Attaboy!

Someday we'll get a picture of him with his eyes open. In the meantime enjoy his closed eyes cuteness.

We've been home for almost exactly two weeks now and we've already had 3 midwife/doctors appointments. We came home two weeks ago today and spent our first night with wee Stanley in our home. Let me just say, IT WAS ROUGH. I was at my wits end. I must have cried. I know I said, "What is it that you need?!" Because nothing would calm our little one down. We were still exhausted from the labor and delivery and stay at the hospital, so that didn't help. We both know practically nothing about babies. Somehow, within all the chaos of baby crying, me losing my patience and Mike being frustrated, Mike grabbed the book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and skipped to the "how to swaddle" chapter. He calmly read it and followed the directions as if folding a perfect origami crane. It was pure magic. Stanley calmed down and finally went to sleep. We were stunned. They say that the tighter you swaddle the better. Mike's a pro and he taught me how to do it so now we both can swaddle with our eyes closed.

The next morning we called the Birth Center to ask them if we could have the home visit be sooner rather than later because we felt so lost in so many ways. Midwife Patty came around noon to our house we hung out in the bedroom while Stanley slept and we talked about our rough first night. She listened and gave good advice like, "The only parents Stanley knows are you, he has no one to compare you to." Thank goodness! Ha! She also talked to me about breastfeeding which was also good. She checked out my stitches and those were good. When Stanley woke up she watched me breastfeed a little and then she did a physical exam on him. She tested his little toe reflexes, his circulation, his heartbeat, his hip bones, his boy parts, he even pooped for her. He makes perfect poops. She also weighed him. He was born at 7 lbs. 15 oz. He lost 10% of that weight while in the hospital. Just one night home and he now weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz! So he gained the 10% back  plus 5 oz. more! So he is definitely getting plenty of milk.

The next day we had a Pediatricians appointment. I found a pediatrician via the internet and I think I made a good choice because she was great. Dr. Lawrence. She basically did a physical on him and asked us questions about labor and delivery. She weighed him and he now weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz! He gained 5 more ounces in a day! Growing boy! She gave us her pager number and we can call her any day any time and she'll give us a call back.

Yesterday we had our 2 week appointment at the birth center. We got to see midwife Allison and she was working with a midwifery intern who did most of the questioning and work ups. She had me take a postpartum test and I am in the "safety zone". I'm not going to do anything cuckoo. She said that being emotional is totally part of the plan. I cry when someone tells me that they love me and support me. I cry when Mike says something insensitive (I usually can handle it and respond back to him but now I just cry.)  I cry when eating hamburgers. I cry when typing. I cried a lot before I was pregnant but this is just a whole other level of emotions. It's not all tears though, I laugh a lot and I am starting to really enjoy Stanley's alert times rather than me thinking, "GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!" So I think I'm on the right track. Anyhoo. They weighed him  and said, "They usually gain back their birth weight by now." They put him on the scale and it read 9 lbs. 15 oz! Surpassing his birth weight. 2+ lbs in two weeks, attaboy!