Sawyer Two Months

Weight: 11 lbs 1 oz (36th percentile)

Height: 22 1/4 in (26th percentile)

Head Circumference: 15 in (13th percentile)

During his second month Sawyer:

• Spent some time outside on the porch swing during our random spring-like weather. We've been in hibernation mode so it was nice to get some sunshine.

And obviously a bit tiring...

• Sent some peace out to the world

• Loved on his Grandma Paula during his first Superbowl

• Revisited his coming home outfit that actually fits him now. He also wore the outfits that Dillon and I picked out waaaay before we were even considering children. 

Hospital homecoming outfit...obviously over the posing

Dillon's chosen outfit. Even though we were like 2 years away from pregnancy and had no idea if we'd have a boy.

My chosen outfit. Gender neutral. Chosen during one of my baby hungry phases, also like 2 years before we even thought about kids.

• Started cooing, babbling, and smiling when we talk to him. He gets crazy wiggly and happy about it so grabbing a decent picture is difficult but it's so, so cute!

• Started moving his hands in and out over and over like he's squeezing an imaginary stress ball. He does this all the time and concentrates so hard as he discovers his world. I've got no picture but I love watching him do it.

• Had a photo-op with Dr. Gatherum.

• Kept up his endearing quirk of pursing his lips after finishes eating like he's reeeaaal satisfied.

Not quite as pursed as usual..but every time I tried to grab a picture he stopped doing it.

• Celebrated his first Valentine's Day with me and Dillon

• Sprouted some eyelashes as well as some peach fuzz hair on his head so he doesn't just have little spikes going on in the back...though those are still there.

• Visited Grandma Paula's work (one of the two mom-approved places he goes besides home right now) where he was promptly given a sucker that he grasped onto tightly. We'll keep that for consumption at a later date.

• Outgrew 95% of his newborn clothes and moved on to 0-3 mo clothes.

• Maintained his puker status and added gassiness to the mix. Though being held in this position seems to help.

• Still preferred his hands by his face.

We just love this little guy and can't get enough of him. I really love getting to know his personality and preferences. I've loved spending all of this time with him and am trying to ignore the fact that I go back to work on Monday. I just try to remind myself that it's only 12 weeks and then we'll spend so much time together he'll probably end up sick of me. Let the countdown begin.

Sawyer's Newborn Pictures

Thanks to Mandi Madsen for capturing these moments of our babe. Check her out at http://modelmestudio.wix.com/photos

I decided I wanted to get some pictures of this newborn stage and Mandi did not disappoint! She was so cute with our little guy and I love how the pictures turned out. Try to pick a favorite because I sure can't. I love them all.

The Nursery

A few weeks before my due date I had one of my weekly prenatal appointments. While there, the doctor measured my belly as per usual. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, we were talking about the possibility of an eleven pound baby, a c-section, shoulder dystocia, etc. Apparently, I was measuring drastically large that week. Dr. Gatherum made it clear that I had the choice for delivery method. He wasn't going to force me either way but he did want to make me aware of the risks if my baby was in fact larger than normal. He had me schedule an ultrasound that would help determine the baby's size and decide my delivery fate.

The ultrasound was about a week away and sent me into panic mode in many ways but one of them was the baby's nursery and getting things washed and put away. You see, I never experienced any of that nesting stuff. None. I was aware of things that needed to be done but typically opted for relaxing instead. So the news of possibly giving birth to a gigantor baby two-ish weeks before planned sent me into forced nesting mode.

Things ended up being fine. The baby measured a normal size and my belly was actually smaller the next week. Still big, but smaller than before. So then plans went back to the normal waiting game.

All of that to say we finally put the nursery together a couple of weeks before the big day. Dillon did all of the painting and putting together of the furniture except for the dresser, I painted that bad boy a ridiculously bright blue that I love. I organized all of the baby stuff and got it put away.

Before- For the record that wallpaper border was a beast to remove. Bless my dear Grandma Baker's heart up in heaven. Every time we update part of the house, I shake my fist at her a little bit. The way she did stuff in the house was certainly meant to last. That border took hours, HOURS to remove.

After- We didn't go real theme-y for the nursery. We decided to use some pictures that Dillon and I had developed in the astronomy class we took together. We thought they were really cool and kept them, but never really had an excuse to hang them up. Nursery pictures for the win. You can't see them super well in the picture but they are of the moon, a comet, and a galaxy. I also stumbled upon the "I love you to the moon and back" printable on Etsy after deciding to use the space pictures; so that worked out perfectly.

Our Hospital Stay

A continuation of Sawyer's Birth Story for my own journaling purposes...

In the hustle and bustle of getting things cleaned up, the nurses let my mom pop in to see her new grandbaby (my dad had been with her but had to leave for a minute so he didn't see Sawyer right away). She loved on him for a bit and then it was time for him to try nursing (right when my dad got back..awesome). Trying to wrangle that business and keep it covered was not the easiest task so my parents decided to leave and come back later that night.

After nursing for a while, Nurse Cynthia was back with me and took Sawyer to clean him up more thoroughly, give him some shots, and all of that aftermath. He was completely content, as long as he was in the warm baby bed. Even while he got his shots he didn't make a peep but as soon as she took him to scrub him down he was not pleased.

