Jack Pictures

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Spot of tea?

Well, what can I say? The first week has been such a whorl-wind experience for us! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I mean, people tell you;  and you feel like you have some idea, but actually it is CRAZY. The first night home Jeff and I were just running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

 

Jeff had a bit of a cold at the hospital and he kept saying that when he got home he was going to just "drink a cup of tea". HA!  He couldn't even do that. I think he counted 3 or 4 cups of tea that went cold before he could get to them. 

The baby was screaming bloody murder the whole first night. I had already gone 2 days straight without sleep (hospitals-Yulk) and this was my third. You start feeling all twilight zoneish at that point. Not to mention the hormones.  If I even looked at Jacks circumcised penis..I would cry from guilt of {putting my child through that}  Needless to say we were running on empty.

 Turns out Jack wasn't eating well. The whole breast feeding thing really didn't come as "natural" as we thought it would. He had trouble latching on and wasn't getting ANY food. Ek! Poor guy was just hungry. We immediately called and made an appointment with a lactation consultant for the very next day and had to supplement formula with an eye dropper thorough the night. 

It really felt like we were running a marathon. Between the breast pump, feeding with a syringe and catheter tube, Jack raging at the breast, sterilizing the pump stuff, constipation, stitches and over all complete body pain and sleep deprivation, {we needed fooood}!!!

The next morning I made the S.O.S. call to my friends from my bible study and community group from church---and let me tell you they came through for us like gang busters! Within an hour or two we had a huge sack of delicious bread & company food sitting on our front porch.(thanks Amy!) For the past week people have been coming over and bringing us meals and their company and I can truly feel their prayers for Jeff, Jack and I. I almost cry just thinking about it. I feel so grateful for all the love and support we have gotten from our friends and family, It amazes me... I especially have appreciated all the other moms who have been my "phone a friend" consultants in this time of intense uncertainty and newness with motherhood. 

Each day is getting a little bit easier and now that my body is starting to heal, I'm feeling a bit better. My world has gotten soooo small! I hadn't left this house for 5 days when I left the house to get a nipple shield.  I thought to myself {there is a real world out here, I forgot!} It felt so good just driving a car. Then I got home and realized that I may have overdone it. awh. 

It was truly an answered prayer that Jeff was able to be home when Jack was born. He couldn't have come at a better time. Jeff had 10 days off from work and Jack came on day one of that run. Praise God!  I could have never done it without him! Also, it has been a great bonding experience for us. All modesty has gone out the window and we have to be a team. Our saving grace has been Jeff's sense of humor and general calmness. I can get worked up easily and make a mountain out of a mole-hill in my own mind pretty quick. Just when I need it, Jeff will break into some song where he enters his own lyrics that mock our troubles, or say a funny one-liner. He makes me laugh. 

I believe we left off sometime in November...

And so the Sniderweb is once again relaunched in celebration of our new addition!  Our beautiful baby Jack Louden Snider was born into the world on Tuesday May 19th.  What an amazing experience...  He weighed in at 7lbs 3oz and measured out at a towering 19 inches.  Melissa did a fantastic job throughout the delivery and is recovering well.  We're both slowly but surly figuring out all the in's and out's of basic baby life support: feeding, burping, changing dippers, ect...  Here are a couple pics of the newest Snider in the Sinderweb.