2 Weeks

It's hard to believe our little man is two weeks old already! Seems like we were just bringing him home from the hospital. For future reference, I want to blog about how things have been going and the routine we have been following with Orin.

Week 1 and 2-

Feeding- Leaving the hospital, he was eating around 2 ounces every 3 hours. At night, he was eating every 4 hours. A day or two after getting home, he was up to 3 ounces every 3 hours. By the end of week two, he was eating 3-4 ounces for his nighttime feedings. We have given him a few 4-ounce bottles during the day, but he seems to spit up more with them, especially if he doesn't burp after each ounce. So I have cut back to only giving him 3 ounces during the day. He seems to be fine with that for now. So far he has been drinking Similac, but he will soon switch over to Good Start once the free samples of Similac are gone.

Sleeping- Like all newborns, Orin sleeps a lot. We've been working on trying to get him to have a short wake time after each feeding. By week two, he has been more alert and awake after the feedings, especially when we change his diaper. He does great at sleeping 4-5 hour chunks at night as long as he is swaddled very tightly in his miracle blanket. It has been hard to get him on a consistent morning feeding. His first feeding for the day varies depending on when he wakes up in the night. Sometimes he has his first feeding around 7:30 and other times not until 9:00. That's a bit frustrating! We have been putting him down for bed between 7:30 and 8:00. He usually wakes up to eat between 12:00 and 1:00. And then again between 4:30 and 5:00. Most times, he likes to be awake after his first night feeding. He isn't fussy. He just wants to look around. We have started laying him back down in his cradle and having him put himself back to sleep. He fusses a little, but he eventually gets back to sleep. It hurts my heart a little not to rock my baby to sleep every time, but I know in the long run, I will be glad he can put himself to sleep. But we still cuddle and rock some during the day. :)

Waketime- Orin is such a great baby. He is very content with just sitting in his bouncy seat and looking around. He loves the vibrator on the chair, and he enjoys using his swing. We have also started giving him the pacifier during wake time. But we don't use it to sleep, because I don't want to be up every 20 minutes putting it back in his mouth!

He has gone through a large box of newborn diapers. We bought a new box of newborn pampers to start week 3, but I don't think he will need them much longer. He seems to be peeing through a lot more often. We plan to use size 1 diapers at night when he doesn't get changed as often as during the daytime.

He went to the doctor March 3 for his one week check-up. He weighed in at 7 lb. 4 oz. When he was born, he weighed 6 lb. 14.5 oz., and when he left the hospital, he weighed 6 lb. 7 oz. So it was good to see that he is growing at a healthy rate!

My recovery- The first week we were home, my mom came to stay with us. Ryan's mom came the second week. They were a huge help! They did most of our cooking, laundry, and cleaning. They also got to cuddle with their grandson and take nighttime feeding shifts. Oh, and don't forget the poopy diapers! It was such a blessing to have them here to help. I know that they really helped speed up my recovery process tremendously! At the end of week 1, I was only taking Ibuprofen sporadically when I felt like I needed it. By the end of week 2, I felt really good! Ryan and I spent most of Saturday shopping and going to the state tournament game in Des Moines. After several hours of shopping, I had to take a few breaks to sit. I took Ibuprofen before the game just in case the pain caught up with me.

Ryan and I are working on writing a post about Orin and how his name came to be. Hopefully that will be ready soon! But for now, I will leave you with a few pictures of Orin. If you would like to receive occasional Shutterfly pictures of him and our family, and you didn’t receive the first batch of pictures I emailed out, leave me your email so I can be sure to add you to the list.