Memorial Day Weekend & Braxton’s First Unscheduled Doctor Visit

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to a little BBQ with our neighbors at the clubhouse on Saturday night and then went to meet my parents in Park City on Monday. We shopped for hours at the outlet mall and Braxton just slept the whole time with a little break for a feeding and diaper change in the middle. He was so good. He loves the car seat/stroller.

It was so fun to see my parents and go to dinner. I wish Brian didn’t have class so we could have stayed with them for a night or two in the condo. Also that weekend Braxton started showing signs of serious discomfort. We thought he was just having a hard time having a bowel movement and it has progressively gotten worse over the week. He has become very fussy—even after eating—and won’t take naps during the day because he is so uncomfortable. Then he cries all evening because he is so tired from missing his morning naps.

Finally on Friday we decided to call the doctor and ended up at the doctor’s office. He had us give him a suppository and he is now having regular bowel movements, but the discomfort and fussiness is getting worse every day. I am reading On Becoming Babywise and yesterday I got to the part that outlines colic and reflux and Braxton is showing all the signs of colic—bummer! I am calling the doctor again tomorrow to talk to him about it because I want to make sure it isn’t something more than colic. He just acts like he is in so much pain. It is heartbreaking! Here are some pictures I took during his few calm moments today:

Oh the Things She Does For Attention!

Tasia has adjusted to Braxton’s presence so much better than we thought she would. For the most part, she doesn’t want much to do with him—especially when he is crying. But, every now and then we will catch her ‘babysitting’ him like this:

As much as we have tried to make sure she still feels loved, she has dropped down the totem pole when it comes to mommy and daddy’s attention. So, she has started climbing to new heights to claim our attention like the top of our closet on my cowboy hat, the top of the mirrored dresser, and the worst—above the cabinets in the kitchen. We noticed the greenery starting to fall down one day and after fixing it only to have it fall down again the next day, we realized that it was her. It makes me so mad because to get up there she has to break the rules by walking on the countertops. But in order to stop her from doing it, we had to catch her (and take a picture first for proof) and then teach her that it is wrong. Here are some pictures:

As for Braxton, he is starting to put on a little weight, but is still probably only 7 lbs something. Here are some new pictures. Oh, and can someone help us figure out how to do ‘tummy time’? He falls asleep every time we put him on his stomach!

First Bath

I know, I know. Technically Braxton's 'first bath' was in the hospital, but I wasn't there to witness it and although we have been doing 'baths' with a washcloth, I don't count those either. This morning we gave Braxton his first official bath in his little bathtub and he was so good! He fussed a little, but didn't cry. I think he is going to love bath time. Here are some pictures:

What I love the most is that 1 hour after bath time he had completely wet himself and the swing. Brian's mom is going to Babies R Us today to get us some 'piddle pads' because washing the swing cover or the bouncer cover every day is getting ridiculous. We now think that the newborn diapers are just not absorbent enough for how much Braxton puts out.

My cousin Amy and her two girls, Annalyce and Erica, came to visit and were there for the first bath. They were so sweet with him. Thanks Amy for coming to visit! Here are some pictures of the girls with Braxton:

Happy Mother's Day

It was my first real Mother's Day! I love being a mom. Braxton got me some beautiful roses (thanks hon) and we were so lucky to be able to have both of our mothers here for dinner. We love our moms so much and appreciate all they do for us--especially during the last couple weeks as they have taken care of all of us as we adjust to this new life. Thanks for all the meals, batches of laundry, and diaper changes. We love you moms!

Two Week Checkups

Well, it has been two weeks since Braxton entered our lives and it was time for both of us to have our two week checkups. Braxton was so good during his appointment AFTER peeing all over the front of my shirt—lovely. I swear he is either too little for size N newborn diapers or one of us is putting them on wrong—my bet is on the latter since neither Brian or I have changed diapers before Braxton. He didn’t like the doctor shining the light in his eyes or the nurse taking blood for the PKU test. He is finally back to his birth weight, which was a great relief to both of us. Here are the stats:

Weight: 6 lbs. 9.5 oz. (6th percentile)
Head Circumference: 13.25 inches (5th percentile)
Length: 20.5 inches (45th percentile)

We have such a tiny little guy! To illustrate, we put him in the swing yesterday and he can’t even see over the tray—so sad! Here are pictures:

Braxton is such a good boy. We really could not have asked for a better baby. He only cries if he is hungry or needs his diaper changed. For some reason I thought all babies cry for no reason and that you have to let them ‘cry it out’ a little. So far, we haven’t had that problem and we are very grateful. The one struggle has been to get him to eat. Despite latching on okay, he does not like to suck very hard and forgets to swallow. This has led to many tearful feedings as we tried for days to get him to nurse. Finally after almost 48 hours of literally starving my baby because he refused to eat from me, we decided that it was better for all of us to resort to pumping and feeding him my milk out of a bottle. It was a very emotional decision for me because I wanted so badly to have the experience of breastfeeding, but we have learned throughout this entire pregnancy and delivery that we can’t control how things turn out. We just have to turn to the Lord and pray to accept the challenges and paths set before us. Since this decision, we are all happier and my mom no longer thinks I need to talk to my doctor about getting something for the baby blues.

As for my two week checkup, my outside incision is healing well according to the doctor. For the most part, it doesn’t really hurt or bother me, but now that some of it is starting to scab over, it itches a bit. My inside incision is still REALLY painful. Basically I can barely touch the skin from just below my belly button down to the outside incision. When I do, I have discovered that I have a section of my stomach all the way across that has no feeling at all. I have read that this can happen because they have to cut through the nerves and muscles and that it can take up to a year or more to get feeling back, but I didn’t expect it to be such a large area. It is kind of weird. On the up side, I am doing so much better at getting around and doing things without help. I can finally pick Braxton up out of his crib and I can pick stuff up off the floor if I go down to my knees first. It is amazing how much I now appreciate the small things when it comes to mobility. Every day I feel better and more independent.