2 week check up

Bennett went in for his 2 week checkup yesterday, and boy, how he's grown!

Birth: 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long
3 days old: 7 lbs 3 oz (release from hospital)
5 days old: 7 lbs 6 oz (first Kaiser checkup)
2 weeks old: 8 lbs 15 oz 22 inches long

So, I know that the length is not the MOST accurate measurement in the world - after all, they stretch the baby on the exam table and mark his head and feet on the paper with pencil and then measure, but the scales seem more accurate. Babies lose some water weight after their born, and Bennett lost quite a bit of weight. A couple more ounces of weight at release and the doctors would have been concerned about how much weight he lost since birth.

Then there was the 5 day check up. I called this one the "CYA - Did you lose the baby since we gave him to you?" check up. It was set up for 48 hours after our release from the hospital. I swear that they just want to make sure that you still know where your baby is, that you haven't sold him off, and that you haven't dressed him funny since they let us take him home. Granted, they do check to make sure that the jaundice is better, that breastfeeding is going well, and to pass along the useful "Are you being abused" leaflet. Bennett's bilirubin levels continue to climb. I guess that 15 is considered bad enough to need treatment. At birth, he was a 5,upon release, he was a 10, and at this check up he was a 12. That earned us the lucky task of feeding every 2 hours (I've posted about this already).

But the pediatrician yesterday said that she didn't see any jaundice anymore - so yeah! no more need to monitor his sleep and feeding so closely! So the little guy just keeps growing and growing!

Sleeping and cleaning

Kate is taking lessons from her little brother. Tim went back to school this week at night. Last night was the first time that Anissa put Kate to bed by herself. She went to sleep just fine around 8:30pm. Anissa checked on her at 10pm, and thought she appeared to be asleep, Kate sat up in her bed as Anissa covered her in her blanket. Kate appeared to go back to sleep. But shortly after Tim came home after 10:30pm, Kate started crying and Tim had to go in to try to soothe her. She didn't go to sleep again until after 3am! Kate is usually so good about going to sleep - I'm hoping that this is just a fluke and she'll be back to normal soon.

We took Bennett with us to pick up Kate from daycare today, and she seemed really proud to show him off to everyone. Kate and Mommy also got some one on one time at Gymboree this week, and she seemed to really enjoy all of the extra attention.

We're also trying to go through boxes that were packed two addresses ago, to make more room in Bennett's room closet. Somewhat productive, but it's slow going to go through all of this stuff that you've collected over the years and trying to decide which of the "memories" to keep, and which ones you can let go of. It felt like we made a little bit of progress this week. I hope we can keep up the energy to donate and cull more stuff from our house.

Got sleep? Not us! We're definitely still working on it. Seems like every time that Bennett wakes up in the middle of the night, it takes him an hour or two to settle back down to sleep. Left to his own time table, he's ready for a feeding every 3 hours or so. You do the math. One of us is only getting an hour of sleep between feedings overnight.

Bennett goes in for his 2 week checkup this Friday.

Does this outfit make me look yellow?

Baby Bennett and Mommy are home from the hospital and feeling pretty good. With decent pain meds taken often, Anissa has been quite mobile. Bennett is up for only about 10 minutes after a feeding and then he's sleeping again....unless it's the middle of the night. Then he fusses for up to 2 hours after a feeding.

The hospital checked Bennett's bilirubin levels at the hospital. He started at a 5, then an 8 before release. At his 48 hour check up after release, he was up to a 12. A 15 score is considered jaundiced, so he's still below that, but with levels rising, we were instructed to follow the jaundice regimen until his 2 week appointment. That means as much natural indirect sunlight as we can manage and waking him every 2 hours to nurse. He should be nursing 12 times per day! Fine during the day, when he nurses for about 30-40 minutes, naps for about 80-90 minutes and we start the process all over again. But during the night? Are you kidding? Wake a SLEEPING baby? But he's SLEEPING! DURING.THE.NIGHTTIME!!!! (ok, we'll do it if it helps him, but we don't have to like it).

Baby Boy has arrived!

Bennett Timothy arrived 11:03pm Friday February 6th, weighing 7 lbs, 15 oz and 20.5 inches long. Mommy and baby Bennett are doing great. Katie is very happy that baby brother (whom she still calls sister) has arrived. She wanted to hold him all day.

Random Contractions

I'm having about 2 contractions per hour. It's been this way for about 3 weeks. Last night, I had 6 or so in a row, about every 12 minutes or so apart.

I'm ready for this baby to make an appearance. A little apprehensive too. The recovery after Kate was so painful, that I'm a little afraid of another C-section. I'm hoping that this one goes into labor all on his own, that it's a short labor, and that he's perfectly healthy (of course).

He was breach 9 days ago. This week he's back to head-down. Breach=c-section no matter what. Head-down is the only way that I get the option to NOT have a c-section. Nothing like keeping us all guessing.

C-section date is officially scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 10th at 8:35am PST. I'll be 39 weeks and 2 days by then. We'll have to be at the hospital by 6:30am. That means that Kate will need to sleep over at Auntie Deb's the night before. Her first sleep-over! Without her parents! I'm worried that she'll be ok and will be able to sleep.

I find myself worrying a lot about Kate lately. Will she adjust ok to a baby brother? Will she feel left out? Will she get angry over how much attention the new baby will need? Will she be able to tell how much her dad and I still adore her?

She seems like she's doing ok so far. She talks to the belly button many times per day. "Did you have a nice nap, baby brother?" "Hi baby brother!" But we've noticed a lot more testing of rules and boundaries this past month. Yeah, I know, she's two. She's supposed to be doing this, but parts of it feel like she's checking to see if we'll still keep her around after baby, even if she's a pain. Going to sleep has turned into a painful process for all of us. She cries, she whines, she tries to manipulate and delay the process of going to bed. I whine, I complain that she won't go to sleep (because pregnant mommy NEEDS her nap and her sleep). She's often waking up at 5am to terrorize her father with Dora the Explorer TV requests. She doesn't like going to daycare when mommy gets to stay home. But I just can't run upstairs/downstairs a dozen times a morning and do the trips to the park/bike ride/scooter that a 2 year old needs every day to exercise. So she's wanting Mommy/Katie time more and more.

Otherwise, she's still the same sweet adorable girl that we know and love. She's talkative, funny, artistic.

So do us and her a favor. If you see us, please make as much a fuss about Kate as you do the new baby. And please make the fuss about her, not her being a big sister to the new baby. The new baby won't notice - I promise that he won't be offended. And I'd be grateful too!