What a Big Boy!

Well, we saw the pediatrician yesterday for Espen's 2 week check-up, and he has gained 1 pound, 1 ounce since last week! Holy Cow! No wonder he was eating so much! The doc says he looks very healthy and strong, and a little ahead of the curve on muscle tone (future all-star!). He is really starting to work his neck muscles well. Maybe because he is constantly rooting around for a meal. :) He still is not nursing, which is the one thing the doctor wants us to work on. It's going to be a rough next few days trying to force him to do something he is so resistant to, but I guess it's good practice for later when I have to make him clean his room. :) He's sleeping for longer stretches too, which is a nice relief for mom and dad, although we weren't really smart about it and forgot to take naps yesterday, resulting in a really tired and cranky mommy and daddy. Mom ended up getting about 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep last night and dad is sleeping now, though, so it's all ok. (Espen is also sleeping, and mommy should too, but I want to be awake in case Espen wakes up so that Jason can get a few hours of shut-eye.)

Espen's gooky eye is getting better. His left eye has been crusty since birth due to a clogged tear duct. We are trying to keep it clean, although sometimes it still gets glued shut and Espen becomes a pirate baby. :) Argh! Get this... The pediatrician said to help it heal up we should put drops of breastmilk in it! Isn't that crazy! Apparently breastmilk has white cells in it and can be used to promote healing. I never would have thought of that! You learn somthing new every day. Espen is not very happy about us putting stuff in his eye, but it does seem to be helping.

Well, gotta go. Espen is awake and being cute. I don't want to miss a second!

Quick Update

Not much time before the hungry birdie needs to feed again, but I wanted to let everyone know that Espen is doing great. Every day gets a little better as we settle into what I loosely describe as a "schedule." He eats almost constantly, which makes sense, I guess, as he is a growing boy! We have another appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow and I am anxious to see how much he weighs now. He feels a lot heavier than he did when he was first born, but it could be because I am just really exhausted now. I was exhausted then too, but I wasn't up running around trying to make myself dinner and such. I miss hospital room service. :) Uh oh... Espen's waking up... Gotta run! I'll post after we see the doc...

P.S. I fixed the link to Espen's Web Nursery pictures on the left. Check them out!

Espen's first week

I can't believe it has been a week already, and yet, it feels like a lifetime! So much has happened this past week! After the first 2 nights, his gas issue got much better, although he still poots quite a bit, and it's often quite stinky. (Jason sometimes calls him Vladimir Putin.) He's not a big burper or spitter (yet), which is nice, but, WOW, we go through diapers like there's no tomorrow. (Are diapers the biggest industry in America? If not, I shudder to think what is!)

The third evening we were in the hospital Espen started turning orange, and by late night he looked like a little carrot. Obviously this raised some red flags, and blood tests showed that he wasn't eliminating bilirubin fast enough. (For those of you that don't know, bilirubin is a naturally occuring toxin in blood that the liver naturally breaks down and eliminates. However, in newborns, the levels often get really high because thier livers aren't mature enough to process all the toxins. This occurs more often in babies that have a high birth weight, are breastfed, and born by C-section, among other risk factors.) The hospital staff was concerned that Espen wasn't getting enough food to flush his system out as my milk hadn't come in yet. Before the jaundice got out of control, we needed to take some steps to fix it. We started supplementing with formula, which was hard for me at first, since I really wanted to breastfeed, but the main concern was getting Espen healthy. He also had to spend a day in a "bili-blanket." He could only come out for feedings, which was also hard because I just really wanted to hold him. They did let him stay in our room, which was so great. He looked like something out of a sci-fi movie when he was in his "anti-tanning" bed. :)

The morning of day five brought good news! His levels were down enough that we could take him off the bili-blanket. We were so happy that Espen would be able to come home with us! We spent all day cuddling him to pieces! He has since seen the pediatrician twice and they took another bili level and everything is looking good. He will still be a tad yellow for a couple of days, but you can barely tell. Everything else is grand and he is putting weight on well.

Before the nurses came to take out the bili-blanket, though, Espen bid it a not-so-fond farewell. :) We were trying to get him dressed up for his first official pictures (see the link at the left), and we were changing his diaper. During the course of this, Espen started spitting up. For those of you who know me really well, you know that I have a mortal fear of choking (I don't know why), so I turned his head to the side so he wouldn't choke. Jason made a joke about taking a picture to torture Espen with later in life, and, as if on cue, a giant arc of urine shot straight towards Jason, soaking the bili-blanket, the bassinet, the hospital room floor, and missing my bed and his new outfit by inches. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! The nurse took one look at the mess and just threw the bili-blanket in the trash. :) Thankfully the picture people were running a little late and we had a few minutes to clean him up and get him dressed.

We checked out (makes it sound like a hotel stay doesn't it?) at 7:00 that evening and headed off to a whole new adventure, with no nurses on call 24/7. Yikes! We actually did pretty well that first night. Very little sleep, but it was nice to be home. The only problem was our bed. It is up kind of high and that made it really hard to get in and out with my incision. Thanks mom, for bringing me a step-stool! It is SO MUCH easier now!

