Project Baby: Two Weeks Old

New in Week 2:

• Little Harrison started making eye contact with me and following people's movements.
• At the beginning of week 2, he started sleeping in his bassinet. YAY! He sleeps the best at night, thank goodness. I actually have to wake him up to nurse, which can be frustrating when he nurses on and off for 2 hours because he keeps falling back asleep.
• He is such a little grabber. He is always grabbing with his hands at anything- his face, my bra, my hair, his blanket, anything! Even on the day he was born, he grabbed the side of the scale when he was being weighed! We hope this is a sign that he's going to be our little rock climber. :) I have to be careful when he's nursing that he doesn't get too hacked off otherwise he tries to grab his face out of anger and scratches himself. If I can, I hold his little hand in my finger while he's nursing so that he won't scratch his face.
• He had his first excursion out of the house this week to the doctor! See post and pictures HERE.
• He also had his second and third excursions out of the house to my sister's house. Friday, we spent a good chunk of time over there so we could be with my little sister, her husband, and their son who were visiting from Utah. On Saturday, my sisters threw me a baby shower (post to come) with family and Enumclaw friends. It was a LONG day to be away from the house, I realized! It's been hard because I'm breastfeeding and then have to pump whatever milk is leftover afterwards to feed to Harrison on his next feeding. It's been a LOT of work to feel like I'm a slave to breastfeeding and then pumping. It was definitely hard to deal with that while being away and trying to talk with and entertain friends/family.
• At the doctor's appointment, they had his jaundice levels tested. Unfortunately, late Monday night we got a call from the on-call nurse saying his billiruben lab came back and was at a "critical level." This call came in around midnight just as we had all 3 fallen asleep! Of course, this information freaked Evan and I out. My little sister and her husband came over so she could pump milk to supplement my milk and so her husband and Evan could give little Harrison a blessing. Eventually, the on-call nurse called back saying the on-call doctor had said we wouldn't need to take him to the hospital that night. The next morning we found out that his levels weren't as scary as they sounded the night before! That would have been nice to know before they freaked us out, keeping us all from getting a good night's rest! Evan had a final the next day after only getting about 2.5 hours of sleep, poor guy!
• GOOD NEWS! Evan finished his 2nd quarter this week and is half way through his LPN program. YAY! Harrison and I have been so grateful to have him home with us as he has taken off work for a few weeks and has a month-long break from school. :)

His cousin came over to hold him for a while

Great aunt and second cousin came to visit!

So many pictures of baby and dad sleeping together. :)

We put him in the sun to help out his jaundice

Darcy came to visit!

Amy came to visit!

Love all of his sleeping poses :)

In his bassinet

Love that face! His eyes are recovering more and more from the broken blood vessels

We are totally first-time parents... he got set down on the driver's seat while we figured out how to buckle in his seat. Ridiculous, but I had to include this. It only took once and we now know how to put his seat in!

Looking adorable in his car seat at my sister's house

My sisters and I with our sons after the baby shower. We all had baby boys within less than 1.5 years of each other!

Harrison loves his dad!

First Spit-up

Harrison had his first (and second!) spit-up today and happened to do it right down his grandma's shirt. Nice shot, buddy! Later, Evan was giving him a little tummy time after eating and BAM!, more spit-up. I'm hoping these are isolated instances and that he won't actually be a baby who spits up, but I'm sure that's just an unrealistic pipe dream! Here's to hoping!

First Real Smile

Today I was talking to our sweet son when he busted out the most adorable smile! I kept talking and he did it again! He actually smiles pretty often when he's sleeping, probably 7-8 times a day. Also, Evan was holding him tonight and talking to him about how much he loves him and his mama. Evan gave me a kiss with Harrison in between us and he smiled. Love our son so much. He melts our hearts!

In pooping news, he pooped 5 times today and had his second bath as a result. Yay! We're really hoping this leads to a quick turn-around from his jaundice issues! :-)

Midnight Scare

Last night, the three of us were finally sleeping when I got three calls in a row to my cell phone from the same number. Figuring I would answer just to tell the person he/she had the wrong number, I picked up the phone. It turned out to be the on-call nurse at the medical center. Harrison's lab came back and his billiruben is at a critical level for his age. She asked me a bunch of questions about him and his behavior and said she would give me a call back after speaking with the on-call doctor.

What seemed like an eternity later, she said to just keep doing what we're doing and contact Harrison's doctor in the morning to come up with a plan. My little sister and her husband are in town. They came over as soon as they heard to give him a blessing. My little sister also offered to pump breast milk for him to have extra to help work the billiruben out in his poop. Evan's sister also donated milk to the cause. So grateful for both of our families doing what they can to support us! So grateful for priesthood blessings that promise peace, healing, and no lasting problems!

