Major Milestones

Oliver at two days old, barely awake.

   Oliver is almost two weeks old and I find myself brimming with pride over some funny little things. First is his prowess at breast feeding. This may not be impressive to anyone else, many of you might think, "he's a baby, that's what he's supposed to do..." But breast feeding isn't necessarily something that comes easily to all babies and all moms. Some babies get it right off the bat, and some have troubles. Oliver had some trouble at first for a few reasons. First of all, he had a more than normal amount of jaundice after he was born. All babies are born with a small amount of jaundice, in the womb the placenta does the job of removing old red blood cells for the baby, and after they are born their liver must take over, and it takes a few days to get the levels under control. Perfectly normal and not at all harmful. However for some babies their levels are higher than normal and in the worst case scenario they go under special blue lights to break down the blood cells through photo therapy. Oliver had a bruise on the top of his head from the delivery (sorry for 

Oliver at almost two weeks old,
looking suave

that little man!) As a result he had more red blood cells to break down making him more jaundiced than normal. He wasn't so bad that he had to go under the lights, but he did struggle with extreme sleepiness as a result (also a totally normal side effect.) This creates a major problem when trying to feed him because we couldn't wake him up to eat. Breastfeeding was basically not possible at that point because he wouldn't wake up to do the work to get the food, so I ended up using a breast pump to get him the necessary food and we also supplemented with a little formula. I wasn't really happy about having to give him formula, but the nurses explained to me that the best way to get him over the jaundice is to help him pee and poo as much as possible. The broken down blood cells would come out in his waste and help to lower his bilirubin levels. So of course, you do what your baby needs. Luckily we only had to supplement him for a few days until my milk came in. The jaundice started to lighten up after about four or five days and Oliver started to be more awake. Once he was more awake, he took to eating like a little shark, his appetite has been really healthy ever since and he is already two ounces over his birth weight! I may be over analyzing him, but I am pretty sure I can see his cheeks already getting chubbier and a little double chin starting to develop! I am so excited because I absolutely LOVE chubby babies. 
  

This face says it all!

   The other major milestones that we have hit may only be funny to me, and I am not sure why I am proud of them. My family has always been amused by poop and fart jokes and having a baby acquaints you with poop, pee, puke and farts on a daily basis. There are many things I have heard about having a baby boy, and I think all of them have come true in the first two weeks. I couldn't be more pleased to be pooped on. People have all told me to expect golden showers. Not that I didn't believe them, I guess I just didn't realize how often it could happen. Everyone told me to watch the cold air hitting his little weiner when I took off his diaper, that it would make him pee right away. Totally true, and it happens almost every time I change his diaper. He peed on me four times in two days! Then this morning, he peed up in the air all over his own face! The look of confusion he got was priceless. I know this is a strange thing to be proud about, but for some reason the fact that my little boy is living up to some of the earliest expectations of his gender fills me with motherly joy.