Rule Number One: Don't break your face.
Rule Number Two: No means no.
Rule Number Three: We don't throw fits.
Rule Number Four: Love everybody (Oliver came up with this one).
Friday, March 29, 2013
What's Rule Number One?
Our Family Rules (because our family rules):
Rule Number One: Don't break your face.
Rule Number Two: No means no.
Rule Number Three: We don't throw fits.
Rule Number Four: Love everybody (Oliver came up with this one).
Rule Number One: Don't break your face.
Rule Number Two: No means no.
Rule Number Three: We don't throw fits.
Rule Number Four: Love everybody (Oliver came up with this one).
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Tuesdays With Henry - Week Six
Henry has really started to perk up the last couple of days. He's staying awake longer and taking in more of his surroundings and he's getting a little fussier (this last one doesn't sound like a good thing but he's easy to calm down and being fussy is an indication that he's paying more attention to the world around him).
He's also continuing to put on weight, although the pictures this week probably make him look like he's put on more than he has since they are the first ones in which he's sporting a cloth diaper. They really add some bulk to his butt. (More on our experiences with cloth diapers later).
And I just realize I made a huge Tuesdays With Henry faux pas and used the same onesie as week three. It's almost as though I'm not getting enough sleep to think straight.
He's also continuing to put on weight, although the pictures this week probably make him look like he's put on more than he has since they are the first ones in which he's sporting a cloth diaper. They really add some bulk to his butt. (More on our experiences with cloth diapers later).
And I just realize I made a huge Tuesdays With Henry faux pas and used the same onesie as week three. It's almost as though I'm not getting enough sleep to think straight.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Henry's NICU Stay
I think it would be easier both mentally and time-wise to condense Henry's NICU stay to one post. He was there for one week so this could be a book-length post probably but I'd like to get all of it down and then move on to documenting our time at home more. So, I'm going to break it down day by day.
Wednesday - They did an Xray on Henry's lungs Wednesday morning and it showed a ton of fluid. He spent most of Wednesday on a pretty high flow of a higher percentage of oxygen than he's had the day before. Since he was still breathing so quickly and required so much oxygen, he couldn't nurse. So, they put a gavage tube up his nose and down into this belly in order to feed him. Unfortunately, I didn't have much by the way of breast milk on Wednesday so he only got a couple of mLs of colostrum that day. They gave him antibiotics preventatively but stopped them when his blood work came back clean (36 hours after he was born). They started an IV fluid drip to help keep him hydrated. I spent as much time as I could up in the NICU with Henry and by the end of the day I was able to walk all the way up to the unit by myself (no small feat for someone who'd just had a c-section the day before).
Thursday - They did a bili check on Thursday morning and his numbers were climbing. When we met with the doctor she told us she expected the numbers to continue to climb and that he would probably need phototherapy by Friday morning. The doctor said his respiratory rate was still too high to try nursing.
While we were taking to the doctor I asked her (through many tears) if there was anything wrong with Henry's lungs. I was so tired and terrified and confused that I was imagining all sorts of horrible things. I kept thinking something was wrong with him and that was why he was struggling to breathe. The doctor assured me that there was nothing wrong with him. That the fluid on his lungs was causing all of his problems and that it was only there because he had been born via c section without me going into labor. Once the fluid cleared out, he would be fine. This had been explained to me before but it was only here that I truly started to "get it." His lungs were fine and perfectly formed. They just had fluid on them that would eventually go away.
My milk came in by Thursday but I was struggling with pumping. I could tell I was full but I wasn't able to get anything from the pump probably because I hadn't actually nursed Henry. Breast pumps are great but they aren't magical. If your milk won't let down, then the pump can't get anything. My milk wouldn't let down because I couldn't put myself in the psychological space of actually nursing Henry. I met with the NICU lactation consultant and she gave me a lot of great tips to help me with pumping. By the end of the day I was managing to keep up with the amount of breast milk the doctor had prescribed him for each feeding (20 mL every three hours). I was pumping every three hours during the day and stretching that out to every four hours at night. On Thursday night I got up to pump around three and then decided to take my milk up to the NICU and visit with Henry. It was nice to be there in the middle of the night - much quieter and calmer than during the day.
Friday - They did another Xray on Friday and his lungs showed some improvement but were still full of fluid. His bili numbers were up as the doctor suspected they would be so the plan was to start him on phototherapy as soon as possible.
