Week Three Update

Biggest Change this Week: Andrew has stayed awake during the day a lot more this week! He usually eats and stays alert for about an hour, then takes his two hour nap. I guess we've found the "awake time." Milestones this Week: Easter, bonding with Reese, time at home with mommy, first successful trip out of the house alone with mommy, meeting Grandma Pfeffer, two Great-Grandmas, aunts, and (second) cousins at our family baby shower.
Things he appears to really like: his pacifier, cuddling, and bath
Things he appears not to like: hiccups, not eating immediately

• Sleeping: Like I said, day time sleeping has become more awake time. Nighttime is still going pretty stellar. On Monday (4/25) night, Andrew slept one five hour stretch! He is working his way up to four hours in a row at night, which Mommy loves. He still does not want to sleep anywhere but on your chest.


• Eating: Piglet hasn't gone anywhere. He's nursing longer, but still finishes 2 full ounces after a feeding and 3 ounces when we don't breastfeed. We are trying out Enfamil formula this week (we've been using Similac) to see if he "likes" it better; after two full days, I think we'll be going back to Similac... Andrew seems to spit up a lot more with the Enfamil.


• Breastfeeding: There is very little change here--I'm still not producing enough. I did a bit more research on PCOS and breastfeeding (which is pretty discouraging), but I found that they have a slightly different supplement that could help specifically with the production for PCOS so we went and got that (More Milk Special Blend). When he isn't super mad, which I swear happens even though he was perfect at the shower, he nurses about 10 minutes on each side and has even fallen asleep.


• Diapers: We've transitioned to size one diapers because we used all 168 newborn diapers we had. The size ones are a bit big, but they work.

How's Mommy? Sore; literally it hurts to sit too long and too much walking around makes me feel queasy. No one told me that I was going to hurt for so long, I feel totally unprepared for this part. I'm a bit over it. And yes, I may tell you my "butt hurts" because it does!

Things I can't live without right now... (postpartum edition)

I pretty much live in a chair like this...
my boobs don't look this perky, but I have one of these on at all times

my rear end is posted on top of one of these a few hours a day

I take two of these four times a day and smell like maple syrup because of it

I've grown to despise these, but oh, so needed.

Whoever invented these must be given an award for helping a women with major stitches

Robyn's gift of these blankets saves my sanity, can't thank her enough

this beauty has allowed Drew to latch properly

obviously these are important, but this mommy has decided that she likes this kind better than Pampers

this has allowed Drew not to starve, but to still latch on to the breast well.

last, but not least, this has helped me get my finger back and will make grandma happy

(only introduced Monday after a full day of no sleep)

Tummy Time

I've been told that most babies hate tummy time... not my son!

He can be WIDE awake and cooing at me and as soon as I lay him on his tummy he falls alseep. After a particularly long day on Tuesday, when he fell asleep on the floor I left him there for awhile (considering he'd been awake all day and when he did nap for short times is was only in my arms and he woke up every time I tried to put him down, I don't feel bad), I washed bottles and came back into the dining room about 5 minutes later and found this...

Clearly Reese is attached to Andrew already.

Easter Recap

Andrew's first time at church was Easter (such a perfect day to celebrate HOPE!). We drove to La Palma to go to my dad's church; we started getting ready about 6:30 am for the 10:30 service. We left at 9:15ish and made it with plenty of time; however, Drew decided to have a screaming fit after getting his diaper changed so we hung out in the fellowship hall and missed the first two songs as he screamed. He was a hit, everyone wanted to see him, and he must have been called "adorable and tiny" about 100 times. After church, we headed over to my parents' house for some Easter dinner and egg hunts (for the "kids" and grand kid). My mom had planned a yummy dinner of ham, corn on the cob, mash potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, biscuits, and strawberry pie for dessert.

Melissa and Grandma found the most adorable "bug" eggs complete with a bug catcher net that was in Dave's basket for him to play with Drew (next year). The grown-up kids searched high and low for our eggs--there were tons of good hiding places in the new house, the hunt took longer than normal. Rest assured, no eggs were left missing because mom had a clipboard and diagram for each egg! Drew didn't quite seem interested in the egg hunt, he just decided to sleep through it!

We ended the wonderful day by celebrating my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Walking the Dog

One of Reese's favorite things to do is go for a walk, so Saturday afternoon we loaded Drew up into his car seat and into the stroller and did just that. Turns out that Drew enjoys going for a walk too! He was wide awake, alert, and quiet the entire time. The nice part of where we live is that there is many places within walking distance to "entertain" us. This time, we chose to go to Tuxies.

Daddy with Andrew

Mommy and Reese

Dave got a strawberry milkshake and I got a mango smoothie. The best part of this place is that all the fruit is fresh. My smoothie was amazing!

