Postpartum Pains

So postpartum stands for post birth and is not some treaty signed after a war, unless you want to consider pregnancy a war and life after birth the treaty. After a baby is born you are stuck in a hospital for two days not sleeping and you are trying hard to figure out the parent thing. I learned how to not put on a diaper backward, how to clean up the black tar that babies first poop, how to help your wife breastfeed a wild flailing baby, and how to try and get a baby to not cry. All these things I halfway learned in to hospital when times were easy. P.S. that breastfeeding thing looks like the most difficult thing ever and I am so glad I don't have to have a kid bite on my nipples for hours everyday.
I give my wife the biggest props for sticking with it and never giving up. In the hospital we had lots of friends come visit and family. It was a terrific time! We also got a stake and shrimp meal as a reward for having a baby in the hospital and for paying them tons of money. The meal was delicious even hours later when we finally got to eat it because the baby wanted to eat first.

Eventually we got to leave the hospital and feel the sun on our faces again. The hospital is like being stuck in English class for days and then when you leave it is like going to recess finally. We dressed Grant up super cute so we could take a picture and so it we ran into someone in the parking lot that we knew then they could see how cuddly and cute our baby was. I figured out the car seat thing which was more difficult than it should have been and we were on our 2 mile drive home. I seriously drove like and 90 year old with a gimp leg and cataracts. In those 2 miles I finally came to understand the baby on board bumper sticker. The sticker is a way to say, "I am driving super slow because I don't know how to drive with a baby in my car and so please don't run me off the road for driving so bad." People probably thought I had installed a moped engine in my Camry because of how slow I accelerated and stopped. We did make it home without getting honked at or noticing anyone giving us the bird (calling it the bird makes it sound so harmless). We then set up out pack-n-play in our room for the baby to sleep in. I wish now that I had followed the instructions. We had our baby sleep in a part of the pack and play that seemed a bit odd and had a tilt, so the baby kept sliding to the bottom. I kept thinking how bad the design was for a baby to sleep in this little tilted trough. So I read the directions. After 7 days and finally reading the instructions I discovered that the changing table on the pack-n-play was not meant to be a very good bed, but the bassinet that was put together wrong would make a much better bed. So after 7 days at home, Grant finally got to sleep somewhere other then a changing table. Me and Megan are still laughing about that one.

See if you can spot the changing table!!!

So Megan and I started the difficult journey of taking care of a newborn baby with jaundice. It has been the most tiring and yet rewarding experience of my life. I tried to help Megan as much as I could at night, but sometimes she was unable to wake me. We employed the help of Megan's mom during the day to wash all the bottles, breast pump parts, and soiled clothing. She worked so hard and we would be in a home similar to some hoarders houses if she hadn't helped. I tried to help when I could, and I was able to help a lot, but if i sat down I would fall asleep. I fell asleep countless times with the baby in my arms bottle feeding or while helping Megan. I didn't feel to bad about it though, because Megan would also fall asleep breast feeding and eating. It was the hardest time of my life, but thanks to Megan being so amazing, we made it. So now we are caring for Grant solo now and we are doing great minus the 3 times a day when he starts crying and we can't diagnose the cause. I do want to say that being a dad is the best thing in the world as long as you have an amazing wife at your side to do it with. #Ilovemylife