baby update

I'm sorry it's been so long. The first few weeks I was healing, which included some golf-ball sized clots (good thing I got the blood transfusion on the 11th like they said I should!) and mild-shock or something from taking showers due to blood pressure rising and falling. And then bleeding started again after it had stopped. The midwives apparently don't answer their phones but the hospital said the clots were from too much activity. So I had to move downstairs to the couch for about two weeks. I took the bassinet with me. And despite my "I will never co-sleep cause I roll around too much" thoughts I have co-slept just about every night since he was born. It started at the hospital with him being in the plastic/glass case they had on the rolling bed thing for babies that the nurse moved to the bed for me so I wouldn't have to get up. Then the first night home I thought it was too cold for him to sleep by himself. Then I fell asleep by accident while feeding him. And then every night after he wound up with me by morning. These days I don't even bother trying to start him in the bassinet, I just bring him right to bed with us.

Let's see, my last post was on the 10th last month, wow. So, on the 11th they told us he had jaundice at 8.1. They said that they don't give out bili blankets or lights till you're at a 10 so we were safe to go home. The jaundice caused some problems. Like he'd sleep for 7 hours and not want to eat and he would fall asleep eating and I would have trouble waking him up. But to flush out the jaundice I would have to feed him and make sure he ate every 3 hours, about. A trip to the pediatrician on Friday the 14th told us that the computer thought his jaundice was at 12.7, and due to his nursing issues he'd lost a lot of weight. They wanted me to take him back to the hospital for monitoring on the weight and to be put under the bili lights. Well, the hospital is 2 hours away, it was evening already, and I had just got out of the hospital and it was my first day feeling well. We didn't go. I went with natural alternatives on the lights and just took him outside naked (except a diaper) for 15 minutes at a time for about 45 minutes a day. Cleared up by the 17th or 18th. As for the food issues? We gave him formula. I know I said I would never do that either. Well, he was having issues nursing, and I don't think I produce enough anyway cause pumping wasn't really working out for me. I don't think I really like the pediatrician up here anyway. The picture of her on the advertisement the hospital showed me for her made her look older, like late 30s maybe. But in person? When she came into the room I thought for sure she was a nurse. I even handed her the paperwork, which she then handed off to a nurse. She couldn't have been older than I am! You know, we can go to the health department for his vaccinations. We're going natural alternatives for anything else we need. I don't like doctors in general anyway. In fact I skipped my post-pregnancy checkup (I'm supposed to have another one either this Friday or next) and no one ever called me. The midwives told me what it would be, and it was to check to make sure my stitches were healing and to discuss birth control options. Well, we use over the counter methods and my husband has eyes enough to tell if my stitches are doing good. So there.

The 1-month weight and height check and all that said that he had gained back the weight he lost and was up to a decent weight again. In fact he's even a little pudgy now, lol. I think he's in a growth spurt right now though cause he's been eating more. He was eating 2 - 2 1/2 oz every 2-3 hours then he brought it up to 3oz. Now at night he's eating 2 1/2-3oz 2-3 hours and about 4oz during the day every 2-3 hours. He's still a small baby though, and he still fits newborn size even at 5 1/2 weeks.

His hair, which was dark at birth, has been turning colors. It started to get brown, then lighter brown, now it's growing in so blonde it's almost white at the roots. His eyebrows have also grown in and they're currently the brownish color his hair tips are. His eyes are gorgeous, and they're still blue. He still likes being swaddled, and loves to curl his legs up and cross his ankles. He used to make the perfect little "wah wah" cry but now it's more of a regular cry. He's learned who I am and when I bring him to my chest he snuggles his head in and puts his arms up like he's hugging me. And once when hiccuping he looked at me like I was supposed to help him stop them and his eyes looked hurt that I wasn't helping him and it broke my heart cause I googled it and there is nothing you can do for infant hiccups. His squish-nose has popped out and his pointy ears have rounded. His belly button is doing well, though it's still an outie, which is ok cause it looks great, it's just out instead of in. I'm not sure when they go in. His neck muscles are doing great and he can hold his head up pretty well, though not perfect. It still wobbles and occasionally falls to one side or the other (so when his head is up I have my hand near ready to catch it). He can easily roll from his back to his side and likes to sleep on his side. He had gas issues and kept drinking a lot of air so we bought him special playtex vent aire bottles that have helped him a lot. He is in size 1 diapers, despite them being for 8lb babies because the nbs weren't, ah, doing it in the leaking department. Besides, the pampers swaddlers the hospital gave me kept making his butt turn red and were rubbing the insides of his thighs wrong. He is very grabby and will grab his blanket, his burp cloth, my hair, his ears, my shirt, his own hands, and anything left near him that he can get his hands on. He has learned the art of pulling his pacifier out of his mouth.

He melts my heart almost every time I see him. He is the most precious, tiny, adorable, gorgeous thing ever. And he loves to be held, especially by me. Sometimes when I set him down he starts crying till I pick him back up.

The once nearly spot-less house I had in the week or two before he was born is a disaster. Everything is so disorganized. And I have no idea where to put the carseat and diaper bag so they're pretty much just sitting on the floor. But I am very slowly getting it organized. Doesn't help I decided to mount a bookshelf on the wall so I could move my movies over there and then I had shelf space on another bookshelf so I brought in 3 boxes of books to go through and organize and see what I wanted to put out and what I wanted to take back out to the shed. That's taken me over a week so far. I'm just about done though. Once those are out of here things will be better. I also have another box on the floor that had my pre-pregnancy pants and shoes in it. Yeah, the pants don't fit. Not a one. There are two that will go past the knee and they won't close. Really, my thighs are about the only place I got stretch marks and I guess they seriously bloated if not even my "fat day" pants fit! As for my shoes I am so happy to see them! I had packed up everything with heels. I don't really wear thin heels, I prefer clunky shoes with fat heels (mainly cause I'm clumsy), but I still didn't want to risk falling.

When Tommy's attached to me he's on my lap and on my arm and makes it hard to type, so I don't like writing much unless it's short. Partly why I guess I never updated. The other reasons are lack of time. I don't know how women do this with two kids, let alone more than that. It takes 30 minutes to feed him most the time, cause I like to stop and burp him a lot. Change the diaper and rock him a bit, get lost looking at his face, and that brings it up to 45 minutes. When I feed him I'm down a hand, so I usually read or play a game on the computer that only uses the mouse. I tend to be in bed 10-11 hours. Tommy keeps me up till 11. Then wakes up between 1 and 2:30. Then he wakes up again between 4:30 and 6. And again between 7:30 and 9. I tend to get out of bed around 10 (which includes another feeding if his last was at 7:30 and I wake up at 9:30). By time I get dressed and brush my hair and get him dressed and make the bed and get breakfast it's about 11. I do dishes every day to keep on top of it and I make dinner almost every night. And I am the only one doing feeding, so after a nighttime of waking up every 2-3 hours for about an hour each time I'm pretty exhausted. I've mostly gotten used to it by now but it's still hard and still puts me in a bad mood sometimes.

And then the other day I hurt my back and I don't know how but it still hurts. All I did was put my hand on a box and lean over to pick a book up off the floor and bam, spasm, I almost fall over, and later Victor said I had moved my cussax out of place, whatever that means. He pushed at my lower back and it felt better for a time. He has been rubbing me but it still hurts.

haha, spiky hair, mommy needs to stop petting him and getting hand oil all over his head. See his pudgy little cheeks? He had a bout of baby acne and I think you can sorta see that but it's mostly cleared up now. This is from 10/02. It's a Halloween onsie. The back has a kitty tail and says "bye".