Conor Christopher: Four Months

Conor by month 1 // 2 // 3

It still feels surreal that you're asleep in our home! I've waited four months for this moment, to write your monthly update with you in the comfort of our home, to snap your monthly photo here at home. If I'm honest, I feel like this last month has been a month of discovering you, your likes and dislikes, as we take full ownership over your care. And I'm loving it. I love having you with us round the clock. I love being able to smother you in kisses whenever I want and however long I want. I love being able to snuggle you as time allows, knowing the snuggle sesh doesn't have to come to an end. I just love getting to know you, your rhythms, your preferences. I think someone asked me something about you, a does he like X question, and I said I don't know, I'm just getting to know him. And it's true, I'm just getting to know you! And I love you so much.

Growing // You weigh 9 lbs 9 oz (14th percentile for adjusted age) and you gained nearly 2 lbs in a month! But you haven't been gaining weight as rapidly as we'd like you to, your percentile has actually decreased over the last few weeks going from 18th, to 16th, to 14th. But the Drs. aren't worried as you're still gaining weight, just not as rapidly as you were in the hospital. Your head circumference is 39.5 cm (2nd percentile for your actual age and 82nd for your adjusted age) and you're 21.5 (10th percentile for adjusted age) inches long.

Eating + Sleeping // You are eating 90 mls (3 oz), but I think you started the month off at 65 mls (2 oz), and with a feeding tube! When we first brought you home, you were probably doing a little over half of your milk by bottle, the rest by feeding tube. And then a week or so after you were home, we pulled the feeding tube entirely as you no longer needed it. You pulled it out actually and we realized we no longer needed it, which was fantastic as I hated having to insert that thing. We'd have to measure from your nose to your ear, and then down to the middle of your chest, and then we'd start pushing it through and we'd have to check with a stethoscope or you could pull milk out with the syringe to make sure it was actually in the stomach. And then we'd have to put the milk in a little bag attached to the feeding pump and set the time on the pump and it would then beep to be turned off after an hour or however long we'd set the time for, and then we'd have to turn the pump off and do it all over again a few hours later. It was never that big of a deal until the nighttime when we'd set up your feed in the pump and wake an hour later to turn it off. You were really sleepy when we first brought you home, so they wanted us to do some of your feeds just by tube. We are fortifying your milk, which just means we're adding a little bit of high calorie formula to the breastmilk you're consuming. You are eating every three hours, but after your appointment at Children's, they told us to let you go for a 6 hour stretch at night. So quite often we'll feed you around 10 PM and again at 4 AM, and again at like 7:30/8 AM. You started the month off with 8 feeds every 3 hours and now you're down to 7 and definitely a little bit more led by you, but not entirely! Most of the time, we're waking you up to eat, which isn't fun and it can take like 30 minutes or more to feed you as you're just so uncomfortable and gassy or maybe it's reflux? I have no idea to be honest. We're giving you meds for both things, but I definitely feel like we force feed you sometimes. You really are a great sleeper, and sometimes I wonder how long you'd go if we didn't wake you up. Someday we'll find out! You are currently sleeping in a pack n play in our room on a wedge that is supposed to help your reflux. It keeps you upright and we wrap you into this thing that's like a straight jacket. We are following the eat, play, sleep schedule and quite often will put you to bed soon after you finish eating, depending on how long it takes to feed you! And you don't fuss or anything, you just lay there and then eventually go to sleep. It's brilliant!!

Wearing // You are wearing newborn clothes. I tried some 0-3 month things on you, but they're still just too big. You started the month off in newborn diapers and finished in size 1 diapers. And I've put you in cloth diapers a few times now, but I haven't committed fully to them yet. Very soon though! 

Loving // You love being in the baby carrier/wrap. You fall asleep instantly. You really love being snuggled and held. 

Loathing // Your brothers adore you and always want to be touching you and kissing you and invading your space, and I'm not sure you're a huge fan of that ...yet. Truly, there isn't much you don't like. You don't mind baths and you don't mind tummy time. You don't really like to eat. We can get through like half of your bottle before you start squirming and pushing the bottle away. It's really hard to feed you!

Doctors Appointments // This month you had six appointments - three appointments to the pediatrician for weight checks and what not and three appointments at Children's with the pulmonologist and an occupational therapist that helped with feeding as well as a nutritionist that made sure we were on target with caloric intake!

Milestones// So many milestones this month. You started the month in the hospital and ended the month in our home! You started the month with a feeding tube and ended the month without one! You started the month on the nasal cannula at 1/4 liter and you were on it all the time and you ended the month with it just at night. In fact, the Dr said you probably don't need it at all, but he'd be a whole lot happier if we just continued you on it at night and during feeds if you needed it. And you're doing great! The Dr. said he wanted you off it entirely before your next appointment with him, which will be in another month. You've survived your first month in our home, and that in itself is a milestone!! You had all your firsts at home, first bath, first sleep in your bed, first So many snuggles. First car ride!! First trip to the hood canal. First trip to Bainbridge Island, Carkeek Park, Jack's school, and first trip to Children's!

Jack by month 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12

Ryan by month 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 //12