On Thursday night, my uncle (who had been sick for months) died and that meant my mom had to get to Midland to plan the funeral and help my grandmother. So, she came by the hospital Friday morning and we headed up to the NICU. Henry needed to stay under the lights as much as possible but the nurses were great when I explained the situation and got him out so mom could snuggle him before she had to hit the road.
He was still on a high rate and flow of oxygen on Friday and nursing was out once again. But my pumping continued to improve and I was actually able to get ahead of the amount of breast milk prescribed by the doctor (which they had upped at this point to 40 mL).
He spent Friday looking like this:
I probably could have gone home on Friday but our insurance allows for a four night hospital stay after a c section so we took advantage of that. Brian did head home that night, though, because Oliver was really missing him.
My night alone in the hospital got off to a rough start due to a less than stellar night nurse (who I had already had a bad experience with during my stay at 34 weeks) who didn't bring me my pain medication on time. My blood pressure got pretty high while I was waiting for the medication. But the rest of the night was fine. Once again, I pumped in the middle of the night and then headed up to the NICU to visit with Henry. He was doing really well overnight.
Saturday - I went up to the NICU first thing Saturday morning. When I got up there, the nurse asked me if I wanted to try and nurse him. I was shocked but she said she had been watching his respiratory rate and it was slow and steady. She got him out from under the lights and I got to nurse him for only the second time in his life. It was an amazing feeling. After that visit it became imperative for me to be there as much as possible when it was time for him to eat. I wanted to be sure to be there before they gave him milk through the feeding tube so that we could focus on trying to nurse. The doctor on Saturday said that he was doing good but that the oxygen and phototherapy needed to continue.
I was discharged Saturday morning (there is nothing stranger or sadder than walking out of the postpartum unit without a baby). After I was discharged I went up to the NICU, nursed Henry, and then we headed over to the baby shower that Lindsey and Kelly were throwing us (so much fun!). After a few hours at the shower, I was back at Henry's bedside to nurse him again. I skipped his 8 PM feeding so that I could put Oliver to bed but Brian brought me back up for his 11 PM feeding. I then went home until Sunday morning.
Sunday - This was when things really started moving towards discharge for Henry. I had already planned to spend as much time at the hospital with him as possible so that we could continue to nurse. We got up there at 8 AM and met with the doctor shortly after. Henry was doing so well that they decided to discontinue the oxygen and the phototherapy. So, his cannula was taken out. It doesn't seem like much but it was the start of our countdown to a wireless baby and we were so excited. After the 8 AM feeding, I had breakfast with Ann, Brian, and Oliver and then went back up to Henry for his 11 AM feeding. I stayed there until he ate again at 2 and then went to Dauphin and Kelly's house to take a quick nap before the 5 PM feeding. At the 5 PM feeding they took his IV out. One more wire gone!
I talked to the doctor and expressed my concern that Henry wasn't nursing well enough because he was still getting such big feedings via his feeding tube. Henry had yet to show any signs of hunger when it was time for him to eat. The doctor agreed that we should rewrite the orders so from then on if Henry nursed really well (as determined by myself and the nurse), then he wouldn't get any breast milk via his tube. If he didn't nurse at all, he would get a full feeding (40 mLs at this point). If he nursed but didn't do a great job he would get 30 mLs.
I skipped the 8 PM feeding again but was back up at the hospital at 11 with Grandma - who finally felt comfortable enough to hold him (it's really difficult to hold a baby completely covered in wires):
I skipped the 2 AM and 5 AM feedings (a girl's got to sleep) but we were back at his bedside for the 8 AM feeding on Monday.
Monday - I still can't get over how quickly things moved on Monday. His day nurse introduced herself and said: "Let's get this kiddo out of here." She got out the paperwork and set about ticking off all of the things that needed to get done. The first order of business was getting his feeding tube out. But since I had said I didn't want him to use bottles we first had to figure out if it would be possible for me to stay with him overnight (even though we were getting things rolling, the plan was always to discharge him on Tuesday). I told her I'd sleep in a chair by his bed if it meant we could take him home. She said they didn't allow that but that they would try to get me a spot to room in with him.
