Hannah Herriman: The First Week

Please don't think I'll be posting weekly updates -- that's just plain crazy. BUT Silas' first week was pretty ridiculous so I thought I would document. That way, when he's 16 and moody and being brought home by the police (kidding!), I can look back and know that since I survived his first week on this earth, I can survive anything.

The Monday we were admitted into the hospital, the heat and air man confirmed our suspicion -- our air unit was dead. We knew when we bought our house we would have to replace the unit soon. We just hoped it wouldn't be the week our first child was born. But I guess that was us just being high maintenance, wasn't it?😜

So a new hvac system was going to be put in the following week.

We went in to the hospital on Monday, and didn't come home until Friday. Boy was it good to be home!!!

And then the power went out 30 minutes later.

I kid you not. We get home, the wind blows, and the power goes out. (Our old neighborhood means above ground electrical wires, so it's not the most unusual thing. More like ridiculously terrible timing)

Ok, the power goes out. No big deal, right? It can only be out for an hour or so, right? Right????

Wrong. We didn't have power for 2 1/2 days.

So how did we survive nearly three days without power? 1. Flashlights and headlamps 2. Family 3. Lots and lots of take out

Thankfully we were experiencing cooler than normal temperatures so our basement stayed nice and cool. We lived down there. The worst part of it all was worrying we would lose our entire deep freezer full of food! Just when we were giving up hope, the power came back. I may have shed some tears of joy at that point!

Once power was restored, Tyler decided to turn on his computer. A few seconds later he asked if I was cooking something. Ummm, in the basement? No, dear I'm not. That's when he realized his computer WAS ON FIRE! Seriously, I can't make this stuff up!

His second hard drive (with all our old pictures) had caught on fire. We still don't know the extent of the damage and if any of our pictures can be recovered. Big thumbs down for that!

The next morning, the hvac crew arrived and demolition began. Because the old system was... well, old, the ductwork needed to be replaced as well. This meant ripping out all the old insulation and ductwork in the attic to make room for the new. So all the "nesting" I had done to clean upstairs and get it just perfect for a newborn? Worthless. The upstairs became a danger zone with insulation and construction materials everywhere. Tyler wouldn't even let me go up there for a few days so I again just camped out in the basement (I think he saw my sanity teetering on the edge. This would most certainly send me over the edge).

Silas' first appointment went great! He had stayed the same weight since leaving the hospital (8 lb, 6 oz) which meant he was well on his way to getting back to his birth weight (8 lb 11 oz). Great!

A few days later we noticed a rash, assuming it was just a small diaper rash. That changed over the next few days (blisters formed) and we went into the doctor's office again. After several trips to the doctor and one week later, we learned Silas had MRSA staph. Ummm, excuse me? Staph?????? Thankfully our doctor had already prescribed us antibiotic ointment that had already started to heal the infection. Still, I was a little on edge.

The entire first week or so was a total blur. Thankfully, I had an amazing group of people helping me. My mom, mother in law and sister in law Rachel all came to stay. They helped feed me, clean up after the air was fixed, watch Silas in the middle of the night so I could sleep. You name it, they did it. Tyler's job was the hardest-- to keep me sane. And he really did a great job. (Or the best he could under the circumstances ha!)

I have to say, I feel like either most people forget how difficult the first few weeks are, or they just have much better experiences than me. I had one dear friend that kept it real, saying how rough the first few weeks were for her. She let me know all about the tough stuff she experienced, which really helped me. When I had moments of feeling all sorts of crazy, I knew I wasn't the only one to feel that way.

And trust me... I was all sorts of crazy!

And not because of all the crazy stuff going on besides bringing home a new human. Because it would be really easy to blame it on all of that. Really and truly, it was simply having Silas to care for. Even though I never had these actual thoughts, in hindsight I'm pretty sure my mind was thinking along these lines...... Who is this stranger I now have to keep alive? Why won't he stop crying? Will he ever think of me as anything but his meal ticket? Holy mother I hurt. Like wow, I hurt a lot. What is REM sleep, bc I'm pretty sure I haven't had that in weeks.

Personal recovery was ROUGH. And learning all about this new person attached to me a good part of the day was a huge learning curve. Baby blues is no joke. But I'm just thankful I wasn't dealing with anything more serious. Plus, I think going to the beach with my family (blog post coming soon about that!) really brought me out of any blues I was still dealing with.

Without further adieu, here are some pictures from our first week with Silas.