8 weeks old

On Friday 11/15 E was 8 weeks old. 

It is official, more than half of my maternity leave is over. I had originally had November and December marked off for 8 weeks of maternity leave in case I was recovering from a c-section. Because I had him 6 weeks early, that 8 weeks turned into 14 weeks! Unfortunately, it is mostly unpaid. 

My contract changed in June and I now have 3 weeks of vacation each year. I also have 6 sick days. Finally, I have Aflac which gets you 2 weeks of pay. So in total, I had about 6 weeks of pay. Because we had to spend 10 days in Las Vegas, NV (on our own dime) we are really living off of savings rather than that 6 weeks of pay. Oh well, we will survive. 

Anyway... back to the baby...

An 8 week old baby...he doesn't look 8 weeks old, he doesn't feel 8 weeks old, and I guess it is because he is only 2 weeks adjusted. I can't believe he is that old already. I'm glad I get another 6 weeks at home with him as I feel he is just getting into a routine and I am really just now getting to know him. He slept so much when we first brought him home. Now he has stretches where he is awake an hour or more at a time. From 35 weeks gestation to nearly 40 weeks gestation or birth to 6 weeks old, he slept nearly 22 hours a day total. Now he sleeps maybe 16-18. It feels a whole lot different to have a baby that is awake sometimes and becoming mildly interactive.

E weighed in at the pediatrician on Wednesday and he is now 8lbs, the size we expected him to be born at. He feels heavier...the carseat with him in it feels heavier! He is completely out of preemie cloths, they have been packed away and given back to those that loaned us clothing. He is getting much more use of of newborn clothing than we ever expected. I haven't pulled out the 3 mos old cloths just yet though. 

We are back in cloth diapers too. The circumcision is healed and we are finally getting a hold of this diaper rash. Just as the rash was beginning to heal it suddenly got worse. The doc said that he thought it might be a yeast infection and prescribed Nystatin at his appointment on Wednesday. It started to get better immediately. However, we were advised to switch to a different routine. We now wash his little butt in the sink after each poop, which is essentially every diaper change right now. Then I blow dry his butt with a hair dryer. It needs to be completely poop free and completely dry to apply the nystatin. It is truly unrealistic to let a newborn be without a diaper for any extended period of time, so this routine works best. However, it means taking a naked baby across carpet to get him to the sink. Having the diaper change station in the bathroom is not possible so the potential for a poopy carpet disaster is extremely high. I debated using cloth with the nystatin, but everything I've read says that it should be ok with natural fibers, so I'm using cotton prefolds and organic cotton all in ones. We shall see if it ruins them or if they simply need to be stripped afterwards. I just could not justify letting him outgrow my newborn prefolds without ever really using them. Also, I couldn't stand the though of buying more diapers. The cost of diapers is astronomical!!!

He is just my little cutey pie and I'm so happy to be his mommy!