Grandma Came to Visit!

Mom flew in the day Hunter his 2wks old, while Quinn was picking her up at the airport I was talking to the in-home visitation nurse. The same week mom arrived Adrien surprised us all by flying back in for a visit! Hunter had his first bath after his umbilical cord and plastibell fell off.

Little man was the recipient of many grandma cuddles and kisses during her 2 weeks here! He also went to the beach for the first time ever and even dipped his toes in!

We attended the centering program reunion and there was a lady there taking photos for the newpaper [http://www.army.mil/article/138394/Centering_Pregnancy_Reunion/] later that week we drove up to Lai'e to visit the Days and then continued up to Sunset Beach to purchase some sunrise shells and enjoy the amazing colors.

I got my first "baby-free" afternoon when Quinn watched Hunter for us and all the ladies headed to the beach.

We attended church and grandma got to feed Hunter for the first time right before she left the island.

On her last day we headed up to the O'Club for some beautiful views to take pics with baby. It was great having here here to help out while I hobbled around due to the c-section! She cleaned, cooked, and helped out with night time diaper changes! Love you mommy.

Newborn Photos & First Halloween

Dilara from DJW Photography took these (she took our maternity photos, which I just realized I never had time to upload since little man came early, oops!) and I am so happy with how they turned out. I kind of wish we had taken photos with him, but we were both so exhausted and I was extremely sore still that it just wasn't going to happen, I am totally planning on having family photos done before we leave the island though!

 For Halloween we kept our tradition of having friends over, handing out candy, and playing movies on the garage door - however this year I stayed inside and watched movies on the TV with little man.

Introducing Hunter, Part #2

The first day in the hospital was honestly a blur... I know the Chaplain & FRO came to visit bringing a beautiful frame with 1 Samuel 1:27 on it. I almost fell due to pain getting out of bed to go the bathroom (they let me sleep rather than wake me up for my pain medication - I told them never let me sleep through that again)! I know I breastfed, slept, and ate but I don't remember much at all.

The second day our mini-church friends came to visit. Hunter welcomed them with a diaper change and almost peeing on them all standing in a row firehose style! My Centering Nurse Christine came to visit as well, she couldn't believe my crazy birth story.

Our last night was EXTREMELY hard, Hunter had high levels of jaundice and had to spend 12hrs under the bilirubin lights. We could only take him out every 3hrs to feed & change his diaper then straight back in he went. Poor guy was 24hrs old, alone, naked, and blindfolded- he screamed for almost the entire time he was in the light box. Quinn and I had to take turns holding his tiny hand and trying to soothe him with our voices/singing. I cried a lot because I felt so helpless.

The drive home was so painful for me. I held a pillow over my incision site with one hand trying my best to brace for any bumps and Hunter's hand in the other because he was scared of the car seat.

24hrs later we were back at the hospital for his jaundice check-up. His bilirubin levels were still high but not enough for the lights. We were given a vitamin supplement and told to get him plenty of indirect sunlight... Then our role as parents truly began with no nurses around! Thankfully our friends provided us with enough dinners that we didn't have to cook for nearly 2wks!