After waiting for my legs to be a little more functional Nurse Cynthia decided it was time to get me cleaned up as well. We handed the baby to Dillon and the nurse told me we had to take getting up sloooowww so that I didn't get dizzy. So I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute. Good. I stood up and paused for bit. Good. Walked over to the bathroom with Nurse Cynthia. Good. Sat down. Not good. As I sat, I told the nurse that I was seeing stars. I leaned my head against the wall trying to get the spinning to stop. She had me lean over and put my head between my legs. "Better?" she said. "Um...no. Now I can't see at all." She hit the help button and my favorite nurses Carolyn and Phyllis rushed back in. This is where things get a bit foggy for minute. I remember Carolyn saying to come down towards her...then nothing...then her hair was in my face and I couldn't figure out why. I slowly processed that she was basically holding me up as I sat in my awkward stinkbug-like position.

Slowly they all lowered me to the floor. I laid there with a pillow under my head as they changed my gown and cleaned me up on the floor. Yup. Naked and dizzy on a hospital floor. The dignity of delivery and post-delivery. All modesty goes out the door and frankly, I didn't care. They were actually quite slick at sliding one gown under the other as they switched them out. 

They asked me whether I had had anything to eat since delivery. Uh....no. So they pumped me with some apple juice as I laid on the floor. I turned my head to look at Dillon and give him a weak grin. Poor guy was sitting in a chair, holding the baby and looking lost as to what to do.

The nurses got me up and into a wheelchair and wheeled me into a recovery room. They helped me into bed and brought Dillon and the baby in. It was decided I would try that whole standing up, walking, and bathroom routine later after I had eaten.

Dillon flicked the T.V. on and we found Jurassic Park, of all things, to watch. The channel was having a marathon of all three movies. We never felt like changing it and so, ended up watching each movie at least two times before we left the next day. 

We ordered dinner from the hospital cafeteria and about the time it was done, my parents came back with dinner in hand for Dillon. So Dillon and I split it and had a double dinner. Neither of us were sad about it. We were both starving. 

My dad finally got to hold Sawyer and was the first one to receive his tiny little baby smile.

They took off and it was just the three of us for a minute but then nurses switched shifts so Nurse Cynthia came in with Nurse Cathy to fill her in on all of the events of the day. Nurse Cathy and I figured out that I had taught her daughter in my class the year before and so talked about that for a little while. Then it was time for standing up and a bathroom trip again but I only made it as far as standing up this time and had to lay back down. Nurse Cathy suggested I drink water like crazy to hydrate to help with my dizziness. She then let me know that when she came back if I still couldn't make it to the bathroom on my own, it would be time for a catheter. (For the love! No, no, no, no, no.) Thankfully, the next time we tried I was able to maneuver successfully. Stiffly. Awkwardly. Painfully. But successfully.

Nurse Cathy was my nurse all through the night. She taught Dillon how to change a diaper (Which was about the cutest fumbling you've ever seen. Don't worry, he's a pro now. Probably due to the fact that he changed every single diaper while we were at the hospital. I didn't get up and down a whole lot). She was so sweet- a couple of times through the night, I heard her open the door but seeing that all three of us were peacefully resting she left and let us sleep for another hour or so instead of insisting it was time to do this or that. She also never kneaded my stomach like bread dough to "help" things go back to normal so she gets a thousand bonus points.

When morning came, things got busy. We saw Dr. Gatherum, Dr. Nielsen the pediatrician, a nurse who talked to us about Sawyer's hearing test, social security stuff, insurance stuff- all of the loose ends, the phlebotomist again, pretty much everyone. Our night had been so peaceful that the morning overwhelmed me and actually made me want to go home with my baby just so we could take a break again. 

Two of Dillon's sisters and his mom drove over from Delta and made it to the hospital just as it was time for us to check out. I'm glad they were there. It was helpful to have extra hands for everything we needed to carry out and get done. 

We got Sawyer dressed in his going home outfit. Which was way too big and that kind of made it even more adorable. Then we loaded him into the car seat which he thought was rather rude. They wheeled me and the baby out and helped us get situated in the car and that was that.

We were on our own as new parents. Things got really real. We drove home- on our way to a terrifyingly exciting, lifetime adventure.

Sawyer One Month

I blinked and Sawyer turned one month old!

I don't have his one month stats because he didn't have an appointment but here are some earlier stats I haven't yet recorded and want to before I forget...

At 3 days...

Weight: 6 lbs 15 oz (20th percentile).  

He had lost 12 ounces! Aaand bring on my first postpartum breakdown.

Height: 20 1/2 in (63rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 13.5 in (19th percentile)

At two weeks...

Weight: 7 lbs 10 oz (21st percentile)

Height: 20 3/4 in (56th percentile)

Head Circumference: 14 in (22nd percentile)

During his first month Sawyer:

• Outgrew most of his newborn jammies because he's too tall for one pieces but is still wearing normal newborn outfits
• Looked at me with a face that made me fall in love with him every day

• Threw up all.the.time. We're talking projectile. I don't see this one stopping in the next month.
• Proved that he is most content when his hands are by his face (which is exactly how he was on ultrasounds).

 

• Experienced his first bath and decided real baths are way better than sponge baths. There's something soothing about your bum sitting in a pool of warm water I suppose.

• Started to develop a hint of wrist rolls.

• Spent some time getting a little milk drunk.

• Didn't quite come to a verdict on tummy time. Toleration is where he seems to be at.

• Enjoyed some T.V. time with dad.

• Debuted his developing singing talent.

• And of course, stole our hearts.