Lessons Learned - Fin's Second Week

I have come to the conclusion that being a pediatric PA in no way prepared me for the actual EXPERIENCE of parenting a newborn (I know, I know...all of you parents out there are chuckling...like DUH).


Lesson#1: It's difficult to wake up a sleeping newborn to eat - the "stroke his feet," "undress him," "change his diapers" tactics that I tell parents to try do NOT work; the best way we found to wake the sleeping little bugaboo is to dunk his feet in cold water (I hear the collective *gasp* from all of you non-parents but all of you parents are like, "yup, tried that"). When my milk came in, Fin couldn't latch well, which made him hungry, which made him drowsy, which made it harder to wake up to feed - it was a vicious cycle and at our first doctor's appointment last week, Fin had lost 11 oz from his birthweight. When we went back 2 days later, he'd already gained back 3.5 oz, and now he's back to birthweight, so he's got the eating thing down finally, and he's easier to wake up. However, he still doesn't LIKE to wake up. We have a hilarious video of him trying to wake up - our favorite noise is the little squeak he makes after he fusses a bit.



Here are pictures of us at his first doctor's appointment at my office - my friend, Jonathan, was the one who saw us for the visit.



Lesson#2: When you change a baby's diaper, make sure you leave the old diaper under him/her while you wipe him/her off; otherwise, you set yourself up for a runny mustardy poopy mess all over your brand new changing pad cover that will NOT come off with laundering, even with using super strength Zout stain remover (why didn't anyone TELL me about this?!?)

Lesson#3: When you prepare your child's wardrobe, don't assume that 0-3 months actually means 0 months - it's more like 1-3 months; make sure you have plenty of NEWBORN outfits, like this adorable one (of only 4 that we have) that Fin wore to church on Sunday.


Lesson#4: Newborns CAN do tummy time almost immediately - here's a video of Fin on the tummy time mat; it's amazing how he's already using his legs and arms to push himself up.

Lesson#5: Do not attempt to sponge bathe baby on the floor vs. the bathtub (please refer to Lesson#2 for why this is a bad idea) - at least tile is easier to clean than the changing pad cover! Here's Fin about 30 seconds before the explosion - doesn't he look like he's planning something?!?


Lesson#6: When swaddling a baby, make sure you wrap him tightly, in case you have a little escape artist like ours. Here's a shot of Fin about 30 minutes after I put him down swaddled "tightly."



Random photos of our little man during his second week...

Elvis lips - he inherited these from his mother


Chillin' with Daddy

Listening to one of Daddy's silly jokes

Shock and awe face