The Nye Family: A Week of Firsts

Our first week at home was an interesting mix of adventure, excitement, nervousness, and exhaustion. Bringing her home from the hospital was one of the more terrifying things we have ever done. I kept thinking, how could anyone trust us to take this baby home? We have no idea what we are doing! The steep learning curve, lack of sleep, and my physical recovery made week one interesting (and tearful, at times), but as Judy Apple would say, it was a memory maker.

First Outing: Zoe's Kitchen in Homewood for lunch (on our way home from the hospital)

Charlotte also had outings to O'Henry's, Mama Goldberg's, and the Pita Stop during her first week home. We waited until week two to introduce her to Bettola, O'Carr's, and Venetian Nail Spa!

First Pediatrician's Visit: Monday, July 11th at 8 days old

On Wednesday night before we left the hospital, Charlotte's weight was 5 lb 4 oz (she was 5 lb 5 oz at birth, then had dropped to 5 lb 2 oz on Monday and Tuesday). We were very proud of her as few breastfed babies manage to start regaining weight in the hospital. At our doctor's visit she was already up to 5 lb 11 oz!! She also got bloodwork drawn for a bilirubin level (which thankfully had trended down) and the second newborn screen.

First Stroll: Sadly I was not feeling well enough to go on this outing, but Charlotte took a nice stroll down the street in our BOB Revolution jogging stroller to get pizza. Apologies for the picture quality ... the humidity wreaked havoc on my camera lens.

First time alone with a babysitter: sadly this did not go as planned ... On Monday night (July 11th), I began to have redness and tenderness on the left side of my incision. I called the doctor on call (who happened to be the doctor who delivered us) and was put on antibiotics. The next morning I noticed some drainage, and within a few hours started oozing blood. So I left Charlotte for the first time (with Catherine) to go to the OB's office to get my incision drained ... thankfully everything has since healed up nicely!

First Time Meeting Brutus: Brutus sweetly, but enthusiastically, sniffed Charlotte. He also took a genuine interest in all things with her smell ... the diaper bag, burp cloths, pacifiers, etc. I think they will become good friends, especially when Charlotte is old enough to start dropping food on the ground for him.

Here's Charlotte with her signature look - puckered lips and her right eye slightly open

First Sponge Bath: Charlotte LOVES bath time. I was expecting her to scream (as she did for part of her bath in the hospital), but she really seemed to like it.

First Photo Shoot: We had our newborn photo shoot with the Blink Lady when Charlotte was 11 days old. I can't wait to get our proofs back! She was cranky and wide awake when we arrived at the studio, but after I nursed her she went to sleep and we were able pose her and get some great pictures.