Three Weeks!

Today Dean is three weeks old! It's gone by pretty fast. Mom was here for his delivery. Dad flew down on Halloween, so almost a week after he was born. They flew back to Utah together on November 7. Here's a four generation picture we took while Dad was here (unfortunately Grammy couldn't hold Dean because she had shingles) :

We also took a family photo:

It was SO nice to have extra hands. Since my parents have been gone, I've managed around the house just fine. Dean sleeps well enough that I'm not a total zombie (granted, I often don't get out of bed until after 10...) and I've been able to do okay with giving him plenty of attention and still getting laundry and dishes done. So yes, I am managing around the house just fine. But I don't leave the house. I tried on Monday. I made a grocery list. But then Dean was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up, but then when he was awake he wanted held or to eat. The end of the day rolls around and I still hadn't gone to the store, so when Trevor got home, he watched Dean while I went grocery shopping. I'm glad we can tag-team.

Dean loves to sleep in the Boppy. Or at least I love him to sleep in the Boppy because he'll sleep for long stretches. And he just looks so cute all curled up.

He is starting to get fussier. Bummer. There have been more times of "I can't figure out why he's crying" lately. We go through the list. I just fed him. He's not hungry. I just changed his diaper. He's not poopy. Because he just pooped. So it's probably not that he's trying to poop. Is he tired? Just wants to be held a different way? I. Don't. Know.
*I should probably mention right about now that this is NOT a plea for advice of any kind. Just telling you how we're doing.

Even with his slight fussiness (he really isn't bad), he is still the world's sweetest and cutest baby. Ok, ok, tied with Jonah. I love when he falls asleep on my chest when I'm trying to burp him after nursing. I love when he puckers his little lips. I love when he grabs my finger.

He likes his bouncy seat and swing for about 20 minute stretches, but that's long enough for me to make myself some food or whatever. Today I actually put on makeup while he was in his bouncy seat. He also is having more and more scream-free diaper changes, so that's a plus. We're waiting for him to warm up to bath time.

I'll add the pictures later...baby's crying. Thus is life.

Dean's First Week

After the delivery and stitches, Dean was with me pretty much every minute of our hospital stay. I got to nurse within an hour of his delivery and he did pretty good. After a couple hours, we were transferred to our recovery room. The room was pretty small, but nice. The hospital had full room service for me, so I got to order some yummy things. They had a really big menu! They also had a galley on the recovery floor stocked with salads and sandwiches, so we ate very well while we were in the hospital!

Pretty quick after getting settled in the recovery room, I took a nap and Trevor went with the nurse to watch Dean get his first bath. He was not a fan.

For the rest of the day, we rested and attempted to nurse. Dean was not interested in eating! He had done so well the very first feeding that I was a little surprised, but he just would not eat. It wasn't a latch issue. He would latch on, but wouldn't start sucking. That led to the biggest concern from the pediatrician: he hadn't peed. So after a few failed attempts, we decided to supplement with formula and for me to pump to stimulate milk production. He would drink formula because it would drip in his mouth and he had to swallow. Later in the evening, Dean threw up twice. After that, they decided to pump his little tummy. Turns out that he had 14 units of amniotic fluid and merconium in his stomach. The normal stomach capacity for a newborn is 6 units (I don't remember what units), so he was super full. No wonder he didn't want to eat. He had to have his tummy pumped one other time and again they got a good amount. His little tummy had to have been very uncomfortable! Once his stomach was cleared out, he had a pretty good feeding. But in the morning, he still hadn't peed yet, so we did not get the discharge order from the pediatrician. At around 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, the pediatrician came by to do a little exam. She examined his penis to make sure the opening was there and not blocked. He looked good. Then she fastened up his diaper and started checking his kidneys. The next step was going to be inserting a catheter to make sure he was even producing urine, but luckily as she was prodding his kidneys, he peed! And a full on flood of pee, too. Then that wasn't as big of a concern, so we were pretty sure we'd be able to leave the next morning. He only peed one other time before we left, but thankfully they still let us go. He continued to have a bit of a hard time nursing in the hospital, but everyone agreed that once by milk came in and there would be something for him to drink immediately, he would be just fine. And he has been!

Here's us getting ready to come home:

And here's us once we got back to our apartment. Welcome home, Dean!

That afternoon, Dean did a lot of this:

But he was awake and alert for a little bit, too.

So far in life, his favorite things are sleeping and nursing. And pooping. He's also gotten the peeing thing down pretty good. We had his first doctor's appointment on Tuesday and the doctor said he should be having at least 4-5 wet diapers a day and to call if Dean went more than 12 hours without a wet diaper. Well, my milk came in and he eats a lot and has had no problem getting those 4+ wet diapers.

Unfortunately, his least favorite thing in the world is getting his diaper changed. He screams the whole time. He also hates getting his clothes changed. But when he has massive explosions of urine, sometimes that is also necessary. Sorry, buddy, it's for your own good.

He had his first sponge bath at home Tuesday before his doctor's appointment. He didn't like that so much either...

Isn't that the cutest face you have ever seen?!?
If he isn't getting changed or bathed, he is a very calm baby. He doesn't even really cry when he wakes up. He is very snuggly and cuddly and I love that!

Trevor has had a very busy week. He missed a midterm on Monday and had to take it Wednesday. He also is competing in the final moot court competition tonight, so he's spent a lot of time this week preparing for that. And on Saturday he takes the MPRE which is the professional responsibility part of the bar. All of that the week of having a brand new baby. He is working so hard and is still managing to make time to cuddle with Dean and have good conversations with me. He's pretty much superman.

While Dean was being born on Saturday, Trevor's family was together in Utah at his cousin Jared's funeral. He passed away exactly 5 years to the day of his mom (Anne's sister) passing away from the very same form of brain cancer. We were celebrating a new life while they were celebrating a life well lived and a life now free from pain. Life is precious, and we feel so blessed to have this new, innocent life joining our family. We love our little guy!