Am I chubbier yet?

The other one.

We've been getting a lot of questions asking how Pepper is handling Sean's arrival. I think he's doing pretty well so far.

At first, Pepper was definitely feeling the change. Despite all the visitors and my dad and Thom John's mom taking Pepper for loads of long walks, Pepper definitely noticed that less attention was being paid to him. One night during Sean's first week home, while everyone was relaxing in the living room, Pepper was sleeping in the kitchen. On the bare floor. In the dark. This never happens - Pepper likes to be in the mix, he likes to sit on people's feet. Pepper only sleeps in the kitchen when the sun is warming the floor.



Slowly but surely, Pepper is coming to accept his new position in our family "pack." Although Pepper is still scared of the stroller, he seems happier now that I take him and the stroller out for short walks. And now it seems that Sean had made Pepper's "check-list" of things to look for. Every so often Pepper looks around the house to take stock of everything and everyone. He checks to see where Thom John is, where I am, where his bed is, where his various toys are, and now - where Sean is.

Sorry Pep - Sean is not quite ready to play fetch with you yet.

Plus, Pepper is loving that Sean eats formula now since apparently infant formula is one of Pepper's favorite foods - who knew?

Catch-up

It feels like it's been a busy week here, especially since Thom John went back to work on Tuesday, leaving me alone with little Sean. First order of business Tuesday morning - spill coffee on the baby's clothes. Nice. No worries, though - I didn't get to the pot until about 11:30, so the coffee was cold.

On Wednesday, Sean and I went back to the doctor for his weigh-in and found that despite being literally attached to me for 4 days, Sean lost weight again and was down to 7lbs 14 oz. It appears that Sean is a sleepy breastfeeder. Somehow along the way it got so that Sean is too tired to eat, but too hungry to sleep and because he may find feeding comforting, he sleeps while eating, which is not a very efficient use of time. :-) So, we're splitting feedings between formula and breastmilk. The goal is to energize Mr. Sean with calories from the formula so that we may be able to set him straight and go back to exclusively breastfeeding. Also, I'm working on paying more attention to him during feedings and trying to keep him awake. We go back on Monday to see if the formula is helping Sean to gain weight. Fingers crossed!!

Sean lost his umbilical cord stump. As Thom John said, "He's a real boy, now!" We're looking forward to Sean's first tub bath this weekend.

Not much happened on Thursday except Sean took a couple of naps for the first time in days, allowing me to get some chores done and to take Sean and the PepperDog for a nice walk. Today we're expecting a visit from my parents and my Aunt Mary, so I should get Sean cleaned up since he seems to like to wear his formula rather than eat it.

Friday weigh-in

We took Sean back to the doctor on Friday - he weighed in just below his hospital discharge weight at 8lbs 1 oz. Better, but not great. The doc is giving Sean until our next appointment on Wednesday to get his weight up or we'll have to supplement his feedings. I think we owe the reprieve to Sean's frenulum clipping last Wednesday - the doctor wants to give Sean a chance to work with his "new" tongue. Sean's mission this Memorial Day weekend: eat, eat, eat!!

Hungry and waiting for the doctor:

Road trip!

Sean had his first road trip to Maryland on Thursday! We went down to see his Uncle Peter graduate from the University of Maryland. I think we handled the logistics of a newborn on the road pretty well - we stayed away from crowds, mastered changing Sean's diapers in the trunk of the car, and got some practice with discreet feedings. All in all, it was a good trip and a nice time with family.

The next trip needs to be to New Brunswick to visit Rutgers - we can't have Sean being Maryland-biased already!

Frenulum-schmenulum

Until my first meeting with a lactation consultant last Wednesday, I hardly gave the frenulum any thought. This fleshy string that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth has been the bane of my existence this past week. Why? Apparently, Sean has a tight frenulum. Correction - Sean had a tight frenulum - until about 4:00 today when the Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor (ENT) clipped it.

It seems that our little boy was born "tongue-tied," making breastfeeding slow-going for Sean and painful for me. The procedure (called either a frenectomy or frenotomy) was quick and didn't seem to bother Sean very much. The ENT first numbed the underside of Sean's tongue with lidocaine, then simply snipped the frenulum with surgical scissors. (Thom John joked that we probably could have done this at home.) Sean only fussed after the lidocaine, and then for about 30 seconds after the clipping, then promptly fell back asleep. I can tell the procedure was worth any fussing since both Sean and I have had a much better time during feedings since the clipping.

