As of yesterday, Little Dude is one week old. Big brother is also on the mend, following 3 days of 102+ fever and is finally able to go back to daycare today.
I can’t believe a week has passed already. I feel like I’m already missing the chance to document so much: S2’s little kitten sounds when he stirs, or his cries. Newborn cries are just so… small. I remember with G, every one of his cries felt like they were heard by the whole world. Now with S2, I wonder how I manage to wake-up, they seem so quiet. Quiet in comparison to G (today), that is. And pictures. Dear Lord, do I need to take more pictures.
S2 is above birth weight now. He’s 6lb 12.5oz. I have reprieve from our lactation consultant NOT to wake him up in the middle of the night to feed anymore. For my comfort I can wake up to pump; let him sleep, but dose him up on calories during the day. She also did something pretty cool for us. She told us of the growth spurt schedule we’re about to encounter. I had known about the 3 week and 6 week growth spurts (the 6w one being my most brutal w/ G), but we’ve learned of another: one that happens between 9 and 11 days of life, lasting about 3 days. While ominous, it’s at least kind of good to know about this so that 1) we can expect it; 2) know it will be over soon enough. I’m told to expect nursing once an hour (yey for sore boobs), and then when it’s all over, a day of hibernation for Little Dude.
Good news is that S2, for now, is sleeping OK. We have about 3 nursing sessions between 9pm and 6am. The second night home he nursed every hour, which sucked, but the last 2 nights have been good. I feel relatively rested. He’s a poop machine, and I’ve discovered that he, too, enjoys a clean bowl. As soon as dirty diaper is changed, he is very happy to squirt out some new deposits. You can hear this 🙂
Meanwhile, G is doing OK. I think after today we can end our home quarantine. He’s being good around his brother, but his temper is extremely… volatile. He’s extra whiny. Everything is NO, and we have tantrums thrown left and right over extremely small things. Case in point: S was re-assembling one of our bouncers for S2. G saw this and wanted to “I helper”. He carried over the screw-driver and 1) refused to give it up to S, insisting he would screw in the little bolts himself; 2) went nuts when he didn’t know what to do and the bolt wouldn’t go in. He just wouldn’t accept help. It also sucks for me, because if I want to comfort him, he wants “Uppie” and I can’t pick him up. How do you tell your 2 year old, with tears in his eyes that you just can’t pick him up? I sit down on the ground with him and try to get him to sit in my lap, but it’s not what he wants, and he feels I’ve only made it worse. It’s sad. I’m certain I’ll cave at some point and start carrying him around earlier than I should, but after having lived through one hernia (and associated surgery), I’m trying to remind myself that 1 month of not being able to pick-up my toddler, will be better than a later surgery when I won’t be able to pick up either needy child.
But G is a little better with me now too. For awhile he wouldn’t really talk to me, but now we’re back to our “My Mamma!” / “My Fiffin” exchange: this is his equivalent to saying “I love you!”. He’s still all about Daddy right now, and wants S for everything. My mom is more than happy to help, but G right now just wants dad. I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried to discourage this at all, mostly on account of the viral infection. But now that we’re past that hump, I really need (and want) to make an effort to spend some 1:1 time with him.
So, all this might seem drastic and sad, but actually I think we’re doing really well. I’m feeling relaxed and in control. I managed to get out of the house yesterday too. Twice! And I’m not counting doctor appointments here. Today, I will even shower! (Yeah, it’s better if you don’t ask when the last time that happened was) I’m barely taking any Motrin, which is the only pain med I’ve been on post-surgery, and I’m moving around pretty well. I’m down 15 lbs over what I weighed a week ago, but I know that the rest of the baby weight (and belly) will be the hardest to let go of (both physically and emotionally). What I’m saying is that my post-partum recovery so far is going well here and I’m feeling strong.
With that, here are a few S2 pics:
PS. Remind me, if I ever want to do posed newborn shots, what a major pain they are. There’s a lot of waiting involved, and nursing, and more waiting. To take those few shots, it took me over 2 hours. I did them while we were still in the hospital (mostly because I wanted to send S2’s birth announcement to print before we were discharged). My setup looked something like this. Those hospital beds with their ability to raise up are actually pretty sweet.
Ok, now I’m really, really done 🙂
