One Month

this little guy is one month old today! isn't he a doll?






















thanks to ross and kristen, max has pacifiers with his name on them.

Allergies?

dudes. when you have a baby, there is constantly something for you to worry about. and you are obsessed with poop. for instance, baby poo at this stage (and up until he starts eating solids) is supposed to be mustardy yellow. max's poo was yellow for about a week and a half or so. and then it turned green. and then he started to get little bumps on his face. at first i thought it was no big deal. babies usually get a little bit of infant acne, and it clears up on its own. but then the bumps started to spread. all over his little face. and then under his chin and jaw. and then to the back of his neck and shoulders. holy crap. and then there's the stuffy nose and his red little bottom. i called the doctor about his stuffy nose a week ago when it first appeared. they told me that as long he's not running a fever and he's eating well, it's nothing to worry about. i just have to keep suctioning the snot out when it starts to bother him. but wait. it gets better. last week there were days when no matter i did, i could not make max stop crying. i just had to hold him and rock him while he cried until he finally fell asleep. he was extremely fussy for two days, and i had no idea why. he's usually so chill about everything. but for a few days i could not put him down because the instant i did he started howling.

so i started reading everything i could get my hands on to explain the rash. and the fussing. and the green poop. and i found my answer in the nursing mother's companion. an answer that encompassed ALL of max's symptoms - the poop, the rash, the fussing, and even the stuffy nose and red bottom. a food sensitivity or allergy causing lower belly discomfort. meaning something i'm eating is seriously disagreeing with him. the most common culprits? chocolate, dairy products, citrus fruits, and certain vegetables. tomatoes, nuts, and acidic fruits also upset some babies' tummies. so i started to think about what i've eaten over the last week or two that i did not eat for the first week or two of max's life. only two things come to mind - chocolate and nuts/peanut butter. so on friday i decided to stop eating these things. max is still very rashy and his poop is still very green. but he is slightly less fussy (he's fallen asleep on his own in his bouncer twice this morning, and he is sleeping there right now). so maybe there is improvement.

i called his doctor's office this morning and spoke to a nurse anyway. i told her of my suspicion that it might be a food allergy. she asked lots of questions to rule out other causes for the rash and asked me about other symptoms max may have (are his eyes crusty - yes, a little. has he been coughing a lot - occasionally). i told her the foods i've been avoiding for a couple of days. she said that if he starts to cough a lot (this could mean that the allergen is itching his throat and possibly causing it to swell) or if his face and/or eyes start to swell, i need to bring him in to see the doctor that day. if he pretty much stays the same, i can wait until his regular check-up appointment on friday. so we'll see how it goes, and hopefully the little guy will get better. it looks to me like the bumps on his forehead are clearing up, but they're still pretty prominent everywhere else.

here's hoping my kid doesn't develop serious food allergies.

Figuring Things Out

i think the sleep situation may improving around here, folks. well, as much as it can with a 3 week old baby in the house. last night i got 6 hours. woo hoo! and i got those 6 hours between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. while actually sleeping in the same bed with my husband. max chose to cooperate last night and sleep in his crib (!) for a few solid 2 or 3 hour blocks. the fact that i am now a pro at both ignoring random baby sounds that aren't crying when they're magnified by the baby monitor (though even the tiniest and briefest of cries wakes me instantly) and at falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow (or sometimes in the rocking chair while i'm trying to get max to go back to sleep after a feeding) also helps in the sleeping more department. so now i can get 5 or 6 hours of sleep at night before chad has to get up to go work instead of 2 or 3 hours. that is seriously how much sleep i've been operating on... and i usually only get those few hours of z's if i completely give up and just hold max in my bed or on the couch so i can sleep for a couple of hours. he usually falls asleep in either his swing or his bouncer for an hour or so at a time during the day, but i find it incredibly difficult to take naps during the day for some reason. i always feel like i need to be cleaning up or doing something else while he's sleeping. i've been taking a nap after chad gets home from work, though. it's amazing how a few months ago i was a total zombie after a few nights of less than 7 hours of sleep, and now i feel amazingly good after one night with 6 hours. 6 interrupted hours.

