1 week old! (37 weeks)

i'm one week old!

(outfit courtesy of aunt sarah, hat courtesy of grandma sharon!)

our little man is already a week old today! it is crazy to think that this time last week we were getting ready to meet him after a very quick labor (7 hours) and our truncated pregnancy!

no more maternity pics, so here's what we look like at "37 weeks"

true to our nature, we maintained a fairly busy schedule in the days after noah's birth. we were discharged home from the hospital on friday night and began the process of adjusting to having a new little king around. the next day we had to head back up to the hospital to get noah's bilirubin level checked. he was a little jaundiced and when they checked his level before we were discharged they said it was higher than they'd like for it to be. so on saturday night (yes, night. i am still a night person, remember?) we headed to the hospital to show off our new son and make sure he wasn't too yellow. fortunately, everything checked out fine: his level had come down and they just wanted to us see the pediatrician on monday for another check.

on sunday we got the privilege of telling our birth story to stacy's new class of bradley students (the childbirth classes we had graduated from only a week before). after the bradley class, we headed to my parents' house for our previously scheduled shower. we had initially thought about canceling the shower, but now we needed baby stuff more than ever *and* we would get the chance to show off our new little king. the next day brought a trip to the pediatrician's office for a follow-up on the bilirubin level. they said everything looked great and that they didn't need to see him again until his 2 week check-up. yay! of course, all of this was finagled around attempting to nurse noah every 3 hours, get some sort of sleep and do a dozen other new-parent things.

by the time we made it to tuesday, i was happy that we weren't expected to be anywhere or do anything. matt had to go to work, but we were still able to enjoy some family time before and after his workday.

all in all, things are going well. we are still working on establishing any sort of schedule or routine, but we know that that takes time. matt and i are enjoying being parents and are loving getting to know noah and watching him gradually try to understand this new world he's in. we've had some problems with him staying awake during feedings, and i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he was so early. his favorite place to be is curled up on someone's chest where he can enjoy the warmth and hear a heartbeat, which most babies like anyway, but since i figured that at this point he would still be snuggled up in my uterus i think he prefers it more than most!

it's crazy to think we've already been mom and dad for a week, but we are trying to enjoy all the little moments. we know that one day we will look back and realize that this all was over too quickly, he's grown so much and we won't be able to remember all the sweet little baby coos and sighs, how he fits perfectly on our laps, and how he loves to snuggle up on a shoulder and fall asleep. despite the fussy moments and loss of sleep, one day we will look back and think how easy it was to have a child who isn't old enough to get into things (i.e. make messes around the house), who can't talk back and who isn't asking for the car keys. we love noah, and can't wait to see what the future brings, but we are trying to enjoy every glorious moment of being new parents to a cute little boy!

37 weeks/1 week old