Nathan is now 1 month old! Honestly, it feels like he's been here for 3 months, but that is just my sleep deprivation talking. I feel I've been up for 3 months straight! Ahhh, the wonderfully jetlagged world of a newborn. Up every 2-3 hours at night.
Here is what we know about this lil' dude with lots of hair thus far...
He's looks like Emily, but he's VERY different than Emily.
To be expected. He's a boy, right? Biggest difference? He LOVES to snuggle with Mama, as in, he'll pretty much only sleep over 3 hours when only snuggled by my side in bed or in a carrier close to my beating heart. Wowza. I am not used to this violation of personal space. Now I understand a man's love of boobs! Emily never wanted much to do about snuggling. She was always fine sleeping away from us, but she was also on bili lights for jaundice for 7 days so she didn't know much else. This little guy is gonna be a tough nut to crack when it comes to that. I never thought in a million years I'd co-sleep with any baby, but now I understand why people choose to do it...to stay SANE and get some sleep!!
From what I can remember, he generally cries a lot more than Emily did, mostly because he wants to be held. He spits up a lot more than she did. He's medium on the car seat. (Who said boys were less maintenance?!?!?)
Emily never had an issue with it. Nathan usually squaks for about 15 minutes before settling in and calming down or sleeping. And he usually squaks because I had to wake him up from a cozy slumber to go, go, go...something I never had to do with Emily. We would stay at home until she woke up and was completely fed. This is not an option for little Nate. Feedings and sleep get constantly interrupted. Sorry, dude! Things to do! Poor, poor 2nd kiddo.
He now weighs about 7 lbs. 12 ounces. Birth weight was 7 lbs. 5 oz. He is a very slow weight gainer, which has my pediatrician calling me once a week for a check in. Apparently she's concerned he's not gaining quickly, but I'm not. So we are butting heads a little over this. He'll be a chunk before we know it, or perhaps that's just not his gig? I'm a firm believer in following these babies' leads and not freaking out over small things. He's happy and healthy and alert. That's all that matters to me. We are supplementing with breastmilk (more on that later - very cool story!!) and a wee bit of formula as needed until his weight increases a bit more. Breastfeeding is going well, but my milk took looooong time to come in, which is part of the issue.
Hmmm, what else? He's starting to half smile. Emily adores him and he adores her. He smiled at her before me! I felt a little robbed over that. But she's the one who entertains him the most, and he loves it. I'm busy zipping around here taking care of anything I can, so I'm glad I have my little helper. She's handled the transition very well thus far. I can tell she is a little sad knowing he gets to sleep with us at night, so I always offer a naptime snuggle if she chooses. Today we all 3 fell asleep together...it was very nice. Otherwise, I play with her as much as I can, including while I nurse Nathan. It seems to keep her happy. She's in preschool, so she's got things to keep her busy anyhow.
Thank you for all your well wishes! We are adjusting very well to having a newbie around. I'm tired as all get out, but it's all worth it. That's what coffee is for anyway, right?
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