Welcome to Parenthood!

Welcome to Parenthood!

• Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Jack is one week old today (can you believe it?!) and he has not wasted any time showing us what parenthood is really all about.

Jack was only 4 days old when T & I were changing his diaper and he started to pee all over the place!  We were at Aunt Kelli's house and T did not want Jack's pee to get all over the carpet so he lifted up his legs to try to redirect the stream.  I was not paying attention so could not react fast enough to cover Jack's stream with his diaper or a wipe.  This resulted in Jack peeing all over his own face!  Poor Baby J!  We all got a good laugh out of it but Jack was not very happy about having to have a bath (and probably also not very happy about having pee all over his face).

That same night I was changing Jack's diaper when he was up for a feeding and right as I pulled the diaper down, Jack decided to have a bowel movement.  I'm talking liquidy, projectile poop aimed right at Mommy!  I jumped back fast enough to avoid having the mess all over myself but, unfortunately, Jack did not miss the carpet, his outfit, or the blanket he was laying on.

Today, I had just changed Jack's diaper and was dressing him when a wet spot suddenly started spreading on the side of his onesie.  What the!?!  I wasn't careful to point his penis down when putting on his diaper.  Because it was pointed upward, his pee came right up out of his diaper all over his clean outfit.

Lessons learned:

• always have a diaper at the ready to cover Jack's privates in case of an unexpected stream of pee or a blowout.
• always point the penis downward INTO the diaper.

We are slowly learning the tricks of parenthood (or the tricks of changing diapers)!

In other news...

Check-Up

Jack had a check-up on Monday at 5 days old to follow-up on his circumcision.  The doctor said the circumcision is looking as it should and is healing nicely.  She mentioned that it is "sticking" a little bit but that is normal and they will release it at his two-week check-up.  I'm not exactly sure what "releasing it" entails but it does not sound very pleasant.

Jack weighed 8lb12oz at 5 days old which is great since he weighed 8lb6oz at 2 days old when we left the hospital.  The doctor said she has not seen a 5-day old baby with as good coloring as Jack in weeks.  The doctor at the hospital told us that Jack's jaundice level was pretty much the lowest they ever see.  Yay, Baby J!

All in all, Jack is a very healthy little boy!  He will see the doctor again at 2 weeks.

Mommy's Recovery

I am recovering slowly but surely!  I had a partial 3rd degree tear + an episiotomy so I have been very sore but I am starting to feel a little bit better.  The doctor told me I could not go walking (walks around the block, walking through the mall or a grocery store, etc) for two weeks.  I am starting to feel anxious to get out and take baby Jack for some walks but I will have to wait one more week.

I am losing the baby weight faster than I thought I would.  I barely have a tummy any more which makes me feel skinny even though I still have 22 pounds to go (mostly weight I gained in my thighs and bum).  I've been losing about a pound a day but yesterday I lost 2 pounds!  I am down 9 pounds from the day I came home from the hospital (5 days ago) - I guess that is almost 2 pounds per day.  I'm hoping the weight keeps falling off this quickly but I have a feeling it will slow down soon enough and I will have to work the rest of it off.

The PUPPPs rash stopped bothering me pretty much the moment I delivered.  I still had occasional itchiness on my thighs (the last place the rash spread before delivery) once a day or so but nothing nearly as bad as before the delivery and now the itchiness is completely gone!  It is so crazy how delivery cures the rash.

Nursing

Jack has been great at nursing!  He's a natural.  Luckily, I have not been sore from nursing as I've heard many women are at first.  Jack is one hungry little boy and likes to nurse every 1-2 hours during the day (with a few 3-hour blocks thrown in there) but at night he will usually go 4 hours between feedings.  I've had to wake him up at night a few times (after 4 hours) to nurse him.  He is such a good sleeper!  The doctor told me to make sure he eats every 2-3 hours during the day and 4 hours at night until he has gotten back to his birth weight.  At that point, I can let him sleep longer at night.  I think I will keep waking him up every 4 hours at night until his two week check-up to make sure he is back to his birth weight and confirm I can let him sleep longer at night if he will.  Jack is a little bit silly and has a preference of nursing on the left side versus the right.  No matter which side he starts on he always takes quite a long time to latch on the right side but immediately latches on the left.  We cannot figure out why he has this preference but it's not really a big deal since he does eventually latch on the right and nurses just fine.

Jack

Overall, little baby Jack has been an extremely good baby so far.  He never fusses for no reason.  He only starts to cry if he is hungry and as soon as he's fed he is happy again.  He sleeps great in both his swing and his cradle (and in Mommy or Daddy's arms).  He loves car rides.  We get lots of "gas smiles" from little Jack and despite the fact that they are unintentional, we think they are just the cutest smiles ever!  Jack has a dimple on the right cheek (just like Mama!) and we love seeing it when he makes funny faces or gives a little smile.  People always comment on how much hair Jack has!  They also comment that it is the same color as Mommy's hair.  Jack has long, long fingers and toes so we think maybe he will be tall like Daddy!  He is still wearing newborn clothes even though he is 9 pounds.  His 0-3 month clothes are still much too big on him.  We thought we would not be able to use all the newborn diapers we were given at our baby showers since Jack was 9 pounds at birth but they actually fit him still and we are almost out so hooray!  We will try the size 1 diapers when we run out and if they don't fit we have one small box of newborn diapers that we purchased that should last us until he fits into the size 1's.  Jack keeps us laughing all day with his funny faces.  

It has been so fun for all of us to be home together all day (even though T is pretty much studying the whole day) and we will miss Daddy when he has to start work at the end of the month.  We are one very happy little family!  Even though we have only had Jack for 7 days we already cannot imagine life without him.  He brings us so much joy, keeps us laughing all day, and fills our hearts with so much love.  We think he is the best thing that ever happened to us!

Daddy offers to hold Jack even when he is studying.  What a good Daddy! Jack is so lucky :]

We tried our homemade Moby wrap on Sunday and, clearly, Jack just loves it!