One Week

Connor's first week went by so fast. He was born on Tuesday, and got to come home on Friday. That first weekend was spent just trying to catch our breath from the busyness of being at the hospital. Brian and I were both exhausted, but also as happy as we've ever been. When we weren't holding, doting on, or caring for Connor, we were sleeping. It was so nice to be able to tag team his feedings for those first few days and catch up on some much needed rest.

He is such a strong little boy, but we already new that from the fast progress he made at the hospital. Right from the beginning he had such a strong little grip. He also liked to raise his head and look around while we were burping him. He is only four days old in the pictures below. He didn't have much control of his head at this point, but that didn't keep him from trying.

     

It was really wonderful to have my Mom staying with us the first week and a half we were home. An extra pair of hands really helped. She did so much while she was here, and I am super grateful for all her help. She took care of all the cooking and cleaning, and it was so wonderful not to have to worry about any of that while getting into the swing of caring for Connor. She also helped with the baby too, which as you can see, wasn't a chore for her at all. He is so lucky to have such an amazing grandma!

     

Brian's parents had needed to head back home the day after Connor was born. We were so glad that they could be there at the hospital to see him. Brian and I really appreciated the support of all of our parents during those first crazy hours after the delivery. Layne and Kris were back down in Utah during that first weekend for a wedding, and they were able to stop by a couple times and visit again. 

     

On more than one occasion during the grandparents' visit, the cameras came out. We had a little star on our hands who was quite popular with the grandparent paparazzi.

Connor's first visit to the pediatrician was that Monday. We bundled him all up, and got him strapped into his carseat. He didn't care for it at first, but once we were in the car he quickly fell asleep. 

The appointment went really well. When we left the hospital, he had lost three ounces, but had gained that back in the days at home. They recorded his weight at 8 lb 10 oz, putting him in the 73 percentile. He was one day shy of being one week old and he weighed one oz more than his birth weight. Clearly he wasn't starving. He also measured 21 inches long (90th percentile) and had a head circumference of 36 cm (roughly 14 inches, 78th percentile). They tested him for jaundice, and although he was a little yellow, the results were in the acceptable range. Everything else looked great. The doctor felt his collar bone and found that a bone callus had already formed over the break. We were instructed to keep taping his arm down for a few more days. The doctor also confirmed that Connor was tongue tied, something the NICU nurses had told us before we left the hospital. Before leaving, we scheduled a follow up appointment for three days later to get his tongue clipped along with his circumcision. It wasn't going to be a fun day for the little man. But that appointment went smoothly as well, and we got everything taken care of. He healed up fine from both procedures. Oh, and when they weighed him again at that appointment, he had gained another 5 ounces, making him 8 lbs 15 oz.

We took a few pictures on his one week birthday to mark the occasion. He is just so adorable, and we couldn't be more in love. 

     

As you can see from these pictures, his broken collar bone wasn't bothering him at all. He hated having his arm taped and pinned down, and was much more happy when he could move his arm around as he wanted. He doesn't sleep well, unless he has one or both of his hands in the air above his head or by his face. He love to cross his legs and keep them right up by his body. He has the cutest toes, which are quite long, and he is always spreading them out.

After taking far too many pictures of him, which still didn't seem like enough, we took a quick picture of the three of us. It's not professional by any means, but its our first picture together as a family of three, and I love it.

Brian's coworkers sent us this adorable bouquet of flowers. We love the little wagon they're in and plan to keep that in his room.

During that first week, he mostly slept. He woke up every three hours to eat, and after he had his fill and a fresh diaper, he was instantly back asleep. He is such a calm baby, and so sweet. He has the cutest cheeks, and a wonderful double chin.

Holding him is the best thing in the world, and we both love how he just curls right up into you.

The first week was not without frustration though. I was still feeling a lot of pain and was super uncomfortable from my injuries. I was still really tired, and feeling the baby blues. Every evening, I would just start crying over anything and everything. Luckily that went away after the first week, and I've had no problems with that since. Nor have I experienced any postpartum depression, for which I'm really grateful.

We've also been frustrated on the breastfeeding front. I planned to breastfeed, but with him being in the NICU and me not getting over to see him, that didn't get off to a great start...or really any start. We tried really hard to get that going during the first week, but with his tongue being tied, he just couldn't latch on. It was just getting to be too much, and each feeding was taking forever because I would try to breast feed him, then we would feed him what breast milk I had pumped after the last feeding (which wasn't much, my milk still hadn't come in), then we would feed him formula to supplement the breast milk and make sure he ate enough, and then I would pump. It was quite the ordeal, and I felt like as soon as the routine was over, it was time to start again. So after two weeks of that, we simplified. I stopped trying to breastfeed him directly, deciding to wait until after his tongue was clipped and healed. I still pumped at every feeding, so we could feed him what milk I was producing, and continued to supplement with formula. The pumping wasn't increasing my supply at all, so I stopped pumping at every feeding, and cut that down to every second or third feeding. That all really helped take the stress and frustration out of feeding times and made life a little easier for everyone. And because he's eating from bottles, Brian is able to help out and take over some feeding times so that I can catch up on sleep.

The top of his head has a ring of blisters from the vacuum. The bruising had mostly faded by the time we brought him home. We were given some extra strength ointment to apply to the damaged skin a few times a day to help with healing and prevent scarring. The bruise on his left elbow is fading, and the bruises on the back of his hands from the IV are fading as well. They were ugly looking purple marks, and I'm glad they are going away. He also has a lot of little marks on each heel where they drew blood. Those don't seem to bother him, but they make me hurt when I look at them.

A few of our favorite things during that first week:

• Every time we laid him on the floor or a bed to change him, he would immediately stretch his arms above his head and stretch out both legs to their full length, lifting them above the floor. He would hold this position indefinitely. Like I said, he's a tough little guy. He must have abs of steel.
• He smiles a lot. Usually while he is sleeping or falling asleep. It is the cutest thing in the whole world.
• He crosses his eyes, and although it's super cute, it gives me a headache to watch.
• Speaking of eyes, he has the most beautiful dark blue eyes that you've every seen. They are so big and bright.
• When he lifts his head up to look around, he purses his lips into a small circle. This may be my absolute favorite thing that he does. He does it sometimes in his sleep and when he is awake as well. We call it "whistle lips" because it looks like he's trying to whistle. After many tries, we finally got a picture of him doing it.