The Growth Spurt of Week 6

I can hardly believe it, but Nathan's been with us for 6 weeks already! The time sure flies by so quickly. I took him in to his 6 week check up and he's gained 2 pounds (from his birth weight) already. If you count his lowest weight after birth, it's almost 3 pounds. He's also grown about 3 inches since birth. It's scary to imagine how some babies are his size when they are born. I simply can't imagine Nathan fitting inside of me at his current size/weight.

Nathan peeking out from the Balboa Baby sling.

He's on the tail end of a growth spurt period. A few days ago, he was a ravenous baby, wanting to nurse every hour to hour and a half. It was exhausting, to say the least. The nights were the worse. But, I think he's starting to get back to his normal 3 hour feedings and he's sleeping more regularly and I can get things done while he's napping.

As far as sleep goes, I can get about 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I nurse Nathan one final time around 10 and I go to sleep. He usually wakes up every 3 hours for a feeding, with one feeding lasting a bit longer because he just won't go to sleep. When I get frustrated, Steve takes over and Nathan is asleep in 20 minutes. I've learned to just wake Steve up if he's been up for more than an hour. (Instead of trying for 3 hours). I have also tried gripe water with Nathan for his colicky periods at night. I feel like it seems to help with his gas.

He's sleeping now, and I'm hoping he can sleep for awhile since apparently more sleep correlates to more growth. Many of the baby books says that babies will start to sleep for longer stretches at about 6 weeks. I'm not seeing it yet, but I sure hope it comes soon. I guess with a larger capacity digestive system, he can go longer without having to feed. Come on, growth spurt!

After being a mom for 6 weeks, I am starting to feel more confident about my mothering abilities. I feel like I am closer to him as he is starting to respond to stimulus and I can decipher his many cues and behaviors.

A few tentative plans right now for after Thanksgiving:
1. Attend a baby swimming/water class with Nathan. The ladies in my baby love class told me about this bathtime babies class where they teach babies how to be more comfortable in the water.

2. Start sleep training. I have decided to go with the pick-up and put down method. Right now Nathan is co-sleeping with us in the bed. After Thanksgiving, I am going to start to train him to go to sleep on his own in the pack'n'play bassinet. When he is able to sleep a full 8 hours, and able to start to crawl/roll over, I will transition him to his crib.

2 Weeks Photo Shoot

Week 5...One month!

Check out the little guy! He's starting to get chubby little cheeks! This picture was taken this morning when he wasn't cranky. It's been a pretty rough week. I now know how important it is for babies to sleep. For the past few days, our schedule has been thrown off a bit, causing Nathan to not sleep for more than 10 minute stretches at a time. We didn't really understand how a baby could be tired and not go to sleep. Also, I was getting a bit stressed out about trying to sleep train him (putting him down right before he dozes off) and failing miserably.Today has been the first time this week I have been able to sit down, eat lunch, and have some time to myself.

Well, turns out that until 2-3 months, it is ok for him to fall asleep in my arms. So, I guess I will start to sleep train him when the new year rolls around. I'm still a bit torn about what sleep training method I will use. My instinct tells me to go with the PD/PU method (Put down/pick up) where you put the baby down as they are drowsy and pick them up when they start to cry. However, the easier and thus more enticing method, the one my mom used on me, was the Ferber method, AKA the cry-it-out method. I'm curious about what others have done and how their kids turned out. My mom Ferberized, and while I'm not the most confident person, and I have some issues with separation, I think I turned out ok. I guess we still have a few weeks to figure this out.

Nathan is about 8 and a half pounds now, we are actually tracking his growth on the Wii. I even created a little baby Mii for him.

Cloth diapering is going well. Right now, he's a bit small for the one-size pocket diapers, but I think my favorite system is the prefolds with the Thirsties duo snap covers. I find that they are less bulky and they have a leak guard that keeps the mess down. I found that we were having to hand wash the covers between diaper washes, so I ordered another 2 diaper covers today. I wonder if these will still be my favorites when he is a bit bigger.

Night time sleep is alright. I have found that because I now can anticipate him getting up every 3 hours, the interrupted sleep is not bad. Since Nathan is feeding more efficiently, our feeding sessions are now down to 20-30 minutes as opposed to 45-50 minutes last week. I need to do a better job burping him, because sometimes I'll put him down, lay down, and a few minutes later, he wakes up crying because of gas. I think we also have a good system that we started last night and I ended up getting at least 7 hours of sleep. After bathing and feeding him, I would pass him off to Steve at around 10, when I would go to sleep. Steve puts him to sleep and is done for the night. I wake up at around 2 and 5 to feed him (one of the feedings almost always requires me to walk around the house to get him to sleep, and the other one, he goes straight to sleep after he eats) and then I wake up around 8 in the morning for good.

