One Month Old

I can't believe how fast that first month went. He is such a beautiful baby and so very sweet. We started getting a few social smiles here and there a couple days ago. I just love seeing his sweet little face light up as he looks at us. We had his 1 month appointment and he is mostly doing very well. He's still in the 50th percentile. His weight is up to 9lbs 8oz and his length is 21 1/4inches. Everything looks and sounds good except his respiratory rate. He breathes rapidly (60-80 breaths per minute), mostly when he's awake but sometimes while asleep too. He doesn't have any distress and everything sounds okay, but our pediatrician sent him to Children's for a chest x-ray. The heart looked fine and the lungs were clear, but they were hyper inflated. She had us set up an appointment with a pulmonologist at Children's and we don't get in to see him until June 14th. So we are just waiting now (and worrying). Hopefully it's nothing more than exaggerated newborn breathing. It's difficult not to worry especially given our history, but logically, he seems like a very healthy little guy with this one little thing that isn't quite the norm, so I'm hoping all will be fine.

Day to day is filled with lots of feeding and lots of snuggles. He's a lot like our daughter was as a newborn and doesn't like to be put down. He wants to be held while he sleeps, which I am happy to accommodate most of the time. It does make it tricky to get food for myself, so I haven't been eating well. Good news is I've lost 20-25 lbs already. It's so funny, it never fails that both kiddos need something at the same time, so I'm learning how to juggle two schedules. Housekeeping has taken a backseat and our house looks terrible! I don't notice too much because I am too busy staring into my baby's baby blues (or the lack of sleep is making me too delirious to notice). We finally started really getting out of the house as a family last weekend, which was fun. A trip to First Watch, some shopping, a walk at the park and a stop for ice cream. It's starting to feel like our new wonderful normal. Breastfeeding is not going as well as I had hoped. My supply was terrible and I haven't been able to build it up. I'm still nursing some, but he's mostly getting formula. It's tough to not have some mommy guilt over that, but I know that he is getting the nourishment he needs with a bit of momma milk thrown in, so that's what is most important. Sleep is pretty good for an almost 5 week old. Last night he slept for a 6 hour stretch for the first time! Typically he wakes every 3-4 hours to eat, so we are alternating feeds and each of us gets a bit of a nice stretch of sleep. If he's still asleep when my daughter wakes up in the morning, I have her crawl into bed with me, turn on some cartoons and I take another little snooze while snuggling my princess with my handsome little guy in the bassinet beside me - it is a little slice of heaven.

My husband and I are celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary this week. I think we will likely be celebrating with our beautiful family of four. It took us a long time to get our complete family, so that sounds like a perfect way to celebrate to me!