Forgotten Mentionables

I was getting ready for bed last night and a few other things popped in my head that I forgot to mention in my last entry. So, here's what I can remember for now.

The pacifier has lost it's job as Diaper Changing Soother. These days, he just screams and spits it out. Absolutely nothing works consistently to calm him down while we're changing him anymore. Sometimes I can get a quiet change done if I do a "sneak attack" and get him while he's still sound asleep. I just have to do it very quietly and handle him extra gently. Sometimes if he's super stinky and messy, he'll gladly lay quietly and let us clean him up. Sometimes. :P And sometimes running the faucet helps. He loves listening to the sound of running water, but that's super-wasteful and adds to the bills. Hopefully once he grows up a little, he'll be more content and easily distracted with songs, funny faces and noises, or a toy or something. As much as I love him, I could really do without all of the excessive screaming and crying.

Every few days it seems like he's doing something new. Lately he's been reaching out for his bottle to get us to put it back in his mouth after we take it out to have him swallow and take a breath. I've been guiding his hand to the nipple part and having him help me put it back in. He's been reaching out for his Binky (pacifier), too, when it starts slipping. It's so cute to see. He's finally starting to have times when he's happy about interacting and "playing". I blew him a "raspberry" the other night and he gasped, opened his eyes wide, and threw his hands up in the air! It was hilarious. Dave did it again the next day, and I recorded some of that. Too cute.

This morning, I propped him up inside my Leachco nursing pillow with a blanket behind it for extra support and played with him "sitting up" for a little while on the couch. He was all wide-eyed and alert looking around and occasionally "cooing". He slid over and down a few times, but he did pretty good for about half an hour. After that long (and then having been awake since 6:45am), he got a little fussy... so on went the Rockabye Baby cd's. He really loves music and generally falls asleep within ten or fifteen minutes after I put one in... IF I'm holding him in my arms and don't lay him down. So, I brought out the sling carrier one of my co-workers bought for me and he was out cold in about five minutes. He loves being all cozy and snug in there, but I worry about it scrunching up his little head and neck, so I still have to use one hand to support that part of the sling. This lets me at least be hands-free at the computer as he can lay in it on my lap, but I really don't have any more freedom walking around with him around the house than I would just carrying him in my arm (since I have to support his head). Oh well.

We took him out on his first non-medical outing this week. Some of my co-workers gave us a gift card for Gymboree (a baby/toddler clothing store), so we took him there and picked out a cute little pirate ship onesie sized for the fall. I was hoping to find another nice soft blanket to swaddle him in, but they apparently only sell cotton blankets that seem more for floor playtime. He was in his sling carrier, so he slept pretty much the entire time. It was nice getting out of the house with him and finding out that he does okay with it.

The baby acne's still sticking around. I'm not sure how long it takes to clear up, but I hope it goes away soon. I have some coupons that I want to use soon to take him in for professional pictures, but I don't want his pimples to be so prominent when we go.

He has his next doctor's appointment next Wednesday. I'm worried that he's not eating enough and not gaining as much weight as he should be, but I guess we'll see. I've read that most babies his age are eating 3-4oz. at a time, and at most feedings he can barely get two ounces down before he either starts falling asleep or spitting it all back up from being too full! Maybe once his gas and constipation issues are resolved, he'll start eating more. Fingers crossed.

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I just read through the last few entries and noticed a few things that I haven't updated on, so I guess I'll start there.

Sadly, breastfeeding came to a screeching halt about two weeks ago. I accidentally skipped a day of having Jacob "try" for a few minutes before any of his feedings and the next day he was absolutely horrible with screaming, crying, and pushing away from me. So, for now I'm hanging on to the double-electric breast pump that I rented from Walgreens and pumping as much as I can. Which isn't often seeing as the majority of my day is spent holding him, feeding him, changing him, and playing with him. When Dave and I do get free time, we have to use that time to rush around preparing bottles, washing/drying/folding baby clothes, and fixing ourselves something to shovel down our throats before the baby wakes up again. Anyway... so I pump when I can in an attempt to get some of the benefits of breast milk in his little system. Since I'm not able to pump very often, there's really not much milk left... but at least there's a little.

We're still doing the dark corn syrup thing in his bottles to try to help with the constipation. The poor kiddo struggles with this so much. I feel so bad for him, but there's not much else we can do right now. I guess formula causes a lot of babies issues with constipation and gas, so it's somewhat reassuring to know that at least Jakey's not the only one. He has major issues with gas, too, so I did some "research" and found a formula that's supposed to be good for combating gas and fussiness. The poor guy must spend almost half of his waking hours fussing, screaming, and squirming along with his gas. I started him on that yesterday with a 75/25% ratio with his current formula. It was suggested to ease babies onto new formulas by giving them 25% of the new formula for two days, 50% for the next two days, and finally 75% for the final two days. So, by Tuesday of next week he'll be on the new formula exclusively. I really hope that it works. My little guy could really do with having less discomfort in his life. I read somewhere that it can take up to three months for a baby's system to get used to formula and trying to break it down. Knowing that makes me feel even worse that breastfeeding didn't work out for us.

Hopefully this new formula will live up to its claims and Jacob can spend more time being happy instead of being upset and tormented by his gas. When he's NOT being harassed by gas, he's so fun and cute. We've been putting him on his Boppy Newborn Lounger pillow for playtime and spend the time singing and talking to him, making faces and silly noises at him, and letting him feel different textures and look at different toys. I try to do a few minutes of "tummy time" each day to help strengthen his neck muscles, too. I read that babies aren't really able to hold their heads up independently until about four months! I really need to look into finding some kind of baby seat/rocker thing so that we can put him down semi-inclined for a few minutes at a time to allow us to do a few things here or there without having to hold him constantly or worry about him possibly rolling off of his pillow. He still hates laying down if he's not sleeping, so we don't get much hands-free time yet and are constantly doing the baby trade-off so that the other person can grab a bite to eat or use the bathroom or whatever.

