So we’re home and adjusting. Things are going really well. Jacob is growing fast. He had his first Dr’s appointment on Tues. and as of that afternoon he’d gained 11oz. and grown an inch since birth. Not too bad for the first 9 days of life. Made me glad that I didn’t go over my due date or I would have been giving birth to a much larger baby.
Last night we put him to bed at 10:30pm and he slept until 4:00am and then slept until 7:00am when I woke him up. We’re finding that he’s a very low maintenance baby. If his basic needs are taken care of, he’s content to lay in his pack n’ play by the window and just hang out. It’s taken us the last 12 days to figure out what his basic needs are however. Poor Jacob suffered through an entire night until Nate and I learned that he likes to be warm… Go figure.
So now we know he likes to be
1. fed
2. dry
3. burped
4. warm.
If those criteria are met he’s happy as a monkey in a monkey tree. But let me tell you, getting all 4 of those needs met at the same time can be quite challenging. If he’s fed, then he needs burped, then he needs to be changed and has most likely leaked pee onto his clothes, so we have to change him head to toe, then he gets cold and starts crying which gives him the hick-ups, which makes him need to burp. Five diapers and three outfits later you get all that fixed, and then it’s time for him to eat again.
I wish that I had more interesting info to write about, but truthfully we’ve been sucked into baby world for the past two weeks and are just now gradually starting to resume bits and pieces of normal life. I guess that next week will be the true test though. Last week Nate was home all week, this week my sister Erin is here, but next week it’s just me and the kid. Thankfully the week after that my mom is coming and all will be right with the world again. She has that effect on me.
So, as you may have already predicted, this week is going to be “baby week” on the family blog.
Now don’t worry, this blog is not going to become “the jacob blog”. I plan on setting up a separate section dedicated to those loving few who are interested the little details and day-to-day cuteness. This new section will feature videos such as “what a cute sneeze!”, “aren’t his feet just darling?”, and other gripping featurettes. You’ll have the ability to opt-in to these posts if you want to view them.
That said, because he is so new I’ll be posting more details about the birth, pictures, and videos on this section of the blog as the week goes on. The best way to keep informed of updates is to subscribe to our rss feed (and if you don’t know what rss is, just watch this video).
One last thing, I’ve setup a sidebar widget which shows our most recent photos, which are currently all of jacob and co. This is updated live as I upload them.
NOTE: Friends and family can see a whole gang of photos that I’ve uploaded. There’s over a thousand family photos that are only accessible to friends and family. Want to become a Flickr friend? Visit this page.
Things around here are going well. Today I’m 38 weeks pregnant, and feeling it. We’re all set and ready for the baby to come. We have the crib, the car seat, the clothes, a diaper bag, and a place to put it all. Now if we only had the baby around to actually start using it.
We finished up our birthing classes and really enjoyed them. There were some interesting people in the classes with us. There was only one couple whose names we learned. Maria and Orlando. They were a very sweet older couple who were having their first child. There were also the couples that we didn’t know but stereotyped.
There was the Mail Order Bride couple: a young Asian woman who didn’t speak much english, and the American husband who looked to be in his fifties and said that he had a 21 year old child from a previous marriage.
There was the Big Ankles couple: the name pretty much sums them up. The poor mother-to-be had ankles the same size as her upper leg. Pregnancy swelling seemed to have hit her quite hard.
There was the Teengage Mother couple: we’re not exactly sure how old this couple was, the girl still had braces and her mother attended each class with them.
There was one couple who was very tall. The husband was just a very very large man, and when the wife started asking questions about birthing balls, our friend Maria kept repeating that if she bought one, she would need to buy a very large ball to accommodate her height. Nate and I laughed at how many times Maria emphasized to this girl that she would need to buy the largest size available.
Another couple I felt sorry for the woman for being married to such a jerk. There wasn’t anything completely terrible about him, he was just steadily sarcastic and made those, “I can’t wait for her to get over the pregnancy hormones and stop having those annoying mood swings” comments. I don’t know the woman, maybe she wasn’t a walk in the park, but still.
There was a single girl who always had my heart during “couples exercises” when she didn’t have anyone to couple up with.
Then there was one couple in particular who seemed to not differentiate their behavior between a public setting and the privacy of ones own living room. The husband was frequently seen rubbing the mothers belly in a slow petting way, and she would put her hand up her own shirt, or down the front of her pants to rub her belly, or feel the baby’s movements. There’s just something shockingly inappropriate about seeing a very pregnant woman feel her own body underneath her clothing. So weird.
Other than that we’ve just been hanging out. Today we went swimming and had dinner with the Spanglers. On Sat. Nate discovered the wonder that is Wii Fit at his parents house. This Thur. and Fri. Nate is taking off work and we’re looking forward to having a nice long weekend of relaxing before the baby comes - if he’s not here by then.
We’re kind of skeptical that I’ll make it to my due date, but I’m not sure how much of that is based on actual evidence and how much is wishful thinking. Yesterday I ate a big salad with balsamic vinegar on it, which is supposed to encourage labor and even if it doesn’t work, it’s still good to fill up on leafy greens.
I think as the big day nears we’ll also be taking some long evening walks to keep the baby headed in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll spot Sprinkles, the neighborhood skunk while we’re out. We’ll be sure to keep our distance.
