Probably not the best time or day for me to be updating on week 2, given that last night baby-boy decided to be awake for three hours and demand entertainment. None of which, either from dad or mom, was good enough to keep the boy from practicing his lung power. Not all nights are like these, but I'd say he has a similar episode on a daily basis, usually when I'm at an all-time energy low and really need some sleep. We push through, dad and I. But it's not always easy. Hence, even though it's nearly 10.30am and I supposedly caught up on some of that lack of sleep this morning, I'm still rather bleary eyed and fuzzy brained.
This week baby-boy's oma is here. My mom's been a great help for holding the baby long enough so that I can shower, eat, tidy the house some and even attempt to cook once in a while. Although oma's food shopping skills leave something to be desired - she returned with a $60 piece of roast beef when all we needed was some organic chicken for a stir fry. Live and learn. We blame the combo of Quebecois french and oma's inexperience with the market place butcher. As a friend of mine put it, "well, it's still cheaper than eating out". I guess so. But it's the first time in my life I spent so much money on meat.
Baby boy already seems to be growing and changing. We had another two hospital visits this week. The first was a follow up with our regular family doctor, who calculated he's grown 52 grams a day since last week. She was so surprised (since this is more than double the minimum growth desired), that she had to calculate it twice to make sure it was correct. So he's growing, and growing fast.
I'm less surprised by this than the doctor. After all, I'm the one with the bruised nipples from avid feeding behavior that has nothing to do with "bad latching", and everything to do with "greedy suckling". So much so that baby-boy himself developed a blister on his upper lip from sucking too hard ... this usually only happens with bottle-fed babies, per the internet. Well, he likes his food apparently. I can't complain at all, even with the nipple soreness, because as long as he's growing and healthy, he's doing well.
The second hospital visit was with the cardiology specialist - a follow up for his heart arrhythmia and tiny hole. There was a lot of confusion about this visit when we were being discharged from the birthing centre, and it seems like the pediatrician failed to listen to me when I said the visit aught to be 4-6 weeks after his birth. Instead, the pediatrician recommended 1-2 weeks after his birth, and so on Friday we rocked up at the other hospital. We were 20 minutes early, but no one was at reception. Half an hour later when this situation didn't change, I decided to investigate. Apparently, the doctor decided to move her clinic to a floor upstairs. Without telling us. Or leaving a note on the door.
So half an hour wasted, and we reach the other cardiology area (where we had the first tests). Here we find out that several emergencies had taken priority that morning and so "things were delayed". They weren't kidding. Three hours later, we had finally seen the doctor and gotten our ultrasound. Baby-boy behaved himself like a star, even though he got the hiccups during the ultrasound. But the doctors kept asking us why we were there so "soon" after the birth ... one thing about the hospital systems here is that it seems hampered by severe communication problems; even within the same hospital between nurses and doctors ...
Anyhow, the doctor reinforced what we already knew. Not to worry about the hole. It'll likely close within 1-2 years. Meanwhile, we're to come back in 6 months' time.
As for me, by and large I feel better this week than last. I'm more able to cope with the changes, although it can be difficult at times to remember to enjoy these moments when baby-boy is still really tiny. Mostly, it's just one thing after another and making it through the day, day by day. Hubby is planning a 4-day business trip later in the month, which is already making me somewhat nervous; I have no idea how all the single moms do it!
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