Henry also had to pass a car seat test in order to be discharged. Every baby in the NICU born before 37 weeks has to take and pass a car seat test. The test is just having the baby sit in his or her car seat for an hour and a half with the monitors on to be sure that they can continue to regulate their breathing, etc., in that sitting up position. He took it Monday afternoon and passed no problem. After his test, they cleared out the rooming in room for me and Henry and I moved in.
So, at 5:00 PM, six days after he was born, I found myself in a room with Henry by myself for the first time in his life. It was such an amazing feeling. The rooming in room was oddly decorated and smelled like burnt popcorn but it had a great view of downtown Austin. The thing about the room, however, was that once I was in it, I was in it. It was a badge access only room so I was basically locked in there with Henry. I could call out but I couldn't come and go from the room. I had Liz bring me dinner that evening and she spent an hour or so hanging out before Brian came with my clothes and a few other supplies. It was the first time the three of us - Henry, Brian, and I - had ever been alone and it was really nice. Brian only stayed for a bit (Oliver was really upset when he came home from school on Monday and learned that I was back at the hospital so we wanted Brian to be at home for him in the morning) and then it was just Henry and me for the rest of the night.
Tuesday - It was a restless night. I don't think Henry was used to the dark and the quiet so he was up a lot. But morning came eventually and with it, the promise of discharge. The nurse came to get Henry to run some labs around four in the morning. Later the doctor came and checked him out and declared him good to go. His bilirubin numbers were still high and he was still losing weight, though, so she only discharged us after I made an appointment with our pediatrician for the next day. Brian came up to the hospital around noon and then it was finally time to go home.
I'd like to say that I am still pretty ashamed of the fact that I spent a majority of my time in the NICU crying at Henry's bedside. I can't believe I stood there and bawled over my 37 weeker with a little fluid on his lungs when right next door to him was a 26-weeker who was delivered early due to severe IUGR and was less than a pound at birth. I talked to his mom once at the handwash station. She asked how my baby was doing and I said he was fine and probably going home soon. She said they were there at least until May. I can't believe how sorry I felt for myself that I had to wait four hours to hold Henry when I listened to this mother finally get to hold her son over a week after he was born. I took me about four days in the NICU to realize how absolutely lucky we were - lucky that Henry was going home soon, lucky that we managed to avoid delivering at 26 and 34 weeks. I can't believe the strength of this mother watching her baby of less than a pound slowly grow over months and months. I'm not sure how I would have handled that situation had it been us.
Finally, to end this post I've been writing for five weeks now, I'd like to say how grateful I am to the doctors and nurses in the NICU at Seton. They have an amazing staff and I felt that Henry and our entire family were very well cared for there.
Wednesday - They did an Xray on Henry's lungs Wednesday morning and it showed a ton of fluid. He spent most of Wednesday on a pretty high flow of a higher percentage of oxygen than he's had the day before. Since he was still breathing so quickly and required so much oxygen, he couldn't nurse. So, they put a gavage tube up his nose and down into this belly in order to feed him. Unfortunately, I didn't have much by the way of breast milk on Wednesday so he only got a couple of mLs of colostrum that day. They gave him antibiotics preventatively but stopped them when his blood work came back clean (36 hours after he was born). They started an IV fluid drip to help keep him hydrated. I spent as much time as I could up in the NICU with Henry and by the end of the day I was able to walk all the way up to the unit by myself (no small feat for someone who'd just had a c-section the day before).
Thursday - They did a bili check on Thursday morning and his numbers were climbing. When we met with the doctor she told us she expected the numbers to continue to climb and that he would probably need phototherapy by Friday morning. The doctor said his respiratory rate was still too high to try nursing.
While we were taking to the doctor I asked her (through many tears) if there was anything wrong with Henry's lungs. I was so tired and terrified and confused that I was imagining all sorts of horrible things. I kept thinking something was wrong with him and that was why he was struggling to breathe. The doctor assured me that there was nothing wrong with him. That the fluid on his lungs was causing all of his problems and that it was only there because he had been born via c section without me going into labor. Once the fluid cleared out, he would be fine. This had been explained to me before but it was only here that I truly started to "get it." His lungs were fine and perfectly formed. They just had fluid on them that would eventually go away.
