When Eddie Was Born

With Morsel set to arrive in the next few weeks (or days if you ask Kristen), I can't help but look back on those challenging first few days with Eddie. I realize others have had much more difficult experiences than ours, which I'm certainly not trying to compete with.

We had been through the classes. We had fielded all manner of contradictory advice from friends and family. We went to the hospital and Kristen squeezed a beautiful baby boy out of her body. We named him Edward James. I got to sleep on a circa World War I army cot. Then, as if without warning, we were being escorted out of the hospital with an extra person that we were expected to take care of.

University Hospital's luxurious accommodations for husbands.

We arrived home in the early evening. As bedtime descended upon us, we laid Eddie in his bassinet, turned out the lights, and hoped for the best. He was quiet for a few minutes before the crying started. We put a teddy bear next to him that played soothing sounds of the womb. We took turns rocking him. Kristen fed him. But every time we tiptoed away from a quiet, swaddled baby, he turned into an upset, crying baby within mere minutes.

At 2 am we finally remembered the unopened package of binkies in the closet. A binky seemed to help with everything but the actual sleeping. Kristen and I continued to take shifts throughout the night. Around 5 am I took Eddie downstairs and laid on the couch where he finally fell asleep on my chest.

Eddie woke me up at 7, and Kristen took him to attempt another feeding. After groggily staggering into the kitchen, I washed all the dishes and polished the countertops because cleaning felt like a Hawaiian vacation.

Kristen catching up on some much needed ZZZs.

As the day progressed, Eddie started to look a little yellow. We took him in to the pediatrician who recommended testing him for jaundice. Unfortunately, they couldn't run the tests at their office for insurance purposes. So we drove up the road to Jordan Valley Hospital and spent the afternoon filling out paper work, waiting around, and watching our baby get blood squeezed from his foot.

When we got home I laid on the couch and conked out for an hour or so. I was awoken by the hospital calling to confirm that Eddie would need to spend some time under the lights. While we waited for the equipment to be delivered, I offered to go pick up some dinner. As I drove to Kneader's, the cold hard reality of parenthood came crashing down on my exhausted body. I found myself wishing I could just keep on driving until I arrived at some magical land where there were delicious sandwiches aplenty, and no crying babies.

Unable to locate such a utopia, I returned home as the light bed was being delivered. We reviewed dire warnings such as keeping the baby's eyes covered at all times or he will go blind (a slight paraphrase), then nervously attempted to get the little cloth mask to stay on Eddie's head. Thankfully, Kristen's mom had arrived by this point. She was instrumental in keeping this angry, squirming child under the lights over the next day and a half while allowing Kristen and I to get some rest.

Edward James Barton, 5 days old.

Yes, those first few days were a little rough, but before we knew it, we found our groove. Which meant people had already started asking when we were having another one.