Birth Day

After about 12 hours of labor, baby CJ was born!

The very first thing– doctor cleared baby CJ’s nose, then he was handed over to me for some skin to skin bonding. As I had mentioned in My First Birthing Experience, there were no waterworks, but there was plenty of excitement and that butterfly feeling you get in your stomach when you fall in love, you know the one that makes you nervous and happy at the same time?! YUP. That’s what I felt like to see and hold my brand new baby for the first time.

Baby CJ & I – Skin to Skin

While still being in the labor room and after holding baby CJ for a few minutes, the nurse placed his hospital and security band. (The security band is designed to go off in case baby is carried past certain points inside the hospital.) Then, it was time for him to get his first immunizations shot (Hep B & Whooping Cough). He was such a good and brave little baby that he did not cry! Then, the nurse proceeded to get his hand and footprints. I packed the baby book we bought prior and got the nurse to give us prints of his feet. His hands were tricky to get because he had his hands balled up into fists. The nurse had a hard time getting his hand prints done for the medical record, we settled for his footprints for the book.

Newborn Setup in Labor Room

Couple hours later, we were moved to the postpartum room. Baby CJ remained with us the entire time after that as well. I attempted to breastfeed but wasn’t having much luck there. The nurse tried to help baby CJ latch, but she wasn’t having a lot of luck either. I didn’t want him to go without eating so I asked the nurse for some formula. He didn’t eat much, but it was better than nothing. The hospital pediatrician stopped by after we got settled and checked out baby CJ. He told us baby CJ was jaundiced. He said it was actually very common for babies to be jaundiced at birth and to follow up with his pediatrician within 2 days. Other than that, he was perfectly healthy. After a few more hours went by, baby CJ, accompanied by husband, was wheeled away to get his hearing test done. He was such an outstanding tester, the doctor said that the average time it takes to get babies to get through the test is 20 minutes and baby CJ got it done in 8 minutes and totally aced it!

Baby CJ during hearing test

Then, before the day was over, a nurse came in to take him a bath. We were able to watch her do it first, because, honestly, we were a bit intimidated by not knowing how or what to do! But, to our surprise, instructions were easy. For the first few baths, while the stump was still attached, the only thing to do was, ‘sponge baths’ every 2-3 days. The most important thing was to not get the stump wet or damped. This allows it to fully heal and fall on its own faster. The nurse also gave us a congratulatory card with a knit hat for baby CJ. I tried to breastfeed again after bath time and still got nowhere. I gave him some more formula and he slept through most of the night.

The next day, we were ready to go home! Before we could be discharged I had to be seen by the OB/GYN. While we waited for his appearance, we still went through the discharge procedure. We filled out the paperwork in order to receive baby CJ’s social security card. The hospital also provided us with instructions on how to obtain his birth certificate, which was to request by mail after a 2 week waiting period.

I changed baby CJ into his going home outfit and he couldn’t have been any cuter!

Husband and I strapped baby CJ in his car seat and we were off into our new life as a family!

*All info sheets courtesy of Banner Desert Medical Center

Check out My First Birthing Experience!