Four Weeks -- ONE MONTH (kind of)

Four Weeks  
I'm calling this his one month birthday because he'll never really be "one month" old since there is no 29th of February. I can't believe how fast time is flying.

Stats--

•      Height: Waiting for the doctor appointment on March 6th
•      Weight: Same ^^

Firsts/Milestones:   

-got changed for the first time on one of those changing tables lol

-went out to dinner at Cheddar's with Kyle, his parents, and me (He was so good! He slept the whole time in his seat.)

-had his grandma Ally (and Pop Pop, GGJo, & Great Grandpa Alan) babysit while Kyle and I went to Chase to open a new checking account.

Baby's sensorimotor development in Month 1

How baby sees in the first month

·         He stares at objects, and sees best within 12 inches of his face.

·         He likes bold shapes and high-contrast objects, such as a black and white bull's-eye. I just bought a few high contrast books off Amazon. He loves them :)

·         He loves looking at faces, especially your expressions, and might imitate them right away. He doesn't imitate them yet, but he makes HILARIOUS faces.

How baby hears in the first month

·         He generally likes sounds that change, such as your voice or music, but might react 

      negatively to loud sounds. Not really--he doesn't mind loud noises.

·         His hearing is well developed, but he will not look for the source of the sound. This makes me feel better. I thought there was something wrong with him. lol He doesn't look for sounds, but definitely reacts to them.

·         When startled by a noise, he might cry, stiffen his body and legs, or thrust his arms 

      outward and pull them back to his chest.

 Baby's early reflexes

·         Grasping lets your baby reach for rattles or your fingers, but not hold on to them.

·         Yawning increases the volume of air in the lungs.

·         Rooting helps him open his mouth and find the nipple for feeding.

·         Pulling back signals pain or injury.

·         Sneezing clears the nasal passages.

     ·         Turning his head to one side helps open his airway if his breathing is blocked.  Feeding: So breast feeding is now only half horrible. We have like 2 really good days and then 1 kind of bad day. Nothing like it was before, but still not consistently good. UGH. This week Maverick went through his 3 week growth spurt. Kyle and I calculated it and figured out that Maverick was attached to me for between 6 and 8 hours on Monday. He ate EVERY SINGLE HOUR OF THE DAY from 8am until about 11:30pm. I wanted to shoot myself. But I'm glad I knew ahead of time about the growth spurt so I wasn't as annoyed. I was definitely tired though. No naps ALL DAY was rough. I went to the Baby Cafe (a little mommy breast feeding support meeting group thing) in Brandon and the lactation consultant said I can start pumping! Woowhoo! So Sunday I am going to start pumping once a day and stocking it away. Then on Maverick's 5 week old birthday we are going to start offering a bottle a couple of days a week. I think Kyle will be excited to be able to feed him and not always have to hand him back to me.

Sleeping: Going ok. Last night he slept for two 4 hour times. He was sleeping about 3 hours at a time. We started a routine last night that we do bath time every night, massage lotion on him, feed him, and put him down. The lactation specialist said he will start sleeping longer and longer. Fingers crossed!

Best thing this week: All the amazingly cute faces he makes and the good days breast feeding.

Worst thing this week: This wasn't too bad AND I was prepared, which makes it even better... I went out to dinner with Tessa last night to sushi and right as we sat down to wait for our food Maverick spit up like a cup and a half! It went all over everything. But I learned my lesson. I had a fully stocked diaper bag. I laid his cute little self on the bench, changed him out of his wet clothes and wrapped him back up. I even had a burp cloth to clean his stroller. It was GROSS!

 Check out Maverick's four week picture on the "Maverick's Mugshots" page.

Three WeeKs

Stats--

•      Height: I don't know...Dr. appointment on March 6th. I guess I could measure myself, but I suck at measuring.
•      Weight: I hope over 8 lbs. I can't wait to start using my little sling thing. Although, I don't know exactly how to use it. YouTube here I come...
•      Others: Coolest 3 week old on the block!

Firsts/Milestones: There aren't really any lists out there that go week by week. I might have to re-think my template.
-A first for me was lifting the baby carrier and driving. I was so nervous when I first pulled out of the driveway.
-His belly button cord fell off! He's finally like a normal little person.

Feeding: The bane of my existence. Breast feeding SUCKS. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a little (but not by much). I want to quit every night and morning. During the day is ok. I've had about 3-4 ROUGH nights this past week. Lots of crying (screaming crying to be exact, like he looks like he's in pain) and no latching over and over and over and over and over. Then my tears start. It makes me feel like such a horrible mom to not be able to feed him good. It will get better though! Thank goodness for my mom, Kyle, and the lactation consultant. They are all very supportive and keep encouraging us.

Sleeping: Unfortunately, he is sleeping so good he's starving himself. He was sleeping between 4 and 6.5 hours at night. But then when he wakes up he is so hungry that he is mad and gets frustrated with the latching issue-see above! It's vicious cycle.

