2 weeks

We ended up going to the pediatrician to just get things checked out. Nathan caught a cold from Neil (who of course caught it from daycare). We were also told at daycare that they have a confirmed case of RSV. I hadn't heard of that so I started to look it up and it's basically a bad cold but can affect infants pretty badly because it gets into the lungs. The younger they are, the worse it is for them. The pediatrician gave us signs to watch for. Nathan has a stuffy nose and has been sneezing a lot as well as having a hard time breathing. But we need to watch for coughing because infants don't cough (never knew that) and if he's trying to gasp for breath from his chest, which would show an issue with the lungs. Neil seems to be getting better so hopefully Nathan will too.

A midwife suggested putting Vick's Vaporub on my body near Nathan's nose when he's nursing- he's too young to put it directly on him. I did that a few times and it didn't seem to make a huge difference plus I realized that might start to dry me up (milk wise) so I stopped doing that. We also got a second humidifer and have been running that at night where Nathan is sleeping. There's not really a whole lot more to do from him other than the bulb syringe, which we call a snot sucker, to get out anything we can. I feel terrible for Nathan when you can hear him breathing heavily and struggling through his nose.

Nathan's first time in the crib (during the day, haven't tried at night yet)

The pediatrician made me nervous. Nathan's birth weight was 7 pounds 2 ounces. By day 3 he was 7 pounds 0 ounces (and he probably lost between birth and then but was coming back up as my milk came in). But at the pediatrician's, he was 9 days old and weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce. I tried to tell them that with the cold he definitely stopped eating and was feeling miserable but they said he shouldn't have dropped that far. So I got paranoid about counting wet diapers, etc. and trying to force feed him. I started waking him up where I hadn't been. Also, he seems to be a quick eater- he has a really strong suck reflex and he never takes longer than 10 minutes to really eat; often it will be more like 5 minutes. The pediatrician made me paranoid that that's not long enough and in general he's not getting enough. We had another weight check at 12 days old though and he was 7 pounds 5 ounces, so that's a perfect weight gain. He should be gaining around 1 ounce a day at this point. I still attribute the low weight to his not eating for a day or so (and I could feel that in my body, myself, engorged etc. to the point I even pumped to keep my supply up) but at least I'm not getting pressure to supplement with formula. I had hoped our pediatrician was really breastfeeding friendly and maybe I'm being sensitive but the way they handled this made me think they aren't super into that as I would like to be. I wonder if they'll care if I nurse beyond a year like I did with Neil. I was hoping to find a doctor who would encourage and help with that.

I started tummy time every so often and he does lift his head really well already. This is the best picture I could get so far.

Neil had some awake times this week, moreso than the first week, although he still mostly sleeps. It's nice to see his eyes every so often though and we're starting to think they might be blue! It's a dark blue but still, we'll watch to see if it changes as he gets older.

I downloaded an app on my phone to track feedings, diaper changes, and sleep. I did it mostly to see if there were any patterns. But I tend to nurse and fall asleep myself at night, so I forget to tell the app that he's done eating and started sleeping, etc. I gave up really fast on the app. I tend to use the Itz Been timer, which I loved with Neil. It's most useful at night; it really just tells me how long it's been since he last ate, but in the middle of the night it's just a quick glance when I hear Nathan fussing and I can say oh it hasn't been long enough he's probably gassy. Or if it's been long enough I nurse him figuring he's hungry. I'm not very good at figuring out just based on the fussing which it is.

I am now 2 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. While that is awesome, I do have a stomach still and until I can exercise I don't really see that going down any further. That and I have these very angry, red stretch marks. They looked much smaller on a big stomach. Now that my stomach is a lot smaller they take up a lot more space. I am hoping they will fade with time although still it's a mark that I carried this baby inside of me so I'm not truly upset about it.

Overall I felt much better very quickly after having Nathan than I did after Neil. With Neil I pushed a whole lot more (most of the labor actually) so I attribute it to that a lot. But I am still not 100% normal yet and that keeps getting worse because I keep overdoing things. It's hard to not want to move around and be normal; I feel so lazy just sitting on my butt most of the day. Plus poor Dave is doing a lot, behind on work, and we still have a ton of stuff to do here since we moved here. Now that the snow is melting we are seeing what a mess the previous tenants left this place. It makes me question inside as well. :( I really wish I could just scrub and clean in here. The bathrooms are getting bad again too. It's really hard to sit here and NOT do something. But I'm trying to make a concerted effort to step back and try to relax. Time to read some books I borrowed from the library! (I'm already bored with television haha. I never have been a huge tv watcher.)

By the way, I am not and hadn't been planning on weekly updates but so far I have things to say and I know that things tend to get progressively worse the first 6 weeks as a newborn acclimates to being in the world, starts getting more alert, bodily functions are working, etc. I figure as long as I can think enough to write things down I'm just going to do it for friends who have a newborn after me. Maybe this will help just a little bit even though every baby is different. I will switch over to monthly updates at some point but for now I'm going to do the weekly ones. They might not be timely but I'll get them written and posted as quickly as I can.