Isaak's First Week

My midwife, Marike. She was amazing and I trusted her completely. Note the time on the picture. Isaak was born at 4:29 pm, not 5.

Kevin has had this smile on his face ever since.

Monday night was amazingly easy. Isaak woke every 3 hours and would eat for a few minutes and then go back to sleep. I had to force myself to turn out the light and go back to sleep.

A picture of Isaak at 7 hours old.

Tuesday morning Kevin called the Kraamzorgs to tell them that Isaak had been born and we were ready for them. Charlotte showed up at 11:30. She was act

ually a midwife student from Belgium who was studying with the GeboorteCentrum and doing a short stint as a Kraamzorg. She helped us get settled in our first day. 

One of my midwives (there are 5 in the group) stopped by to check on us. 

Tuesday night was a tough night. Isaak slept and ate well all day, right up until 11pm. Starting at 11 he was awake every 30 minutes, for about 5 minutes. He would nurse for a few minutes and then fall a sleep. This night was hell. Kevin had came down with a cold (and was doped up on Nyquil) so I was the one who was up --- that I am the one with replenishing pacifiers.

Wednesday

I was never so happy as to see the Kraamzorg at 9am. Her name was Esther and she immediately told me how to prevent the night from hell. I needed to keep him awake while he was nursing. He was falling a sleep after only getting a little milk and then waking up hungry 30 min later. She also taught me a new way to hold him while nursing. Up until now all I really knew (and he was up for) was to laying down. I was exhausted all day Wednesday as I had only gotten about 2 hours a sleep the night before. I tried to nap during the day (while Esther cleaned the apartment ---- vacuuming, the bathroom/shower/toilet, kitchen, laundry, etc). I just couldn't fall a sleep. 

Courtenay & Brian came up around 8pm and we hung out for a couple of hours. They took turns holding Isaak in his "milk drunk" state.

Wednesday night was an improvement on Tuesday, however it was still pretty tough. My milk had come in so it would take an hour of Isaak and I fighting to get him to latch on. Once he was able to start drinking then he would drink for 20 minutes and then sleep for 3 hours. The hour of fighting was really hard. We were trying everything we knew but it wasn't very much and it wasn't working. I was also starting to come down with Kevin's cold. 

Thursday morning Esther showed up right after I had finally gotten Isaak to start to nurse, 

at 9am. She asked how the night went and I told her about our struggles. She said it was because of my engorged breasts (man oh man did they hurt!). She asked if I knew someone who had a pump...that was music to my ears enormous as I had one in Isaak's room. Once he had gotten his fill I released a little pressure from my boob --- what a relief! Thursday flew by. Another midwife (Bea) stopped by to check on us. Esther saw a bottle of Ibuprofen by the bed, she got concerned that I was taking them. Here in the Netherlands they only want you to take Paraceptmol/Tylenol while breastfeeding. Kevin and I had already confirmed that Ibuprofen was ok in the US ----so I was self medicating. My stitches needed something stronger then Tylenol. I told her the Ibuprofen was Kevin's... Thursday night was much better. We did have one feeding that was a little rough but all in all not bad. I still wasn't really able to sleep during

 the day.

Friday morning we had a new Kraamzorg, Balkije. She was here for 8 hours on Friday. She cleaned the entire apartment. We really did get spoiled. Having the place picked up and clean makes me more relaxed, particulary when I am up in the middle of the night with Isaak. I don't sit there wishing the apartment was clean. Courtenay and Brian brought us dinner. Courtenay made lasagna. Lori came too. She brought the dessert. It was all very delicious. I got to have my first guilt free glass of wine in 9 months! Friday night was good. It really felt like Isaak and I were figuring out our little routine.

Saturday:

Some of our friends got together and have arranged to bring us dinner once a week. Kristen stopped by around 8:30 to meet Isaak and drop off dinner. Balkije showed up a few minutes later and then Marike (the midwife who delivered Isaak) stopped by. We had a full house for a while. It was great to see Kristen (even though I hadn't showered and had terrible morning breath!) It was also great to see Marike again. We talked about the delivery and what we thought of it (both the good things and bad things). She weighed Isaak - who was back to his

 birth weight. We showed her the pictures that our nurse had taken during the delivery. She wants copies of some of them as they really showed everything. She said that since I was easily coachable and relaxed (after she showed up and took over) that we had the opportunity to get such great photos. She mentioned that sometimes the parents are so upset or distraught that it doesn't always work that way. I think we gave Kristen a little bit of mental birth control, as she wasn't expecting such vivid pictures of a birth! Don't worry, these pics are not posted on Flickr but safely locked away on our computer. There is a short little video of one of the contractions in which I am pushing. I haven't watched it yet.

The sun was out in the morning so Kevin and I wanted to take Isaak out for a walk. I wa

s getting pretty mobile and definitely a little stir crazy as I hadn't been out of the apartment since coming home from the hospital. We bundled Isaak up in the Ergo and walked to the canal and back. It was short but nice. The crocus are blooming and they are beautiful.

Balkije went to the store for us...we forgot to have her get diapers and since everything is closed on Sunday we had Brian pick us up some when he went. Have I said how great our friends are? 

Kristen's baked ziti was delicous and I actually slept for 7 hours that night. Not in one shot, but in a 2 - 3 - 2 hour interval. It felt so good! After the 7am feeding I put Isaak in his room (we have had him in a "bassinet" in our room between about 10pm and 6:30am) where the sun was shining through the windows and I went back to bed - with the black out curtains. My cold was starting to get better and I was able to actually fall a sleep when I laid down. Heaven!

Sunday we were on our own until about 2 pm. We had a nice relaxing morning. When Balkije showed up there wasn't much for her to do. We gave Isaak his first bath. He slept through the whole thing.

We bundled Isaak up in his fuzzy bear sleeper (thanks Dad!) and put him in his stroller (another first) and took him for a walk in Beatrix park.

Just outside our apartment we ran into Caroline and Andreas (our downstairs neighbors). They were out with their 1.5 yr old daughter Alissa - trying to get her to sleep. Caroline is also due in April. They joined us on our walk. 

Sunday night, both Isaak and I slept well again. His long sleep started at 4:30 and went until 10. I slept until 9. Heaven!