Owen was born at 8 pounds, 10 ounces. By the time he left the hospital, he was 8 pounds, 4 ounces (a normal weight loss for newborns). A few days later at his checkup he was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. We were working with lactation consultants to help with the nursing and were able to weigh him at each appointment. Unfortunately he just kept dropping weight all the way down to 7 pounds 14 ounces. Needless to say, this was not the direction we wanted to head. So, we worked with lactation some more to find ways to get him to eat more and gain more weight. His issue was falling asleep while nursing and losing all interest in nursing after a short feeding. So, we pushed him to drink more milk through every means possible, bottles, syringes, nursing, whatever we could do to get a little more in him for each feeding. It was a frustrating process, but it seemed to do the trick and as he gained weight, he also gained interest in eating more. We're still working on nursing and are constantly checking his weight to make sure it doesn't drop, but it seems to be going well now.
And now what you were really interested in, less talking and more pictures!!
1 Week
7 pounds, 14 ounces
2 Weeks
8 pounds, 5 ounces
Owen with Daddy and Owen with Aunt Katie
3 Weeks
8 pounds, 15 ounces
Not exactly photo shoot pictures, but still good. Owen got his first real bath during week 3. We had to wait until the umbilical cord fell out (on day 11) and also the right timing to have a bath at the same time as Henry. Before that it was lots of sponge baths and hair washing in the kitchen sink. :) While Henry loved having Owen in there with them (and still asks every night, "Owen bath?"), he was not a fan of Mommy taking lots of pictures. He wanted to play instead. Fair enough, so I snapped a few photos and then got down to the important stuff: playing!
"No Mommy! No pictures!" - Henry
4 Weeks / 1 Month
9 pounds, 11 ounces (this weight was taken closer to 5 weeks, but should be somewhat close and definitely gives me confidence that he's gaining weight successfully).
As I read this post, I realize that it pretty much centers on his weight. So I thought I'd add in a few more 1 month details. As with most newborns, he still spends a substantial amount of his day sleeping (although not in long stretches). He usually eats every 2-3 hours and tends to nap between feedings. Now that he is 1 month, I've noticed that he is having longer periods of awake time which has been fun. We've noticed more eye contact in the last week and I'm fairly certain that I saw the first smile from him on Monday (his 1 month mark). I haven't seen it since and no one else was around to witness the smile, but I'm counting that as his 1st smile! I look forward to the 2nd smile and hopefully many more.
The nighttimes are still exhausting, but we're getting used to them. He sleeps anywhere from 1 to 3 hours between feedings, although it's generally closer to 1-2 hours. But with a few 3 hours stretches and possibly one 4 hour stretch (it's hard to tell when we're so sleepy, but I do know that it felt wonderful however long it was!), we are hopeful that the nights will start to improve as he gets older.
He loves to be put in the front pack and usually falls fast asleep (in fact as I'm writing this, he is napping on Daddy in the front pack so I can get some time to blog). He will let us put him down after he falls asleep, but sometimes he wakes up within 15 minutes. So, not ideal, but still gives me time to accomplish a few things (although not as much as I would like). We generally lay him down in the bouncy seat for daytime naps (if he's not sleeping on someone) and he sleeps in a bassinet next to our bed at night.
Henry is a great big brother to Owen (more on this in another post) although it's taking some time for me to work out a good balance between my 2 boys. While the nights feel long, and it was a stressful battle with his weight in the beginning, I still can't believe that he is already 1 month old!
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