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| A fake first photo |
And a few more from the very first moments we spent with our little son:
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Note the bloody glove beyond the curtain |
Sorry for the months of deceit.
Friday, May 25, 2012
LIES
I just discovered that the photo that I've been pawning off as our "first family photo" is actually not our first picture together at all! It was taken together after I was out of recovery, when I was wheeled in to visit Rhett in the nursery. I've been lying to EVERYONE.
Our first picture together, was of course taken in the operating room, while they were stitching me up. They brought him to us to look at after they got him breathing on his own. So without further ado, HERE is our first picture together as a family of three:
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
One Month Old!
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| Cloth diapers make him look so disproportionate |
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| Rhett and I aren't very photogenic together. We do our best. |
I'm so in love with our little boy! He is just perfect and we are so amazed every day by the blessing he has been in our lives. Happy One-Month-Birthday Baby Boy!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Getting to Know Rhett
We're settling into this whole "parenting business" nicely. Newborns like Rhett are quite demanding, but we're loving every minute of caring for our little son.
The worst part of our first two weeks with Rhett were that he didn't really feel like our son. Having a C-section didn't help our bonding process much. I was pregnant and thirty minutes later I wasn't and they were showing me this little baby and I didn't have to work for him at all (at that point any way. C-section recovery is a real bitch). While Rhett was in the nursery for two weeks, we had people telling us when he was to be fed, changed and swaddled and how to do it. We didn't get to pick out his bottles or shirts or blankets. The nurses called him (and all the other babies) 'my baby' whenever they were assigned to him for their shift. I hated that. He wasn't their baby, he was mine! But he didn't really feel like mine.
But enough about how awful the hospital was! Geeze, it's depressing me to just write this. Here's what we know about Rhett so far:
We love Rhett so much. Early on, we started referring to him as "the best baby in the world". His eyes are often open and looking around. He loves (nay, needs) to be held whenever he is awake. He's easily startled by loud noises (the two thunderstorms we've had have led to some completely sleepless nights). He hates his diaper being wet, and he also hates it being changed. He wiggles out of his swaddles like a mini-Houdini, even though when he IS tightly swaddled he goes right to sleep (the kid just doesn't know what he REALLY wants in life). I still have the hardest time figuring out what color his eyes are. They're dark. I'm starting to think they are a really dark blue-green. They are definitely lightening, so maybe it will become clear soon. Rhett can wear preemie or newborn clothes. Preemie clothes just barely fit over his cloth diapers, but they do work. He has a tiny amount of dark hair, which is longer in the back than the front (baby mullet!).
When Rhett was born, he weighted 4 lbs, 3 oz. At his lowest, he weighed just a hair over 4 lb. When he was discharged, he was 4 lbs, 14 oz. As of Monday, when he was three and a half weeks old, he weighs 6 lbs, 4 oz. So he's gaining weight pretty well. His pediatrician recommended waking him up to eat at night AND fortifying my breast milk with extra calories for him to gain weight faster. I don't think he like either of these things, so we haven't been doing it. I was really nervous to get him weighed on Monday but he's been gaining weight like a champ! I'm feeling smug about my motherly instincts.
Rhett is usually up at night from about 11:30-1 and from 4-5:30. He seems to be the most awake and alert during these times. He gets fed, changed, fed again, then tightly swaddled. Then he'll usually watch my face for another hour or so and whine if I put him down. He has this whiny voice when he wants to be held and he puts it on every night.
In "I SWORE I WOULD NEVER DO IT" news, we've had Rhett in bed with us after his last feeding about half of the time he's been home. He wants to be with us, and I like to snuggle with him, so I just did it one night. I was so nervous about rolling over on him but if I keep my arm under him, it's pretty much impossible to roll over onto him (without breaking my arm). I know that's kind of hard to picture, but I definitely feel safe with him in bed with us. I don't know how long we'll keep that up. I don't want to form a habit, but he's too little for that right now anyway. And we get more sleep. And happy parent=happy baby. So...we'll see how that goes.
Phew...that's a lot of information. I really want to write things down, because I KNOW I'll forget. I've already forgotten some things about his birth. I just remembered the other day that the fist time I saw Rhett, he's eyes were open and he looked at me with his forehead all crinkled up. I don't want to forget that stuff. So I need to be more disciplined about writing it down. Wish me luck in my blogging adventures with Rhett!