The days fly by and are all melding into one. It's all about BABY, and we generally have no idea where the time goes! Before we know it, it's eight o'clock in the evening and we haven't even had dinner yet. We need to try to figure out some kind of schedule and start it next week since I'll be going back to work the week after that. I'm sure we'll probably end up just "winging it", though, and making adjustments along the way. I'm still not completely comfortable with having to be the one to work full time, but at least Dave is here and we don't have to think about leaving our baby with a complete stranger... and paying that stranger to raise our kid... for eight hours each day.

Four Weeks and a Day

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Yesterday marked four weeks of life for little Jacob. He has been staying awake just about ALL DAY LONG unless he's held continuously. He only falls asleep right now if someone's holding him, so we used to hold him until he fell asleep and then put him in his bassinet. But yesterday and Monday, he woke up within five to fifteen minutes each time after laying him down! He was up all day long except for maybe an hour-and-a-half or two of combined naps! It wouldn't be so bad if he actually slept more at night. Today, I put him in his sling/carrier, and he's been sleeping on my lap for hours. :P It's nice in that I can finally have some time on the computer, but I really can't do anything else with him in there (aside from things that involve being seated) because I worry about his neck being too scrunched up if I don't support it somehow. Bah. Oh well. Dave was up with him early this morning, so he's taking a nap himself. Once he wakes up, then I guess I can have some time to do other stuff.

Jakey developed baby acne a few days after his third week, and it's still sticking around. I guess it's typical and should go away soon. For now, I've been washing his face daily and resisting the urge to help the pimples along. :P Poor little guy.

He seemed to be constipated last week, so I called the pediatrician and the nurse recommended giving a small amount of dark Karo syrup along with his formula several times each day. It seems to be working so far. I was worried that it might not be good to keep that up for too long and called the office again to ask. The nurse said to keep it up for a few weeks, though, so I suppose it should be alright.

He's such a cutie. I love watching his movements, watching him sleep, hearing his little noises, discovering his likes and dislikes, and introducing him to new things. Money's getting tight, though, and I have to go back to work soon. I can't imagine leaving him for seven to eight hours every day. I want to be the one to stay home and take care of him. Dave's fully capable of making sure he's fed and changed... but I just want to be the one to be there. I can already sense my jealousy and resentment building up of having to be the one to bring in the paycheck instead of being home so that my baby can have his mommy. Hopefully Dave'll step it up with eBay and bring in enough money to start saving towards getting us out of here.

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Unrelated to Jacob... we finally gave in to reality and took our oldest dog, Buddha, in to be put to sleep last night. His health had been deteriorating for several months. He'd lost so much weight and was practically nothing but skin and bones covered with fur. He was starting to lose his eyesight and had already been deaf for a while. He couldn't stand up on his own 75% of the time and would fall down in the yard just about every other time he went outside. There's not enough room in the car for the baby seat and a dog, too, so Dave took him in by himself while I stayed home with Jacob. They made a clay impression of his paw, so we have that to keep next to the one I made for Karma two years ago. We should be getting his ashes back in two to three weeks and will put those next to Karma's and Cleo's. Hopefully we can get some nice little pet urns or something once we get some more money. I hate just leaving the ashes inside the cardboard boxes the vet gives you. It's so hard "playing God" with those you love, but I'm glad we're able to help release our animals from their pain and suffering. If only it was as easy to help our human family in situations like this.

When Jacob Smiles...

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Yesterday Jacob turned three weeks old... and he smiled at me for the very first time! Not just in his sleep but right at me for a full five seconds or more. It was so beautiful and heartwarming; it brought tears to my eyes. :) He's starting to move his arms and legs around a little more and just started making little noises, too, aside from crying and screaming. I can't wait until he starts babbling and until he's able to hold his head up by himself so we can try out his baby swing. I'm definitely not ready for the crawling stage yet, but I'm really enjoying watching him grow up before my eyes.

Can you hear me now? - and - Cadillac Stroller/Carseat

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When Jacob was just a day old, the nurses did a hearing test on him in the nursery (as they do with all babies). They told us that he didn't pass the test and was getting a referral for a follow-up hearing evaluation by the audiology department to be completed within the month. Apparently it's common for babies to fail the test, though, as they could still have stuff in their ears from the womb or be distracted by other noises in the nursery. Later that day, Dave opened a soda can and the "pssssssssht!" startled Jacob as he lay in my arms. Even mild coughs got his attention, so I figured there probably wasn't anything to worry about. We took him in for his evaluation today, and he passed just fine. Just another thing for the hospital to do to bring in the money.

My grandparents and Dave's birth parents sent Jakey some money for things he might need, so I went out and found a nice stroller-carrier-car seat combo. We already had a really nice car seat that my mom had bought us, but we realized how much easier it would be to have a portable carrier for him after carrying him around in our arms to all of his doctor's appointments within the first week or two. It snaps into a base in the car and unsnaps and lifts out easily to carry him around everywhere. Then the stroller has a bar that goes across the middle inside that the carrier fits onto, so you can either use it like a regular stroller or have the carrier sitting on top. Very nice and convenient. I can't wait until the weather warms up so we can all start taking walks together - us, the little guy, and the "pup". :)