Our brave boy with his daddy:

One week!

Sean is one week old today! He and Winnie had a photo session to celebrate:

Busy day

We took Sean to the pediatrician for his first check-up! He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and measured 21.75 inches - he's turning into a string bean. We're going back to the pediatrician on Friday to check his weight again. Now that mommy and Sean are getting the hang of breastfeeding, we're hoping his weight comes back up by Friday. The doctor said Sean is in perfect health and looks great. Sean was calm and cooperative throughout the whole appointment - until he got his first shot. The nurse administered the shot, there was a pause, and then a mighty wail emitted from Sean's tiny mouth. All was soon forgotten

as soon as Sean was snuggled in the car seat.

First band-aid:

Pepper got a new job today - diaper inspector:

And more hiccupping/yawning/cuteness:

Photo Album and visitors

Sean's photo album can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/norasooy/SeanPhelimSooy?feat=directlink. It's also the first link listed under the "Links 'n Such" category on the right side of the blog. Enjoy!

We've had a good first weekend home. Besides the usual eating, napping, crying, and being super-cute, Sean met a bunch of new family and friends. And for a few minutes, he was in the same room with all four of his grandparents and two of his great-grands!


Sean with his Uncle Peter:


And here's a short video of some awake time from Saturday morning:

Third day

Friday is definitely an occasion for puppy feet:

Home

We came home today and so far we're settling in pretty well. Sean hits the road:

First Day

We've been napping, eating, cuddling, squealing, and hiccupping. Oh, the hiccupping.

Here he is...

Sean Phelim Sooy

Born: May 12, 2009 at 6:39 P.M.

Weight: 8 lbs. 10 oz.

Length: 21 inches

It's Go Time!

I apologize for the lack of posts the last few hours... we've been busy trying to coax this baby out into the world. About 10am this morning, Nora started having more intense contractions and after an exam the doctor broke her water. That put a lot more pressure on her abdomen and the pain got a lot more intense. One hour and an epidural later, both she and the baby were fine, and resting comfortably. I used that break to go and get some food and take a shower in our private bathroom. Unfortunately, no one warned me that the drain didn't work and I ended up spilling water out of the bathroom, out of the hospital room, and down the hall before someone realized the problem. They're cleaning the water up now, but that will be a nice funny story to tell Baby Sooy later.

Meanwhile, the most recent exam by the doctor (at 2pm) revealed good news: Nora is fully effaced and nearly fully dilated. So we're expecting things to start happening very soon. I probably won't be able to update anymore until the baby arrives so send us your thoughts and we'll get the news out as soon as we can. Thanks to everyone for all of your support so far!!

Boston's Got Nothing On This Marathon

We're still here! Its approaching 10am and we're onto our third doctor, but we're still waiting for Baby Sooy's arrival. The toughest part is that Nora hasn't been allowed to eat a proper meal since before we came in to the hospital over 24 hours ago. They've given her some apple juice, popsicles, and water ice, but nothing substantive so she's starving. We'll have to remember to get the world's biggest cheeseburger once we get out of here.

Meanwhile, we managed to get a little sleep last night after moving to our own L&D room and Nora's contractions have started to crescendo recently. We now have regular visits from the nurse every half hour, with the doctor stopping by every two hours or so. On the last visit, things had progressed enough for Dr. White to break Nora's water, and she said that should make things start to happen shortly. Unfortunately, Nora's in a lot more pain now so I'm going to go help out as a dutiful support person. I'll pass along all the good wishes, thoughts, and prayers of all you readers...

The Witching Hour

So its been awhile since Nora and I tried to squeeze into a twin bed together, but that's just what we've been doing for the last three hours or so. The Cytotec has been doing its thing, and Nora has had a couple more doses since the last post. Its just about 2am here now so we've been trying to get some rest, but unfortunately the Dad accomodations leave something to be desired in the antepartum area where we're currently stationed. Rather than making me slouch in a short chair awkwardly, Nora made enough room in the craftmatic bed she's been in all day for me to lie on my side next to her.

Fortunately, none of this will be an issue soon because we've been cleared to transfer into Labor and Delivery from Antepartum. That means our own private room (so far we've been sharing with another expectant mother) with a recliner for me!:-) Nora is 75% effaced and 2cm dilated (I got her approval to put that info here) and apparently that's good enough to start Pitocin to induce contractions. So get ready baby, here we come!