Thank you all for your sweet comments. We are adjusting pretty well to this new role into parenthood. I know you all want to see him but I want to wait until we get past this waiting period. I honestly think we are all set but I just want to make sure. But to hold you over, I will share his name with you :)
His name is pretty special. The birthmother wanted us to use Jeremiah (now what's funny about this part is that our friends in FL, their birthmother wanted them to use the same name-so they have the same middle name). When we met her she told us we could name him whatever we like but we told her we would be honored to use that as his middle name since it meant so much to her. His first name comes from my maiden name--Garrett. So there you have it, Garrett Jeremiah. He's such a sweet boy. We've been a bit nervous just wanting to make sure we're doing everything right. We have him on a 3 hour feeding schedule and we were waking him. We're kind of in the middle with what to do. My mom says to never wake a sleeping baby and we just want to make sure he knows his days from his nights :) I'd like to hear what some of you all did as far as this is concerned. What sort of schedule/routine did you set up? Did you wake them if they were sleeping, whether it be day or night?
He's only been getting up twice during the night and as soon as you feed him, he's ready for bed. He seems to be an easy going baby. He doesn't cry a lot except when you change him :)
Thursday went really well with signing everything. We were able to talk with the birthmom and all of us with the social worker had a little time of devotion afterwards. It was really sweet and something we'll never forget. The birthmom told us that she thinks God is mad at her and sometimes doesn't love her. Tommy and I both were able to share with her that God does love her and all of us, no matter what we've done or how we act. It's just satan's way of trying to deceive us.
The one thing I am thankful for (and this is something for all of you in this process to think about or try to get), we were given pretty extensive medical reports from both the birthmother and birthfather and I'm glad we'll have this for Garrett as he gets older.
He's already had lots of visitors. Mainly all family. And a huge explosion of presents :) Our niece and nephew brought him a huge teddy bear. I think he has enough clothes to be able to change 5-6 times a day :) I'm so glad everyone already loves him so much.
YAY! all of this is so, so good. you totally deserve it!!
ReplyDeleteI love his name! I'm glad things are going well.
ReplyDeleteMy experience was a little different in that I was/am breastfeeding. We didn't really have a set schedule but Caitlyn went into one on her own and ate about every 2 hours round the clock. A formula fed baby can usually go a little longer than that between feedings since formula takes longer to digest. If he's gaining weight OK, I tend to agree with your mom and just let him sleep. Caitlyn slept a LOT in her first 2 weeks (though she never missed waking up to eat lol). Something switched in her 3rd week and she developed colic. She's been "on" ever since! LOL So, if he's gaining weight and giving you lots of wet and dirty diapers, I say let him sleep! You're doing a great job!
Oh and as far as mixing up days and nights--one of the remedies I read for that (Caitlyn never went through this) is to go outside for a little while every day so they are exposed to natural light during the day. Not sure it works but can't hurt to try if he starts keeping you up all night! :)
ReplyDeleteGod is good! As far as the wake/sleeping goes, I can only give you my experience and what worked for us...all little ones are different! She had low blood sugar in the hospital, so we were told we needed to wake her to feed her in the middle of the night. So we did. For about 6 days. We would wake her every 3-4 hours to eat at night. Until we were just too exhausted, so we stopped and decided that if she was hungry enough, she would wake up. By the time we got to her 2 week appointment, she was sleeping a 6 hour stretch and our pediatrician told us it was just fine. As for the days go, I am pretty sure I woke her up a few times because I wanted her to sleep at night and it didn't take long for her to figure out that she should stay awake for a little while during the day.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being first time parents!!
Yeah your home...I have been waiting for the name post & I LOVE IT!! Not a "normal or common" name and I loved that you used Jeremiah!! When we chose our name we knew the initials were WC but then when the birthmom told us what she would have called him it was CW...crazy how all these things work. Enjoy little Garrett and we will hold tough for pics...I know how you feel...unsure until forsure!! Blessings...maybe someday we can actually meet and have a playdate or weekend with our boys :)
ReplyDeleteI tried to post already - not sure why it's giving me problems. but YAY!! WOW congrats again. This is AWESOME!!!! I am so thankful you shared via blog and I've been so blessed by this journey. this is truly so BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) I don't wake sleeping babies unless totally necessarily... but *definitely* not at night. I do sometimes during the day if they did got a LOT time without nursing/bottle when they were young. But whatever you choose for now will be fine and you can make it work and change it up as needed!! :) If he continues to go "too" long at night and you're worried he's not getting enough milk for the day or wetting enough diapers then it's certainly smart to wake him up :) whatever you think, Mama!!! :)
ReplyDeletesorry --- typing errors... I meant... "I do sometimes during the day if they did go a LONG time without nursing/bottle" hehhe sorry
ReplyDeleteugh -- still horrible grammar & sentence structure... please forgive me. i'm fatigued!
ReplyDeleteFinally a mommy! I love the name you and the birthmother chose. Has a beautiful ring to it. Hope you are still getting your sleep!
ReplyDeleteJust precious. Y'all are going to do great. At the end of the day you just need to do what gives you the most peace. My last two babies were breastfed, but since I had trouble nursing my first one, she was bottle fed. I think in the first couple of weeks we would stay awake until about 11 at night so we could wake her to feed her. We soon learned she did not want to be woken up, was too hard to keep awake to feed, and we just wanted sleep! So we started going to bed at 10 and letting her wake us, whenever that was, to feed her. She usually only got up to eat about twice a night (although she would sometimes wake for all kinds of other reasons!). She turns 11 next month and is a GREAT sleeper. LOL So if yours gives you a little trouble here in the first couple of months, take heart that it won't last forever. ;o) I agree with the others, as long as doc does not tell you (at first check up) to wake him in the night to help him gain more quickly, then I would let the sleeping baby lie. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful name! Praying for you as you all adjust to being a family of 3!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty nice that he's a good sleeper at this point and just like you every older person in my life said "oh, don't wake her" but as a new mommy I had to listen to our pediatrician, and also the hospital ped that said the "never wake a sleeping baby is great once they are a few months old and strong, and maintaining weight but they both said not to let a baby less than 6 weeks sleep more than 5 hours without a feeding.
ReplyDeleteWe really didn't have to worry about this much because the first few weeks Sophia rarely slept more than 2-3 hours without screaming for food but she had a lot of spit up issues also which caused some extra problems. You're so overwhelmed, exhausted, excited, stressed.... that it's hard not to let them sleep just so you have time to gather your thoughts but I would definitely try to get him on some type of schedule BUT those first few weeks are tough and "schedule" is hardly in your vocabulary, more like "survive".
I know what your going through and now that I look back I really feel like I was walking in some imaginary world when we brought Sophia home. The absolute shock that this unattainable dream had been fulfilled is just too much to process. It's such an amazing ride - enjoy it and worry about schedules in a few weeks :)
Congratulations on your sweet baby boy! Enjoy being a mommy. I can't give any advice yet as I'm still waiting for my sweet baby, but I love reading others' experiences.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well! Like I told you, we woke Stella during the DAY, but not at night - she ate about every 2 - 2 1/2 hrs during the day and about every 3 or so at night...nursing, though...so that digests a bit faster! If he is gaining weight, then the older he gets, the longer you can wait before waking him! Can't WAIT to meet him!
ReplyDeleteTrisha, your big day is coming soon right? Cannot wait for an update!
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