Oh, I had forgotten how tiny and cuddly and adorable this newborn stage is! Hudson nuzzles in my chest (and on PR's) just as Owen and Caroline did...and sleeps SOOOO soundly this way. And just as before, when I wake him and pick him up he arches his back and sticks out his rear and raises his eyebrows (well, if he had visible eyebrows) and wrinkles his forehead as if he's thinking of something...it's just so sweet. I think it's hilarious when he's ready to nurse and he pokes his head and nose like a little bird, searching for the milk source. And his little mouth looks just like a little guppie, ready to drink. When he's done nursing, he smacks his lips loudly as if he's a horse.
I've been busy practicing my swaddling, oh what a miraculous trick! The burrito wrap instantly calms him, and how frickin' cute to babies look when just their little head is poking out of the blanket??! Hudson's still at that newbie stage when the poor guy can't stay awake long enough to get in a full feeding, so we're using our old tactics of wet wipes, undressing, and tickling to rouse him out of his "milk coma" and get a few more gulps in before he conks out again. The nights haven't been too bad, once or twice he's given us 6 straight hours...but for the most part he wakes or I awake and try and keep the 3 hour feeding cycle. (Some say you must ALWAYS feed a newborn every three hours, some say NEVER wake a sleeping baby. I say don't say "always" and "never!!" Plus, this guy's almost 9 pounds, so I'm not too worried he's a failure to thrive kid.)
I do have to say he has his fussy times....the "witching hour" visits us a few times a day. This could be due to the fact that Hudson's 2 year old sister is precocious and outspoken and his 4 year old brother is bossy and getting into that "rowdy boy" stage. How about a little peace and quiet already???!! The only remedy is me walking and bouncing him...and on occasion the binkie. (My first two never really took to a binkie...I wasn't hot on them because I saw how demanding and picky my 3 and 4 year old nieces were about the color and condition of their binkies...I was also worried about "nipple confusion" with my first two, so they never really got a chance to get hooked.) I could tell with Hudson that he's got a mouth fixation thing, so we waited 10 days or so and then we broke out a binkie (after a nonstop crying concert from 2-5 am.) He instantly knew to draw his hand in over his mouth to keep it from falling- what a smarty pants! Owen really needed a serious bounce to settle down...I remember breaking a sweat at night while I cranked out the mini squats to calm him. Which I can't really complain about, I'm sure they helped me shed those baby pounds!
I have to say, I'll be happy once we get him into more of a routine and he starts to distinguish his days and nights...that's my challenge for next week.
Other observations
...his eyes are already turning from grey to bluish.
He still pees on us almost every time we change him, even after we try the wipee trick.
Today for the first time he had a little spit up when we burped him...oh I hope he doesn't have reflux!
He gave himself a black eye on day two...the bruise on his cheek bone is fading but the bruise on his eye lid is still there...maybe it's a birthmark?
His hair is definitely white/blond underneath...will his hair fall out? Will he get the "old man" hairstyle that Owen had, bald on the top with a ring of hair around the sides?
He seems to have long toes to me...let's hope he inherits PR's height and not mine!
Whenever we lay him on the Boppy, swaddled, he does a full inspection of the room (even if we thought he was headed for dreamland.)
He cries a lot like Owen did, where his voice will crack and get horse and shrill like a bird. It sounds so pathetic you've got to love it!
We broke out Owen and Caroline's baby books and he looks just like Caroline did at this age, with a bit more hair.
He finally fits into the newborn diapers without us having to fold them over- woo hoo!
He somehow manages to pee up the back of every outfit. We've tried Huggies and Pampers and he can conquer them both!
His skin is starting to peel a bit in the folds of his fingers, ankles, and toes.
His little circumcision has healed and PR can finally change his diaper without cringing.
He just keeps getting cuter and cuter every day!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Um, recap of weeks 30-39
I've been completely neglecting any posts the last- woa- month (or two.) My last few weeks pregnant were busy busy busy- from a health fair at church (staying up until 2 or 3 am for two weeks straight) to Caroline's 2 year old "ladybug" birthday party. The staying up late thing brought on a horrible cold- probably the WORST I've ever had. I lost my voice, I couldn't breathe through my nose, and I coughed incessantly. In fact, I'm convinced my fanatic coughing brought on my contractions.
My last two deliveries were withing two days of my due date (kudos to my docs), but this one was a whole week early. I know you're not supposed to compare children or pregnancies, every one is different. But my first two pregnancies and deliveries were pretty much exactly the same. (My two children are worlds apart, but isn't that just always the way??!!) Unlike the first two times around, when my contractions started strong and 2 minutes or so apart, these were not nearly as painful and random...10 minutes, then 6, then 4 then 8...I was sure I must be having Braxton Hicks (which I had never had before, so don't call me an expert or anything.) However, PR and my mom were worried that I was going to deliver and make a mess all over the house because my first two labors were so quick that they insisted I go into the hospital.
When we arrived at 3:30am, I was astounded when the nurse told me I was 4cm dilated, I thought she'd be sending me home. So I walked the halls and waited...and waited. I was dilating, but slowly. The plus side was that the contractions really didn't hurt, but my dang cough from my cold was wearing me out and I was completely exhausted. I took two soaks in the whirlpool tub in my hospital room (very cool, I highly recommend this during labor, BTW)...but I stayed at 9cm for 3 1/2 hours. It was noon the next day, and I was STILL waiting.
All I could think of was, "what's the deal?!? I had delivered my first two in less than three hours of arriving at the hospital, and here it was NINE hours later and still no kid. Ug!@ Finally my midwife suggested Pitocin. (Okay, so she had mentioned it a few hours earlier but I really didn't want any drugs since my other two were so speedy and seemed to come out when they were good and ready. I think I'm just of the mind that you don't want any little babies coming out before they're "done." You know what I mean?)