Look what the Easter Bunny Left

Oh, I LOVE Easter! The amazing sacrifice that is Jesus' life for mine and the pure excitement that Jesus rose from the dead to walk as a man always makes Easter my favorite time of the year!

Andrew has already heard the real meaning of Easter! I look forward to the years ahead where he actually can show that he's listening and that he understands what happens; even more exciting, I look forward to when he can understand the meaning for him personally.

He has risen! He is risen indeed!!

Dear God, thank you that you sent your Son,
Jesus, to die for our sins. Thank you that He
arose from the dead and is now living; and
because He lives, we can have eternal life.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Week Two Update

Biggest Change this Week: Andrew is on a pretty strict and very consistent (self-created) schedule. He wakes up completely naturally every three hours and wants to eat, needs his diaper changed, and wants attention. After he eats, he wants to be cuddled for awhile and then he falls asleep again. Everyone keeps telling me that he'll have an "awake" time, but the only time he has gotten him off his lovely schedule is when he misses the cuddle time after eating--then, he stays awake and gets a bit cranky. Milestones this Week: Daddy went back to work, back to birth weight (Tuesday 4/19), visit at Arlington HS, first time to the hair salon, shopping trip with Grandma, babysat by Grandpa and Grandma, first Holiday card from Grandma T and Grandpa
Things he appears to really like: sucking on your finger, cuddling with mommy, sitting upright, sleeping on his side, bath time
Things he appears not to like: laying on his back, diaper changes, gas

Basic Life Needs:

• Sleeping: Three hours at a time! Night time is pleasant with eating times at 9:15 pm, 12:15 am, 3:15 am, and 6:15 am.


• Eating: I've started calling him piglet anytime it is eating time. You'd think I starved him based on his reaction to being deprived a bottle at eating time! He downs 3 ounces of formula in about 10 minutes.


• Breastfeeding: We made a trip to the Lactation Consultant this week to get some help. The problem isn't that Drew doesn't latch or doesn't latch properly (he's a champ at that), or that my milk hasn't come in. It is "in" just in a very low supply. PCOS strikes again! I'm not sure how I missed that part of the side-effects of the disease when I did all my research, but it turns out that about 2/3 of women with PCOS have a difficult time BF because of extremely low milk production (it has to do with the excessive amounts of estrogen running through my body now and when my breasts were forming, causing a decrease in milk ducts and a increase in "fake" ducts that do not produce milk). I have been taking MoreMilkPlus supplement and drinking Mother's Milk Tea in hopes to boost it. Basically it comes down to the fact that I produce 1 oz of milk every 4-6 hours. Clearly, Drew needs triple that. I am not giving up, nor am I going to deprive him or me of the BF experience. He gets a bottle and the boob. (FYI--Although I can calmly type this without crying, I may cry if you bring it up in person--I'm not "over" the fact that I can't fully feed my baby breast milk).


• Pooping: After last week when we didn't poop for four days (and called the doctor about it), we have been trying to make up for it. Needless to say, we poop and pee regularly. So far, in 12 days we have used three packages of newborn diapers--that is 108 diapers, in addition to the "free" hospital diapers (maybe 30 or so). Considering I thought we had way too many newborn size diapers, we now run the possibility of needing to go buy more!

How's Mommy? Sore. I decided to stop taking the motrin four times a day yesterday and see what was "really" happening, BAD IDEA. I hurt still. Today I'm back on the motrin, just in a smaller dose (400 mg vs. 600) and I'm better. I'm assuming that it is bruising that hurts...

Who does Andrew look like?

Our vote?

Mommy's nose and ears

Daddy's eyes, forehead, chin

cheeks to be determined when there is some fat on the boy

What do you think?

Bath Time

Drew loves bath time!

Newborn Photos

Last night, the amazing Brenda Flowers came over to take newborn pictures of Andrew. Of course, my sound sleeper decided that he was going to be wide awake the entire time she was here (6:30-9pm) despite two feedings! The pictures are still ADORABLE, but not the sleeping ones that are traditional. He also didn't really want to cooperate with the moving of arms and legs.

Mommy tried to get him to sleep, then resorted to talking to him. Pretend that I look good!

First Eating Out Trip

On Saturday, we went out to eat with Drew!!

Nicole and Linda came to visit for the day and shared the experience with us.

Melissa also came to hang out.

Nicole and Jenni, BFFs since '94
Andrew slept the entire time!

At the very end of the meal, Drew started fussing and was pretty darn wet. Melissa and I changed him in the bathroom and, of course, took pictures!

skinny legs missing his pants!!