My milk came in by Thursday but I was struggling with pumping. I could tell I was full but I wasn't able to get anything from the pump probably because I hadn't actually nursed Henry. Breast pumps are great but they aren't magical. If your milk won't let down, then the pump can't get anything. My milk wouldn't let down because I couldn't put myself in the psychological space of actually nursing Henry. I met with the NICU lactation consultant and she gave me a lot of great tips to help me with pumping. By the end of the day I was managing to keep up with the amount of breast milk the doctor had prescribed him for each feeding (20 mL every three hours). I was pumping every three hours during the day and stretching that out to every four hours at night. On Thursday night I got up to pump around three and then decided to take my milk up to the NICU and visit with Henry. It was nice to be there in the middle of the night - much quieter and calmer than during the day.
Friday - They did another Xray on Friday and his lungs showed some improvement but were still full of fluid. His bili numbers were up as the doctor suspected they would be so the plan was to start him on phototherapy as soon as possible.
On Thursday night, my uncle (who had been sick for months) died and that meant my mom had to get to Midland to plan the funeral and help my grandmother. So, she came by the hospital Friday morning and we headed up to the NICU. Henry needed to stay under the lights as much as possible but the nurses were great when I explained the situation and got him out so mom could snuggle him before she had to hit the road.
He was still on a high rate and flow of oxygen on Friday and nursing was out once again. But my pumping continued to improve and I was actually able to get ahead of the amount of breast milk prescribed by the doctor (which they had upped at this point to 40 mL).
He spent Friday looking like this:
I probably could have gone home on Friday but our insurance allows for a four night hospital stay after a c section so we took advantage of that. Brian did head home that night, though, because Oliver was really missing him.
My night alone in the hospital got off to a rough start due to a less than stellar night nurse (who I had already had a bad experience with during my stay at 34 weeks) who didn't bring me my pain medication on time. My blood pressure got pretty high while I was waiting for the medication. But the rest of the night was fine. Once again, I pumped in the middle of the night and then headed up to the NICU to visit with Henry. He was doing really well overnight.
Saturday - I went up to the NICU first thing Saturday morning. When I got up there, the nurse asked me if I wanted to try and nurse him. I was shocked but she said she had been watching his respiratory rate and it was slow and steady. She got him out from under the lights and I got to nurse him for only the second time in his life. It was an amazing feeling. After that visit it became imperative for me to be there as much as possible when it was time for him to eat. I wanted to be sure to be there before they gave him milk through the feeding tube so that we could focus on trying to nurse. The doctor on Saturday said that he was doing good but that the oxygen and phototherapy needed to continue.
I was discharged Saturday morning (there is nothing stranger or sadder than walking out of the postpartum unit without a baby). After I was discharged I went up to the NICU, nursed Henry, and then we headed over to the baby shower that Lindsey and Kelly were throwing us (so much fun!). After a few hours at the shower, I was back at Henry's bedside to nurse him again. I skipped his 8 PM feeding so that I could put Oliver to bed but Brian brought me back up for his 11 PM feeding. I then went home until Sunday morning.
Sunday - This was when things really started moving towards discharge for Henry. I had already planned to spend as much time at the hospital with him as possible so that we could continue to nurse. We got up there at 8 AM and met with the doctor shortly after. Henry was doing so well that they decided to discontinue the oxygen and the phototherapy. So, his cannula was taken out. It doesn't seem like much but it was the start of our countdown to a wireless baby and we were so excited. After the 8 AM feeding, I had breakfast with Ann, Brian, and Oliver and then went back up to Henry for his 11 AM feeding. I stayed there until he ate again at 2 and then went to Dauphin and Kelly's house to take a quick nap before the 5 PM feeding. At the 5 PM feeding they took his IV out. One more wire gone!
I talked to the doctor and expressed my concern that Henry wasn't nursing well enough because he was still getting such big feedings via his feeding tube. Henry had yet to show any signs of hunger when it was time for him to eat. The doctor agreed that we should rewrite the orders so from then on if Henry nursed really well (as determined by myself and the nurse), then he wouldn't get any breast milk via his tube. If he didn't nurse at all, he would get a full feeding (40 mLs at this point). If he nursed but didn't do a great job he would get 30 mLs.
I skipped the 8 PM feeding again but was back up at the hospital at 11 with Grandma - who finally felt comfortable enough to hold him (it's really difficult to hold a baby completely covered in wires):
I skipped the 2 AM and 5 AM feedings (a girl's got to sleep) but we were back at his bedside for the 8 AM feeding on Monday.