But enough about how awful the hospital was! Geeze, it's depressing me to just write this. Here's what we know about Rhett so far:
We love Rhett so much. Early on, we started referring to him as "the best baby in the world". His eyes are often open and looking around. He loves (nay, needs) to be held whenever he is awake. He's easily startled by loud noises (the two thunderstorms we've had have led to some completely sleepless nights). He hates his diaper being wet, and he also hates it being changed. He wiggles out of his swaddles like a mini-Houdini, even though when he IS tightly swaddled he goes right to sleep (the kid just doesn't know what he REALLY wants in life). I still have the hardest time figuring out what color his eyes are. They're dark. I'm starting to think they are a really dark blue-green. They are definitely lightening, so maybe it will become clear soon. Rhett can wear preemie or newborn clothes. Preemie clothes just barely fit over his cloth diapers, but they do work. He has a tiny amount of dark hair, which is longer in the back than the front (baby mullet!).
When Rhett was born, he weighted 4 lbs, 3 oz. At his lowest, he weighed just a hair over 4 lb. When he was discharged, he was 4 lbs, 14 oz. As of Monday, when he was three and a half weeks old, he weighs 6 lbs, 4 oz. So he's gaining weight pretty well. His pediatrician recommended waking him up to eat at night AND fortifying my breast milk with extra calories for him to gain weight faster. I don't think he like either of these things, so we haven't been doing it. I was really nervous to get him weighed on Monday but he's been gaining weight like a champ! I'm feeling smug about my motherly instincts.
Rhett is usually up at night from about 11:30-1 and from 4-5:30. He seems to be the most awake and alert during these times. He gets fed, changed, fed again, then tightly swaddled. Then he'll usually watch my face for another hour or so and whine if I put him down. He has this whiny voice when he wants to be held and he puts it on every night.
In "I SWORE I WOULD NEVER DO IT" news, we've had Rhett in bed with us after his last feeding about half of the time he's been home. He wants to be with us, and I like to snuggle with him, so I just did it one night. I was so nervous about rolling over on him but if I keep my arm under him, it's pretty much impossible to roll over onto him (without breaking my arm). I know that's kind of hard to picture, but I definitely feel safe with him in bed with us. I don't know how long we'll keep that up. I don't want to form a habit, but he's too little for that right now anyway. And we get more sleep. And happy parent=happy baby. So...we'll see how that goes.
Phew...that's a lot of information. I really want to write things down, because I KNOW I'll forget. I've already forgotten some things about his birth. I just remembered the other day that the fist time I saw Rhett, he's eyes were open and he looked at me with his forehead all crinkled up. I don't want to forget that stuff. So I need to be more disciplined about writing it down. Wish me luck in my blogging adventures with Rhett!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
First Bath!
Rhett's umbilical cord fell off this week--so you know what that means! Time for his very first bath. I was fairly certain that Rhett was going to HATE bathtime. He doesn't like his diaper being changed and generally abhors being naked. He doesn't like to be cold. So we made sure to get the bath nice and warm for him before undressing him and slipping him in. To my amazement, after a brief holler, Rhett realllly enjoyed his bath! He kicked around in the water and looked up at us in wonder and amazement. I think he really enjoyed having a new experience. Josh tried showering with him afterward which he also liked--the water ran down on his back and butt and he really seemed to enjoy it.
Just like me--Rhett did not like coming out of the bath at all. Josh handed him off to me to get lotioned, dried and dressed. Rhett screamed until he was completely dressed and swaddled up, so I think the kid just likes to be warm. It was a nice family moment and I'm relieved to have gotten through the experience with minimal tears.
I don't have pictures of this because he was naked (duh), and it was really wet (double duh). I might try to snap some next time, if we do it without the shower running, I think I could get some without ruining our camera
Just like me--Rhett did not like coming out of the bath at all. Josh handed him off to me to get lotioned, dried and dressed. Rhett screamed until he was completely dressed and swaddled up, so I think the kid just likes to be warm. It was a nice family moment and I'm relieved to have gotten through the experience with minimal tears.
