His cord fell off at the end of his second week all by itself.
We also recieved his Social Security Card in the second week…although it was writte in the name of Alex and not Alexandre. We will have to change that! We still have not gotten his birth certificate.
Alex had his 1 month appointment today. Doctor says he is doing great and is gaining enough weight. I sure hope so since we have been breast feeding him and giving him formula at almost every feeding.
Weight 9lbs 8 oz
Height 21 3/4 inchs
He is much more awake these days and can stay up for over an hour at time. Feedings are every 3-4 hours on average. Right now he seems to have some sort of pattern going. He feeds around 9:30-10pm, then again around 1:30-2:00am ( although last night we fed him at 10pm and he fed again at 3am) then at about 5:45, 6am then at 9:30ish, 12:30/1:30, 4pmish, 8 pm, 10:30pm. if he eats later in the afternoon and starts his night time feeding closer to 9:30pm then we skip the 8pm feeding. The biggest problem is getting him to go back to sleep after the evening feedings. Often it takes an hour or more to get him to sleep after his 9pm and 2 am feeding. We are working on this and some nights are better than others.
This week Charles is on vacation so he has been helping me with the night feedings. He has been taking the 3am feeding which happens to be the hardest since your night is broken up into 2-3 hour chunks. We have been each taking our turn to sleep downstairs with him but I think we will be stopping that this weekend. We may also stop breast feeding altogether since it takes me over an hour to breast feed him then change his diaper and then give him the bottle and then put him back to sleep. I am not thrilled about stopping, but at this point I’m just not producing enough milk and I dont’ have the time to pump to increase the supply. It is difficult to find the time to breast feed with another toddler in the house let alone pump.
We have seen some samples of what his smile will look like. He has the cutest little dimples. He still makes this little whistle like face where his lips are all puckered up. It’s so adorable. He still snorts when he is looking to feed.
This week he has already had plenty of firsts. Since Charles was on vacation we went to the pool Monday, muscoot farm on tuesday and the zoo wednesday. Today we went to the doctors office, Costco to get his pictures developed and then we went to visit Michelle and Samantha.
He has gotten plenty of cute little gifts over the past month. I’m still working on writing those thankyou notes!
Alex is very adorable and I’m so thrilled to have him. He has been a pretty good baby over all especially considering he was born early. The only thing so far is that we are hoping he begins to use his fingers to comfort himself like Chloe did…but so far…he doesn’t seem coordinated enough to find his hands so we have been using a pacifier when in need.
Chloe seems to already have taken a liking to him. Every morning she asks where he is and she trys to feed him, tickle him, rub him etc. It’s so cute.
The attic is pretty much done, it just needs to be set up. We still have to put all his clothing away in his room. We will be getting his crib on Labour day weekend. Charles sister is driving it down here.
Well that is all the news for now. It’s 11pm and I need to get to bed before his next feeding.
Love Sonia
Baby Alex was born July 26th, 4 weeks before his due date ( August 21st) at 3:29 pm. He weighed 6 14oz and measured 19 1/2 inchs. Not bad for an early baby!
He definitly caught us by surprise! We were still in the midst of renovating the attic (we are almost done) and so his room is still not ready for him.
My water broke around 7:30 am Monday the 26th. I thought I had had an accident since it felt watery like pee and it was not a whole lot. I got up, went to the bathroom and went back to bed since Chloe was still sleeping. Then I felt more trickling a bout 1/2 hour later and started to get worried. I took my shower immediately, knowing if this was my water breaking and if I called the Doctor they would force me to go right away. After I got dressed and showered, I called Charles and then the Doctor. Dr Daly was off duty so I spoke with Dr Wright. As I thought, she asked me to get to the hospiatl with a bag packed within 45 mins!! I was in shock. Nothing was ready. Chloe was just getting up, my mom was just about to leave for Montreal…NOT a good morning. I called Charles and asked him to get home right away so we could leave together. Thankfully my mom was here to watch over Chloe. I got the hospital at about 9:30am, about 1 hour after I started to feal some mild contractions, shortly after they got me on Pitocin and I began to feal larger contractions by the minute. By 1:00 pm, I was in major pain. I got my Spinal at 2pm and was still only 3 cm dialated. The spinal was interesting. It hurt going in, but not as much as an epidural, and took effect instantly. I felt my whole body start to numb up…and then I felt faint and wanted to throw up. Luckily after a few deep breaths this feeling passed. But I still felt very very woosy. I apparently slept for 15 mins…I did not realise this at the time. My arms began tingling and I was itchy everywhere! It was awful! Definitly not as relaxing as an epi. One hour late, like with Chloe, I was fully dialated and ready to push. luckily the spinal had not completely worn off and I was able to push without pain. After one push, we were able to see the top of his head…he had dark hair I was told. I also got to feel his head ( very slimy and felt like i was touching a brain). 4 pushes later he was out…ALL in one swoop, no stopping at the shoulder. unfortunatly, this meant more stiches for me, top and bottom. Thankfully this time I was able to have him on my chest since they did not have to clear out any Meconium. It was pretty neat. It’s a very nice feeling. He was not bloody at all, just full of white stuff. He was a little on the red side too. Over all, much easier birth than with Chloe.
The only thing he had was a swollen scrotum. We also learned the next day from Doctor Wendy Proskin that there was a potential for him to be Jaundiced since he was A- and I was 0+. But when we left she said he would be fine.
The first week at home went very well. Charles mom was here to help me with Chloe and food. This was such a relief since I was still in a lot of pain in my bottom and groin. My tummy was also sore so I could not lift Chloe up…who seemed to have gained a ton of weight! Papy arrived the following weekend and helped out guite a bit too.
At his first week appointment, Dr Stevens gave me some bad news. He said he had not gained any weight and that he was difinitly jaundiced and that I should go to the hospital right away to get a blood test done. Sure enough, he had a belliruben count of 13.7. I was told to give him a formula supplement of 10 oz a day. I was unhappy about this because I did not want to give him any bottle until at least a month. But Doctor Stevens said that the most important thing right now was for him to gain weight. So I began to breast feed him and give him an additional 2 oz of forumal at every feeding. At the next appointment 3 days later, he had already gained 1/2 pound!! He weight 7lbs 2oz. The Dr. was very impressed and asked me how I had done it! I was very happy that all our hard work paid off. I was told to still continue to supplement, but to not force him to eat if he did not really feel like it.
He is really a sweet baby. It’s amazing how quickly you forget how small they once were. You appreciate this time so much more it seems. Perhaps because you know how quickly it will pass.
as far as his feeding and sleeping pattern is concerned, it seems to be pretty unpredictable. I pretty much feed him every 2-3 hours, but sometimes when he sleeps during the day or night, he can go atleast 4 hours if not more. The past couple of nights I’ve fed him around 9-10pm and he has woken up around 1:30am, then gone back to bed around 2:30pm and then up again around 5:30-6am then again around 8:30am…not for hunger but because he wants to be awake at that time it seems.
Well that is all for now. Chloe is back from the park with Grand Maman. I want to spend a little time with her. She has been doing really great with all of this change and has been very sweet with her new brother.
Mom
xx