Monday - I still can't get over how quickly things moved on Monday. His day nurse introduced herself and said: "Let's get this kiddo out of here." She got out the paperwork and set about ticking off all of the things that needed to get done. The first order of business was getting his feeding tube out. But since I had said I didn't want him to use bottles we first had to figure out if it would be possible for me to stay with him overnight (even though we were getting things rolling, the plan was always to discharge him on Tuesday). I told her I'd sleep in a chair by his bed if it meant we could take him home. She said they didn't allow that but that they would try to get me a spot to room in with him.
Henry also had to pass a car seat test in order to be discharged. Every baby in the NICU born before 37 weeks has to take and pass a car seat test. The test is just having the baby sit in his or her car seat for an hour and a half with the monitors on to be sure that they can continue to regulate their breathing, etc., in that sitting up position. He took it Monday afternoon and passed no problem. After his test, they cleared out the rooming in room for me and Henry and I moved in.
So, at 5:00 PM, six days after he was born, I found myself in a room with Henry by myself for the first time in his life. It was such an amazing feeling. The rooming in room was oddly decorated and smelled like burnt popcorn but it had a great view of downtown Austin. The thing about the room, however, was that once I was in it, I was in it. It was a badge access only room so I was basically locked in there with Henry. I could call out but I couldn't come and go from the room. I had Liz bring me dinner that evening and she spent an hour or so hanging out before Brian came with my clothes and a few other supplies. It was the first time the three of us - Henry, Brian, and I - had ever been alone and it was really nice. Brian only stayed for a bit (Oliver was really upset when he came home from school on Monday and learned that I was back at the hospital so we wanted Brian to be at home for him in the morning) and then it was just Henry and me for the rest of the night.
Tuesday - It was a restless night. I don't think Henry was used to the dark and the quiet so he was up a lot. But morning came eventually and with it, the promise of discharge. The nurse came to get Henry to run some labs around four in the morning. Later the doctor came and checked him out and declared him good to go. His bilirubin numbers were still high and he was still losing weight, though, so she only discharged us after I made an appointment with our pediatrician for the next day. Brian came up to the hospital around noon and then it was finally time to go home.
I'd like to say that I am still pretty ashamed of the fact that I spent a majority of my time in the NICU crying at Henry's bedside. I can't believe I stood there and bawled over my 37 weeker with a little fluid on his lungs when right next door to him was a 26-weeker who was delivered early due to severe IUGR and was less than a pound at birth. I talked to his mom once at the handwash station. She asked how my baby was doing and I said he was fine and probably going home soon. She said they were there at least until May. I can't believe how sorry I felt for myself that I had to wait four hours to hold Henry when I listened to this mother finally get to hold her son over a week after he was born. I took me about four days in the NICU to realize how absolutely lucky we were - lucky that Henry was going home soon, lucky that we managed to avoid delivering at 26 and 34 weeks. I can't believe the strength of this mother watching her baby of less than a pound slowly grow over months and months. I'm not sure how I would have handled that situation had it been us.
Finally, to end this post I've been writing for five weeks now, I'd like to say how grateful I am to the doctors and nurses in the NICU at Seton. They have an amazing staff and I felt that Henry and our entire family were very well cared for there.
On My Own
Since Henry was born I've worked really hard to avoid being the sole parent on duty to both kids at the same time for any long periods of time. Ann was here to cover me at the beginning and my mom came up when Oliver's school was closed for Spring Break. Even when I was pregnant, the thought of trying to do bedtime with two kids frightened the hell out of me. But in the last few days I've had to face that fear and I'm happy to report that we all survived!
Brian had book group yesterday evening, so that meant that I was on my own from four to nine o'clock. Meaning dinner, bath time, and bedtime were entirely up to me. Oliver's a handful just on his own during that time of day but having Henry creates an added challenge. Henry loves to clusterfeed all evening long. So, not only did I have to do dinner, bath, and bedtime for Oliver, I had to do it all while nursing Henry. I prepped Oliver before Brian left and told him that it was just going to be the three of us and that I needed him to be my big helper and have his listening ears on. And, for the most part, he obliged me. He stayed in a good mood most of the evening and I got him into bed a little earlier than we usually do (it's amazing how quickly you can shuffle a kid off to bed when you're highly motivated). I was even more astounded by how well Oliver behaved because he wasn't feeling well at all yesterday. He was congested, had a runny nose, and his eyes were so gunky. Which leads us to my next challenge...
