Luke Week 2

Christy was back with us this week and my confidence grew exponentially.  Luke is starting to become more consistent in his eating and sleeping.  He is on an every three hour schedule as of right now and is eating about 4 ounces at each feeding.

On Sunday of last week his little circumcision bell started to fall off but was hanging by a thread.  I was totally freaked out and did not want to pull it off for fear I'd hurt him.  It didn't seem to be bothering him so we just left it there.  It ended up falling off completely at the next diaper change.  Yeah!

His umbilical cord also fell off this week.

I've heard of some people keeping these.  I think I'll pass.

Wednesday we had his two week pediatrician appointment.  His weight is up to 9lbs - my little chunky monkey is growing like a weed!  The doctor took all of his measurements and told us he was right on track - in the 50th to 75th percentile for all of his measurements.  She also told us he truly was a beautiful baby.  We, of course, whole-heartedly agreed!  Then she told us it was time for his second newborn screening test.  We had to go to the lab at the hospital for this one and Mommy was not prepared for how heart-wrenching those heel pricks can be.  We went early on Thursday to have it done and I swear the lab tech was from somewhere near Transylvania.  She apologized to me over and over, which in turn made me increasingly fearful of what she was about to do to my poor baby.  He didn't seem to mind the heel pricks as much as he minded her squeezing the blood out of his little heel.  It wasn't over soon enough for me but we made it through, and he is none the worse for wear.

On Friday we went to see the pediatric urologist for an appointment about Luke's mild hydrophrenosis.  It was quite the waste of time although we did enjoy using the stroller for the first time!  The nurse practitioner looked at him briefly, asked us a couple of questions, and then told us to come back when he's three months old for another sonogram. *sigh*

Breastfeeding is still a challenge.  I am not producing near what I think I should be.  While Christy was here this week I started taking supplements to increase milk production.  Then we rented a hospital grade pump from Plano Presby.  I still don't see the results I want to see.  I'm going to continue pumping for the next few days.  I've decided if I don't see any results by then, I will have to go to formula.  Because I'm going back to work in a few weeks, I have to streamline our schedule as much as possible to create something that works for our family.  Tim and I want to spend as much time with Luke as possible.  Pumping and breastfeeding come with so many extra steps and parts - especially when you are not producing enough to purely breastfeed - you have all of the formula, bottles, etc along with all of your breastfeeding accessories, pump and pumping accessories.  As a FTM who will be returning to work, I have discovered I just don't have the capacity to keep up with all of that and I've finally made peace with it.

Christy left today and my anxiety returned for a few minutes just right after she left, but I soon recovered and we moved on with our day.  Luke and I took our first trip in the car solo.  We went to Target and he did great.  Then we went for our first visit to Grammy and Pop's.  He seems to really like the motion of the car.  It's harder when it's just me by myself because I can't block every ray of sunlight from his little face while I'm in the front and he's in the back!

A couple of pics from this week:

Aunt Missy came to visit

Sweet Face!