Thursday, November 19, 2009

Getting to know you

Today is Christopher's two-week birthday. We are starting to get to know him a little bit.
His most prominent characteristic so far is his tummy troubles. He is a "spitter." Mostly just little spit-ups with the occasional two-teaspooner thrown in, but today I got a "projectile" spit right in the face... One of those special joys of being a mom!
He is also a drunken frat boy of noises. He grunts, farts, hiccups, and burps regularly.
However, he is SO easygoing so far. He sometimes frowns a little bit when John gets in his face, but normally just goes on with whatever he is doing... usually sleeping. He is also a sleepy baby, which is ok, but it means that we have to wake him up all the time to feed and have to tickle and bother him to get him to stay awake.
He doesn't cry much so far, just when he has gas pain, which is just about every feeding. We are learning to use Mylicon in the most effective manner.
He just started rolling over onto his side today.
He likes being held, of course, but doesn't mind resting in a swing or bouncy chair.
He sleeps in the bouncy chair. He stays inside the swaddle longer than John did. Christopher wakes up still swaddled sometimes, and John would fight to get one of his arms out in about 2 minutes...
Christopher is very vocal during sleep, which makes it difficult sometimes to tune him out while we sleep. He does sleep in his own room at night, which is an amazing miracle to Tony and me.
He did gain weight at his first checkup, but not as much as Feiste would like so we are on 8 prescribed feedings a day and we have a followup on Monday. Hopefully he will be on a better weight gain curve, so I don't obsess... Or rather, so I can stop obsessing on this particular topic!
He is very sweet, and has Tony wrapped around his little finger already!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

happy birthday christopher!!!

happy delivery day julie.....

i'm thankful for the update - we definitely miss you guys, but we r glad that things r going well - we knew you could do it.....

mom

jessica v. said...

Hooray, it sounds like it's going great! I'm glad you're settling into a routine and that you're actually getting some sleep!

Christine said...

It is amazing that little ones have their own little personalities! A drunken frat boy of noises! Ha!! He'll love that one when he gets older!

Pa said...

I'd like to choke Dr Feiste for being so discouraging. After John's start a 3 ounce gain in a week isn't enough?? Give me a break!! At that rate Christopher will be a Sumo wrestler!
You are doing a great job, Christopher knows what he is doing, and he will be fine - in spite of 'experts'.
Dad

Pa said...

When you have time, please give us pictures!

jessica v. said...

Yeah, I'll second what Dad said, by the way. When I heard about the Feiste visit, I was flabbergasted. Even if he (Christopher, not Feiste) is gaining weight slower than some statistical average, Christopher will surely let you know if he wants more. And John is a light eater but he's healthy and energetic and normal and everything else. Geez, there is no need for that kind of unnecessary pressure.

Oh and not that any one asked me, but I totally support breast, breast and formula mix, or formula only.

That whole obsession with breast only or die falls into my own personal list of Things That People Get Far Too Worked Up about Unnecessarily and Though May Come From a Caring Place Ultimately Results in Their Projecting onto to Other People Unfair and Unhelpful Bad Energy which is Ultimately More Damaging to the Recipient than Poking Them with a Sharp Stick.

I mean surely that the child is fed and loved is a gazillion times more important than the delivery vehicle for the calories he needs...

Anyway...

Juliet said...

Unfortunately, feeding is frustrating. We feed every two and a half to three hours, and it takes about one hour to an hour-twenty minutes, with burping, diaper changing, spit-ups, and breaks for pooing (Christopher).

The breastfeeding didacticism has eased some, now they focus on making the choice of what will minimize stress for the parents...
Feiste doesn't actually care whether we breastfeed or not... I want to continue it if we can mostly because the gassiness would be worse with a bottle...

jessica v. said...

I'm sorry feeding is hard. I don't really understand why John and Christopher are each having their own unique issues with eating since the rest of our family doesn't have any trouble at all with eating lots and often!!!

Juliet said...

I'm sure I'm making it more difficult than it is...