I don't have pictures of this because he was naked (duh), and it was really wet (double duh). I might try to snap some next time, if we do it without the shower running, I think I could get some without ruining our camera
Rhett with Dad
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| Eating in the hospital |
I'm sure everyone says this, but Josh is so good with the baby. He is a much more natural parent to a newborn than I am. He was the first person that was able to get Rhett to finish a bottle when we were at the hospital (an important step to getting him home). Since I have been almost exclusively pumping milk for Rhett, Josh has been able to feed him as often as I have, which I think it a great benefit to bottle feeding.
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| Matching |
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| Eating at home |
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| This photo cracks me up |
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Products I've Loved the First Week
I'm always so interested in what baby products people are using and loving. I know that tastes change a lot as babies get older but I thought I'd write a bit about things we've been using this week that I really like. So here the are:
Cloth Diapers
We have been cloth diapering 90% of the time since bringing Rhett home. In all honesty, I absolutely love it. It's much easier than I anticipated and I was willing to put forth a lot of work to do it. Our reason for deciding to cloth diaper varied greatly. Cost savings was the real clincher for Josh. I was more enchanted by the environmental and health benefits. The way I see it--if I had to wear a diaper, I would rather wear a cloth one. Disposable diapers just kind of gross me out. They smell chemically and I just feel so wasteful throwing them away. So cloth diapers it is.
We have two dozen green mountain prefolds in the "infant" size that we've been primarily using on Rhett. When we bought them I couldn't imagine a baby fitting into a diaper so tiny, but they are just perfect for him. We're using Thirsties XS covers, and those are big, but they work. We just fold the diaper around Rhett and then "snappi" it with a handy little device that eliminates the need for pins. We've been washing them every 36 hours or so. We just do a cold rinse and then a hot was with soap and dry them for an hour. They don't need to be folded, so it's really the easiest laundry we do. I know the dynamics of cloth diapering change a lot as babies grow, so I'll probably continue to update with what we're doing and how much we like it.
The Moby Wrap
Ok so I've really just tried this out today, but I am so proud that I learned how to wrap it and get him in there that I wanted to write about it right away. He happens to be peacefully in his wrap right now and I have my hands free to type! So I'm thrilled. I'm envisioning finally getting to clean my house without him crying to be held. Woo Hoo! Being able to hold him hands free is such a huge benefit and I foresee us being "baby wearers" for a long time.
Aden and Anais Swaddlers
I kept hearing about how awesome these swaddlers are, so I decided to invest in four of them. Upon coming home from the hospital, we found that we had been gifted four more my Josh's sister. So now we have eight and I am absolutely thrilled with them. I wouldn't mind having more. They are nice and big, but airy and light enough to keep Rhett cool (but not cold). They are easy to wash and apparently they just get better with age. They fold up really small into the diaper bag even though they are huge when they're unfolded. And they have cute animal prints (of course, I adore the bumblebee pattern the most)
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| Prefold without a cover and secured with snappi |
We have been cloth diapering 90% of the time since bringing Rhett home. In all honesty, I absolutely love it. It's much easier than I anticipated and I was willing to put forth a lot of work to do it. Our reason for deciding to cloth diaper varied greatly. Cost savings was the real clincher for Josh. I was more enchanted by the environmental and health benefits. The way I see it--if I had to wear a diaper, I would rather wear a cloth one. Disposable diapers just kind of gross me out. They smell chemically and I just feel so wasteful throwing them away. So cloth diapers it is.
We have two dozen green mountain prefolds in the "infant" size that we've been primarily using on Rhett. When we bought them I couldn't imagine a baby fitting into a diaper so tiny, but they are just perfect for him. We're using Thirsties XS covers, and those are big, but they work. We just fold the diaper around Rhett and then "snappi" it with a handy little device that eliminates the need for pins. We've been washing them every 36 hours or so. We just do a cold rinse and then a hot was with soap and dry them for an hour. They don't need to be folded, so it's really the easiest laundry we do. I know the dynamics of cloth diapering change a lot as babies grow, so I'll probably continue to update with what we're doing and how much we like it.
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| With a cover. Kinda bulky |
Ok so I've really just tried this out today, but I am so proud that I learned how to wrap it and get him in there that I wanted to write about it right away. He happens to be peacefully in his wrap right now and I have my hands free to type! So I'm thrilled. I'm envisioning finally getting to clean my house without him crying to be held. Woo Hoo! Being able to hold him hands free is such a huge benefit and I foresee us being "baby wearers" for a long time. 
Aden and Anais Swaddlers
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