The First Four Weeks: Side by Side

Can you really be...

Four weeks old already??

Levi,
I can't believe you are four weeks old! You are such a sweet boy and if I've said it once I'll say it again, you are so good.  You are so easy going and rarely are ever really upset.  This week you are holding your head up so much better.  You are following objects when we pass them in front of your face.  And this week you turned your head when you heard your daddy's voice.  I'm pretty sure it melted his heart... I've never seen him look like that before.  He didn't know you "knew" him... but of course you do.  You are growing out of your newborn clothes and even some of the 0-3 month clothes.  You started eating a new formula this week and you seem much happier with it.  You started going 6 hours between feedings at night so I think you are well on your way to sleeping through the night.  This month we are going to focus on getting you on a good schedule.  Just this morning you were telling me you were hungry after 2 hours and I said, Nope, we are going on a walk.  You quickly forgot you were hungry.  You love looking at the lights around the house and enjoy being on your back and tummy.  You absolutely hate the swing and the bouncy seat unless you are passed out.  You like to sit straight up, so I feel sure you will love the bumbo as soon as you are able to sit in it!  Also, today you will eat your last bottle with breast milk in it.  It was so awesome to be able to feed you for a month with breast milk, but alas I'm not a pumping momma.  After an emotional day last week, I now feel good about this and figure you probably won't notice and don't even really care.

This has been such an amazing four weeks and I can't wait to see what the next weeks have in store.  Mommy is ready for a real smile, hint hint!

Love,
Mommy

Lucy is a bit more than four weeks old... but she likes to pose on the chair too.  

I'm blogging less...

... because I'm leaving the house more!

Sorry it's been quiet on the blog front... but I've been busy leaving the house.

Yesterday I went to take Lucy to the vet in the morning, then went back to pick her up, and also went out to dinner with Jonna!! It's nice getting out.

This morning Levi and I went to a Children's Consignment Sale.  It was put on by a mom's with multiples group so they had lots of stuff.  I got 10 outfits and a car seat base for William's car (or whoever else may need it around here) for $40.  The carseat bases are $85 brand new, so it was totally worth it!

Tomorrow is William's 25th birthday, and I have to say that I'm totally unprepared this year.  Sadly it snuck up on me and so I guess I'm just going to have to get him something yummy to eat and hope that a new baby is a good enough present.  I'm normally all about making birthdays a big deal... but with a 3 week old it's a little hard.

In other news, we should be headed to Houston at the end of this week.  William's rig will be done drilling and we need to run down to Houston to take care of a little business and see some family.  So, if you are in Houston and itching to see Levi, stay tuned for dates and times.

And lastly, I'd really appreciate if everyone would keep us in your prayers.  It always seems like everything happens all at once with us.  We aren't ready to go into details for the whole world yet, but let's just say that William will be fulfilling a big military obligation very soon.  It is both something we have been waiting for and dreading all at the same time.  And wouldn't you guess it decided to grace us with it's presence about 4 hours before I gave birth to Levi.  It has been really hard to be dealing with postpartum hormones and facing the reality of our military commitments.  Every day has it's ups and downs and I would be remiss if I didn't say that it has made recovering from the "baby blues" very difficult.  We will explain more when the time is right and when things are more clear to us.

Like we have come to expect with everything in the Stephens household... we never know what the next day holds for us as a family.  We are just glad we are in it together.

Look at my new trick!

Levi performed a new trick today! He lifted his head and turned it to the other side!! I'm very excited because he hadn't done this yet and it was starting to worry me!

We also went for a walk with Lucy today and he had his first ever poopy diaper explosion... all over the swing.  Gross. 

Yesterday we went to Pei Wei for daddy's "last meal" before returning to work.  Levi wore his bear outfit.  Rawr!

It was a pretty good day... and now it's off to bed.  After 10 minutes of crying it out, Levi put himself to sleep tonight.  It was pretty rough on mommy.  Luckily daddy texted her moral support, "Way to tough it out babe." 

The Nursery In Action (aka... finally finished)

21 days makes a habit

Well Levi, you are 21 days old.  That's 3 weeks if you'd rather not count your days.  You went to the doctor on Friday and you weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces. That means you gained 10 ounces in 7 days.  Good grief kid... slow down! Your daddy says you have gotten a lot stronger and louder over the last few days.  In fact, daddy thought you were animals fighting in the backyard... when actually you were just crying. You are still eating every 3-4 hours.  Some nights you go as much as 5 hours between feedings... other nights, just three.  Early this morning you pooped all over my hand.  I mean seriously, my entire hand was covered.  I was not amused, but I was glad you pooped... we were getting worried.  Your daddy starts working again today and so during the day you have to be extra quiet okay? Yea... right. Oh and last night you slept through your first rain storm.  We turned on your white noise machine and you just slept through it.

I can't believe you are almost a month old... where has the time gone?!

