oh, baby!

Wow, has Aidan's changed or what? Just look at the previous post (okay, its been two months. I've been a little busy.) In that picture, he is a mere one week old. As of this post, he is a lean, mean 9-weeker.

I say "lean" because he is in the 10 percentile for weight. How Paul and I got a lean baby is beyond us, but he happy, healthy and on track and that is all that matters.

The last two months have been a blur. He changes daily-- from the faces he makes to the small, developmental behaviors he is beginning to exhibit. I'm going to try and summarize the last two months so we can get this blog up-to-date.

March 12-April 12: Month 1

Got milk?
I'll be honest-- the first two weeks were hell. I was recovering from my C-section. My hormones were having a hey-day with my body. We were all getting used to our new roles of Mommy, Daddy and Child. Visitors came and went. It was quite a whirlwind of activity and when you're only getting 4 hours of sleep a night, everyone starts sounding like the adults in a Peanuts cartoon-- "hwah, hwah, hwah-hwah-hwah.."

And the crying! Is he hungry? Is his diaper wet or poopy? Does he have gas? Is he in pain? You wish your baby could just say,"Please change my diaper, I believe I've had a bowel movement." It would make life so much easier. If you think about it, the baby must be just as frustrated with us as parents as we are with baby-- "Can't you people figure it out? I'm sitting in my own excrement for Pete's sake!"

We opted to breastfeed Aidan. You hear all the good things about it (good for baby, cost effective, encourages bonding between mom and baby, etc.) No one (and I mean NO ONE) tells you how rough it is the first couple of weeks. Since I had a C-section, that automatically delays your milk coming in. So, you get to worry whether he's getting enough to eat. Lactation consultants tell you not to feed him formula because it is bad, bad bad. Breastmilk is best, yada yada yada.(The lactation consultant at the hospital is the worst.) Yet the nurses are happy to give you some formula for you in the hospital. Even though it is normal for babies to lose weight in that first week, as a first time parent, you still think that your baby is wasting away to nothing. Despite the gestational diabetes and the fear that baby would be too big, Aidan was a little tyke at 6 lbs, 12 oz at birth, whittling down to 6 lbs. 2 oz by the time we left the hospital three days later.

When my milk finally did "come in," poor baby couldn't get his mouth to latch on so our favorite nurse introduced the nipple shield. Hallelujiah! Baby can eat now. Whew.

But, I still worried. Was he getting enough? How long should he feed? Am I making enough milk? Will this ever get better?

Basically, the first month was a pattern of eat, pee, poop, sleep. Repeat. Not necessarily in this order, however. And, sometimes he would multitask. He would pee or poop while he ate. Or, ate while he slept. Industrious little guy.

Oh, and props to Papa Paul for being encouraging and for changing the first meconium-filled diaper.


Sleep-- or lack thereof.
So, baby was feeding every 2-2 1/2 hours. If he was sleeping, I had to wake him up to feed. Eventually (and he still does this at 2 months) he cries or wakes up from a nap at just about three hours to eat. He has developed his own internal feeding clock.

For the first month, we had Aidan sleep with us in our bed. It's just easier to plunk your baby next to you rather than go through the exercise of putting him down and having him cry for you two minutes later. I've discovered that this is a "dirty little secret" new parents have. Usually, you meet new parents, talk about the vital stats of your baby's birth and then, in a hushed whisper you are asked "Do you sleep with your baby?" Once you admit to it, the asking parent gives you an enthusastic "We do too!"

Now that we have Aidan, it feels like doors have opened that were not available to us before. Our neighbor's son turned 3 and we were invited to his birthday party. (Before Aidan, we were the only couple without kids in the cul-de-sac.) Folks at work that I only gave a passing "hi" to are now great sounding boards for kid talk and are very supportive. It's nice!


April 12 - May 12: Milestones

The instructor for our parenting and birth class put together a reunion at Third Place Books-- and only four couples plus me and Aidan showed up. (Paul had a hockey tourney.) It was nice to see everyone, but a strange to see all the gals sans pregnancy bellies. There were two boys and two girls represented. Aidan was the smallest baby, but the most alert as he stared and studied all the faces with those big brown eyes of his. It was nice to compare notes on sleeping through the night, nursing, labor, etc. There was a couple there that was at the hospital the same time we were there. She was two weeks overdue, but had her baby before I did! We compared notes; they were not thrilled with the post-partum care and we both agreed that the lactation consultant left a lot to be desired. All of us are meeting up again in a month to have our own little parent group.

Aidan now coos and laughs and clearly recognizes Mommy and Daddy. It's nice to finally have an interactive child-- this is the baby we signed up for! As I suspected, Paul is a great daddy-- he makes Aidan laugh and, typical Dad, he likes to be more physical with Aidan as far as picking him up and lifting him above his head and making plane or car noises. Aidan loves it.

He's growing out of his newborn clothes so fast! And, he no longer fits in newborn diapers. It's true, babies grow fast.