I guess that's it for now. I'm headed off to tidy up the house a bit and perhaps get a short power nap in before he wakes up. He's been asleep for 2 hours! 

4 Weeks

Everywhere I go, I still get comments about how small Nathan is. He's almost 8 pounds. People, have you not seen small babies? Oh well.


Nathan's grandparents came to visit a few days ago and it was nice having a few extra pairs of hands around. Now that they are gone, we are back on our schedule and things are going pretty smoothly. I even had the opportunity to go out for a girl's night and celebrate my friend's birthday. Steve got to ride 65 miles in the Livestrong Challenge. We also went to a pumpkin patch/pick your own flower farm. I breastfed in public for the first time in the back seat of the car... not the spacious place to do so.

Nathan also met his cousins for the first time.  He didn't really like to be pushed around in a baby doll stroller. But it was amusing while it lasted.

On Tuesday, Nathan and I went to a baby + mama massage class. The massage portion was a bit underwhelming, but I loved the atmosphere of the group. We started the class out by sharing the toughest part of being a mom. It was good to hear that other moms were facing the same frustrations. I am really looking forward to going back next week.

So far, being a mom, besides being very time consuming, is very managable. The only annoying thing is that during one of his night feedings, he stays up for like 3 hours before he goes back to sleep. Now that I know to expect this, it is not as bad. But in the beginning, it was very frustrating because I would finish feeding him, burp him and put him down while he was nodding off. As soon as his eyes close and his arms go limp, I would turn off the light and get ready to sleep myself. Suddenly, I would hear a wimper, I wait a bit, and then a full  out cry. The problem is that Nathan has gas and it seems like we need to burp him forever at night to soothe him. I usually last for about 2 hours before I give up and then Steve takes over. It seems like Steve's got the magic touch because for the past 2 nights, Steve can get Nathan sleeping in 20 minutes. He's been really great! I love my family so much. Just today as I was walking Teddy, I thought to myself, God has blessed me with such a great family. Everything is just about perfect.

So far, we've been co-sleeping with Nathan. During the day, I have him napping in his pack'n play and for the first time today, I had him sleeping in his crib. He slept for almost 4 hours in the crib. I think he likes it. Perhaps he will be sleeping in his own room sooner than I thought.

3 Weeks and products you don't hear about in the baby blogs

Today marks 3 weeks and I have been hanging out alone with Nathan for about 4 days. The highlights of our day are as follows:
- A morning walk from 10-11 in the morning
- A quick walk in the sling to the mailbox in the afternoon
- A nap for mommy from 1-2:30ish
- Feedings every 3 hours.

Things are steady. Not much to report about this past week, but grandma and grandpa are visiting this week.

The next part of my post will feature 4 products that I have found to be so useful.

Changing Pad
Nathan pretty much sleeps in it. We have this in our bed between Steve and me at night so that we don't roll over him. During the day, I have him sleep in this while in his pack n' play to get him used to sleeping in there. When it's time for him to move to his crib, I will probably put the changing pad in the crib too.
My Brest Friend
Forget the Boppy. I had received a Boppy pillow for breastfeeding, but found that it was awkward to use. It simply was not made for breast feeding. However, it works great as a device that keeps Nathan from rolling off of the couch when we set him on it. I tried the MBF for the first time in the hospital when they had me nurse Nathan. I fell in love with it immediately and when we got home, immediately went to the local baby consignment store to see if they had one in stock. I was in luck and found one in my favorite color for $19.99.

The Milkies Milk Saver
Thanks to the MMS, my pumping days are over.This was a product that my friend Kym recommended that I get. You basically stick it on the boob that you are not feeding with and it catches the milk that is let down during the feeding. Normally, moms use feeding pads to absorb the milk, but I am able to save at least an ounce at each feeding. With 8 feedings a day, that's 8 ounces of milk that I can save up!

Grass Drying Rack
Who knew this little device would come in so handy. I actually have this sitting next to my bed so that at night, I have my milk saver and bottles easily accessible. It's pretty cool to have all of Nathan's washables drying in one spot. Plus, it's cool to look at and can be used as a pencil/marker holder when he's older.

