James @ Hospital Aleman

• first night in the hospital (thanks Anna for the US magazines!)

• ...I look like I'm relaxing now, but...
• we thought we'd be given the choice to have James in our room or spend the night in the nursery...
• per recommendation by a friend, we planned on him sleeping in the nursery so we could get some sleep as well
• when the nurse came in toward the end of the night, we asked her about this and she said, "Oh, we don't do that anymore.  He stays with you."
• come again?
• we feel like bad parents, trying to send our newborn away, but we just thought that was how it was done (and we really wanted some sleep...)
• needless to say, our night was spent up with James, helping him hack up amniotic fluid that was stuck in his gut...poor lil' guy would start gagging (so scary for mommy!), then spit up, sometimes quite a bit, and therefore wasn't too interested in eating those first 24 hours
• another fun thing was James' first poop (sorry, James)
• we had read about the meconium...the black, tar-like stuff that comes out with a baby's first bowel movement
• but I had pictured just a little bit of it...well James had A LOT and this was our first dirty diaper change using the hospital's method of cotton and liniment oil (looks like this, or in the US, this)
• we first went through our sample pack of wet wipes...something we were both more comfortable with using
• but after blowing through those, we were forced to try the cotton...and it was getting stuck to everything...
• so we buzzed the nurse...3:00 in the morning and us newbie parents need help changing a diaper!
• apparently you have to put quite a good amount of the creamy oil stuff on the cotton in order for it not to stick (obviously)...thanks nurse!
• between diaper changes and spit ups, both of us were up most of the night, and when the nurse came in around 4am and saw me still awake, she told me I had to sleep
• she put James on his side in the bed next to me and told me to sleep...and I did...más o menos 

Tu 11.19.13

• good morning sunshine!

• the purpose of the rest of this post is mainly to share photos from the hospital...so here we go...

grandma rocking James

gift from the hospital - a diaper bag!

our hospital room number..Bienvenido James!

• remember that cute BIG foot from one of our ultrasounds?  so this is what it looks like from the outside...still think he's got daddy's feet

such a sweetheart

• these are the comforters they use for the babies (HUGE)...and our room was already super warm...almost womb-like ;)

• we were told babies need to stay in the hospital at least 36 hours to be routinely checked and monitored...that would mean we'd be going home at midnight, so instead we stayed another night
• night #2 in the hospital...going with the swaddle method

*note the book in the corner...we maybe needed to reread the directions

• James wasn't spitting up as much his second day, so we were crossing our fingers for a night of a bit more sleep

• night #2 = MUCH better than night #1!

W 11.20.13

desayuno-ing y siesta-ing

shot from our little balcony

love his skinny, long La Liberte legs!

passing all his tests like a champ

• so maybe I made Jake, James, and my mom take some pics a la Will, Kate, and George on our balcony...sorry, we just had to!

• I really loved having the balcony with green outdoor space to look out to...it a was peaceful hideaway in this big, noisy city
• a peek into our room...saying goodbye!

he's got some German in him...

• so about what we did next...
• I won't go into too much detail, but circumcisions are not performed in hospitals in Buenos Aires, so if you'd like the procedure done on your son, you must find a doctor who does it in his/her own clinic
• the doctor we went with just happened to be available at 2pm the day we left the hospital...and his office was a few blocks away
• the hospital kicked us out at noon (even though we tried hanging around as long as possible to close the gap before our appointment)
• we figured it was best to get this done ASAP, so we had lunch at the hospital's cafeteria then off we went
• the doctor wouldn't let Jake be in the room for the procedure (for fear of fainting apparently), so we sat in the waiting room listening to our poor son's blood-curdling screams...Jake paced back and forth and I cried...it's hard listening to your child in pain!
• luckily it was a fairly quick and simple procedure and everything ended up just fine (*if you find yourself in BA needing to deal with this situation and have any questions, feel free to contact me for details!)
• at this point, we hailed a cab, my mom walked home, and we nervously got James buckled in for his first cab ride

• if you know anything about drivers here and/or the amount of bumps in the roads, you'll understand why I kept my eyes on James and refused to look out the window on the 7 minute ride home

looks like he doesn't mind the ride...a true porteño

• WELCOME HOME JAMES!!!

• my mom had given me the two outfits in which she brought us home from the hospital...one for a boy, one for a girl
• so Uncle Ricky and Uncle Matt, you wore this little blue sleeper once too! crazy!

• ahhhh...home at last

• AHHH!!! sushi and chardonnay at last!

first meal home from the hospital...perfection!

• we love you so, James!