One poop, two poops, yellow poop, green poop

One poop, two poops, yellow poop, green poop
Orange poop, green poop, old poop, new poop
Say! what a lot of poop there are.

As we became parents to Mason, we become suddenly concerned with everything that goes into him, and everything that comes out of him. We noticed a unusual green poopy diaper yesterday. We were immediately on the Internet searching for what it meant, what could cause it, and if we should be concerned. Since we had our 1 month pediatrician visit today, we decided to wait and ask him all the "is that normal" questions. We are happy to report everything is well. Mason is now 9 lbs 8 oz, 22 inches long, his head is 15 3/4 inches around.

In his own room

We had Mason in the Pack'n'Play next to our bed since we got back home from the hospital, for both convenience and emotional reasons. Now that he is 1-month old, we have successfully transitioned him to his own room. It was easier than we thought, especially with the video monitor. We are sleeping more soundly, not having to worry about making noises that may wake him up. I do the feedings in the middle of the night in his own room, so we don't disturb Bill on school nights. Our next milestones will be to have him sleep for even longer periods at night, and for him to fall asleep without someone holding him... all in due time.

1-Month Birthday!

Time flies... Mason is already 1-month old.

Spit up and leak out..

We do laundry about every other day! The little guy generates more laundry than Bill and I combined. We put on a clean outfit and a few minutes later he spits up on it. Somehow he knows which outfits we like the most, because those seem to last the shortest time. We have also tried different diaper brands (Pampers, Huggies, Luvs?) to find one that fits best on him and keeps him and the bedding dry at night. The verdict is still out on that one.

Mason's routine:
- sleep
- (poop/pee)/leak out
- cry
- fart
- (poop/pee)
- eat
- (poop/pee)
- spit up
- change diaper
- change outfit
- cry
- sleep
REPEAT every 3 hours

Mommy and Daddy's routine:
- sleep
- awakened by crying
- feed (half asleep during the night)
- burp
- clean spit up
- change diaper
- change outfit
- soothe crying baby
- cry if baby is still crying
- try to fall back asleep
REPEAT every 3 hours

Visit from grandparents Brantley and Sandra

Mason just got a visit from grandpa Brantley and grandma Sandra. He managed to spit up on every shirt Sandra wore. We really enjoyed the visit.



Here are some pictures of Mason's 3rd week

Weight gain

Mason was 8 lbs 11 ounces (3941 g) when he was born, but lost about 1 lb in the first 4 days. Doctors were concerned that 11% was too much of a weight drop, although at 7 lbs 11 ounces, he was still larger than the average baby. We have been working with doctors and lactation consultants to help him gain his weight back and making trips back to the doctor every few days. We are happy to announce that as of today, he is back to his birth weight + 3 ounces!

6/27 - 8 lbs 11 oz
7/1 - 7 lbs 11 oz
7/3 - 7 lbs 13 oz
7/6 - 7 lbs 14 oz
7/12 - 8lbs 3 oz
7/19 - 8lbs 14 oz!!

Sleeping

Technically, Mason sleeps all the time. But somehow we are always awake. Here is a picture of our little angel sleeping.

Here is a link to a few more pictures

First 2 weeks

Mason is 2 weeks today! We survived the first 2 weeks!

It has been challenging. No amount of books, stories and advice from friends and family can prepare you for the first days. Mason has been an eating and peeing/pooping machine! Doctors would like to see him put on some weight because he lost almost 1 lb in the first few days while my milk was coming in. Although we are not concerned, we had to supplement and try different feeding methods and schedules in these first 2 weeks until we found something that worked for all of us.

Every day and night are different. Just as you think you know what will happen, Mason changes things up. We are adjusting and getting some rest when we can. Having my parents here cooking us meals, keeping the house in order, taking care of Sasha and watching after Mason while we nap in the afternoons has help us immensely!

A couple of interesting notes from Mason's first 2 weeks:
- Mason seems to remember Sasha from inside the womb. He doesn't seem bothered by her bark at all.
- Mason loves music. When fussy, he calms down if we play the Andrea Bocelli or Josh Groban CDs. Curiously, he also seems to like my mom's singing, which is not pretty!

Click here for some pictures from Mason's first few days

The delivery

After taking weeks of child birth classes and mentally getting prepared for the delivery, we found out 4 weeks prior to our due date that Mason was breech. The ultrasound also revealed a big baby in the 70-90th percentile and a head in the 90th percentile!

Breech + 90th percentile head + narrow pelvis = scheduled c-section

As the doctor described the c-section to us, it sounded better than all the alternatives we learned in the child birth classes. We scheduled the c-section for the week before my due date to lower the chances I would go into labor. Anxieties of not knowing when I would go into labor, where I would be, who would I be with and how would labor progress were replaced by a count down to the delivery date - June 27th at 8 am.

We were at the hospital at 6 am on Wednesday morning, and nurses and doctors prepared quickly through paper work, medical history, and explaining the procedure. I started feeling very nervous about 10 minutes before going into the OR. I wanted to slow everything down. I was still feeling nervous in the OR as the anesthesia was being placed. I remember asking the doctor a few minutes later, "when are we starting?" and she said "we started about 2 minutes ago". At that point, I relaxed since it was out of my control.

About 10 minutes later, I heard the doctor say "even his butt is big!". Mason was out another minute later at 8:07am. Mason came into this world peeing on the doctor, and then the nurses that were cleaning him up. Bill took him to the nursery where they gave him a bath and he peed again when he was being weighed. Yes, the 8 lbs 11 oz was recorded after he emptied him bladder. He measured 21.5 inches in length.

Looking back, I must say that the c-section was the right choice! I recovered very quickly from it, I was walking 12 hours after and didn't feel much pain at all. I only needed 600 mg of ibuprofen twice a day for 2 days after the c-section, and never used the Percoset I was prescribed. I can't imagine that I could have recovered any faster with a vaginal delivery of a 8lbs 11oz baby.