Best thing this week: I got up, got me and Maverick ready and made it to where I needed to be ON TIME! Wooowhooo. Of course, just hanging out with Mav all week. And I would be lying if I didn't mention my personal diaper changer this week. My mom was an AMAZING help. I missed Kyle like crazy, but being at my parents' house was so nice. Seeing my grandparents was awesome; AND Don and Beth (the best neighbors EVER) cooked me lots of yummy meals. They are like the baby whispers. Mav LOVED LOVED LOVED them.  Which brings me to the last "best thing"....Kyle came home!!!

Worst thing this week: Gas. Poor Maverick and his immature stomach. Gripe water does not work, but he loves it. Next on the list is Milanta (however you spell it). You should see how bright red his face turns and the screeching. It breaks my freaking heart. Also, leaving my moms was pretty sucky. Good thing my reward for leaving was seeing Kyle and being at home as a family.

 Check out Maverick's three week picture on the "Maverick's Mugshots" page.

Two WeeKs

Stats--

•      Height: He grew 3/4 of an inch! Now Maverick is a whopping 20.75 inches long. He is a little above average.
•      Weight: In the last week Maverick gained 13 ounces. So now he weighs 7lbs 14 oz. 2 more and I can carry him around in a sling thing! Can't wait. 
•      Others: They measured the circumference of his head again, but I left the paper on the table. So oh well--who cares anyways?!

Firsts: I need to Google a list of firsts, post them, and then check them off when they happen. A week is too long to keep track of! He did have his first little surgery...wait until you read about that below.
             *Maverick tried to pee on me for the first time! I dodged the pee fountain and covered him before he could do too much damage. It happened again to his Grandma Ally yesterday. haha I'm so nervous every time I change him now.

Feeding: We are feeding about every 2-3 hours during the day and then 3-4 hours at night. Last night he let me sleep a whole 5 hours! Go Mav! Thank you, thank you. We did go through quite a rough patch with the eating. I even had to pump and spoon feed him at one point. By Monday he was back to eating great on a pretty decent schedule. He's also latching pretty quickly now. Much less fussiness, but he still has a lot of gas. Pediatrician said his stomach is just immature and still developing.

Sleeping: Not as good of a sleeper as the first week of life, but I think that's normal. He still sleeps on a pretty good schedule and especially during/after car rides. I really can't complain. He's GREAT.

Best thing this week: Still everything about having a baby is amazing. Even when he cries, it's still the best sound. We got to share Maverick for a whole weekend with our first overnight house guests, Kelly, Jason, and Aidan. That was really fun. We also took a 2 miles walk with the stroller. He did great and so did Mom-C-section recovery and all.

Worst thing this week: I feel like such a Debbie Downer with all of these awful stories, but HOLY COW. This poor child has been tortured the first 14 days of his life. Last Thursday, Feb. 6th (my original induction date, if I was late), we took Maverick to Dr. Sierra's office to get his tongue and lip tie looked at. Dr. assured us that he definitely has a textbook case of both. He explained all of the complications it could cause now and in the future. He also commended us on coming in so early. I'm so glad Trish, the lactation consultant referred us right away. She's AWESOME. To revise the tongue and lip tie they take a laser and clip the skin under the tongue and the skin on the gums up under the top lip. Dr. Sierra asked if either of us wanted to go in with him. HELL NO. I was crying just as we was explaining the procedure. Kyle opted out too. Who wants to watch their poor baby go through surgery-even if it only lasts 5 minutes and doesn't even bleed?! We waited in the waiting room for about 10 minutes and then they brought us back to see him. I was allowed to nurse right after, but between the trauma and the numbness, Maverick didn't want to nurse. He just snuggled. Timing sucked because by the time we got home he was pretty much over due for a feeding. Now that the numbness had wore off, he REALLY wasn't down for the nursing. Needless to say, Maverick was hysterical and I was crying. Poor Kyle probably didn't know what to do with the two of us. I just kept telling Maverick how sorry I was he had to have the surgery and it'd be better in the end. I also kept begging him to eat. After almost a solid hour of crying and not eating (which now put him at like 5 1/2 or 6 hours without eating), I dug out my hand pump. Thank goodness I threw it in my bag. We weren't planning on staying the night at our house. We were planning on going back to my parents', so we didn't have very much with us. I pumped about 2 ounces and had to spoon feed him. It was awful, but at least he ate. We did a lot of skin to skin cuddling. I had to pump more and spoon feed again at some point. Kyle was very supportive and awesome. He went out and got Infant Natural Orajel and Infant Tylenol, which helped. All of this exhausting crying and hurting and everything else put Maverick into a loooong sleep. He woke up a lot at night and slept during the day. He was backwards! So Friday and Saturday we worked on getting him back into his regular routine. It took us probably until last night to get back in the awesome schedule we originally had. Yesterday, I met with my awesome lactation consultant at the Baby Cafe in Brandon and she checked up on him. She said he's healing great and watched me feed. His latch is good, his position is good, and I got a few other questions answered. I don't regret doing the surgery, but OMG.

