No time for a big blog post, so here are the few pictures from the past week.
Quentin: 5 Weeks
Apparently, I took hardly any photos from Wednesday until Sunday... Oh well. A light week.
Likes: Snuggles; being up on my shoulder to look around; his paci
Dislikes: Diaper changes; not being fed immediately!
Sleeping: I thought we were moving towards longer sleep stretches at night, but that seems to have gone out the window. Oh well. Eventually we will get this down...
Eating: Sometimes he downs 4 ounces at once and other times, he loves snacking. He'll eat 2 ounces and then be hungry again in an hour and a half.
Playing: Arthur loves chatting with baby brother. And Q's even been "talking" back sometimes. So cute!
Milestones: We've survived the first month! Woohoo! Looking forward to the next round of milestones.
Schedule: Nothing to report.
My Recovery: I have my postpartum appointment tomorrow morning. Hoping to be medically cleared. i feel like i'm just about back to normal. Now I get to focus on losing the extra weight.
Out and About: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we stayed home and out of the rain. I focused on cooking and cleaning. Saturday the rain stopped enough to allow us to visit the Oakland Zoo for their special Halloween activities. Arthur trick-or-treated while seeng the animals. Q mostly slept. Sunday I hosted crop day so Q got meet some of the crafty ladies.
Quentin: 1 Month/4 Weeks!
Likes: Baby carrier snuggles (Arthur hated the carrier so this is a nice change); car rides (thank goodness); watching his big brother play
Dislikes: Diaper changes; digestive issues
Sleeping: We're still working on sleeping better at night. Lately, he's been sleeping only 1-2 hours at a time between night feedings. I'm so over this. We all need better sleep around here.
Eating: The original formula we tried caused some major constipation. We tried a "gentle" formula that fixed the constipation, but caused lots of gas. We're on our third different formula. We need to give it another day before determining if it's going to work.
Playing: Q's definitely focusing more and more on things and people. We pulled out the play mat this week. He doesn't seem to care at all. We'll keep trying.
Milestones: Head control is increasing! He's getting there
Schedule: No schedule. Maybe in a few weeks.
My Recovery: I haven't taken any pain meds in almost two weeks. I feel almost back to normal. I get a few twinges of pain after lots of housework or walking or bending in weird positions. I'm still trying to be careful, but I think everything's going really well. My postpartum appointment in coming up on Nov. 1st.
Out and About: We've had a busy week of outings and activities!
- Mel's Play Place
- Grocery store trip
- MVPA Fall Costume Social
- Book club with momma
- Big Target trip
- Trick-or-Treating at Santana Row
- So many activities...
One Month Photos!
- Wearing 3 month clothes even though NB onesies still fit. His legs are too long!
- Drinking 4 ounces of formula in a sitting
- Working on head control
- Isn't a fan of swaddling anymore
- Next doctor appointment is Nov. 28th
Quentin: 3 Weeks
Likes: Snuggles with momma, watching Arthur
Dislikes: Diaper and clothes changes, eating slowly
Sleeping: We're still adjusting our days and nights, but it's better. Slowly, Q's been increasing the sleep stretches at night time. But he still struggles with going to sleep the late evening time. He's staying awake during the day for longer stretches of time. The other day he went two and a half hours of awake time before falling back asleep. Holy cow!
Eating: This kid is a snacker. During the day, he'll eat 2 ounces and then refuse any more. But in 30-45 minutes he wants another 2 ounces.
Playing: I think I should pull out the baby mat soon. He starting to look at more and more things. Q may just like the hanging animals on the baby mat.
Milestones: I see definite improvement in Q's eye contact. He loves to stare at people more now.
Schedule: Still allowing him to dictate the schedule of the day, but we are going to start doing some activities this coming week. Arthur really needs more engagements out of the house.
My Recovery: I'm basically off my pain meds. I took a Motrin the other day after developing a horrendous nausea-inducing migraine. Otherwise, my incision has not pain. My ab muscles are still repairing and I have some soreness, but not severe enough to require medication. Weight wise, I'm down another 3 pounds.