An entire day alone with both kids. Oliver's eye gunk looked suspiciously like pink eye last night so I made the decision that he couldn't go to school until a doctor could look at it. We woke up this morning, Brian left for work (after getting Oliver fed and dressed), and we waited for the doctor's office to open so I could make an appointment. We got to the doctor and she declared it allergies (in fact, she feels fairly certain that everything that's wrong with him right now - including this most recent asthma attack - can be traced back to his allergies). So, no pink eye! Great news! Let's get this kiddo to school! Except... I had already made the mistake of telling him he wasn't going to school today. When we left the doctor's office, I said something about how he could go to school and he got really upset and called me on it: "You said I didn't have to go to school today!" Ugh. (Side note: Oliver loves his school but who doesn't love a day off, right?). So, I made him a deal. He could stay home if he was on his best behavior. If he didn't listen to me or started to throw fits, he was going straight to school (I wasn't crazy about using going to school as his "punishment" for misbehaving but I was desperate for good behavior. I had lots of work I needed to get done today).
And then a miracle happened... Oliver was good. All. Day. Long. We didn't have any fits. He took a nap without arguing. He played by himself when I told him I had work I needed to do or when I had to take care of Henry. It was like an invasion of the body snatchers thing. My almost four year old, who hasn't gone three hours in a row without throwing a wall-eyed fit because we told him he couldn't do something, or because the pb&j sandwich wasn't "squishy", or because it's time to turn off the television, went eight straight hours today as the most well-behaved kid I've ever been around. He was polite, he was helpful, and I am so grateful to him for making my first day on solo duty with two kids a rousing success. And, yes, I told him over and over again how proud and grateful I am. Positive reinforcement, amiright? His response to my gushing: "Oh, thank you, Mommy!" No, kid. Thank you. Really.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesdays with Henry - Week Five
Henry's fifth week marked his first trip to Grandmommy's house in San Antonio (and Oliver's and my first trip down there since Thanksgiving - before my bed rest started). Oliver's school was closed for Spring Break (yes, it's a day care, and that's really inconvenient) and my Mom was also off for Spring Break so she came up here for a few days and then we went down there for the rest of the week.
We planned to only stay a few days but Oliver had an asthma attack (I so thought we were done with those) that necessitated him getting albuterol treatments every four hours (including in the middle of the night) so the plan was for Brian to come down to San Antonio on Friday after work so we could have more adults on hand to care for both kiddos. Unfortunately, Brian came down with a stomach flu Thursday night so Henry, Oliver, and I ended up spending the rest of the weekend in San Antonio to avoid getting sick.
We managed to have a good time despite the asthma attacks and Daddy quarantines, though. We went to the Witte Museum to see their new dinosaur exhibit. In true almost four year old style, Oliver is obsessed with dinosaurs so even through his constant coughing he had a really great time.
We planned to only stay a few days but Oliver had an asthma attack (I so thought we were done with those) that necessitated him getting albuterol treatments every four hours (including in the middle of the night) so the plan was for Brian to come down to San Antonio on Friday after work so we could have more adults on hand to care for both kiddos. Unfortunately, Brian came down with a stomach flu Thursday night so Henry, Oliver, and I ended up spending the rest of the weekend in San Antonio to avoid getting sick.
We managed to have a good time despite the asthma attacks and Daddy quarantines, though. We went to the Witte Museum to see their new dinosaur exhibit. In true almost four year old style, Oliver is obsessed with dinosaurs so even through his constant coughing he had a really great time.
I also got to introduce Henry to my best friend from high school, Seema. And Mom and I got lots of shopping done (including a trip to the new Trader Joe's in San Antonio). And both boys did great on the trips down there and back. So, our first trip to San Antonio was a rousing success!
Henry is continuing to beef up (although he's nowhere near as beefy as his brother was at this age) but he's still not alert for much of the day. I keep reminding myself that he's only supposed to be two weeks old at this point but it's hard not to compare him to Oliver who, at five weeks old, was already smiling at us. It's dangerous to compare one kid to another anyway but my boys had almost four weeks difference in their gestational age at birth so it's really not a fair comparison (and it just causes unneeded stress... as opposed to all of that stress we need). For now I will continue to enjoy our easy baby who still just eats, sleeps, and poops.
Here are the pictures from this week. He's finally starting to stretch out his legs!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Tuesdays With Henry - Week Four (Officially One Month Old!)
