The Swearingen Family: Britt's First Week

We arrived home from the Hospital on Saturday, February 7th, when Britt was two days old and my Mother, or Britt's Mimi, was waiting on us at our home. Mimi stayed with us until the following Saturday and this pretty much sums up the week that she spent with us.

While there was a lot of spoiling by Mimi, I do not know what I would have done without her during this week. She got Ava up each morning and got her ready for school, she took Britt during the day so that I could sleep, she folded laundry and cooked dinner each day, and then she played with Ava and bathed her each night. She really was our lifesaver this week and really helped us to transition as a family of four at home.

While Mimi let me sleep during the day, we were getting little sleep at night for the first week. The two nights at the Hospital I basically held Britt all night as I was so excited that he was here and wanted to just snuggle him. The first two nights at home he slept fine in our arms but as soon as I would put him in his bassinet, he would wake up crying. On night three of this I started to research new bassinets and first thing Tuesday morning, I took a trip to Target and purchased our third bassinet to try him in. This one has a built in vibrator and thankfully this seemed to do the trick. We also received a good tip from our friends to warm the bassinet up with a heating pad before we put him in it. Between the soft vibrations and the warm bed this seems to please him and help him sleep.

When he was four days old we went to our pediatrician and was pleased with his appointment and that no issues were found. His birth weight was 8 pounds 12 ounces and he weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces at his appointment. He lost 7% of his birth weight and they are fine with babies loosing up to 10% of their weight so there was no concern with this.

Ava adjusted well her first week at home with Baby Britt and loved running in our room each morning to see Baby Brother. There was only one meltdown and that was over Britt's gender. While Ava calls him Baby Brother, Ava will also refer to Britt as a girl. We correct her and say that he is a boy and she says, "No, she is not a boy, she is a girl" and then she will change the subject. Well Travis kept on one morning that Baby Britt was a boy and this lead to Ava bursting out in tears. We are continuing to work on this as it is still as sore subject with Ava.

Here are some more pictures of Britt's first week at home.