Love, Your Mommy

Great-grandparents

This weekend Levi got to meet his great-grandparents.  My grandparents came up to stay with me while William was at drill.  They cooked and kept me company and snuggled Levi when I was busy showering and things like that! Some people have said that Levi looks like my PawPaw, but I think the jury is still out on who he really looks like.  My cousin Megan still has bets on the mailman. 

This weekend went really well.  Friday night I totally screwed up my own schedule and was up every hour and a half because I didn't think about the fact that he might sleep longer than 3 hour stretches.  So Saturday I got my act together and started pumping right after he ate.  That ensured that I only had to get up when he did.  I'm still pumping and it's getting a little less horrible... but I'm still not sure I can keep it up due to some cyclical "pain" issues (I'll spare you the details). 

So, I'm feeling much better about doing everything baby related on my own now.  Yesterday I even took him to Babies R Us to buy a shower present for a friend all by myself.  I was a little sore afterwards from lifting the dang carseat, but for the most part the trip was relatively "painless".  I was looking forward to taking Levi to the baby shower for that friend tomorrow... but it was canceled due to the fact she is now having her baby TONIGHT! I'm very excited for her and wishing for an easy delivery and recovery and a healthy baby! 

Check back tomorrow for Levi's 3 week birthday!

More visitors!

Yesterday Levi got to meet his cousins... well actually my cousins.  It was fun to see them interact with him.  I was a couple of years younger than Shelby is now when she was born, so it's sort of fun to see things come full circle.  I guess I was a little surprised that Zachary wanted to hold Levi first.  Shelby said she was afraid of getting spit up on... not sure if that was just a cover or not!

Thanks Sherrie, Gary, Shelby and Zachary for the yummy Papasitos and coming to visit Levi!! Sorry he slept so much, but don't worry... this summer he will be much more fun!

We Made It!

Dear Levi, 

We did it! We made it to your two week birthday! Every day Daddy and I ask each other if you are really ours.  Partly because we are still in disbelief that you are here and partly because you look like neither of us.  Not that we mind.  We just think it's funny.  This week you had your first doctor's appointment.  You weighed 8lbs. 2oz. which put you back over your birth weight. You didn't get any taller... but that's okay. You started eating from a bottle and kept us up a few nights as well.  We will let it slide... since you are only two weeks old. You eat about 110ml (just under 4 ounces) each feeding and you have continued to impress us with your marathon pooping skills.  We love everything about you and think you are the cutest baby in the world.  And of course we have to say... you STILL have red hair! 

Love, Mommy

Here are a few outtakes from our two week photo shoot.  I haven't said much about what Lucy thinks about Levi... but to say the least, she's in love and also completely terrified of him at the same time.  She wants to be with him all the time, until he moves and then she runs away as fast as she can.  She does like to lick his feet.  Also, we realize now that we were remiss in naming our child a name that starts with the same letter as our dog.  Sorry Lucy and Levi, your names will forever be interchangeable.  

Baby steps

Yesterday Levi started taking naps in his bed... And it went so well he slept in his bed last night. We were grateful to have our room back. Plus babies are very noisy sleepers. I think we all slept better. I even let William sleep through the 7am feeding. I wish he could return the favor. But alas this dang pumping keeps that from happening. I did only pump every 4 hours last night. I figure if I were nursing and Levi was eating that often it would work. So I'm just pretending that's what is happening.

Today we went to babies r us and chilis. It was nice to get out of the house. When we got back we just put Levi still in his carseat in the crib. I mean you know you aren't supposed to wake a sleeping baby! He didn't seem to mind.

In other news I'm dreading William going to drill on Friday. I know we will survive but I've enjoyed William being home and all his help. We will miss him a lot.

Floor Time and Visitors

Well... we are definitely through the honeymoon period.  William and I are groggy parents of a newborn. It is still going pretty well, but we are coming to realize what Levi's limits are and just how much sleep he needs.  We have discovered that if he isn't back asleep after waking up to eat in less than 45 minutes then we will have a screaming infant for the next 4 hours.  So... we have been making sure that doesn't happen with some enforced nap times around here. Luckily, Levi has taken to a schedule nicely.  He eats like clockwork at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm and 3am.  We will let him sleep through his 3am feeding whenever he wants, but obviously right now he still likes eating every four hours.  He currently eats a little over 3 ounces of a breast milk/ forumla mix by bottle.  Yes, by bottle.  I guess you could say that we are abandoning the breast feeding... it just wasn't working for us.  And I'm of the firm belief that this isn't something to stress about.  So we aren't... we are just giving him a bottle.  Learning to take a bottle is a little difficult for a tiny baby... but he's doing well.  He has finally realized that he can stop the flow which makes things a little easier and neater for all involved.

Here are some pictures of Levi enjoying a little floortime and also some visitors... he dressed up especially for them.

The Aggie Visitors

What does your diaper say now?

