Two Week Check Up

Time flies – I cannot believe that Carter is two weeks old!  We had his two week check up with the doctor today and he is doing great.  He weighed in at 7lbs 13oz, so he regained all the weight he lost after birth and a little bit more (thankfully).  I think that is one of the things that stressed me out – I had no idea if he was getting enough nutrition from me and if he was gaining weight.  He also grew an inch, measuring 20 inches long.  I thought that he might be a little longer because his onsies with feet were starting to fit better!  He still is small (I just realized that I didn’t get the percentiles for height/weight at this appointment), but he is growing every day.

We got the all clear to start giving Carter a normal bath, so no more cold sponge baths where he screams the entire time!  I still think he will scream through bath time, but hopefully he will begin to enjoy it more while being in the water.  We asked the doctor about the most appropriate time to introducing Carter to a bottle so that Jeremy can feed him and learned that we should likely wait another 3-4 weeks.  I guess infants can go through “nipple confusion” and since the bottle is easier to feed off of, they end up preferring that over mom.  The doctor also suggested in the next few weeks putting Carter down before he is fully asleep so that he learns how to fall asleep by himself.  I don’t think he is going to be too happy with that – he sleeps more soundly when held and I don’t like it when he is upset!  I may have to just do that for his naptime during the day :-)  Our schedule is getting a little more predictable now – we seem to have 3-4 nights where he sleeps well (as in one 3-4 hour stretch, then two 1-3 hour stretches) and then he gets his days and nights mixed up again for a night or two. 

I always imagined being a parent at some point in my life, dreaming about all the wonderful things to do with my children and what my little family would be like.  The one thing that I never could conceive is the emotion that comes with having a child – the sheer devotion and fathomless love where my priorities are now about taking care of this little person and nothing is more fulfilling than that.  Every day when I get to snuggle with my little love, when he focuses on my face, or when he calms when I pick him up, I feel this surge of overwhelming joy … all these moments are what make life marvelous!