Espen has become quite the voracious eater! When we were first told we had to supplement with formula, Espen had already dropped 10% of his birth weight and was becoming a little frantic at feeding times. It seemed like he was always trying to nurse, and when he got too frantic, all he would do is scream. It broke my heart. He was so much calmer when we could give him his food right away without a struggle. Well, that may have caused a little bit of a problem. Aparently Espen is a very lazy eater. :) We haven't really been able to get him to latch on at the breast since we introduced the bottle. I'm still trying, but he just goes nuts and socks me in the chest with his tiny fists. I was/am adamant about him getting breastmilk, though, so I pump every few hours and he gets that in a bottle. We have almost completely eliminated the formula, which I am very proud of, as it has taken a lot of effort and discipline to pump constantly when all I want to do is sleep when I put the baby down. The really nice thing about pumping is that we know exactly how much he is getting. He's eating 3+ ounces an average of every 2 hours! For one week old, that's an awful lot! He's a growing guy after all! That does make it very hard to do anything else though... namely sleep! So sorry about the long hiatus in posting. I have been a little busy! :)

Jason has been wonderful, helping out in every way. He has become quite the pro at diaper changing and he often feeds Espen next to me while I pump. A lot of times he'll be the first one to Espen's side when he cries. Jason is such a great dad. You can tell how much he loves him. Despite the lack of sleep, we are quite the happy little family.

Yesterday was Espen's one week birthday and we celebrated with a trip to the mailbox to enjoy the nice weather. Espen seemed to like being outside and I'm glad that the weather is starting to finally realize that it's spring. (Albeit today's weather was yucky.)

Mommy got her staples removed today and Espen was the star of the office! All the nurses were just gaga over him! (Not that it's hard...) Everywhere we went in the hospital we met his adoring public. :) He was actually pretty good for this photo with Dr. Anstey (who delivered him), considering the last two times he saw Dr. A., Espen was yanked out of the womb and circumsized.






Today was also Espen's first natural disaster! :) Not that he noticed or anything. I know that having a baby shakes your whole world, but that was ridiculous. :) Around 4:30, when the earthquake hit, Jason and Espen were sleeping and I had just gotten up to pump, when, I swear, the whole nursery changed shape. None of the walls seemed like they were at right angles and the floor was rolling oddly. After a split second of "What the ....?", my first thought was "Get the baby! Get in a doorway!" I tore down the hall, yelling, "Jay!" By the time I reached the bedroom, Jason was up and asking, "What the ....?", and the quake had stopped. Thank goodness I didn't wake the baby, as it wasn't that strong of a quake, but it really rattled me. We felt an aftershock while we were at the OB's office, but thankfully it didn't happen while he was removing my stitches. :) I am so glad that the quake didn't happen while we were still at the hospital. Could you imagine being in labor and having the whole building shake around you? Geez!

Ok, so I think that I have posted a long enough post for the time being. :) I am going to try to get more pictures up on Shutterfly tonight. (Use the "Little Family Photo Album" link to the left.) There are about 250 new ones and it took over 4 hours to upload them yesterday. :) Not that we want to document his cute little face or anything. :)

Thanks to everyone who called, or e-mailed, or stopped by the hospital to say hi and to all those who sent gifts and flowers. We are truly blessed to have such loving friends and family. :) I will try to post again soon.

He's HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Espen Robert Little made his debut on April 10, 2008 at 5:48 pm. He is 9 lbs. 4 oz. and adorable! Mom, Dad, and baby are doing great! (Well, dad is ecstatic, mom is thrilled but sore, and baby is gassy.) :) Espen was born via C-section after 15 hours of labor. He is quite a big little guy, and he just wasn't going to fit. The labor actually wasn't too bad until my water broke, and then it hurt like you can't imagine (unless you've been in labor or totured at a Shanghai prison). I HIGHLY recommend the epidural to all those future mommies-to-be out there. I thought I would be able to tolerate the pain, but I am apparently much wussier than I thought. :) The epidural made everything happy again, and labor progressed much faster than I thought with it in. Plus it was a bonus to already have it when we had to switch gears and do the C-section.

Espen is practically perfect in every way! He is having a bit of an issue with gas this evening, and it is making his poor little tummy hurt. We're hoping that once he learns to breastfeed a little better he won't be gulping so much air, and less painful bubbles. Other than that (and an odd desire to stick his hands in his face, he is perfect! He is very alert and happy most of the time. He "talks" quite a bit, making cute babbling noises. I swear that when they brought him to me and I said, "hello," he said "hello" back! (Although it sounded more like "Eeee-roww.") I would say that his motor skills are also excpetional, as he reaches out and grabs Jason's or my fingers, but he has smacked himself in the head a few times today, so maybe I'd better not gush too much. :) Much to Jason's chagrin, Espen is an also overachiever in dirty diapers. :)

Espen is a Scadinavian name that means "Bear of the gods" or "Bear of God." He really is quite the little bear with his size. :)

I am putting up some pictures on Shutterfly, but here is one to tide you over. :)

Nursery Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the nursery. In case you can't tell, we went with an ocean theme. :) Jason and I both really like sea life, so it was a natural choice. We also figure that it can "grow up" a little if we take the little sea creature decals down.

Soon we will be a happy little family! Happy as clams!

(Although I think these are oysters. Oh well.)

I can't believe that baby time is almost here! :) I've been having a few, sporatic, minor contractions for a few days now, but my mom says that I have to hold the baby in for two more weeks so that she can finish MAP testing at school. I don't think that there is any way that it will be two more weeks. Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but I can't imagine getting any bigger! I can hardly move now! Every day it gets harder to move. :) It nearly takes a forklift to get me off the couch. :)

T-minus 9 days until D-day!