My big baby boy is one month old today. It's been a whirlwind of sweet baby sounds, dirty diapers, very late nights and early mornings, doctor appointments, chubby neck kisses, lullabies, exhaustion, and absolute joy.
Big E has been my fussiest baby so far. And by "fussy" I mean, squirming, grunting, occasionally crying out, and just a general feeling that my little guy is uncomfortable. I took him in a week ago and he was diagnosed with reflux, poor baby. We started him on some baby Prevacid, and that has helped some, although there are still lots of afternoons and nights that he just squirms and grunts and fusses. He still spits up a lot, but now it's more milk than acidy smelling chunky stuff. Eck.
He also insists on being held when he is awake (and sometimes asleep). He hates to be alone. If he thinks he's alone, it is automatic screaming - and man! this kid can scream. He has a little bit of a temper, and turns several shades of red to purple, and literally SCREAMS, but the very second he gets scooped up, it stops. He just likes to be snuggled and cuddled. Snuggles and cuddles? Those I can do. However, the rest of the family isn't so impressed with all the snuggling and cuddling going on around here, especially when dinner is non-existent, there is no clean laundry, and dad has to do the bedtime singing of songs.
This kid can grunt. And grunt. And grunt. That's about all he does. Grunt. Even when he's asleep, he grunts like a wild animal. I've considered moving his crib out of our bedroom, because he keeps us up at night with his grunting, and when I get up to check on him, he's asleep. **Update: Forget the crib. Tim has taken to letting Emmett sleep with us. We are now co-sleeping. Eh - oh well. I guess we're attachment parenting -- I think that's what it's called... I've never read a parenting book in my life. All the theories, methods, expert advice... I do this parenting method called "Fly By The Seat Of My Pants."
Emmett loves music. Snuggling him to my chest and singing a lullaby usually calms him right down and he'll stop squirming and grunting for a while. Also, if I'm trying desperately to get something done (like Mia's hair for school, or dinner) then I will put Pandora on my phone and set it next to him. That usually buys me about 3-5 minutes. Josh Grobin radio appears to be his favorite, so far.
He's also my one and only child who likes a pacifier - praise be! My other 2 absolutely refused to take one, but E really likes his - although sometimes he just prefers a good old fashioned boob. Can you blame him?
His belly button has finally healed and the last of it fell off yesterday. This is after several rounds of silver nitrate and a little scare that it may have been connected to his bladder and may require surgery. Luckily, it looks like it has finally resolved and he may get his first real bath tonight.
Last week we finally had to bust out the 3-6 month clothes because we couldn't button the onesies and getting him into 0-3 month old clothes was nearing impossible. So my 3 week old baby was wearing 3-6 month old clothes. We compared his feet to that of my 9 month old nephew, Gavin, and they were almost the same length (although Gavin's were considerably wider and chunkier). So, yeah - I pretty much just popped a linebacker out of my body. Wowzer!
3 comments:
oh my!Katie. He is absolutely precious. He looks like Jack.
Babies with reflux are hard! All three of mine were diagnosed with it, and while the antacids certainly helped, they didn't stop all the misery. Hang in there. It does get better! And he is darling (their ability to be adorable was my screaming newborn's saving grace). Such a doll!
LOVE HIM!!! I'm coming over to take more pictures of him!
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