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.