One Week Update

It is hard to believe that Andrew is 7 days and 12 hours old already. This past week have been filled with many highs and a few lows, but without a doubt, it has been an amazing blessing to have Andrew here and as part of our family. I love staring at him. He is so stinkin' cute, I can't get over it. I often question whether I'm just biased, but everyone has reassured me that he is just that cute.

If you click on the collage, it will open much bigger in a new window :)

He makes the funniest faces, most of which make him look like an old man. When his eyes are open, he constantly looks around and shows how huge this eyes are (a great combo between Dave's oval eyes and my round ones); right now the color of his eyes is a mystery that we're all waiting to find out. They look like a dark greenish-gray right now. His fingers and toes are long and skinny, as with the rest of his body. He doesn't have any chub on him except for his face. The newborn onesies fit him in length, but swim on his tummy.

• Sleeping: He seems to be a pretty good sleeper. Because of my breastfeeding issues (which, by the way, is more exhausting that having a new baby and healing from major stitches combined), I'm up every two hours pumping and we got into a pattern two night ago that has been wonderful. My alarm goes off to wake me up, I wake him up by changing his diaper, we attempt to breastfeed and then he gets fed (either with SNS or a breastflow bottle). After he eats, he is out cold again, and I put him down and do my pumping thing (which takes 19 minutes or more). Then I go to sleep.



• Eating: He is a pretty good eater, even though my boobs haven't been good feeders yet. We're working on that. He has been eating 2 ounces every 2-3 hours, sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less. His tummy was having issues with the formula from the hospital, so we switched Thursday to the sensitive type of the same brand (Similac) and he seems to be doing a lot better. We're using the Breastflow bottles and he has to latch and suck just like breastfeeding. He's a pro at latching on!



• Pooping: He's a great pee-er! Without fail, every time I wake him up to eat, he's wet. He's also wet in between... while he hasn't exactly peed on any of us, he has peed while being changed and soaked himself, the new diaper, and the changing pad a few times. Poop, on the other hand, has been pretty non-existent for the past three days. The doctor said it was "normal."

Things he appears to really like: He LOVED his two washcloth bathes that Daddy gave him. Wide awake and staring at us, he cooed and allowed everything to get washed and lotioned. He smelled so good. He also loves his swing in the front to back motion range, his vibrating bouncer seat, sleeping with his hands swaddled, the car and bouncing.

Things he appears not to like: getting his diaper or clothes changed (his little lungs produce a lot of noise), being wet (if we don't catch it right away, he lets us know), not getting to eat right away (which is always complicated because of the before mentioned breastfeeding issues).

Notable Milestones this Week: lots and lots of visitors (needs it's own post!), first doctor's visit, first (and second) trip to Target, cord stump falls off, and eating dinner out.

How is mommy? In love with my baby! Physically: sore, frustrated about the lack of successful breastfeeding, and super emotional (can I just tell you, I've cried more this week than I have in years combined both good and frustrated tears).

Out of the house!

Life with a baby is just a bit (okay, a LOT) different and everyone here is figuring out how to deal with it. I totally cannot keep up with anything on the computer and am sort of having with drawls, so as Drew sleeps on Daddy's chest, Daddy and Grandma nap, I'm actually going to show you some pictures of that adorable son of mine.

As an adorable 4 day old... Just for the fun of it, one of him sleeping yesterday morning with protector Reese. A very content baby wide awake!

As Drew slept yesterday I did my hair and make-up and put on real (well, maternity) clothes. It felt great to feel a bit more "normal." Drew's first doctor's visit was at 2:30, so we began getting ready to leave at 11 am. It didn't end up taking that long and we left the house shortly after one.

I really wanted to put him in an outfit for the doctors. He was "wild about mommy" with his lion butt and matching shoes. Aunt Melissa helped dress him and he looked so cute, like a little man :) As we prepared to go, Dave make sure the stroller and car seat were perfectly clean and ready to go. Daddy got the job of strapping Drew in--which little man didn't like so much.

At Kaiser again :)

The happy parents who look pretty normal thanks to the extraordinary work of Grandma Bennett. She has taken such good care of us over the past five days.

The nurse loved his outfit and commented on the fact that he had shoes on (come on, he is MY son, would you expect any less). He stretched out for her!

After a long wait, we had our first baby check up. Andrew is doing well, but has lost a bit too much weight and will be getting more formula through the supplemental nursing system (SNS) that we've been using since his stay in NICU. Everything else was "normal" and Mommy felt better after the possibilities of infection and his NICU stay. He was super fussy because he was hungry and amazingly enough, the rooms do not have chairs with arms, so we nursed in the car in the parking lot. I have a feeling, this won't be the last time.

After Kaiser we went on our first shopping trip as a family to Target! Drew was the center of attention as people walked by--so fun!

He slept the entire time!