Porter: One Week

Mister P has been with us for a whole week now, although it sort of seems like he's always been here. The first week deserves it's own post for sure, with so many changes and so much NEWNESS to report.



Sleep: Number one topic, obvi. I find myself wanting to gloss over this one in fear of jinxing things but alas, I should really fess up to having a baby that is currently sleeping well at night. The first night at home totally sucked, but since then I've had Porter in the MamaRoo in the family room, with me on the blow up mattress. I could totally take the swing upstairs to our bedroom to recreate the same set up, but I admit that I sort of love having the whole family room to ourselves. I have a little changing station on the ottoman, can nurse upright on the couch, and we are both sleeping great---so I don't want to mess with a good thing! Soon enough, I suppose.



Loves his paci, love that he can sort of self soothe with it already


So here are his sleep stats since we've been using the swing at night: Porter has been sleeping for a lot of 2-3 hour stretches, one 4 hour stretch and even one 5 hour stretch. This means he's waking up about twice each night to nurse and get a diaper change. Two times. That's it!! This is AWESOME in my book, although I know it can change as he wakes up more in the next few days/weeks. I will take it. He's awake for maybe 30 minutes total for the whole middle of the night change/nurse routine, but sometimes it does take up to an hour and he'll grunt around after, not falling asleep without a little fight. Again, I'll take it!! Keep it up, big man.



Nursing: Topic number two, since this and sleep are basically his favorite activities. Porter is a fabulous little breastfeeder and I feel very lucky to have three kids who've always latched well and have just gone to town. VERY lucky. I mentioned that my milk came in super early this time, around 24 hours, so days 2-4 were pretty awful with engorgement, some spitting up from Porter, and short nursing sessions on one side only. Now that the engorgement has died down, P is able to nurse from both sides a lot of the time, for about 10 minutes or so. Very efficient little guy. I'm just nursing on demand but it seems like he goes about 2-3 hours between feedings--sometimes more and sometimes less.

Milk drunk smiles = best thing ever.


Naps on mommy post-nursing = another favorite thing in my life.


Chicken legs!!


Love dressing him.


He had one HUGE projectile puke on Wednesday (day 6) after two very long nursing sessions, a stressful car ride, and riding in the swing as he tossed his (milk) cookies. Both Truman and Cecelia were totally freaked out by the loud SPLAT sound as he puked, and now both say that they hope he doesn't spit up like that again. Cecelia did this as a baby, but Truman wasn't a big spitter, so I hope Porter only let's loose occasionally and it doesn't become true reflux or anything.

Doc appointment update: Nate and I both took Porter to the Pediatrician appointment on Tuesday (day 5), and Tony stayed back with the big kids. Nate never gets to come to doctor's appointments but he wanted to see the Pediatrician this time since we didn't get to see ours in the hospital. This first appointment is usually done at one week for our doc, but they got us in early since the Ped was off the rest of the week. It's mostly just a weight check to see if Porter is eating well, and sure enough: P had gained 3 ounces since discharging from the hospital two days prior. At birth he was 8 lbs, 9 oz then discharged at 8 lbs, 2.5 oz (which is apparently a 4% loss, so the nurses were happy with that number), and was back up to 8 lbs 5 oz at the doc. I wonder if he's already past his birth weight now, since he was gaining at a faster rate earlier this week? The doc said gaining 1/2 oz to 1 oz per day is the goal and P gained 1.5 oz per day----over-acheiver already.

Everything seems healthy with the little guy, which again is SUCH a huge relief to hear. At just four days old during that appointment, he did look fairly yellow under the fluorescent lights of the office so they did a heel prick to check bilirubin levels. I wasn't too worried about it, since both of the other kids have always had a normal amount of jaundice that seems to peak before the one week mark. But it's nice to check and his level was good at 11.0 (normal is up to 12.0 and they don't treat until it reaches 20.0). Plus, once we were back outside in natural light and at home, I didn't think he looked quite as golden anyway. Porter hated the blood draw but he slept great after!




Sibling love: Truman and Cecelia need their own paragraph here, since this week has been a big adjustment for them, too! Overall I'm so stinking proud of my big kids for how they've handled the change of a new baby in the house. They did great with me at the hospital because my parents were here to entertain them, and now they've had Nate home with us on Tues/Thurs and went to Lori's on Wed/Fri. So keeping them in some form of a routine has been huge for us and having help from my parents, Nate, and Lori has also been important for how smoothly things have gone.