 Check out Maverick's two week picture on the "Maverick's Mugshots" page.

One weeK

Stats--

•      Height: 20 inches (49th percentile)
•      Weight: At the pediatrician's office on Monday, he weighed 7lbs 1 oz (21st percentile). He          dropped to 6lbs in the hospital and then was 6lbs 13 oz when we were discharged. We have a      2 week old appointment scheduled for next week and he's supposed to be back at or above          birth weight. I don't think he'll have any issues with that. 
•      Others: They measured the circumference of his head, which is 13.75 inches (25th                      percentile). 

Firsts: ummm everything. We went outside for the first time on Saturday when we got discharged from the hospital; had our first car ride; Tuesday night we had our first bath (pics on fb--so cute!); Tuesday night we also had our first family walk. Obviously everything we did this week was a first, but those are the highlights that I can remember off the top of my head!

Feeding: Maverick is eating good. He's having trouble latching, but once he's on there he eats great. We are taking him to a pedi dentist this week to look into laser surgery. He is a little tongue tied and has a thick lip thing going on. It's a quick and painless surgery that will hopefully help him latch better/use his tongue to it's fullest, and not run into speech and dental issues later down the line. During the day we try to eat every 2-3 hours, even if I have to wake him, but at night I let him be in charge of the schedule. He's been sleeping like 4 and 5 hours at night, so I'm only getting up once or twice to feed depending on what time I go to bed. HE'S SO GOOD!
Sleeping: Takes after his daddy. That's all I have to say. If sleeping was an Olympic sport, he'd get gold.

Best thing this week: Everything! I could not be happier. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we have a beautfiul house and a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Everything is coming together.
Worst thing this week: Well let me tell you a little story... Saturday we got discharged from the hospital around 11:30. I had all my paperwork, we packed up our million bags of stuff we brought/acquired, and I got wheeled down to the car. After fumbling with the carseat for about 10 minutes we were locked and loaded. Home we go... (to my parents' anyways). I get home, we are settling in, feeling great... my mom says, "oh, should we fill your prescriptions? I don't know if the drug store will be open tomorrow." Hmmm...well although I knew I had my prescriptions, it didn't dawn on me that I was now in charge of medicating myself and duh, I needed them filled. Thank god for mommies! "Yes, please! Here's my insurance card/health account credit card, my ID and the hard copies." My mom noticed none of the prescriptions were signed. I figured it was a new thing and there was probably some QR code or something on there that meant it was "signed". All this dang technology! So off she went. Well, about 20 minutes later she called me and said that they can't fill any of my prescriptions because they aren't signed. OY VEY! (Questions running through all of our heads...and to the pharmacist: "Can you call and get it approved?" "Can you call and have them fax you signed ones?" "WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?") Back at the house I'm in more and more pain and feeling overwhelmed and miserable. Thank god Maverick was sleeping so good and not needing me during this ordeal. So, we call the nurses' station at the hospital and explain. We get in touch with my nurse that discharged us (scatter-brained is a nice way to describe her...). She says we have to come in person, bring the hard copies back, and get the doctor to sign them. REALLY?! FINE. Ok. Well the doctor is in surgery... HEAD SLAP. After 3 phone calls back and forth, we figure out he'll be out in about 45 minutes. Kyle heads to the hospital with the nurses' number in hand and prescriptions. The plan was for him to meet the nurse outside of the McDonald's at the hopsital. She was going to take the prescriptions to the doctor, he would sign them, and she'd return them to Kyle. Well... Kyle calls, "I'm walking from the parking garage up to McDonald's." Nurse, "Ok, I'll meet you in a few minutes." Nurse then calls me. "Tell your mom that the doctor is going to come down himself and sign the prescriptions. He knows you're about to pull up in the circle outside of McDonald's. (I forgot to tell you, I orginially thought my mom was going so that's why she thinks she's meeting my mom.) I tell her that it's my boyfriend, not my mom, but that I'll call and tell him. He's probably almost there. She says, "Oh I just talked to him!" So I call Kyle anyways to tell him it's the doctor coming to the car. I didn't know he had called her and told her he was walking into McDonald's. He says he already talked to her and I just re-iterate that it's now the doctor and he thinks he's in the car. After 10 minutes Kyle never finds the doctor. He has to call back. The doctor is waiting for the car to pull up. Kyle is waiting for the doctor. HUGE CONFUSION. Finally, Kyle saves the day. He deals with the "special" nurse, finally finds the doctor, gets the presctipions signed and comes in with the drugs. What a life saver!! And he never complained once. I am one lucky girl!

Pictures:
I'll post more next week. I put so many on Facebook that there really aren't any new ones people haven't seen.

Here's our boy at (10 hours shy of) one week old. Napping so his mommy can blog! LOVE this little kid.