the night before and agreed she would stay with him through his first wake-up and feeding and come get us on the second. So Jay and I went upstairs to bed expecting to be woke up 2 to 3 hours later. I woke up on my own around 3am and was shocked that we hadn't been woken up by Grammy or Maddox yet. I went downstairs to find them both sleeping. Grammy said he had only woken up once so far, I was shocked. I relieved her and went to sleep on the recliner and it was another hour before he woke up, therefore I got a solid 6 hours of sleep and Daddy got to sleep all night. It is amazing what a little sleep can do for you.

Maddox had his first doctor appointment that day also. He had lost a bunch of weight and was down to 8 lbs 5ozs but they said that was expected, especially because of the jaundice. Overall the doctor was happy with everything but wanted to see him again in a few days just to do a weight check and make sure all signs of jaundice were gone. Maddox didn't seem to mind the doctor at all, he just didn't like when he had to be completely naked. Grammy came over again that night and just like the night before Maddox was a little angel. She said she thinks we were fibbing about his sleeping habits but we think she slipped him some Benadryl or something.

Friday marked the one week mark for Mr. Maddox. I took his picture at exactly 10:23am. It is so hard to believe that a week has passed already. He already looks so much different than the day he was born. It is amazing how fast they change. Maddox had his first official play date also. Kevin and Jaime O'leary came over with their beautiful one month old Sam. Sam and Maddox are exactly 3 weeks apart. We tried to introduce them to each other but as usual Maddox slept through the entire evening. I am sure they will great friends as soon as they can remember eachother. Jay also decided to put Maddox in his motorcycle helmet for another photo opt while he was still small enough to fit. Poor baby....and to think, everyone thought it would be me putting him through heck trying to get pictures.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards, flowers, gifts, and food, especially Nana who keeps filling our fridge with home cooked meals and Grammy for allowing us to sleep.