I didn't think this mom thing would be so time consuming, but it is so worth it and I am enjoying the experience.

Two Weeks Old Today

If things went according to plan, Nathan would've been born today. 10/10 was his official due date, but instead, it's his 2 week "birthday/"

Things at the homestead are getting a bit more steady, just in time for Steve to go back to work.

Nathan was circumcised yesterday, and after an emotional day of seeing swelling and dealing with crying, I'm glad that his spirits have improved. I'm sure it was tougher on him than it was on me.
I weighed myself yesterday and I am proud to announce that I am only 5 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. A good diet and exercise is so important, and I'm kind of glad that one of the midwives had me avoid sugar like the devil from the start. I'm also glad that I continued to attend my Bodypump and Zumba classes at the gym. I guess it was also a good thing that I was pregnant during the summer so that I could spend lots of time at the pool.

On Monday, I had a little photo session with Nathan. I will probably post those pictures later this week. For now, I have to go and put a baby to bed and try to muster up some sleep for myself.

Needles and NICU

Bililights: A form of light treatment used to help rid the body of excess bilirubin.

Exactly a week ago, Nathan was admitted into the NICU for an extreme case of jaundice. While jaundice is a common disorder among newborns, a combination of a high red blood cell count, my milk not coming in fast enough, and being part Asian was a recipe that caused his bilirubin levels to reach an extremely dangerous level.

We were at the hospital for 2 nights and almost 3 days. We were lucky to be able to get a room to stay in overnight in the NICU. Even though I knew that Nathan was going to be ok in a few days, I don't think I have ever been so worried, scared, and emotional in my life. When I saw the IV needle taped onto his little hand, I admired how brave he was, and howI, myself was super scared about the IV (but luckily I didn't need to be hooked up to an IV at the birthing center).

I cried a lot those few days and after thinking about it, my tears were mostly tears of frustration, or tears of comfort. Most of the nurses there were unable to answer many of the questions that we had. Most of them would reply with, "well, it depends..." or "Each doctor has their own way of interpreting, so I'm not sure..." There was one nurse, in particular who seemed off. She was unable to answer any of our questions, and didn't even know if it was ok for us to put lotion on Nathan's dry feet. Unfortunately, she took care of Nathan for 2 shifts. Oh, there was one point when I went in to visit Nathan and when I felt him, he was burning hot. I mentioned it to the bad nurse and she told me to take his temperature. I took his temperature and it reached 100 degrees. Turns out, she had flipped him and didn't move the temperature sensor that controlled the heating lamp above Nathan's bed.

But then there was this awesome nurse, Lisa. She had the overnight shift and when we visited she updated us on his status, told me that he was drinking all of my pumped milk (when the bad nurse said that he's only on formula), allowed us to put lotion on his feet, let us give him a bath and hold him, and even gave Steve the algorithm that the doctors used to determine how risky the bilirubin levels were in a newborn.

In the end, I learned a lesson about needing to truly trust in God. Throughout the pregnancy, I read countless books on prenatal and baby care, making sure that I would know what to do, and know what to expect. I wanted to make sure that I was in control. But those books didn't prepare me for Nathan's birth and the days that followed. Things were out of my control, but luckily, we have an awesome God who is.

When Nathan was born, he was 6 lbs. 3 oz. When he was admitted into the hospital, his weight had dropped down to 5 lbs. 7 oz.. On the third night, we had received a phone call from the doctor saying that Nathan was stable, but they wanted to keep him overnight and test his levels one more time in the morning before he was discharged, so we went home to rest in our own bed. Around 9:30, the hospital called again, and this time, a different doctor informed us that Nathan could go home tonight. Ecstatic, we rushed to the hospital where Jimmy, the nurse, hurried through the discharge process and by 12:30, we were finally headed home. Nathan's discharge weight was 6 lbs. 2 oz..

A few days later, we took Nathan in to see the pediatrician and he looked good. In fact, his weight had gone up to 6 lbs. 5 oz. He's still a little yellow in the face and in parts of his eyes, but for the most part, he's back to normal. Now, we're just doing the feeding, changing and sleeping cycle. I'm feeding him on demand and he's normally sleeping for about 2.5-3.5 hours, meaning that I only have to get up 2-3 times a night to take care of his needs. Which isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Funny story today: I had just finished feeding and changing Nathan's diaper. As I held him in front of me, I kissed him on the cheek and told him "I love you" Immediately, he responded by spitting up milk all over