Cecelia has definitely had a few extra clingy/sad moments where she NEEDS me to hold her ASAP and cannot tolerate waiting for me to get her something. She wants nothing to do with Nate when he's home, and I hate when she goes through phases like this but there isn't much he can do to convince her that he's capable of filling up her sippy cup, too. I've had to carry her up and down the stairs a few times instead of my independent little lady demanding to do everything on her own. She cried her eyes out when Nate and I left for the Pediatrician's appointment on Tuesday but going to Lori's has been no big deal for her, which makes me feel better. I'm trying my best to involve CC in caring for Porter and she totally eats it up. Mostly she loves spreading out the diapers for me, grabbing the wipes, replacing his pacifier, washing it off after I tell her that it's too dirty for the baby, and turning on/off the swing. She also looooooves to hold him and I nearly died from cuteness with her newest phrase: 'It's okay, Porter. Don't cry. CC is here.' I MEAN, WHAT?? I got it on video and she will seriously say this over and over in the highest of pitches, whenever he gets fussy.

(nursery reveal coming soon---love this one of P looking at his little family, and big sis helping with a diaper change)


So many kisses.


Needed to borrow my nursing pads.


Gah, I love her.


Cecelia's one week post made me remember that I was already pumping daily with her, due to engorgement. I only pumped once this time around and now I don't feel like I need it, but maybe I should start relatively soon for that cherished freezer stash with the return to work. Sigh. She was waking ever 2-3 hours at night and pretty sleepy during the day. Sounds about right! And I forgot that my mom was with us for the first two weeks of CC's life---GoGo is coming back next week for her 2.5 week visit and we all cannot wait!

Truman will simply raise his hand in the air from across the room when CC says her classic phrase to Porter, and he will say, 'Truman's here, too, Porter!' He regularly informs me that he loves Porter and also offers to help with diaper changes, paci replacement, and swing functioning. He wants to hold the little guy a few times each day and seems adorably stressed anytime Porter makes the teeniest cry.  Our neighbors were walking by last night and called up to us, asking if they could see the baby. Truman yelled, 'He's right here, come and see!' because he's just so proud of Porter. T has also been totally exhausted this week and therefore a little more whiney at times, but nothing too awful and he seems to be adjusting really well so far.

Reading back over Truman's one week post made me smile. I guess he was waking 2-4 times per night which is maybe a little more than P, but these boys of mine are such freaking clones. I cannot get over it.


Not old yet. Still awesome.


These kids love their brother!


Hardest parts: If you think I'm blowing sunshine out of my butt with this update and no first week of newborn-hood goes this smoothly, I will straight up tell you that there have been some super challenging moments. For instance, Wednesday's car ride home from Lori's with all three kids was horrific. Porter was screaming so hard I thought he might throw up (he did later) because the kid really seems to have an intense hatred for his car seat already. Truman and Cecelia were scarred and kept asking me to please get him to stop crying, and obviously I couldn't do anything about it. Not fun. Then that night during my first evening of solo parenting three kids, there were a few times when T and C were fighting and Porter was crying. Totally stressful. All three were crying for various reasons a handful of times and I sort of just chuckled, like---Yep, this is one of those moments with three kids when I totally don't know what to do first. Cry along with them, attempt to soothe one at a time, or just grab a glass of wine (happened later that night, was amazing).

Trying to get organized to get all three kids out of the house is also no small task, just because I have to plan when I'll nurse P, change him, and whether or not he will be asleep and pissy about the car seat in X amount of minutes when I hope to leave the house.

Mostly I think that things are starting to settle into place and we are finding our groove as a family of five, and that in combination with still riding the high of his birth has us in a sweet spot for now. I'm very VERY aware that things will likely change by the day at this point, but really: so far so good!! Can't ask for more than that.

I find myself with such an appreciation of how quickly babies change with this third time around. The perspective we've gained with each child is key to feeling super laid back and yes, I'm a little bit 'blissed out' right now. Even when we had that wretched first night at home I didn't feel too down about it because, meh---it will eventually get better. I can enjoy the intense joys of this first week a little more and ignore the really hard stuff because it's all so temporary with a baby that is changing before our very eyes. Even Nate, who has always been a little worried about the adjustment to three (mostly because of the lack of sleep) agreed with me the other night. I felt overwhelmed with happiness and gave my husband a huge hug when he said, 'I love watching our three kids sleeping. They are so cute.' I told him, 'Thank you for letting me have three kids.' He laughed and said, 'I love it.'

Vindication;) Not that he WASN'T excited for Porter when I was pregnant, because he was. But he was just unsure how it would go and now that P is here, he's obviously over the moon for this kid. How can you not fall under the spell of this little angel face?

Some firsts for the first week:

First zoo trip as a family of five on Thursday, at 6 days old


First evening solo parenting three kids---baby wearing for the win


First time with all three kids in the van on Wednesday, at 5 days old


First family walk:


Lots of baby wearing already, I suppose!