Your First Month - In Review

You were born January 8th, little nugget. And while I will save telling that story for a different day, I want to talk about all the grand adventures we had during your first month. It was a month of learning. I was learning how to understand you, how to take care of you and you were learning, well... everything! 

You were so little when we first brought you home. And you had such an owie rash on your face. It made us worried enough that we took you to see the doctor the first week you were home. He said you had atypical dermatisis which is doctor speak for "not normal skin" aka a rash. He wanted me to put Vaseline on your face before I breastfed you, but your mama knows a think or two about skin and there was no way I was putting a petroleum based product on my new little one! So we opted to put lanolin on your face instead. Boy, you didn't like that. You would squirm every time. I think you were saying "Really mom? I'm hungry, we don't have time for this goop!" But... the lanolin did work and a week later your rash was better.

You also had quite the adventure with your umbilical cord. The hospital forgot to take the clamp off! Your midwife was very upset that they forgot! We had the doctor take it off when we had your rash looked at. But after your umbilical cord fell off, your poor belly button took a long time to heal. Your midwife gave us Goldenseal powder to put on your belly button and that seemed to help, but it would make your cloths so dirty.

This month you also learned how to breastfeed. You were a very good little eater... when you were awake. But keeping you awake was quite the chore! We were trying to get my milk to come in, so your midwife had me feeding your every two hours on the dot and she wanted me to feed you for about 30 minutes. We would start out good, but you'd fall asleep 5 minutes into the feeding. I did everything to keep you awake! You only wore a diaper for two days because the only way I could keep you awake was to keep you kind of cold. Sometimes I even had to take a wet washcloth to your head or legs! Oh, I felt so bad. You would get so upset but I knew it was for your own good. Eventually my milk came in and you started to let us know when you were hungry, so we put cloths on you again. But I do have to say, I loved our skin-on-skin cuddle time. After the hard experience of your birth, it was good to have that bonding time with you. 

Your first month was a good one. You grew SO much. And I loved seeing you change and learn. I also loved all the little grunting sounds you would learn how to make. By the end of the month, you were quite the grunter. Every experience required a different type of grunt. Now that you are in your second month, you are starting to make "oohs" and "aahs" and smiles! 

Don't grow up too fast, my lil' nugget.
Love,

Mama