The First Few Weeks

Time has gone by super-slow lately - It feels more like a few months rather than a few weeks since Kai was born. He has been wonderful, snuggly, frustrating, and stressful all wrapped up in one. Everything in the hospital was a blur after the birth; we went home after 24 hours (although retrospectively we might have stayed the extra 24 hours they offered) of testing, bathing, nursing, and a little sleep.

The Bad - Breastfeeding:
The first night back at home with Kai was pretty stressful. Things began to pick up, but we were/are having lots of trouble with nursing. After 3 home visits with a lactation consultant, 8 visits to the pediatrician in 3 weeks, a nipple shield, a growth spurt, and thrush scare, a SNS, 2-hr schedules, forumula feedings, and a crash course in breast pumping, we still don't have it down. I was fairly devastasted to hear he was still losing weight at the end of week 1 after trying so hard to make breastfeeding work. At the advice of our MD, we started supplementing with formula (emergency food, our LC calls it) week 2. He began gaining weight. Once we felt confident he was gaining, I began trying to wean him off forumla and the shield during week 3. We found out Monday he was still not gaining enough weight, and forumula needed to be increased. Ugh! Now he is back on track, and we are working on reading his hunger cues again. Nothing prepared me for the craziness of nursing - way more stressful than childbirth. I promised myself I'll stick it out until 6 weeks and then re-evaluate. I find it sort of ironic too - we had the lowest intervention birth possible, but the highest intervention breastfeeding possible.

The Good - Everything else:
Besides nursing, having a baby is wonderful! We just couldn't be more in love with this small fry. He is very quirky - snorking, growling during breastfeeding, smacking, lip pursing, squeaking, screaming, stretching with "touchdown arms", etc. He loves to snuggle, loves being kissed and hugged, wakes up when he hears new voices, sleeps very peacefully, likes moving and walking with someone, and loves looking at everything. He is pretty strong - he could crawl up Aaron's chest the first week (still can) and he holds his head up for sustained periods of time already! His long legs are always bicyling and kicking. My favorite physical things are him are his super-soft fuzzy hair and his skinny little chicken legs. :)

Aaron has been so wonderful too - my prediction of his penchant for parenting was right on. He quickly became the soother/swaddler while I got busy with feeding our little love. Kai and Aaron have already cheered the Cougars through two football games, learned lots of fun tricks and games, and taken to nighttime calming/bottle feedings. Kai just loves his dad!

We have also been blessed with an abundance of support - family and friends have been so amazing. Thank you for the advice, meals, support, and love! This allowed us to survive the first few weeks.

And for a few pics of our squiggler:

Touchdown!















First Sponge Bath (Thanks, Metta!)












Grumpy Face












Content with Grandaddy