The first two weeks

It is amazing to me how much babies change in their first weeks after being born. Brenson not only looks different, but acts different, too. Since he is two weeks old today, I am documenting the high points from our first 14 days. I think you will really be able to see how much he's changed in these photos.

Brenson slept great in the hospital. After bringing him home on Sunday, February 12, we had a great afternoon. He seemed pretty laid back, was eating every 3 hours, and was already sleeping 3 1/2 to 4 hour spans at night. When Chris and I went to bed that night, we swaddled Brenson up, laid him in the Pack N Play, and turned out the light. We both laid there for a minute, commented on what a great baby Brenson is, and fell asleep. Approximately 20 minutes later, Brenson was screaming, had blown out of his diaper, AND spit up all over everything. Thus began the chaotic first night. 

He pretty much cried off and on all night long. He blew out of 2 more diapers, spit up all over himself multiple times, and just cried and cried. We didn't know what to do to calm him down or comfort him. He finally fell into a good sleep at about 4:00am, and we were able to rest a bit after that. This is EXACTLY what Brianna did her first night home as well :-). 

Part of the problem was that we had one opened package of newborn diapers at home, and so we were trying to use those up. The hospital nursery put him straight into size 1 diapers because of his size, so the newborns were a bit small. We learned to put him in size 1s at night, and that helped with the leaky diaper issue. Also, we remembered (because Brianna was also a spitter) to burp him frequently during his eating and to hold him upright for 20 minutes after he eats. This really helped with the gas and spit up issue. The second night was MUCH better, and by the third night we were doing pretty well. 

He really stuck to his schedule of eating every three hours during the first week. He would nurse between 40 and 50 minutes, so this was very time consuming. He was a great nurser, though, just slow.

This photo was taken on Valentine's Day. He was 4 days old. He is wearing a size 0 to 3 month sleeper as almost all of his newborn clothing was too small before he had a chance to wear it.

Mom and I gave him his first bath that night as well. Of course, it was a sponge bath (which he hated), but he loved getting his hair washed. We also put his foot and hand print in his baby book that evening, so that's why his hand is blue.

The morning of February 15th, we took him for a weight check at Dr. F's office (our pediatrician). When we left the hospital, Brenson had lost down to 8 pounds 11 ounces. However, at 5 days old, he was back up to his birth weight plus .5 ounces (9 pounds 2.5 ounces). Here is our family before leaving for the appointment:

At 6 days old, Brenson was falling into a great eat-wake-sleep cycle. He also started going consistently 3.5 hours at night between eating.

We discovered early on that he loves the swing. I'm so thankful! We generally put him in this while we eat since we can see it from our dining table. On this day (Feb. 16), Brianna decided he needed company in the swing :-). He was 6 days old.

He came out quite strong, and likes to hold his head up and look around while we're trying to burp him. He also loves to kick (which I already knew!) He was already bored with Mommy and her photo shoots at 7 days old:

I am going to take a monthly photo with Brenson sitting next to this giraffe for growth comparison. Here he is right around the time he was exactly one week old . . . unfortunately he was very tired so he is kind of slumped down:

On Saturday, Feb. 18, at 8 days old, he met his great-grandparents on Chris's side of the family for the first time:

On Sunday, Feb. 19, we took him to church for the first time. He did pretty well. I did have to take him to the nursery and nurse him a bit during worship service, then he spit up everywhere and I had to change his clothes. BUT, overall it was a success!

I couldn't resist this sweet little hat!

Here he is that evening (at 9 days old), and changing so much already! His skin is still nice and smooth (no baby acne yet), although a bit peely in places. His hair is a bit thin on top, but a little fuller in the back. NOTHING like the head of hair his sister sported at this age!

During his second week, we discovered how much he likes the bouncy seat (yay again!). AND, once again, Big Sister thought he needed a few animals to keep him company. She also swapped out the blanket he had on for one of hers, haha. He is 10 days old in this photo.

It was also at about 10 days old that Brenson began going between 4 and 5 hours at night between eating. Since he is a big baby, I'm not waking him to eat. He also started nursing much faster (taking only about 30 minutes).

Here he is at 12 days old, looking just like Daddy in his Polo shirt:

This day, we took him back to see Dr. F for another weight check. He had gained an entire pound in just one week, putting him at 10 pounds 2.5 ounces! I can't believe my newborn weighed over 10 pounds before he was even two weeks old.

We also got confirmation that it is okay to not wake him to eat every 3 hours during the night. Check out that double chin! Also, I don't know if you can see it in these photos or not, but he had some busted blood vessels in his eyes that caused red spots. They are almost completely gone now, but Dr. F said they are from the pressure when he was born.

After Brenson was born, my Mom stayed with us for a few days. I can't say enough how grateful I am that she was here! Not only is it nice to have reassurance about all of the little things I'm unsure of, but she was so helpful to me in every way. I don't know what I would have done without her here to take care of Brianna since I was much slower to recover this time (more on that below).

Here she is with Brenson (he is one week old):

I don't know if it was because he was bigger or because I am older or because labor moved so much faster or because it was just different this time, but recovery did not come near as easy. I wrote a little in Brenson's birth story about how I had so much more pain afterwards with Brenson than I did with Brianna. Well, because of that, I was much slower to get up and moving this time around. I actually filled my scripts for pain meds! I'm doing so much better now, but that first week was pretty rough. I still tire easily, but every day I feel more "normal". Also, my belly was much slower to deflate this time too. I'm sure that is partially because my uterus was stretched so much more. I still have a ways to go to fit into my pre-baby clothes, but my tummy has deflated a ton. I would say I look now after two weeks how I looked after one week with Brianna. I'm still taking it pretty easy, but that is going to soon end. Chris - who has been home with us and taking care of Brianna the majority of the time - is going back to work on Monday. That means I'll be on my own! (Which is fine . . . I just know it will be tiring until I fully recover.)

Our first two week - though chaotic in spots - has been wonderful for the most part. Brenson is getting into a great schedule, we are getting decent sleep at night, and we don't have any growth or feeding issues. He really is a good baby (not quite as laid back as Brianna, but she was the most easy going baby I have ever seen), and we are enjoying every minute with him!