3 weeks and 3 pounds to go!

Tomorrow, at 6:11 am, Ian will be 3 weeks old. As of this morning, I weighed 145.5 pounds, which is 3 pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm glad the weight came off quickly (and without any effort on my part), but I'm realizing that I will need to work at getting my stomach back into the shape it was in before. Although I'm only 3 pounds heavier than prior to getting pregnant, my stomach is poochy and I really want to tighten it up. Given that I had major abdominal surgery 3 weeks ago, I don't want to push it and so I will most likely wait at least another 2 weeks before doing any abdominal exercises. But I will be signing up for the Stroller Fit class at the JCC (which starts on April 17) and I will try to take walks with Ian as long as the weather permits it. Today, it was beautiful out (albeit a bit windy, which my son did not like!) and we took a 2 mile walk. I had previously only walked 1 mile at a time, but today, I decided to do the neighborhood loop twice instead of just once. It felt really good. I haven't taken any pain medication (600 mg Motrin) in over 36 hours and I don't feel like I need it because of the walk. Go me!

No More Parents, But Successful Bottle Feed!!

My parents left this morning. They had been here for 3 weeks to help out, although for the first 4 days after Ian's birth, I only saw them when they came to visit at the hospital. The last 2 weeks with them were amazing. They did all the shopping and cooking. My mother kept me very well fed, which I needed because I was absolutely starving from the breastfeeding! My father kept himself busy fixing up the basement. He loves his projects! He re-sanded and re-painted the walls, stained the wood shelves and doors and installed the Pergo flooring. I no longer have to cringe when I walk down the steps to the garage. Instead of seeing knotty wood pine walls and cracked and dirty brown/beige floor tiles, I see beautifully painted, light yellow walls and flooring that looks like real wood. I absolutely love it. I was extremely sad to see my parents go. I started crying and made my mom and dad tear up too. Not only will I miss the help that they offered, but I'm going to miss their company. It sure will be lonely here without them (especially when my husband is at work during the weekdays). I am already looking forward to their next visit at the end of May.

In other news, Ian is almost 3 weeks old. Since his birth, he has consistently latched well to my breast and I think that I've clearly established a good (if not overabundant) milk supply. So we decided that today would be the day to try bottle feeding for the first time. Ian's pediatrician warned us not to wait too long and so we made today the day. Daddy used one of the Medela nipples that came with the pumping bottles we bought and Ian took it immediately and like a champ.



He drank 3 ounces and didn't seem to care that (a) he wasn't feeding from a breast and (b) that I was in the room (and taking pictures like a mad woman). Now we just have to figure out how much bottle feeding we should do in order to make sure that Ian takes both breast and bottle easily. If anyone is out there and reading my blog, do you have any thoughts or experience on this?

Unique Moments

There are some things that only happen once and three of those things happened in the last 24 hours:

1. Last night, as I was changing my baby's diaper and putting some Vaseline on his penis, I noticed that he had an erection. I'm sure this will be the first of many.
2. This afternoon, after pulling my baby's urine-soaked onesie over his head, I realized that my baby was crying real tears.
3. This afternoon, the nub of my son's umbilical cord, which had been hanging on by a thread, finally fell off (18 days after birth). And we are now free to bathe him, which we will do tonight, when my husband gets home from work.

I love these milestones!

2 week pediatrician visit

My husband and I took Ian to the pediatrician today for his 2-week visit. We both went because it was the first time we were meeting the doctor we had chosen. We both thought the doctor was nice and knowledgeable. I thought it was a little bit weird that the doctor couldn't make eye contact with either me or my husband. He seemed a bit on the socially awkward side, but a good doctor nonetheless. He spent a TON of time with us and answered all of our questions and I liked that.

It turns out that Ian is very healthy! He weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces, which means he gained 12 ounces in 1 week. That's right on track because babies are supposed to gain 1 to 1.5 ounces per day. He also grew 1 inch since birth and is now 21 inches long. His height, weight and head circumference all measured just above the 50th percentile. He has no hip issues and no heart murmurs. The doctor also said that Ian is a very strong baby (which we already knew because he's been lifting his head since he was in the NICU!).

