MOMent 5- Is He Breathing?

I had my son at 1:46 AM and by the time we were settled in the mom and baby unit it was close to 3 my husband was so tired we had been awake for 23 hours. I insisted he sleep and he was out in like 2 seconds. Me on the other hand, I was exhausted from labor and so sleepy but I couldn't sleep. I would close my eyes for a few minutes then turn to see if my new baby was breathing. I did this until 7 the next morning when the nurse came in to check our vitals.     The. The next night I did the same thing all night long...I didn't actually sleep until we got home from the hospital I took a loooong nap while my husband stayed with our son.

I cannot tell you how many times I have checked to see if he is breathing. Sometimes he is so peaceful when he sleeps, he doesn't move for what seems like forever. I have gone in a put my hand on his chest, finger near his nose and one of the dumbest ideas was to pick up his limp arm that dropped on the mattress and woke him up. Clearly he was breathing!

The we bought a video monitor and I would stare at the screen to watch for highs chest to move up and down so I knew he was breathing. We spent far too much time looking at the monitor in the beginning! Oh heck who am I kidding I still stare at the tiny little screen randomly!! Lately, as in the past 48 hours or so, I have been relying on my maternal instincts to reassure myself he is ok and still breathing and not to run into the room he is sleeping in and accidentally wake him.

Can you relate? When did you stop checking to see if your child was breathing? Do you ever stop checking?