Aaron's First Few Weeks

This might not be a newsflash to anyone else, but it was to me; having a newborn is a lot of work. I knew that they slept a lot so I thought that I'd be able to get so much done while he was asleep. HA! Time has been warped for me ever since I went into labor and hasn't slowed down since then.  Because of that, I don't remember everything from Aaron's first few weeks. But he's adorable :)

SLEEPING

I remember being nervous to go to bed that night, unsure of what to expect with just Sammy and I and no nurses on call to come help us. Aaron's doctor suggested that we put a binder in his pack and play so that he was at an incline, since he was super pukey and coughed a lot. However when I put him to bed that night, he just wiggled all over the bed and got himself so that his feet were on the incline and his head was upside down. So that didn't work. 

That first night with him sleeping so close to me I was shocked at just how many noises he made in the night. My mom had warned me that babies are noisy sleepers, but I thought she'd been exaggerating. Aaron didn't spend long sleeping in his actual bed that first night and went immediately to the rock and play. 

It was a shock to both of us just how often we had to get up with him in the middle of the night. The second night we decided to take shifts with him sleeping out in the living room. That way we could watch tv while we struggled to get him back to sleep. I ended up sobbing while pumping and watching the Office because I was just so tired and I missed Sammy, but I wanted Sammy to get the sleep he needed so he could take over. After that night we decided no more living room, that we would try and figure all of this out in our room. That doesn't always work either though as it's hard to fall asleep next to a screaming baby.

In the middle of one night we were both so tired and said we couldn't do this anymore. I asked Sammy if we should purchase the sleep training class everyone talked about on Instagram to try and see if it would help. He told me we should try anything, then fell asleep. I purchased the class right then. In the morning he asked me what the credit card charge was and I told him it was the class he told me to purchase. Apparently I shouldn't listen to him when he tells me to buy things in the middle of the night. In reality though we did the sleep training course and I'm glad we did. We learned a lot and while all of it doesn't apply to Aaron, there have been a lot of helpful tools. 

Aaron would have a really good night, and then a bad one and has continued rotating like that ever since. Because of that, it's been hard to figure out what is and isn't working for him, or if he's just being a normal baby. Most nights though he goes three hours between feedings and sometimes we can get him to sleep for the majority of those stretches and sometimes he's fussy the whole time. He doesn't like to sleep in his pack and play, but we're working on that and trying to get him out of the rock and play.

EATING

Since he started off with that fluid in his stomach, Aaron has spit up a lot and been fussy and grunt when he ate. When he came home that didn't stop. He seemed to spit up everything he ate, and he'd arch his back and cry like he was in a lot of pain every time we tried to burp him. When we went to his first doctor's appointment, he hadn't gained enough weight and they were worried about him. They also suspected that he had acid reflux because of the way he was behaving. Because of that, he went on ranitidine and we started adding rice cereal to his food to try and keep it down. It worked because when we went to his next appointment, he'd gained half a pound in a week. He still continues to spit up a lot with each meal, but it's not as much as before. 

After a horrible time breastfeeding in the hospital, I didn't want to try that again and got super engorged. With the encouragement of my mom and sister though, I decided to try pumping to feel better. I can't tell you how excited I felt when I actually saw a few drops of breastmilk in the bottle. We were giving Aaron donor milk and formula at that point, and I was able to put those few drops in with his food. 

I continued pumping and didn't mind it that much. It was so rewarding to see my body making milk, and Aaron eating it. It was also nice that Sammy could feed him and Aaron wasn't totally dependent on me. At first I didn't mind pumping. I was making more than enough milk for Aaron, and it wasn't that bad. It was the hardest in the middle of the night when I'd have to feed Aaron, struggle to get him to go back to sleep, then have to pump. By the time I finished all of that, I'd have maybe an hour and a half to fall asleep again before he'd need to eat. Then I started getting clogged milk ducts every single day. As soon as I'd clear out the clog on one side, a new one would form on the other. Those were extremely painful and I couldn't sleep with them. My milk supply dropped off out of nowhere as well, and I tried unsuccessfully to increase it. Because it dropped off, we had to supplement with formula and Aaron became extremely fussy and gassy while we were switching back and forth between the two. After an entire month of lots of pain, tears, stress, and still nowhere near enough milk for my baby, I decided it was time to stop pumping and just do formula. I can't even describe how much of a relief mentally it was to take that off of my plate. 

POOPING

Isn't that what they say about babies? That they eat, sleep, and poop? Those first few weeks he went with every meal, but once he started having more formula that stopped. He has certain outfits that he always blows out in, no matter when the last time he went was. Once when he hadn't gone in awhile, I put him into the cutest Halloween onesie that was white, knowing that the universe would dictate he'd have to destroy it. He destroyed his Halloween costume the next day with a massive blowout too.  Now he goes everyday right when Sammy gets home. He's a smart boy like that ;)

The top half of his costume that wasn't destroyed.

ADVENTURING OUT 
  Aaron's first adventure out of the house was to Target. Then Fuzzy's Tacos, Walmart, and the Halloween store. If we leave right after we feed him, he usually falls right asleep and we have a good two hours of free time.

We were really good about going for walks the first week he was born. It felt so good to go outside and just be able to walk with my family.




BATHS 
Aaron's first sponge bath was filled with quite a bit of screaming.

After his first bath, his hair seemed a lot lighter. 

After each bath we have fun styling his hair and seeing how it comes out. 

PLAYING

I really had no idea what you were supposed to do when it came to playing with a newborn that can't see very far. Those first few days he didn't do much and when I tried to play with him, he wouldn't respond. Every once in awhile though he'd seem a little interested in his activity mat. 

Around five weeks Aaron has started to love laying out and wiggling in his bed to music, chatting away. He makes the cutest little sounds. 

He also loves to play with my hair. And by play, I mean pull. He wraps it in-between his fingers and won't let go. I keep finding strands in his mouth now. 

FAMILY

We could not have gotten through these past few weeks without the help of our family. I can't even express just how much they've done for us, and how lost we would be without them. I'm so grateful that we have family so close by and they've been so willing to help. 

OTHER CUTENESS

We just love this boy so stinking much.