1 Month Old

Wow, its already been a month? But he's still my sweet little newborn that I brought home from the hospital just days ago it feels like. I guess he is no longer a newborn anymore, but yet an infant now. I can see changes in him over the past weeks though, so I know he is getting bigger. I just want to keep the time from going by too fast, you know?

Anyways, this past month has brought some new adjustments to our family. Aidan adores his new little brother. He constantly gives Noah kisses and hugs, and always asks to hold him. Funny thing is that when I tell him to go wash his hands (since we have a dog, and he is a 4 year old), he quickly 'changes his mind' and doesn't want to do it anymore. Boys, oy. It is really sweet though. Our dog, Dylan, has slowly adjusted to the new baby in the house. When we first brought Noah home, the dog thought he was a new toy or a treat or something cause he all of a sudden started doing the 'sit' 'lay down' commands that he does to get the treat. Now, he has finally realized/accepted that he is a human being and not a chew toy. We don't keep Noah and Dylan very close, cause Dylan will lick his face and Noah doesn't care for that too much. But when the baby cries, our dog is on high alert trying to make sure nothing is wrong. One example of this is that I was giving Noah his bath (which he mostly hates by the way) one night, and the bathroom door was closed. Well, Noah was screaming bloody murder during bath time, and Dylan was laying outside the door the entire time. Kind of sweet really.

Attempting tummy time - he didn't like the camera flash

This past month has also brought on the reminder of what being a new parent again is like. The sleepless nights mainly. Derek had a couple weeks off work to help out, and we got into a little routine during the night. Noah was mainly getting up every 2-3 hours to eat, so when he would wake up, I would feed him, then Derek would go and change his diaper. Usually, he would go back to bed after that, but sometimes not so much. His night time routine has been pretty consistent the first month. Usually, he will lay down about 8pm, but I wouldn't put him to bed until about 10pm since that's about when Aidan goes to bed, and I needed to feed Noah one last time before going to sleep myself. He would wake up around midnight, again around 3am, and once more around 6am. After the midnight feeding, he would go back to sleep without a fuss (usually). But after the 3am feeding it was a bit more work. And then he was typically awake for a few hours after his 6am feeding.

Our typical day is our night as mentioned above. He has a period of wakefulness in the early morning for a couple hours. During the daytime, I would feed him every 2 hours to make up for the longer periods at night. He would then sleep the rest of the day in and out until evening. Around dinnertime, he would have another period of wakefulness for a couple more hours, and then off to sleep again. It's still like that, but with an additional period of wakefulness in the early afternoon or late morning. He is getting better at tummy time, and doesn't mind it too much for about 5-10 minutes. I remember Aidan had a very strong neck, and could hold his head up without difficulty for a period of time. Noah on the other hand has a strong neck, but not as strong as Aidan did. It takes a little more work from him not to have a bobble head going on.

I do feel like the second time around is a lot better for all of us. Noah doesn't mind being put down, most of the time, whereas Aidan had to held constantly. Noah will allow me to put him in his rock 'n play for bedtime, where Aidan was sleeping in bed with me. Noah is taking to breastfeeding much better than Aidan did, but a lot of that could have been a result of the situation when Aidan was little. I try not to compare the two kiddos much, as they are individuals, but it's hard not to. Noah does resemble Aidan a lot, and I am eager to see him grow up into a little person over the next few years.

 

We have had a few doctors appointments with the pediatrician the first month. The first appointment was primarily a weight check and to recheck his bilirubin levels. When we were discharged from the hospital, he was down 8 percent and his bilirubin level was around 10ish?. We followed up the following Wednesday, and his weight was 7 pounds 11 ounces and his bilirubin was 14.3. The doctor wasn't too happy with his weight gain, but satisfied that it was going in the right direction. Since his bilirubin level was also increasing, he wanted us to come back again that Friday. So at our next appointment, his weight was 7 pounds 13 ounces, and his bilirubin was 15.6 (in the office). Since the office results can be skewed as they get higher, we had to go to the lab to get a blood level drawn. That sample came back 15.5, so we were good for another week. Thank goodness, cause if it was higher, we would have been readmitted to the NICU for some good 'ol phototherapy. One week later, Noah's weight is up to 8 pounds 1 ounce, and his bilirubin level was down to 11.8. This was also his 2 week check up, so they checked his length, which was 20.75 inches (down from birth of 21 inches??? I don't know how accurate they are). Since he hasn't met his birth weight yet, we had to go back, yet again, the following week to check another weight. He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces.....more than happy with those numbers! We have been cleared until his 2 month appointment in February.

Feeding: Noah still eats about every 2-3 hours during the day, and anywhere from 3-4 hours at night. He is exclusively breastfed and has only taken a bottle a few times. He doesn't care for the bottles, or pacifiers very often. I don't know if it's the wrong nipples or if he truly hates them. I don't think I'm going to go out an try to buy every single one out there until I find one he likes. He'll just have to get used to it.

Sleep: He slept all the time in the beginning (and still does now). I would say he sleeps on average anywhere from 14-16 hours a day.

Weight: I failed to get his weight exactly on his 1 month birthday. But I have his weight from January 3rd, at 8 pounds 10 ounces, and again on January 20th, at 9 pounds 10 ounces.

Height: 20 3/4 inches

Clothing: We are still in some newborn outfits, but mostly we have been in 0-3 month clothing. Most of the 0-3 month size are a little big, but he is growing into it now that he is getting a little bigger. We are still in newborn size diapers, and decided that we exclusively like Pampers over Huggies. We have had too many diaper leaks with the Huggies brand, and not so much with Pampers.

Likes: being held (of course), his Big Brother, anything that can catch his attention in the room (sights/sounds/faces), being in the swing, hugs, kisses, being sung to, car rides, being swaddled, being in the bouncer, being in the boba wrap 

Dislikes: baths, binkies, bottles, diaper changes, outfit changes, I guess just being cold in general

Milestones this month: smiling, laughing in his sleep, holding head up, conquering tummy time, making it through the holidays

**Pardon the picture quality...I'm still trying to figure out how I want to take them each month...and I never figured out how to use my camera correctly to take decent photos**