William and I have really enjoyed getting messages from Levi at each diaper changing. At the shower Dana, Nicole and Jonna threw me, everyone wrote on the front of newborn sized diapers. They were funny at the time. But they are even funnier now when we are changing him in the middle of the night. This is a super good idea for anyone else throwing a shower in the future!

One disclaimer: even though they used permanent marker a few of the diapers have bled when they got wet... And let's face it, diapers get wet. We aren't bothered by this... But just be careful what clothes you put your baby in while wearing a written on diaper!

Here are a few of them:

Wondering Minds May Want to Know...

... how we got to this....

Basically when Levi was born (like most newborns) he was tired.  He pretty much just wanted to sleep the first 24 hours.  He ate, at most, every 6 hours.  And he wasn't doing a good job of it when he was eating.  He was using non-nutritive sucking, falling asleep at the boob wheel, had a horrible latch (that made me scream more expletives than the narcotic drip could cure) and was taking a freaking long time.  Any SLP, lactation consultant or nursing mother could tell you why the above things are bad.  I knew things weren't working from the get go.  Then, on top of all that, our lovely OB decided he HAD to circumcise Levi when he was less than 24 hours old.  I was pissed.  I cried and cried because this meant that he would go back into sleeping mode for almost another day.  I asked for the snipping to be done the next day but they doctor said he couldn't do it then.  So we were back at square one with a nursing baby that had barely eaten in 48 hours.  He was losing weight and while it was normal at that point I did NOT want to enter the territory where it was anything other than normal.  

Enter the wonderful Lactation Consultants at Presby Dallas.  When we first saw them they watched Levi eat and helped me improve his latch.  He has such a big head that I can't hold it up in the cradle position while he's feeding.  I guess I'm weak... oh well.  Anyways, who knew how well I could hold a "football".   I should be a running back! Anyways, they were a bit concerned at his lack of interest/unwillingness to eat and so they did a blood sugar test immediately.  It was normal.  So we started trouble shooting.  He had a bad suck which either meant he had oral motor issues (something I for some reason never considered despite my career... it's amazing how you forget things when you are a parent and not the professional) or he was lazy and saw no need to work for what little milk I was producing. The LC looked at his palate and his little mouth (and I did a once over as soon as she left the room) but didn't find any issues.  If a palate is extra high it can throw things way out of whack. Next she fed a tube into his mouth while he was latched and let him pull 5mL of water.  He immediately started nutritive sucking with a good breathe-suck-swallow pattern.  This was great! It meant that he was just lazy. 

So what do you do when you have a momma with no milk and a lazy eater?  You supplement.  People may disagree with this, but the decision was easy for William and I.  We wanted our boy to be happy and not hungry. I do understand and believe in all the good qualities of breast milk, but do to our combination of issues we needed to help him out. That being said, we wanted our new plan to be the least invasive as possible to breast feeding. So the new plan involved finger feeding at first. We attached a tiny tube to William's finger that was attached to a bottle of formula. This avoided any nipple confusion and gave my body some time to heal. I think William also was really glad he was involved. He said he was gonna tell all of Levi's dates that he nursed him. He also experienced first hand why my body needed time to heal. As he says "Levi could take paint off a car with his sucking." I also started pumping. Because milk doesn't just make itself.

The new plan worked. We liked it and Levi was gaining weight before we left the hospital. Always a good thing. But before we left we noticed he wasn't as excited about latching on to me during our "practice" sessions as he had been. So daddy's finger got ousted for attaching the tube directly to me during feedings.

And that's he same thing we are still doing. This was supposed to be temporary. As in just a couple of days until my milk came in. But my milk has been slow. For a myriad of reasons I'm sure... I'm a first time mom, he wasn't interested in eating for almost 48 hours and because I faced infertility. Yes, apparently infertility affects you after the baby as well. I mean it only makes sense since its all hormones anyways. It was still a painful reminder of where we came from when the LC brought it up. Anyways, I am not making enough milk to feed Levi. It's definitely getting to be more but it's still not enough.

So where are we now. Currently I pump every 3 hours and get about 35 mL of milk ( a little over an ounce). And then we feed that along with about 50-60mL of formula to Levi through a "straw" at my breast. He still has some latch issues though so we only supplement on one side. This works great. But it's exhausting. Pumping times and eating times don't always line up right so I have to get up extra. And his latch issues sometimes bleed to both sides instead of just being on one side. So we are faced with the tough decision of what to do going forward. I'm not going to abandon breast milk but some part of this process must be simplified. So I'm probably going to stop supplementing at the breast and switch to bottles. It may not seem like a huge difference because we still have to feed him and pump. But physically setting up the supplement system every time and the toll it takes on my body and mind are worth stopping to me. I'm trying to hold out as long as possible though. Because if I could go back to straight breast feeding that would be the simplest option.

I'll update in a week or so with how we are doing. I'm sure I'll have some other opinions when William goes back to work as well.