Dexter

sleep. who needs it.

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
I should have known that it was just too good to be true when Dexter immediately started sleeping 4-5 hours at a time at night when we came home from the hospital.  He kept it up for about 3 and a half weeks but for the last 10 days or so, he has decided to try an alternate schedule.
That schedule involves waking up at precisely 2am, 4am, and 6am to eat.  And that’s after I’ve gone to bed at 11 or midnight. And sometimes it’s 45 minutes or an hour from the time we wake up until I get back to sleep.  And there’s no back to sleep after the 6am wake up because Theo has decided that 6:20 is precisely the perfect time to start his day. So maybe I’m getting 5 hours of sleep a night, and I guess that’s not too terrible. But … oh. What I would give to get those 5 hours of sleep in an uninterrupted way.
There were about 5 nights that were pure misery.  Not only was he waking up, he was fussy and refusing to go back to sleep. So that means I’m doing a cardio workout of bouncing, swinging, swaying, and patting to try to keep him quiet so he doesn’t wake Theo. Egads. That’s when the tears start falling. (Mine).   Sheer exhaustion, I tell you. Knock on wood, he’s been going right back to sleep the last couple of nights.
Hopefully we’ll get into a good routine in the next several weeks and everyone will be sleeping through the night. 
Good thing he’s so cute during the daytime,
~C~

Dear Dexter (two week letter)

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Dear Dexter,
Yesterday was my due date but you’ve been here with us for 2 whole weeks today.  I can’t imagine having to wait another day to see you, forget waiting two extra weeks!  We were extremely lucky that your delivery went so smoothly and that you were/are so perfectly healthy.
We just got home from the pediatrician’s office for your 2 week check-up. You weighed 7 pounds and 6.5 ounces, just an ounce and a half less than your birth weight. You’ve gained 8 ounces in just 9 days!  What a big boy and good eater you are!  You are hungry all throughout the day, eating anywhere from every hour to every three hours. You’re sleeping well at night and you’ll go for 4, sometimes 5 hours between feedings. I feel like we’ve gotten lucky because you’ve been such an easy newborn to take care of so far.
You’re starting to be awake more now and I love to watch you watching the world around you. There’s a lot to figure out, but just try to take it one day at a time. That’s what I’m doing with you. I don’t want to waste today by focusing too much on how big you’ll be a few weeks, months, or years from now.  I’m just soaking up every second that you want to spend in my arms, lying on my chest, and staring into my eyes.
Knowing that you rely on me for everything makes me feel so honored and privileged. It’s true, before you were born I had a lot of anxiety about how things would change and I worried about how hard things would be. You are the perfect addition to our family and I couldn’t be happier that you’re here. I know it won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth it.
Mommy loves you more than you’ll ever know.
xo,
Mama

the good and the bad

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Little Dexter is 9 days old now and we’ve been home from the hospital for an entire week. The good, no…great news is that Dexter has been a fabulous baby so far.  He hasn’t cried much (yet) and while he loves to be held, he can also be sat down and has been sleeping (fairly) well in the pack n’ play next to our bed. Last night he had his longest stretch yet from 1:15am until 6am. I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and looked at the clock. I think as a parent, your heart always leaps a little out of fear when that happens for the first time.

The even greater news is that Dexter has not (yet) woken Theo up at night. Theo has been sleeping like a champ. Dexter had a doctor’s appointment last Wednesday so we took him to the babysitter’s for the day. I was a little worried that it would hurt his feelings that we were leaving him behind but apparently not because he ran straight to the toy box and never looked back. He loves his babysitter and the other little boy there so I think it was some normalcy for him in a world that’s pretty confusing right now.

Back to Dexter’s doctor’s appointment… everything was good. He weighed 7lb 8oz at birth and was 6lb 13oz the last time he got weighed at the hospital. At his appointment last Wednesday, he weighed 6lb 14.5oz so we are headed in the right direction. Last week was pretty rough for me physically. Pain from my tear, some continued uterine cramping, and engorgement made me kind of miserable. Luckily, my hormones have stayed in check thus far and I’m not feeling too crazy. 

More great news – breastfeeding is about a bazillion times easier this time around. Not to say it’s painless, but that’s to be expected when you’ve got someone latched on to a sensitive body part 10 different times a day. I don’t dread feeding my baby. He has a great latch and I suppose I’m probably more relaxed with the whole scenario. Regardless of who gets the credit, I’m happy with the outcome.

Finally, the not so great stuff. I don’t know what to make of Theo’s behavior since we’ve been home. He goes from one extreme to the other. Half the time he totally ignores Dex and then when he does pay attention to him, he’s either throwing a shoe in his face (yes, that happened) or laying his head down on him to give him a hug. I never know what he’s going to do, so I find myself cupping Dexter’s head and shielding his face anytime Theo walks by. I don’t want to give Theo the impression that he can’t touch his baby brother but I can’t allow him to be mean to him. It’s tough. Theo has thrown a few out of character fits for no apparent reason so of course I’m left to wonder if it has something to do with Dexter, being mad at me, his teeth hurting, or something else.  It’s stressful not being able to drop what I’m doing to read Theo a book or play with him when he asks me to.

All in all, we’re making the transition and so far it’s gone okay. I’m not sure I’ll ever leave the house with both babies, but going with a helper isn’t so bad.

I kinda like living in a house full of cute guys.

~C~