i am also figuring out a few things about max. like how to avoid the death screams when it's time to change a diaper or take a bath. it's not always possible, but sometimes it is. if max is awake and fairly calm when you strip him down, he takes being naked pretty well (thank god he was awake when i took him for his weight check at the doctor's office last week - i had to change his diaper and then strip all his clothes off to weigh him, and he didn't make a peep). he gets a little fussy toward the end of a sponge bath, but it's not the same as the usual ear-splitting wail that persists for the entire bath. he's definitely getting better at getting changed and bathed.

oh, and if you wondering about max's first doctor visit, it went well. he weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, and the nurse said he looked really good (so we avoided the jaundice thing). did i tell you about the jaundice thing? i don't remember. well, max and i have different blood types, he's a boy, and he's breast fed, which all increase his chances of becoming jaundiced. so they were sticking needles in his heels every few hours in the hospital to check his bilirubin levels. i felt so sorry for him. anyway, his pediatrician told us about max's increased risk for jaundice while we were still in the hospital and told us to keep an eye out for any yellowing of his skin or eyes when we came home. his bilirubin levels were slightly elevated in the hospital, but they weren't high enough for him to be considered jaundiced. the doc just told us to put him in front of a window with lots of sunlight for a little while and to call if he started to look yellow. so i was always freaking out and asking myself whether max was turning yellow and inspecting him in different rooms with different lighting. i never thought he looked yellow. just that sweet peachy-pink that babies are supposed to be. anyway, he never got jaundice, which is good. basically, he's pretty much perfect. he's gaining weight like a champ, and i can definitely tell that he's bigger now than when we brought him home. the vast majority of his clothes are still way huge on him, but he's working on growing into them. we have 5 newborn size sleepers that fit him really well and a whole bunch that are too big but he wears anyway. the onesies are kind of big but not too bad, but his pants totally look like m.c. hammer pants. so i had to go and buy him a few pairs of newborn size pants to go with the onesies (because it's been too chilly for him to go without pants, yo). they're still a little big on him. 5-8 lbs my ass. [newborn size clothes are supposed to fit babies 5-8 lbs, and max is over 8 lbs now]

ok, that's my update for now. more to come later.

I Made This...

and now i am completely exhausted and sleep deprived. i have no idea how i'm going to find the energy to go back to work. at least he's cute.

Things About Max

• today he is 11 days old
  
• he pees on me at least twice a day
• sometimes he poops on me, too
• strangely, i don't really mind. chad and i just laugh about it like crazy people.
• he refuses to sleep in his crib
• he doesn't like to sleep alone
• he loves it when i put in him bed with me
• he will sleep in his bouncer, sometimes in his swing, and most recently in his play pen - but never in his crib. even if he was impossible to wake up five minutes before, as soon as i put him down in the crib, he wakes up and usually starts crying.
• he only likes the soothie pacifier from the hospital, not the other pacifiers that we have
• he likes to fall asleep with his pacifier, but once he's really sleeping he spits it out
• he hates to be naked
• he really hates diaper changes and sponge baths
• i can't stand to hear him cry
  
• today his umbilical cord fell off
• today he tried to talk to me with baby noises that weren't cries or grunts
• he smiles right before he poops
• he purses his lips when i run a finger from his nose down to his chin
  
• he always sleeps with his hands by his face
• the sound of the microwave door closing startles him (but the microwave dinging doesn't, and neither do most other loud noises)
• his tiny head makes my tiny child hands look huge (my little sister's hands have been bigger than mine for over 4 years, ever since she was 10)
  
• he is pretty much the cutest baby ever
• he is pretty much a peeing machine
• he spits up a lot
• he makes me worry about him constantly (is he eating enough? too much? is he pooping enough? is he gaining weight? is he spitting up too much? am i completely screwing him up?)
  
• i am hopelessly in love with him