Project Baby: One Week Old & Being Patient

I cannot believe our little guy is already ONE WEEK OLD! It feels like the last week has been an insane whirlwind. I haven't slept more than 1.5 hours at a time and Evan has been working through homework and finals. It's been a rough week to say the least, but we get to stare at our baby's cute face all the time, so that makes it at least a little better! :)
Before we get to the baby's facts, my first thought of the week is this: PATIENCE. I think that being a mom requires so much patience. You start out being pregnant for 9 months, dealing with pregnancy symptoms and waiting for that baby to come. Of course, it's a joy to be pregnant knowing you are growing a little life inside of you. Those movements and kicks are so precious and it is so neat to know that the baby is you and your husband. Precious days. Yet, pregnancy still involves waiting and wondering and worrying how it will all work out, hoping for a healthy child.

Then, you labor. You have patience waiting for the delivery of this small child into the world. You have patience through every contraction and labor pain. At the end, you get to hold that small infant in your arms knowing that all the pain and patience of labor paid off. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and it is this child in your arms that you and your husband created together.

What people don't tell you, though, is that you don't stop being patient. You have to be patient to recover! You have to be patient to learn how to breastfeed. You have to be patient to learn with your child what he needs or wants. I thought that I would be healed by the next Saturday and the 3 of us would go hiking together for his 1 week birthday. I thought breastfeeding would come naturally. While it did come naturally to me, it still requires SO MUCH PATIENCE to wait for the baby to latch on, to use both hands to help the baby to nurse, to WAIT for the baby to finish, to WAKE the baby up when he falls asleep nursing, to calm his unsettled stomach... etc. etc.

I am being humbled right now by all the patience it has required to be the mother of our newborn son and to recover from giving birth. I am being humbled to accept help from family and friends when normally I want to do everything on my own. Gratitude melts my heart for the outpouring of love from family and friends during this time that I'm learning patience in a new way I've never learned it before.

A few thoughts this week:

• About me... I didn't get dressed or shower until Thursday. (I did bathe everyday!) It felt nice to be in the comfort of my own home never having to leave and not needing to get dressed if I didn't want to. I did cover up with a robe when guests came over, though! :)
• As of Wednesday, his weight dropped down to 8 lbs. 9 oz. That's pretty typical for a baby to lose up to 10% of their body weight after birth.
• His Aunt Coe cut his fingernails this week and washed his hair. He loved having his hair washed!
• He had his first bath on his one week birthday! Evan and I gave him a bath late Sunday night for the first time and, at first, he was a little unsure of it but then LOVED the warm water and LOVED hearing the water run. He was so calm after he got out of the bath and was wrapped up in the towel.
• He LOVES having his hands up by his head! He also loves grabbing onto things. He grabs my fingers, bra, or chest when I nurse him. Sometimes he grabs his face when he gets frustrated while nursing and I have to block his little hand from scratching himself!
• Little Harrison starting nursing 70 minutes after he was born. He is a rock star nurser and LOVES to nurse. Sometimes he struggles a little with getting latched on because he gets too excited or angry and won't suck correctly, but then he'll get it. This sometimes can frustrate me as latching can take a few minutes. While that doesn't sound long, it feels like FOREVER when your baby is crying and you're trying to help him eat! :)
• For the first few days after Harrison was born, he pooped A TON! However, after Wednesday morning, he didn't poop again until Sunday night. Normally, this wouldn't be so worrying, but he has jaundice and you get rid of jaundice by pooping (and light exposure)! 
• Because of his jaundice, he started getting a little lethargic Saturday. Friday night he was nursing 30-40 minutes. Saturday, he was nursing in spurts of 10 minutes. This was a worrying because he wasn't gaining (only maintaining) his weight. 
• On Sunday night, my midwife came and checked his weight again. It was decided that I would need to supplement my breast milk with donated breast milk. Also, I have to pump after every time I feed him giving him that milk with an ounce of supplemented breast milk each time. I cried when we fed him the bottle of someone else's breast milk. It hurt my heart and made me feel so bad and made me feel that my milk wasn't enough for him. The midwife said that I was doing great and that this happens with jaundiced babies sometimes because they get lethargic about nursing making the mother's milk supply go down. We're hoping to help him get back to his birth weight and then I won't have to supplement my breast milk any more! Please pray for that to happen!

The day after he was born... a grandma visit! :)

Cousins!

Grandpa!

My baby looks like Eskimo!

He and his dad sleeping... me still awake! :)

That little arm... he loves having it free!

Cousins!

First real hair washing by his Aunt Coe

Sisters and babies...

Love those little feet... this is while he was being weighed a few days after being born

His Great Oma holding him for the first time

Love those lips!

His dad shushing him to calm him down... we took him outside with only a diaper to get more light on him because of his jaundice

My precious boy in his first outfit! :) It's newborn so it won't fit him much longer!

My two sleeping babes...

His Great Aunt and Uncle

Love those eyes and that face! I just want to kiss it!

The MacDonalds

First time wearing jammies... apparently 0-3 months are too big! :)

Post-nursing coma