The First Week

Andrew's now over a week old. Where did the days go? It seems like just days ago that he was born... This week has been mostly about sleeping (at least for Andrew), eating and diapers. Andrew was born weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. and his weight decreased to 6 lbs. 1 oz. by last Monday. It's normal for newborns to lose some weight off the bat, but this exceeded the 10% that's acceptable. He mainly lost the weight because he was too sleepy to eat (which might be because he was born 4 weeks early). After a minute or two he would dose off. To keep him eating we would have to wake him up (usually by putting my cold hands on his back) throughout the feeding. So feeding easily took up at least an hour. The doctor had us supplement with a bottle as well to try and boost his weight. On Friday he was weighed again and came up to 6 lbs. 6 oz., which is better than what was expected. He's also been a little more alert lately, though we still have to set an alarm to go off every 2-3 hours since he'll just sleep and not wake up crying because he's hungry (which we're told is the more common thing).

Erin's Aunt Jan has been with us since early Saturday morning and has been helping by taking shifts with me in caring for Andrew as well as helping with a ton of stuff around the house. Her being here has helped tremendously. A few good friends have also offered to help with bringing over meals and running errands which we'll probably take them up on between the time Jan leaves and my parents arrive.

Also this week we washed Andrew up a bit for the first time since right after he was born. Erin thought he was starting to smell a little. Not in too bad a way, but not in a clean way... Because of the umbilical stump remaining, it was recommended that we just use a washcloth with warm water. He'll get a real bath soon. Especially since just today the umbilical fell off. Speaking of which, it wasn't too bad due to my handiwork. When he was born the doctor offered to let me cut it, and thinking on my toes I made sure to cut it as short as possible. I really think this helped keep things from getting gross over the last few days.

Next up, finger nail clipping. Wish me, or rather Andrew, luck in not accidentally clipping a bit of his finger.