3 Weeks

It's hard to believe Samuel's already 3 weeks old! Well, in some ways. In other ways, I've totally forgotten what it's like to be pregnant, to sleep through the night, to eat with both hands... haha. I just love having this sweet little boy around!

This week has definitely been the hardest so far. I started feeling bad last Wednesday afternoon, and within a few hours was running a fever of around 101. It was MISERABLE. Samuel had been eating pretty poorly on one side for the last several days and things were pretty uncomfortable over there, so I self-diagnosed myself with mastitis and popped some tylenol and tried to nurse him on that side all night. Eric's parents were still here, so they were able to help with Samuel in the interim while Eric tried to take care of me. Seriously, I think I felt worse during those 24 hours than I did during labor. 

I was able to get into the doctor pretty early the next morning and she agreed that mastitis was likely the problem and prescribed me an antibiotic. So Eric and I spent our Valentine's Day running to the OB and then to the store for him to pick up my medicine. Romantic, right?  Thankfully, the medicine worked pretty quickly and I started feeling better that afternoon. I'm still taking it and feeding a LOT. I go back for a follow-up this Friday, so hopefully things will be cleared up by then. Note to self for next time though: ALWAYS nurse on both sides. 

At 3 weeks, Samuel is still a relatively happy baby. He definitely has his screaming periods, but we can usually identify a cause (though not always). 

Baby boy usually gets up between 7 and 8, eats, and then is happiest and most alert for the next hour or two. He spends a lot of time just lounging in his boppy or on my lap or in the bouncer just looking around. This is nice for me because I can actually get some chores done (or blog :). Sometimes he takes a quick nap around 9:30 or so before he eats again between 10 and 11. 

So far we don't have any established napping patterns -- that may be something we work on in the next week or two. He usually dozes thoughout the day and then I may put him down in the crib or bassinet for an official "nap" in the afternoon. The rest of the time, if I can tell he's tired, I usually just swaddle him up and he fusses for a few minutes, then konks out. 

For the most part, Samuel has been really good about sleeping at night. We've definitely had some nights where that was NOT the case, but typically he will go down sometime between 8 and 10 and then only wake up to eat around 11, 2, and 5, going back down pretty easily afterwards. Occasionally he will surprise us and sleep a little longer, but so far 3 hour eating stretches have been the norm (though one day this week he went 4 1/2 hours without eating -- just not sleeping the whole time). I'm really thankful he's been a great little eater, but I'm definitely ready to sleep for more than 2 1/2 hours at a time! 

Let's see, what else?? We figured out we can use the Wii Fit to get a fairly accurate weight measurement. On Sunday, it said Samuel weighed 8.6 pounds (roughly 8 lbs. 10 oz.) We go back to the doctor for his one month appt. next Wednesday, so I'm guessing he will be over 9 lbs by then. Yikes! A lot of his weight seems to be in his length, though, because he is still in newborn clothes and newborn diapers. He did outgrow his first outfit this week, but it was totally just because it was too short! 

He and I went on our first outing yesterday as just the two of us. Thankfully, Samuel has fallen asleep every time we've gotten in the car (and stayed that way until we pull him out of the car seat). We went to a friend's house for a mini-baby shower and he slept for the entire 2 hours we were gone. Nice. (He even slept through me clumsily trying to figure out how to get the car seat in and out of the stand. That was fun!). 

I guess I'd be remiss if I didn't mention something that this kid LOVES: his pacifier. I really had no intention of introducing a pacifier right away, but it has kind of been a lifesaver. Sucking soothes him SO much, and it hasn't interfered with his eating at all, so we decided to go ahead and let him have it. We try not to use it at night so he doesn't rely on it for good sleep. I feel bad that half his pictures have this big blue thing sticking out of his mouth, but, hey, whatever works, right??

The other thing he loves is his HANDS. I could tell when he was in utero that his hands were always right by his face, and that has TOTALLY been the case. He'll suck on them, put them over his eyes, use them to hold his pacifier, etc. Pretty much the only time his arms are down are when he's sleeping. He also folds them together a lot (like he's praying). It's really cute! 

We also are starting to use a bottle this week. We gave him one Sunday and he DOWNED it and I realized it probably had a higher flow than what he needed. When I went to the store to get a different one, they were out, so I ended up getting this bottle where he actually has to suck to get anything out -- supposedly similar to nursing. Now I'm starting to wonder if that's really the best idea since we want him to be able to take a bottle any time and giving him that one only might limit what he will take later. I don't know, but I guess I need to decide soon, because we're going to try to give him one again tonight too. Hmm...

Anyway, there's tons more I could say about this sweet boy, but I probably need to get some stuff done today. Until next time!