Today marks not only Henry's fourth week but his one month birthday. I can't believe a whole month has gone by since he was born. My surgery seems like it was forever ago but I feel like we just brought him home yesterday. I guess that comes from missing that first week while he was in the NICU.
Henry spent some time with me at the bookstore this week. I've been working from home since I went on bed rest and have continued to work now that Henry is here. I am hoping that by working through my "leave" that I can delay putting Henry into day care until he's a little older.
Here are the pictures from this week:
Henry spent some time with me at the bookstore this week. I've been working from home since I went on bed rest and have continued to work now that Henry is here. I am hoping that by working through my "leave" that I can delay putting Henry into day care until he's a little older.
Here are the pictures from this week:
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| Over this already |
Weight Check
Since the doctor was still a little concerned about Henry's ability to gain weight after our last check at his two week wellness visit, she asked us to come in today to check his progress. At two weeks he weighed 6 pounds, 4.8 ounces. He was gaining an ounce a day but he wasn't back up to his birth weight which the doctor really wanted to see by the two-week mark. He was also still pretty yellow from jaundice and she wanted to be sure that had cleared up.
So, I took him back today to see where we stood. I was hoping for an ounce a day weight gain which would have put him at seven pounds, three ounces. I was so pleased when they weighed him and he was, instead, seven pounds, TEN ounces! The boy is still super sleepy and doesn't spend much time awake every day but it hasn't stopped him from putting on the pounds! I'm now feeling much more confident that Henry and I will make as good of a breastfeeding duo as Oliver and I did. Also, his jaundice is gone so no more Big Bird baby.
We talked a little about some of my other concerns (because, of course, I can't *just* be concerned that he's not getting enough milk). Like I said, he's still pretty sleepy all the time and is the most calm newborn I've ever been around. I'm not complaining about either of those things but I was concerned that he's not having enough "awake and alert" periods throughout the day. The doctor assured me that since he was a few weeks early that he's doing fine. It's not that he was so early that we need to measure his progress by an age adjusted to his due date or anything but we also shouldn't be surprised if he meets milestones a little later than others.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Tuesdays With Henry - Week Three
We finally achieved a Tuesdays With Henry photo shoot with open eyes and a content baby. I was starting to think it couldn't be done.
And then, in typical Henry fashion, he got sleepy.
And then, in typical Henry fashion, he got sleepy.
Baby's Day Out
Brian took today off so he and Henry and I could spend the day together. We haven't really gotten to spend a ton of time together just the three of us so it was great that we had today. We dropped Oliver off at school and then went down to the lake for a (very short) walk. After a few hours at home we headed to Alamo Drafthouse for Baby Day. We saw Silver Linings Playbook (so good!) and Henry was perfect in the theater. We took Oliver to Baby Day once and it was pretty much a disaster. He fussed the whole time and Brian spent most of the movie in the lobby with him. Henry, however, slept through most of the movie, woke up and ate, and then snoozed through the rest of the movie on my chest. Success! I may take him again before my maternity leave is over. After the movie we went to the Domain and I got some new clothes for me and both boys at H&M. We then took Henry downtown for his first visit to BookPeople. It was nice to see the store and to show him off. He ate again in my office and then we went over and picked up Oliver. We stopped at Téo on the way home and had gelato and now are all sitting on the couch watching a little bit of TV before Oliver's bed time.
Zilker Kite Festival
On Sunday we took Henry to his first kite festival. It's an annual event here in Austin that magically lands on one of the most beautiful Sunday afternoons of the year every year. We took Oliver last year and had a picnic with Dauphin, Kelly, and Lindsey. This year our group was bigger by two kiddos and we were joined by Lindsey's mom. It was such a great afternoon. We swung by Salt and Time (a butcher shop and salumeria) on our way to the park and got some amazing cured meats and delicious fried chicken. We spent about three hours eating, talking, flying kites, playing tag, nursing, napping, and having a blast. The weather was beautiful and Henry was perfectly content to snooze and snack the afternoon away. We weren't ready for the fun to end after the festival was over so we all headed to the Draught House (a neighborhood bar near Dauphin and Kelly's house) and had a beer and continued to visit. I love this stage of babyhood where they are so mobile and content to do what they do (sleep, eat, and poop) wherever you happen to take them. Such a perfect Sunday.
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