Owen's First Month

Our little Owen has been with us for an entire month now.  Wow, has this ever gone fast!  He is the perfect addition to our family, making our family complete.  And after only these short weeks it's hard to imagine our family without him.  It is evident that Owen is completely his own person when compared to big sister Megan both physically and in his actions.  She was short and chunky and had a big head, he is long and lean with a little round head.

Both John and I refused to put a bassinet in our room for Owen to sleep in.  He and Megan would have to learn to share a room sooner or later so why not start right away.  So far there doesn't seem to be a problem at all.  Only during the first couple nights did Megan wake when he cried, otherwise she has slept through everything.  We typically put Owen to bed in the little crib or bouncy seat downstairs and move him up to the nursery when we go to bed.  I don't even have the baby monitors setup yet - he cries loud enough that I hear him at night.  At his checkup this morning one of the nurses told me that it's been a while since she's heard a baby cry as loud as Owen does.  Why do we always end up with the loud ones?  The amount of crying a baby does is supposed to peak at six weeks and it's looking like the volume level keeps going up with with it!  There's no calming him down to do a diaper change - just have to battle through it and soothe at the end.

I had been nursing Owen in the hospital and the first few days at home but as soon as my milk came in I remembered why pumping was the best option for me last time.  I seem to have the same abundant milk supply, heavy letdown and annoying leaking problems as before.  Plus, for the first several weeks Owen would sometimes go 4 or 5 hours between daytime feedings!  At two weeks of age he got bumped up to 4oz bottles about every 4 hours.  It sometimes took about 45 minutes to down a bottle so it was nice he was spacing out the feedings.  Now, at one month, his feedings are closer to 4oz every three hours and I have a feeling the ounces will increase here shortly.  At six feedings a day our little man is drinking over 24oz of milk!  I always have plenty of milk on hand in the fridge so it will actually be nice once he does start to take in more at a time.

Owen is doing a pretty good job with sleeping at night.  It was definitely a little better at the beginning and maybe I just need to fill his belly up a little more before putting him down for the night.  If we put him to bed around 10 he will typically sleep until 2:30 or 3.  I wish the nighttime feedings would be easier because most nights it's two hours until I can get back to bed.  He gets so sleepy that sometimes it takes close to an hour to finish his bottle.  Then to make sure the little guy burps enough, diaper change and then I need to pump.  The good thing is that he will typically fall back asleep in the bouncy seat and all I need to do is transfer him back to the big crib.

One thing that we enjoy using with Owen are sleep sacks.  This kid really loves to be swaddled and bundled up tight when sleeping probably because he was so cramped inside of me so it just feels natural to him.  Using the sleep sacks is probably one of the reasons he took such nice long naps for us in the beginning.  It was not uncommon for Owen to take three or four hour naps during the day during the first 2 or so weeks.  I've stopped using the sleep sacks as much during the day and just swaddling with a lightweight blanket so I can help him differentiate between night and day.  Plus, with an extremely loud older sister there is a lot of noise in the house preventing those long naps as he becomes more aware of surroundings.

Owen started cooing and making little gurgles when her turned three weeks - music to this mommy's ears.  His umbilical cord fell off at 2 1/2 weeks meaning it was time for his first bath.  He's not the biggest fan of them yet but at least he's not crying throughout the entire process.

Here is how Owen measured at his one week checkup:

Height - 22 inches - 97%

Weight - 9lbs 7oz - 90%

Head Circumference - 14 5/8 inches - 70%

We had a home visit from the county at two weeks old and using their digital scale he weighed 9 lbs 10.5 oz.  She said the goal at two weeks is simply to be back up to birth weight so no worries.  Besides, each location's scales tend to weigh just a little differently.

This morning I took Owen in for his one month checkup.  (I don't have the exact percentiles or head circ.)

Height - 22 1/4 inches - 75%

Weight - 11lbs 4oz - 75%

His doctor was pleased to see that his height and weight were nicely proportionate to each other.  Each day I held him he seemed heavier and longer than the last and I guess the numbers above prove that.  Definitely one healthy little guy.  When he was born his fingers and toes looked like those of an old man but it only took a week and we could tell they had filled out.  Slowly, but surely, his arms and legs are plumping up too.  He still has a tiny little waist and I can't wait for his tummy to fill out so his shorts fit better!

Talking about a healthy little guy... Owen sure has one strong neck.  From the day we came home from the hospital we noticed that and it sure has made burping quite the challenge.  I try to burp him several times during a bottle but he gets so impatient and will fling his head to the right as if to tell me he wants to get back into bottle position.  Other times he will just keep bobbing his little head instead of just relaxing it on my shoulder.  Owen really enjoys his tummy time - when laying on someone else, that is.  He sure likes to cuddle but if he needs to sleep, better just bundle him up and lay him down.

Right now Owen has a nice bald head and we're not quite sure what color hair he will end up having.  He has some hair coming in at the nape of his neck and the nurse today thought it looked red.  I'm not convinced so we will just have to wait and see!

Maybe it's because it's the second time around and I know what to expect and how to handle a newborn, but I am feeling and doing great!  I was up and moving around at the hospital and the lack of sleep really hasn't been too much of a factor for me.  It makes me realize that I was worse off postpartum with Megan than I thought at the time.  I have had a couple rough days since being home - mostly due to sleep factors, a really loud toddler or lack of patience but I think a couple bad days here and there are to be expected.  I think the fact that it's summertime and nice and sunny out helps my mood tremendously since my energy seems to feed off the weather.  Whatever it is, I'll take it and actually enjoy my time off of work this time around!

 Here are a few cute pictures of Owen that were taken during his second and third weeks.