Daddy and John Paul of a Morning

I just love this pic of Alex and John Paul from this morning - after Alex took the girls to preschool, he was home relaxing with JP reading the morning's online WSJ.com. I just had to take a picture, and the caption came into my head as a good blog title!


Daddy and John Paul of a Morning

From Blog All Six

The rest of this post will be about JP himself. Here is my favorite picture of him (so far) just home from the hospital - we actually don't have a baby chair this time around, as we borrowed from the neighbors for L and M, but they need it now with their baby. So we're using a carseat which works just as well - and here he is snoozing away with his little Merry Christmas from Willamette Falls Medical Center hat on his head:

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You can probably tell that his face is a bit orange. On Saturday morning around 4 am, the hospital checked his belliruben level and found it to be 14.4. Apparently this is high, though the pediatrician who came to talk to me the next day said she doesn't get worried (as in to put the baby under the lights) until 20. Though JP had been pooping a lot of meconium, he hadn't gotten it all out, and my milk hadn't come in yet, plus he was not latching well and seemed to be more interested in sleeping than eating. Fortunately, he started eating a bit better later that morning and I was able to pump out some small amounts to tube feed him, and by the 10 am beliruben check, his level had gone down to 12.7. He seemed to be latching on better too, and we were allowed to go home, but were instructed to "top off" his nursing sessions with pumped milk via the tube.

Having done this for Lucia, we were well versed, and I started pumping right away. Within a day my milk had come in, and JP had started pooping lighter brown, which turned to the classic baby mustard seed yellow by Monday. The orange only remained in his head (before it was down just to his pelvic region, never to his legs), and he was peeing clear and eating plenty. We even gave him a (gasp!) bottle starting Monday night, and it has NOT caused nipple confusion (nor has the pacifier that he really loves as well). I know I read somewhere that if you introduce a bottle in the first 2-4 weeks it doesn't cause nipple confusion. Somehow after that is what does it. Whatever, but we're just glad to not have to tube feed while he sucks on our pinkie fingers, that is a bit physically challenging. :-)



Another Daddy and JP photo that I love:

From Blog All Six

Skipping back to the hospital a bit, before we left I put JP on his tummy for his first tummy time on Day 3. He did really well - lasted a few minutes before starting to fuss. He's done it every day since for 2-3 minutes so far... building him up slowly...

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At home again - Lucia so proud to hold JP!

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And Magdalena tried to give him my hairtie - something that SHE loves to play with, but I don't think he was too keen on it:

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On Day 5 (Monday) I took JP out in the baby bjorn for a short (35 minute) walk. This was his first time in the bjorn, and I was pleased to read that the baby must be over 8 lbs and 21 inches to go in it - both for which our little guy was qualified! He just slept the whole time, but I know he subconsciously loved it. He's been in several times since: a few more walks, picking the girls up from preschool, going to the bank, etc.

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And finally, here he is today - Day 6 - "holding" his pacifier. What a coordinated little guy!

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So far John Paul is a very mellow baby. He is the definition of a newborn sleeping 22 hours a day - the kid barely ever opens his eyes! Although I really cannot complain, with the two other girls and all the things to get out and do each day, having him blissfully sleep his way through is very welcome. I forgot the paci on Tuesday when I picked the girls up from preschool. JP and I had been to the doctor, the grocery store, and Office Max all before picking them up, and though I nursed him and changed him at the doc's, going on 2.5 hours later he was HUNGRY and NOT happy about having nothing to suck on. He wailed the entire time I was getting the girls, and we had to scoot to get him home to eat!

Speaking of eating, right now JP tends to eat every 2-3 hours during the day, and last night went 1 stretch of 4 hours (10:30-2:30), back down at 3, up at 6:30, then again at 8:30 am. I felt VERY refreshed after this much sleep, hoping for a repeat tonight! He goes in to the doc again next week for his 2 week checkup, and I'm pushing to get him up to 10 lbs! He was 9 lbs 1/2 oz yesterday - 5 days 9 hours out of the womb (but who's counting?) - so really close to being back to birth weight. And tonight he guzzled a bottle (of pumped breastmilk) of almost 3 oz (they say at this age their tummies only hold 2 oz until they grow more from birth size), so hopefully that means he is growing fast.

Nothing else to really report - so far John Paul's first week has been a surprisingly calm transition into life with our family of five.