Baby Paul: 6 weeks

Baby Paul turned 6 weeks yesterday! I haven't written an update since 3 weeks as life has felt really busy. I have yet to feel the least bit 'bored' during maternity leave. We have had a lot doctor appointments between me and Paul and my mom's group meets twice a week so between all of those trips out of the house plus visitors, the first 6 weeks have felt pretty busy. I'm really hoping things slow down soon as I don't want my whole maternity leave to fly by as fast as the first 6 weeks have!

Weight gain has continued to be our chief concern so far. He's finally starting to consistently gain weight, though, so that is a big relief for mom and dad - especially for mom as I have worried so much about his weight. As of Monday he was above 8 pounds, but just barely which means he only gained 12 ounces in the first 6 weeks of life (plus the weight he lost after he was born so he's gained over a pound when you factor that in). I expected breast feeding to be a challenge but I never imagined how challenging feeding a baby would be.  We saw a speech pathologist a couple of weeks ago for a feeding consult (this is something pediatric speech pathologists specialize in - a lot of people have been confused when I say our 4 week old saw a speech pathologist) and we saw an OT and ENT this week. The OT gave us some things to work on to strengthen his ability to suck and swallow and the ENT confirmed that he has a mild case of something called Laryngomalacia, which makes it harder for him to suck, swallow and breath efficiently. Luckily it's something he will grow out of, though. 

He started to smile in the last week or so which has been so fun for Phil and me. There's nothing like having your baby lock eyes with you and grin! Some are just little smiles but we've gotten a few big smiles that I haven't been able to catch on camera.

Likes:

He still likes to work his legs out of the legs of his sleeper so he can pull them close to this body. I am impressed that he can still do this because a lot of his sleepers are getting snug lengthwise. He's quite the little Houdini!

Yea! I got my legs out!

He still loves to move his arms around. He'll even move them around in his sleep if he isn't swaddled. It looks like he is conducting an orchestra!

He also likes sticking out his bottom lip in the most adorable way when he is upset, his pacifier, bath time, his swing, and laying on his side to fall asleep in mom's arms.

Dislikes: eating right after he wakes up from the epic 3 hour naps he takes each afternoon. He goes back and forth from sucking to screaming...  I don't know if he has gas at that time of day or what the deal is but it only happens during that feeding so we just kind of accept that it's not a fun feeding experience for the bottle giver (which is almost always Phil). He also dislikes the evenings in general as that is when he is fussiest, being burped when he wants to keep eating, being cold, and he now dislikes tummy time after liking it the first couple of weeks of life.

Sleeping: He is a good sleeper - at least for now! He goes to bed around 9:30 and will sleep for a 5-7 hour stretch. After that he is up every 2-3 hours. I used to get up during his first 5-7 hour stretch to pump but am trying to cut that pump out as I just really need my sleep. 

He doesn't sleep well during the early and mid-day unless he's in the stroller and being held but he goes down for a super long nap around 2:30-3 and sleeps for 3-3.5 hours. I hope that keeps happening because it's nice to know that I have 3 hours to get stuff done around the house and I sometimes will lay down for a nap when he is sleeping when I'm particularly exhausted. 

Napping in mom's lap

Feeding: I'm pretty much exclusively pumping and giving him bottles. He breastfeeds in the morning most days so he can stay familiar with it. I haven't given up on being able to breastfeed him when his suck gets stronger but for now I've come to terms with the fact that I need to pump. I'm not sure how long we'll exclusively breastfeed him. I honestly hate pumping and find it so hard to pump + care for an infant. But my tentative goal is to make it to 6 month. I've frozen about 100 ounces so far and my daily supply of breast milk is gradually increasing so I'm hoping that I can cut back on how often I'm pumping when I return to work. But we will see how things play out. 


So all in all, things are going really well. He's gaining weight, he's sleeping great, and he's a pretty content little guy! Sure there are things I'd like to change, like the fact that breast feeding hasn't worked out for us, but I know that we are very lucky to have such a healthy, sweet baby boy!

He'll get to meet more family this weekend as his baptism is on Sunday. Well, I should say *hopefully* he'll be meeting more family. Sadly we are supposed to get a winter storm on today/tomorrow. I can't believe we are getting another storm in April. We could get 6-12" of snow in addition to rain and freezing rain. This is the worst April I can remember as we got 10" of snow earlier this month and a few other smaller snow falls and we might get more snow on Wednesday. It's so depressing to look out the window and see snow but hopefully spring will arrive very soon! I'm crossing my fingers and toes and praying the weather forecast is home so that my parents and sister and her family can make it down here for the baptism!