In other news, we have thankfully discovered mylicon anti-gas drops. Ian has been suffering from some nasty gas and then we all suffer when the gas strikes at 2:30 am. So we've been using the mylicon drops for over 24 hours now and there have been zero periods of inconsolable crying. The doctor said it was okay to continue to use this product and so I'm going to medicate my son to high heaven! He was also surprised that the product worked, since it only seems to work about 33% of the time. He told me that I may want to avoid salads and dairy products, since that can cause more gas in the baby.

I feel like Ian is already growing so fast. I want to enjoy this time with my newborn while I have it. People tell me it goes by so fast and I feel like that is already happening. I want to remember how he frantically nuzzles at my breast searching for the nipple (and inevitably finding the pillow or the air without my guidance). I want to remember the little swallowing and gulping noises he makes when he is feeding. I want to remember how good his warm little body feels against mine. I want to remember how often he gets the hiccups and how cute he sounds when he has them. It's amazing how much I already love him.

The Adorable Things

I was worried about being a mom. I've never been the nurturing type and I never dreamed about the children I would have. My husband and I decided to try and have a baby because "it was time" and it's "now or never." And when I first held Ian 2 hours after my C-section, I felt only a logical curiosity, but didn't feel that strong mother's love that I expected to feel. But man, that changed quickly. I love Ian so much now. I feel so bad when he cries from his diaper rash and I want to make him feel better when he is struggling with gas. I guess I had that mothering instinct after all, which makes me feel great!

Here are the things that I love about Ian:

1. His head/hair is unbelievably soft. I stroke and caress it every single time he is feeding.
2. He makes the most adorable, plaintive cries when he is just waking up and wants to feed.
3. When he roots around looking for my nipple, it is so cute. He makes these "ah ah ah" sounds and tries to find my nipple in either the air or the pillow. Then he fights me when I try to direct his face to the correct location. (All this from the boy who couldn't find his way out of the womb either!)

Ian has definitely had his fussy periods where he will cry for no apparent reason. But overall, I would say that he is a very good baby. He feeds well, every 2 to 2.5 hours. He sleeps when he should sleep. And he is just so darn cute!

We Survived the Bris

Ian's bris was on Monday, March 23rd, 8 days after his birthday. He got through it like a champ. The mohel said he was a very calm and alert baby.



My mom and my mother-in-law lit the candles, my nephew said the Ha-motzi, my father was able to hold Ian prior to the surgery, my brother held Ian's legs during the surgery and my father-in-law held the wine-soaked gauze in Ian's mouth during the surgery. And based on Ian's facial expression in the below picture, I think he got a little drunk!



The ceremony was short and our mohel did a good job. I started crying when reading passages from the prayer book with my husband, but I was able to watch the surgery without a flinch. I felt bad for my husband's grandmother, who sat in the corner and looked very distraught that her great-grandson was in pain and crying. I tried to feed the baby after the surgery, but he wanted none of it. He cried for about 5 minutes afterwards and then had a nice nap. His great-grandmother sat in the room with him and watched over him.

Ian is named for his great-grandfathers Isaac and Isay. His middle name, Ravid, is in honor of his great-grandmother Rachel. His Hebrew name is Itai Ravid.

Assplosion!

I wanted my next blog entry to be about all the wonderful things that I have experienced thus far with my son. But last night's events require coverage. The baby was fussy all night, which I suppose is to be expected. So I wasn't getting much sleep. He also seemed to want to feed every 1 to 1.5 hours instead of 2 to 2.5 hours. At 5 am, after a feeding, I went to change his diaper. I had previously learned my lesson (when the baby pooped all over the changing table) and made sure that after removing the dirty diaper, I put a new diaper underneath him. But I didn't fasten the new diaper because I needed to put oil on his diaper rash and a new gauze pad over his newly circumcised penis. I turned to get the gauze pad, heard a massive pooping noise, looked back at the baby and was very dismayed to see poop EVERYWHERE. The poop had flown 2 feet horizontally! It was all over the box of baby wipes, all over the scissors that I use to cut gauze and it even made it onto the diaper genie and the floor near the diaper genie! I woke my husband up to help me clean up because I was so overwhelmed. I never knew there could be so much force behind a poop from an 8 pound baby! Let's just say I have now changed my diapering technique even further to prevent that from ever happening again.

It was also just a bad night for me. I was freezing and couldn't warm up and so I asked my husband to cuddle with me. But the minute he put his arm around me, I started crying uncontrollably! I wasn't sad. I wasn't depressed. I think I was just so over-tired and hormonal and it just kept on coming. I'm hoping that we don't have a repeat of tonight!