Well, I can't believe it, but in the chaos after we got home from the hospital, I totally didn't think to take a newborn picture in Carter's chair. Too late now...but it would have been nice to compare and see how he's grown. So far he's gained exactly a pound from his original birth weight and grew three inches (something tells me they didn't measure so accurately at the hospital, lol). Here's our little guy:
But a more accurate picture of how the last week has been would be:
Carter has had feeding issues and latching issues since day one, but it's just gotten increasingly worse. I am determined to give him the best start I can with breast milk, but wow. I was hoping that since Reid was seriously hard to feed, this one would be easy. Wrong! I won't bore you with the details, but this poor little guy has gotten fussier and fussier...pulling up his legs, screaming after feeds, horrible gas (even with copious amounts of simethicone), and starting last week he began spitting up. Don't get me wrong--all babies spit up, but this is not normal. He seems to be in pain and screams/cries, especially at feeding times, yet he's seriously hungry. But he's gone from eating about 3oz on most feeds to barely finishing 1oz at a time (which takes an hour to wrestle down)...which is scary. He also no longer sleeps much. So I couldn't wait for our one month check up to see what was going on. Turns out he most likely has GERD, so we began baby Zantac on Wednesday afternoon. It has been heart-wrenching to watch my little baby writhe around in pain and wake up screaming repeatedly (if he even gets to sleep at all). But it also makes me realize there are sooooo many other babies out there who have way more problems than acid reflux, so we are sure hoping that's all it is and praying that the Zantac works for him! He's only been on it since last Wednesday afternoon, so it hasn't quite been a week. I think he generally sleeps a bit better (he was waking up screaming multiple times a night and virtually didn't nap longer than 10 minutes during the day), at the very least, so that's something. I thought giving him the medicine wouldn't be so bad after the first few days were pretty much a breeze, but he's since figured out how to spit it out. ALL of it. So I'm getting little tips here and there in hopes that I'll be able to get a full dose in his tummy once again! We covet your prayers for this little guy, and for us so that we'll learn what helps him (and what does not!).
As March comes to an end, we had some fun pictures I wanted to be sure to share. Carter's first St. Patty's Day was pretty sublime. I realized he's exactly a size or two off from all of Reid's cute holiday outfits. At least I found a bib and this cute hat! I offered Reid green eggs and/or ham...no takers. Maybe next year.
Papa and Mamare (sorry about the different spellings, Mamare--I've got it, now :) came up to watch H3 while Uncle Steve and Taunt went to New Orleans for a wedding. On Friday after a marathon of dropping off the H's in their respective schools, they came to say hi and see how Carter was doing. I felt bad because he screamed most of the time, but I sure enjoyed the adult company during the day! How cute is this picture??
We went to see Papa and Mamare one more time before they left town. On Sunday after church, we swung by to visit. Reid was in heaven with three cousins to play with and their "awesome" toys (his words!). I'm thankful Mamare thought to get a picture of all the boys...so cute! It did occur to me how funny it was, too...four adults, all with their phone cameras, making cheesy faces and insisting the five little people smile. They were such good sports.
And this one really cracked me up because no one was looking in the same direction...and Hayden was the only one actually listening and saying cheese ;)
We really do get this guy to sleep sometimes. He would prefer to sleep ON me all the time if it were up to him. He passes out when he does that. But Mommy has a few things that require both hands (as in, everything!!) and I'm slowly figuring out what he needs to sleep for an extended period of time. He seems to hate when I swaddle him, but he sleeps so much better.
He also grunts and moves around way more than I remember Reid doing. I read a ton of literature online (only from reputable sites, of course) and apparently that's pretty common with reflux babies. In retrospect, I kind of wonder if Reid had a mild case of silent reflux when he was really little. He fit the description of a lot of that, but rarely spit up so we wouldn't have known. Here's how Carter will start off at night in his bassinet (pic below): pj's, Snuggle Me swaddle blanket with velcro (think baby straight jacket, lol!), then a big, light swaddle blanket on top. But by the next feeding, he's worked himself down the slope in the bassinet (it's angled up now to help the reflux), unswaddled the exterior blanket, and worked his arms out of the bottom of the Snuggle Me, and isn't happy that he's not warm for some reason.
And in some of the most exciting firsts, we are officially getting smiles!! This is the best picture I've gotten so far, but we've gotten some great gummers. There's nothing more gratifying than your baby sending the "I love you, too!" message in between the fussy moments. Melts my heart. It's like baby crack...you just can't get enough! Can't wait to see more!
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