Wow, what a whirlwind the last month has been! It has been the best month of my life :-D I can't believe he is already a month old though!! Sunday was his birthday, so here's an update of what's going on...
-Andrew's 1 month doctor's appointment was yesterday. He now weighs 9 lbs, 13 oz!! He has gained over 3 lbs in his first month! I hope he doesn't get to be a chunk....lol! He measured 21 1/4 inches long, but the nurse said she thinks he's taller than that but he wouldn't let her stretch his legs out fully to get a better measurement. He was in the 50th percentile in all his measurements, so he is right on track. He got his 2nd round of the Hepatitis B shot....he screamed so bad, and I had tears in my eyes! It was really hard, and he was not feeling great the rest of the day. We also got a prescription for a medicine to help his belly (see below about screaming in the afternoon), so hopefully that will start helping in the next day or two. Otherwise, the doctor was very pleased and said everything looks good and we're doing great!
-I think I'm adjusting to the sleep deprivation. I'm still exhausted, don't get me wrong, but it is becoming more bearable than before. I feel like my head is in a fog sometimes and I hate that. But I'm adjusting.
-Thank God for the Moby wrap. This is usually the only way I get dinner (or something that at least looks like dinner) on the table in the evenings. After his late afternoon feeding, Andrew gets really fussy and won't let me put him down, so I put him in the Moby and can at least do a couple of things. It kind of makes my back ache after a little while, but I'd rather deal with that than the screaming.
-I don't know what it is about the afternoon, but he doesn't like that time of day at all. He just cries and cries and screams and screams. It seems like it is his belly hurting him, but not totally sure. Anyway, most days it is over by bedtime (9-10 ish) but this week has been later than that. I was up the night before last for a really long time. So long in fact, that I have no idea what time it was! Ha! And then last night, I think I got about an hour of sleep. Not fun. Like I said earlier, this starts right in the middle of dinner time, so fixing and then eating dinner is a challenge. But we are getting through it.
-We have (
mostly) successfully transitioned into the pack-n-play for sleep this week. He was sleeping in the bed with us, but I knew we had to stop that pretty soon. So since he was doing so well sleeping in that during the day, we decided to move it into the bedroom and try it at night too. The first night, he ended up with us again once, but for the most part he was in the pack-n-play. The second night was even better, he didn't sleep with us once! So I am considering that a success. Hopefully that will continue being successful. If so, it will be much easier to transition to his crib once his nighttime feedings get less frequent.
-I have been fighting some kind of sickness. I've had horrible head congestion, and a pretty rough cough. By some miracle, Andrew hasn't gotten sick. Being sick and taking care of a baby sucks. I even lost my voice! I have never lost my voice before! It was very strange. But I feel like I am somewhat recovering, and I have my voice back for the most part, so I hope to be over this crap soon.
-Last week was the first week since bringing him home that I haven't been to the doctor. I probably should have gone though considering how sick I was. First I saw the doctor for the UTI that wasn't a UTI....then for the rash that turned out to be PUPPPS (I'll explain that in a minute) that I actually went in twice for. And I think there was something else too....but I can't think of it right now. It's that sleep deprivation thing again...lol
-PUPPPS is no joke! For most people, this rash shows up only in the stomach area (it actually begins in the stretch marks) and it shows up during the 3rd trimester and goes away at delivery. However, for my weird self, it didn't show up until AFTER delivery, and it spread to my whole body. If you don't remember chicken pox, it MAJORLY SUCKS when your ENTIRE BODY itches!! It felt like my skin was on fire and had creepy crawlies at the same time. It was awful. The doctor started me out on a prescription lotion that had several different things in it to help with itching and with healing. That did nothing at all, so I ended up with a steriod prescription for 6 days that finally cleared up most of it. I still itch some though. Ugh. It is finally starting to heal too, where I had scratched the skin off in lots of places. Thank goodness that is mostly behind me.
-Andrew is doing great in the development area....he can hold his little head up during tummy time for a good amount of time. It is the cutest thing! He moves his legs really well too, and the nurse actually said that she thinks he will crawl early...watch out! He is REALLY close to smiling and I can't wait for that!! He pulls up one corner of his mouth, and it is utterly adorable. He is also more aware of sounds. If someone else is holding him and I say something, he will cut his eyes over at me like he's looking for me :-) And he is starting to notice the toys above him on his swing and bouncy seat. I love how aware he is when he is awake.
-Overall, the first month has been great! I love my sweet little man so much that I had no idea it was possible. He is a cuddly little sweetheart, and he just loves his momma. We love taking walks in the nice weather we've had lately. The mornings are the best time of day for us, because he is sweet and laid back. He is growing like a weed, and I wish I could memorize every moment so that it doesn't seem like my baby is getting way too big way too fast. And even though I don't want him to get big, I am so proud when he does something new or makes big strides in development. Of course, he loves his daddy too :-) And daddy is doing so great with him! He goes down to sleep or play better when daddy puts him down, so sometimes I give him to his daddy so that he'll go down better, and of course so they can have "man time", lol! I love to see them
snuggling having man time!
To sum it all up, I'm just in love! :-D