So we went with the Pitocin, which kicked up the contractions a bit but I STILL wasn't feeling any urge to push. So now I was tired, cranky (why wouldn't this kid come out already??!), and now feeling a bit of pain. (A bit of pain compared to when I was in labor with Caroline and distinctly remember repeating, "I think I'm going to die!!" with each contraction. THAT was not fun.) Apparently this little guy had his hand on his head and was pushing away from his exit door every time I was having a contraction...so my midwife performed some magic (and broke my bag of waters, which she couldn't find before) and - voila! Out came baby.
And of course, just like every new mom, I was somehow completely rejuvenated with energy and euphoria when I saw him (I say "him" because we still hadn't decided on a name.) Almost as big as my first (Owen was 8lb 11 oz), he weighed in at 8 10 and 1/4 (whatever that means...is that 1/4 such a big deal) and 20 1/2 inches. I couldn't believe how long his fingernails were...and his eyes were wide open...his hands were pretty open (my first two had permafists for the first few weeks), and he was already doing that fighter's punch thing with his arms that my first two started probably around 3 weeks.
Baby check. Name....uh.....
PR finally forced us to decide on a name when the woman with the birth certificate paperwork announced she'd be collecting the papers the next morning. We had tried to agree on a family name, but I just wasn't crazy about any of them. One was actually pretty cute, but the spelling would have added hours and hours of correcting people and getting teased. It's already tricky enough to pronounce and spell (and fit onto one line) our last name...so I just couldn't give the kid a double whammy. (How would you pronounce H-u-y-c-k??? It looked like the pronunciation of someone coughing something up, not the sweet Hyke or Hike that we were going for....) So, about a week before he was born, I thought of Hudson...since we were living in the Hudson Valley...and it was a strong name but also a little less common and not too long and easily pronounced. PR liked it, and then I had second thoughts....but our hospital room overlooked the Hudson River, so we really couldn't choose anything else-it was perfect!
Baby, check. Name, check. Juggling three kids......uh......EEK!
My last two deliveries were withing two days of my due date (kudos to my docs), but this one was a whole week early. I know you're not supposed to compare children or pregnancies, every one is different. But my first two pregnancies and deliveries were pretty much exactly the same. (My two children are worlds apart, but isn't that just always the way??!!) Unlike the first two times around, when my contractions started strong and 2 minutes or so apart, these were not nearly as painful and random...10 minutes, then 6, then 4 then 8...I was sure I must be having Braxton Hicks (which I had never had before, so don't call me an expert or anything.) However, PR and my mom were worried that I was going to deliver and make a mess all over the house because my first two labors were so quick that they insisted I go into the hospital.
When we arrived at 3:30am, I was astounded when the nurse told me I was 4cm dilated, I thought she'd be sending me home. So I walked the halls and waited...and waited. I was dilating, but slowly. The plus side was that the contractions really didn't hurt, but my dang cough from my cold was wearing me out and I was completely exhausted. I took two soaks in the whirlpool tub in my hospital room (very cool, I highly recommend this during labor, BTW)...but I stayed at 9cm for 3 1/2 hours. It was noon the next day, and I was STILL waiting.
All I could think of was, "what's the deal?!? I had delivered my first two in less than three hours of arriving at the hospital, and here it was NINE hours later and still no kid. Ug!@ Finally my midwife suggested Pitocin. (Okay, so she had mentioned it a few hours earlier but I really didn't want any drugs since my other two were so speedy and seemed to come out when they were good and ready. I think I'm just of the mind that you don't want any little babies coming out before they're "done." You know what I mean?)
So we went with the Pitocin, which kicked up the contractions a bit but I STILL wasn't feeling any urge to push. So now I was tired, cranky (why wouldn't this kid come out already??!), and now feeling a bit of pain. (A bit of pain compared to when I was in labor with Caroline and distinctly remember repeating, "I think I'm going to die!!" with each contraction. THAT was not fun.) Apparently this little guy had his hand on his head and was pushing away from his exit door every time I was having a contraction...so my midwife performed some magic (and broke my bag of waters, which she couldn't find before) and - voila! Out came baby.
And of course, just like every new mom, I was somehow completely rejuvenated with energy and euphoria when I saw him (I say "him" because we still hadn't decided on a name.) Almost as big as my first (Owen was 8lb 11 oz), he weighed in at 8 10 and 1/4 (whatever that means...is that 1/4 such a big deal) and 20 1/2 inches. I couldn't believe how long his fingernails were...and his eyes were wide open...his hands were pretty open (my first two had permafists for the first few weeks), and he was already doing that fighter's punch thing with his arms that my first two started probably around 3 weeks.
Baby check. Name....uh.....
PR finally forced us to decide on a name when the woman with the birth certificate paperwork announced she'd be collecting the papers the next morning. We had tried to agree on a family name, but I just wasn't crazy about any of them. One was actually pretty cute, but the spelling would have added hours and hours of correcting people and getting teased. It's already tricky enough to pronounce and spell (and fit onto one line) our last name...so I just couldn't give the kid a double whammy. (How would you pronounce H-u-y-c-k??? It looked like the pronunciation of someone coughing something up, not the sweet Hyke or Hike that we were going for....) So, about a week before he was born, I thought of Hudson...since we were living in the Hudson Valley...and it was a strong name but also a little less common and not too long and easily pronounced. PR liked it, and then I had second thoughts....but our hospital room overlooked the Hudson River, so we really couldn't choose anything else-it was perfect!
Baby, check. Name, check. Juggling three kids......uh......EEK!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)