Week 4: Nothin’ But Love

Holy cow, 4 weeks ago I was still pregnant.  And now I’m not.  Now our little nugget is 4 weeks old and growing like crazy!

 

First of all, let me say that your sweet comments and encouragement on the blog, Twitter and Facebook really make me feel so loved and supported.  Being a new mom is hard work and just knowing that there are friends out there cheering us on makes me so happy!  Especially when I’ve seen this face more often than not lately:

Yes, it’s true…little Wes has been a fairly fussy baby the past week.  That being said, we’ve also had our share of smiles (which I’ve been unable to capture on camera so far) and sweet little coos that just make all of the crying and fussiness melt away.  We went to the doctor for his 4-week checkup today and found out that he likely has been having some bouts of acid reflux in addition to a big growth spurt.  I don’t like that he’s in pain and not feeling great, but it does make a huge difference to know that there’s a reason for the fussiness and it’s not that we’re just inept parents.  We love our pediatrician and she gave us some great advice today to help with the acid reflux, so we’re going to work on making those changes and see if there’s any way we can make the little guy more comfortable.  And maybe buy ourselves a little more sleep in the process 🙂

Otherwise he’s growing like a week – he’s now 9.5 pounds (up from about 7.5 pounds at birth), 22.5 inches long (up 2 inches from his birth length), and has a head circumference of 15 (up 1.5 inches from his birth measurement).  I have to say, it’s so nice to know that all that hard work making milk and pumping and dealing with soreness is going somewhere!  Not that I haven’t noticed him getting a little belly – I mean, I kiss it about a billion times every day – but to have a specific number makes it a lot easier to see.

 

I’ve heard it said so many times, but I just can’t believe how much I love this little bitty human that we made.  It’s a love that was there before I met him, but that continues to grow every single day.  He’s just incredible to me and it makes me so happy to be working with Nate to raise this little man!

As for things that have changed since last week:

• I definitely still am being humbled on a daily basis, but feel more secure in my ability as a mom to take care of Weston.  I don’t have all the answers, I never really know what I’m doing, but I am starting to get better at reading his signals and knowing his cries so that I can better determine what he needs.
• The leaky diapers are starting to fade a little more – huge thanks to those of you who suggested letting him sleep in a size up!  It makes such a huge difference in the number of times I’ve had to do laundry to clean everything he’s been wearing and laying on.  Not that we’re out of the woods yet, but I’ll take an improvement any day.
• He’s loving his swing more and more every day, but I’m thinking we’re going to have to be careful how much we let him sleep in it.  At some point we’ll have to start transitioning him to his actual crib (right now he’s sleeping in the pack & play in our room) and I don’t know how that’s going to go if he gets used to napping in the swing all the time.  Or I could be totally off and he won’t care either way…we’ll see!

Mom and Dad are doing well, but are definitely more sleep deprived this week.  Wes’s fussiest time tends to be in the evening when he’s hanging out with Nate, which is sad because it’s the only time Nate really gets to spend any time with him.  We’re hoping the acid reflux solutions will help this and I know that there’s a time in the very near future where he will just light up when Nate walks in from work, but for now he’s fussing and crying.  They have their moments though:

And even though Nate doesn’t believe it, there are some things that he does that make Weston so happy that I just can’t do.  Like swinging him in his arms…I’m apparently not a talented baby swinger, but Nate gets it right every time.  Burping ALWAYS works when Nate does it, but I can’t seem to get a good one no matter what I try.  And when Wes is in a good mood (aka not at night) and Nate’s here they totally snuggle all day and he loves it.  Like I said, there’s a day that’s coming when I’ll take second place to how excited he’s going to get when Nate shows up…and I’m sure I’ll be slightly sad, but the reality is that I can’t wait to see my two guys interacting.  Nate is already a phenomenal dad, and I know it’s only going to get better from here!

As for me, I’m still healing well and trying to take it easy.  We’re still walking about 3 miles a day at a very slow pace, even though I feel like I could go faster.  It’s best not to push it though – the last thing I want or need is a hernia from taking the healing process too quickly.  I do feel great for having just had a baby 4 weeks ago though, and stuff that was too small for me pre-pregnancy fits perfectly right now.  I’m not tracking my weight at all and am still wearing workout stuff pretty often, but that’s mostly for comfort’s sake.  I have a feeling I’m totally going to be that mom that wears workout gear all day and then maybe puts on something different right before Nate gets home.

 

Or maybe it’s not that different from normal life at all.  I’ll never tell! (OK fine, that’s what I do anyway).

The one weird thing that I’ve started to experience this week has been what I’m calling New Mom Insomnia.  I’ve never EVER in my life had a hard time going to sleep, but now I can’t seem to quiet my thoughts and fears and go to sleep for at least an hour after laying down.  And when you only get 1.5-2 hours at a time that’s a pretty big chunk of time.  I don’t know what it is – I’ve worked on breathing and focusing on my breath (ujjayi style like in yoga), reading, prayer, etc – but nothing has seemed to work.  I’m hoping that this is temporary because the most frustrating thing ever is knowing that my little guy is sound asleep and I could be too…but I’m not.  Has anyone else experienced this?  I’m at a loss and have NO idea where it came from!

The dogs are doing really well despite the fact that they’ve been getting less exercise since I’m not cleared to do much hiking yet.  They’re too strong to take on the walks with both of them, so I’ve been working on playing with them in the back yard when I can and trying to get them to the dog park on the weekends (where we go veeeeeeeeeery slowly).  Hopefully we’re just a few more weeks away from being able to strap Weston on with the Ergo and go off-leash, but we’ll see.  The most important thing is making sure that I’m healed and that Wes is ready too.  We’ve been working on really trying to spend 5 minutes of one-on-one time with each pup per day to let them know they’re still loved and most definitely part of this family.  I think they appreciate it 🙂

Although it’s been fairly difficult to work through some of the fussiness this week, it’s also been a week of growth – both emotional and physical – on our parts and on Weston’s.  I still can’t believe that we’re parents and that the hospital trusted us to take him home, but I’m so glad that we are and that they did!  I have been working really hard on living in the moment and enjoying every little change as it comes, but I can’t help but continue to be excited about the future and what it holds for our little family of three!

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Just a couple of announcements!  First, the winner of the Love Grown Foods giveaway is Nescett from BananaOats!  Please just email me your mailing address to heathersdish [at] gmail [dot] com and we’ll get that out ASAP!

Also, be sure to check out my post on BabyCenter’s Momformation Blog!

Happy Friday y’all!