One Week Old

Happy One Week, baby Jack! How has it already been one week? On the other hand, it already seems so normal for him to be here. Hard to imagine life without our little wug!

I hope to remember to do weekly pictures of his first year. Here is week one.

Right before I took this picture he peed all over when I was changing his diaper! I should've known better. I bought a handful of peepee teepees... but haven't used them. Bad mommy! So new outfit for Jack and lesson learned for me!

Earlier this week Daddy decided to style Jack's hair! We've been planning on our little men having fo-hawks and this is a good start!

Jackson has had a wonderful first week. He is such a good baby! He only fusses when he is gassy, needs to be changed, or is hungry. The second two can be remedied quickly, the gas though... well, let's just say he has some hours when he won't stop fussing.

Umm... we just gave Jack his first bath. Yes, mid-post. I had been giving him wet wipe baths up until this point. So I have a baby who needs snuggles! Post to be finished tomorrow!

{edit}

Ok, so it is now Tuesday and I can finish this post.

Jackson is such a beautiful baby. Sometimes I just can't stop looking at him! Now that his thrush is clearing up his baby soft complexion is back. His little hands and feet are so kissable. He loves to snuggle. He is the perfect baby!

I planned to exclusively breastfeed for the first two weeks then introduce a bottle of breastmilk. Since we're planning on going up to Michigan at the end of April, we needed Jackson using a bottle by then so we didn't have to stop every hour or so. I still plan on him only having breastmilk for at least the first 6 months. Then we'll introduce solid foods. Yes, we could give him solids earlier, but I prefer breastmilk. He has learned to nurse very well. He is kind of a sloppy eater so I hope he learns to keep the milk in his mouth and not all over the burp cloth! Thankfully, he hasn't spit up once yet! In the hospital he spit up twice so I was a little worried he might have some reflux or a reaction to my milk, but now he is very healthy and hungry! We nurse about every 1-2 hours.

I am almost positive that Jackson passed along his thrush to one of my breasts. It made it very uncomfortable to nurse. His pediatrician gave me a Rx to take care of it, but it still hasn't gone away. Online it says it typically lasts for two weeks. Sigh. I began to pump that breast and feed on the other for the time being. The breast is still sore, but much less than when Jack nurses. Here's hoping it clears up real soon! I was gifted my breast pump, which was such a blessing! When we decided that I would return to work I knew I needed to get a good quality breast pump. I didn't know where we would get that extra $300 (at least) since we're pinching our pennies until I return to work. Receiving this as a gift was such a blessing and I am so thankful. It is a wonderful breast pump (Medela In- Style Advanced) and works so quickly. I certainly don't mind stocking up on breast milk now so that when I return to work there will be enough for Jack during the day.

For the most part I have been feeling excellent. I haven't gotten much sleep overall, but I normally feel awake when Jack needs me. Yesterday morning Matt came in to get Jack in the morning and I was lying there in bed, breast exposed, Jack on the boppy, obviously having fallen asleep while nursing! We checked my notebook and I had begun feeding at least an hour and a half prior to when Matt came in! Not good. I felt like such a horrible mother! Jack could have rolled off the boppy and onto the floor! During the night, if Jack is fussy sometimes I'll cuddle him up on my chest and sleep a little with him. When I do this I support him with the boppy and place pillows on either side of me so Jack won't fall. I did not do this when Matt walked in since I didn't mean to fall asleep! Thankfully, Jack hasn't begun to roll around at all (as he's only 1 week old!) so unless I tossed him off me there was no way for him to fall off the bed. Still, it makes me feel like a poor mother.

Physical recovery from birth has been... interesting. Honestly, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected. It certainly hasn't been pleasant and I'm not looking forward to this period for our next child, I've been healing right on schedule. Thank the Lord for the internet! I have been able to look up anything I have questions about during this process. I go to What To Expect or The Bump to be sure I don't accidentally look up any distasteful articles/websites. Literally yesterday I noticed that I am almost back to normal! Very excited to get out of these adult diapers. Yes, I could use a different method for the time being... but the Depends are just so convenient!

On the extreme plus side: I only have 11 pounds left to lose before I'm at my pre-preggo weight! Amazing! After the hospital I had lost about 9 pounds just from the birth. Throughout the week my tummy continued to shrink and that area to tighten. Unfortunately, I flexed my abs and they are very, very loose. I feel like I should wait a little longer before starting up my old ab routine again... just to be safe during the recovery period. The nurse said not to exercise for the first 2 weeks. I continued to lose weight as I would weigh myself every couple of days. Now I am at 11 pounds over my old weight. Definitely manageable!

We have been using a mixture of cloth and disposable diapers for this first week. The first few days I used only disposable as his circumcision was still healing. Then I started using cloth but discovered we did not have the right detergent for these! So I started using disposables as well. The first load of cloth is in the washer right now as Matt got the detergent yesterday. I am loving the cloth! I may have to order a handful more newborn diapers to have enough to do the wash every other day. We'll see once I get into a cycle. Thankfully, Matt doesn't mind the cloth diapers either. So much better for baby and such a money saver!

On Sunday (4/1) I was holding Jack so he was facing me on my chest (I call this the froggy) when he held up his head and looked all around. This was a very firm hold and he moved his face from side to side. He kept it up for a good long while and then gently set it down. Up until this point he had been very floppy when he would lift his head. It was more like an accident. His neck is getting stronger though! It is so cute when he holds up his head! He looks like a little turtle!

We did not buy any swaddling blankets, but we have been swaddling Jack in his receiving blankets. Now, we do not know how too officially swaddle, but we do a "taco wrap". Jack seems to like it and it certainly helps settle him down.

He has such a variety of expressions already. My favorite is his "surprised" expression. My MIL calls this "furl his brow" as Matt and my FIL do it too! How funny. He lifts his eyebrows and his forehead crinkles. It is super adorable. Yes, I have a picture of this face. Should have uploaded it. May later.

I cannot believe he is already one week old. Wasn't I just pregnant and wondering what he would look like? Sometimes it feels like he is more like a new pet than a baby. That sounds horrible, but what I mean is it is still so strange that he's a little person. Of course, I love him so much more than any pet. It's strange, I pet the cats every once in awhile now... but I certainly don't sit on the floor to pet them like before. I think they know they are not as important to us as they used to be. That is kind of sad, but at least they are behaving well.

I have learned so much about sacrifice during this week. I cannot imagine what is still to come in the next, oh, 18 years! He is so completely worth it!