2 weeks: Hunter + post pregnancy update

These first two weeks with Hunter have flown by! He had his 2 week check up on Monday which went really well. At 2 weeks babies should be back up to their birth weight. His was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 2 weeks later he’s already up to 7 pounds 15.5 ounces, so basically 8 pounds already. He’s grown from 19.5 to 20.5 inches too.

I got to meet his pediatrician we choose for the first time, and luckily I really liked her. We talked a lot about vaccines for his next appointment at 2 months and I was really glad to find out that she wasn’t pushy with them. We want to slow down the schedule a bit and postpone some, so instead of just telling me what to do she gave me her opinion on all of them, which I really appreciate.

Breastfeeding is still going wonderfully. Originally I wanted to wait a while longer to introduce a pacifier until we were set with breastfeeding, but since it’s going so well we tried giving him one. He doesn’t really like it much, but takes it every once in a while and only of he’s calm. He spits it out after not too long though.

At 2 weeks he’s already holding his head up! It’s the cutest thing.  I love how he watches me when I’m holding him.

We’ve started doing tummy time and he mostly just lays there, but inch worms around a bit sometimes.

I was so hopeful that his sleep was on the right track, but then we went away last weekend and it seemed to go downhill. The weekend sleep wasn’t that good, then when we got home I was being lazy and instead of getting up to nurse Hunter, I would do it in bed. I’d fall asleep during it, wake up to him fussing and it just would not go well.

Then the other night we got the swing set up that we’re borrowing from my brother + sister-in-law. He was mesmerized by it. For an hour and a half too! I thought my nighttime sleep worries might be gone. We brought the swing to the bed room, put him in it to sleep and his tears began. That night I was up until 12:30am with no sleep break. He only slept in the swing for half an hour with lots of broken sleep on my chest that night.

Last night I decided to go back to what works the best. He sleeps on my chest in bed, no trying other things. When he stirs we get up and go to the nursery to nurse in the glider. I’ll change his diaper if needed and go to the bathroom myself. Then, it’s back to calming him to sleep before getting back to bed.  I try to wait until he’s asleep before going back to the bedroom so he doesn’t wake Jacob up.

A new addition to this routine is music – or really just sounds.

I found this app called the soothing sound seal (I believe) and he actually loves it.  If he’s fussy that helps him calm down a lot faster.  I just leave it on all night next to us to keep him as calm as possible.  Every night varies, but he’ll go anywhere from 1-3.5 hours (if I’m lucky) between eating.  Usually it takes about 30 minutes for him to nurse and anywhere from 10-30 minutes to calm him back down to sleep.  So when he’s eating every hour, that doesn’t leave much sleep!

On Tuesday we started walking every day — 45 minutes Tuesday, and about 70-90 minutes with my friend Christy yesterday.  I was pretty tired after the long walk yesterday, but I think that had to do with not getting much sleep the night before too.  Today will probably be a shorter walk since I plan to mostly nap and catch up on sleep throughout the day.

I go in for my 3 week follow up appointment with my midwife on Monday.  I’m hoping if my bleeding has stopped by then (it can last up to 6 weeks!) I can add more activity.  My abs stayed nice n strong my whole pregnancy with no separation so far.

For week 2 I dropped 3 pounds bringing me to a total of 20 pounds lost – 25 pounds from pre-pregnancy weight.

Emotionally I’ve been pretty good.  I feel completely happy, but still I do cry every once in a while.  It’s only when I’m really tired and he’s been crying for a while and all I want to do is sleep.

It’s ridiculous how many pictures of him we have. 🙂

We’ve made it past the 2 week survival mode.   Now I’m wishfully hoping we get into a routine of better naps + sleep over the next few weeks.  Time to read baby books!

I”m going to read Baby Wise and we’ve watched The Happiest Baby on the Block videos.  Any other baby book recommendations I should check out?

Heather