15 days old...

So our little guy is already 15 days old. The first two weeks went by very quickly, and not because we spent so much of them asleep! Christopher did, he's more alert now though. He has periods where he is alert for hours. He focuses on us when we talk to him briefly which is nice, and he looks over to the sound of one our voices sometimes.

Yesterday his umbilical cord stump fell off so today he will get his first real bath. I'm guessing it will not go very well if how he reacted to his sponge baths is any indication, but we'll see how it goes!

Also today a visiting nurse stopped by and weighed him and gave us pamphlets on things. Its a service the Dept. of Health pays for I guess. He weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces today, so he has gained 1 pound and 6 ounces since being born, putting him at + 1 pound, 4 ounces over his birth weight. Like the pediatrician did, the nurse commented on how good this is as she expected him to have regained only the birth weight lost at 2 weeks of age. I can tell how he is bigger already when I hold him!

Below are a few pictures from this week.

Take care,
Andrea

First week home...


Going for his first outing to the pediatrician at 3 days old. He lost only 2 ounces since being born which was lower than average. At his next appointment at 9 days old, he had gained 11 ounces which was higher than average, so the breastfeeding is going very well.


Taking a nap on the couch.


Hanging out with godmother Auntie Lorie


Big cousins Zach and Jacob


He loves napping with daddy.

Hello baby!


















As you probably know already, Christopher was born about a week early this Tuesday, June 12th! He arrived at 4:07 a.m., weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches long. Active labor, which is when the contractions are painful, started on Monday at 2:30 in the morning (contractions that were not painful started Sunday at 8:00 a.m. and came every 7 minutes until Monday). We went to the hospital around 4:00, but after an exam they said I was only 1 cm dilated and so they told me to walk around for an hour or so and then get re-examined. I did that and remained only 1 cm dilated, and so they told me to go home until I could not bear the contractions anymore, and that's when I should come back - so that's what we did. It ended up being 20 hours of painful contractions every 4-6 minutes before we were finally admitted, Chris and my sister Lorie were very helpful with back rubs and reminding me to breath. By the time we were set up in the delivery room at 10 p.m., that stage of labor was relatively quick as he came at 4:07.

The staff at Women and Infants were great, I really had a good experience there. I had a private recovery room that Chris stayed in with me. They had a lactation consultant come to the room and meet with us for over an hour to help with breastfeeding that was extremely helpful. The delivery went just as smoothly as the pregnancy.

So now we're home! He's doing great, he's eating every hour during the day, every 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 during the night. He already had his first appointment with his pediatrician and had only lost 2 ounces until that point, which is low so that is very good. Its all those feedings I guess! She said he's perfect, and his next appointment is next week.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch with their congratulations, we are looking forward to everyone meeting him as soon as he gets settled in!

Andrea

2 weeks until the due date...

Hi everybody, I've managed to go 38 weeks with out posting anything on the website, however, I am very excited to be a Dad and can't wait for Christopher's arrival. I have scheduled a lot of time off this summer and I look forwarding to spending a lot of time with him and Andrea (and Molly of course). Andrea has done a great job with the pregnancy and has been very happy being pregnant. She managed to maintain a 4.0 average in school, work and do research depsite being tired from lack of sleep and making a baby. I am very proud of her. I know she will be a wonderful mother to Christopher. He is very lucky to have her. I look forward to seeing everybody after Christopher is born, have a nice summer, Chris

"I won't lie to you, fatherhood isn't easy like motherhood." -Homer Simpson