Out and About: I accomplished my first solo outing with both boys. We had the ambitious plan of hitting the library, Walgreens (pick up pictures), and a short grocery visit, but I was fully prepared on scraping the other two errands if the library did not go well. We ended up completing all our errands. Quentin slept almost the entire time. Car rides seem to agree with him. Yeah!
Quentin: 2 Weeks
Likes: Snuggles, being up all night long, generally being cozy
Dislikes: Diaper changes, seriously he screams during them, baths
Sleeping: Still working on switching our days and nights. He takes forever to get to sleep at night, but is out instantly during the day. The situation is getting a big old.
Eating: My pumping has resulted in less and less milk. I think I'm done with pumping also. We're moving to 100% formula fed over here.
Playing: Not quite playing, but he is looking around more and more. Plus, Arthur loves to talk to "Baby Quentin."
Doctor Visit Stats: Q's two week doctor visit is actually tomorrow on account of the holiday. I even got Arthur's 3rd year appointment scheduled right before Q's. Easy peasy! I anticipate being out of there before the second appointment officially starts.
Milestones: Two big developments this week. Q's cord fell off two days ago and everything looks good. Plus, he has flipped himself from back to tummy at least three times. I have no idea how he did this early, but he did. Arthur didn't flip over until almost three months. Q has done is at 1 1/2 weeks. Kid, you need to slow down...
Schedule: Trying to work on flipping Q's schedule so he's awake during the day and asleep at night.
My Recovery: Feeling better and better. I've cut my pain meds down. I'm still taking the occasional Motrin, but I go anywhere from 8-12 hours between pills. I also weighed myself for the first time two days ago. At admission to the hospital, I was 230 pounds. Currently I am 210 pounds. I'll take it! Now I just need to work on those extra 40-50 pounds I'm still carrying around.
Out and About: Other than the two visits to the Newborn Care Center last week, we stayed home to let me recover. Saturday Arthur requested that we go to the "bear house" otherwise known as Black Bear Diner. So we loaded up the car and had a nice lunch. Quentin slept through the entire trip.
Quentin: 1 Week
Likes: Snuggles, being swaddled, Arthur
Dislikes: Diaper changes, being cold
Sleeping: So far Quentin seems be a good a sleeper. He's pretty easy to get back to sleep after a feeding if I use the swaddle. Funny seeing as Arthur hated being swaddled and would scream until we took it off. Q loves being a baby burrito. I wish he would go to sleep a little faster after those middle of the night feedings, but otherwise I'll take it.
Eating: I again attempted to breast feed, but excruciating pain put an end to that pretty quickly. Instead, I am pumping and supplementing with formula. Q is now completely bottle fed. Once his stomach adjusted to food, his spit up volume has decreased dramatically.
Playing: Obviously no playing yet, but Q does love watching Arthur play.
Doctor Visit Stats: Unfortunately we have already been to the newborn care center twice since being discharged. Thankfully we have been cleared and don't have to go back to the doctor until his 2 week appointment on the 11th. Q ended up losing 11% of his initial birth weight necessitating those doctor visits. With the start of supplementing with formula, we are back on track.
Birth weight (9/26): 8lbs 4oz
Discharge weight (9/28): 7lbs 14oz
Thursday weight (9/29): 7lbs 6oz
Friday weight (9/30): 7lbs 7 oz -- back to gaining weight!
Milestones: We made it one week! Woohoo! And Q had his first bath. Really a sponge bath as his cord stump hadn't of fallen off as of yesterday afternoon (although it's really close). He screamed until I wrapped him in a towel. Not a big surprise. Arthur screamed through his first one also.
Schedule: No set schedule as of yet. Q eats, sleeps, and wakes whenever he wants. I'm starting to see some pattern with about 3 hours between feedings. However he has went through a few cluster feed periods.
My Recovery: Recovery is going much more faster and smoother this time around. The hospital has been offering a new pain management system after c-sections involving Tordal and IV Tylenol. Whether it was the different drugs or something completely different, I was up and moving a lot sooner this time around. One week out, I'm still taking my Motrin, but have moved away from Percocet. My energy and stamina has been increasing over the week. I'm hoping to be off my pain meds and be able to get out of the house soon.
