Our little one is growing so fast!

Ethan turned 4 weeks old yesterday. I can't believe that he'll be a month old on Tuesday already! Looking at the pictures, he sure has grown a lot compared to his first day pictures.

We weighed him last night and he was 10 lbs 12 oz. Almost 11 lbs! And we had been talking about letting him sleep as long as he would for a while, so we tried that on Friday night. (We had been waking him up every 4-5 hrs to feed at night before Friday.) We fed him at 11pm like usual, and we all went to bed. I woke up around 4am because I was uncomfortable, so I had to pump. But no sign of Ethan waking up. Finally at 7am he woke up! He slept 8 hours straight! Then I fed him and he went back to sleep until 10:30. Last night (saturday night) didn't go as well, but he slept 6+ hours straight too.

Saturday we left Ethan with Grandpa and Grandma Claassen and Jeff and I had our first date night after Ethan was born. We went out for a dinner, ran errands, and came home and sat in the hot tub. I was not allowed to sit in a hot tub during the pregnancy, so it was so nice to get back in it! I didn't like being at home without our little guy much, so maybe we need to go out next time. It was nice to catch up with Jeff without holding Ethan or thinking "oh, he needs to eat soon".

We moved Ethan from his bassinet to his crib last night also. Considering that he slept 6 hours straight, he doesn't mind sleeping in the crib. He was getting kind of big for his bassinet so it was time to move him to the crib, but now he looks so little in it! We have a sleeping positioner so it kept him from moving all over the crib, and I'm sure he felt cozy and familiar on the positioner.

Next week I'll need to start cooking (thanks to our sunday school friends, I didn't have to cook for the last two weeks, and my mom was here before that). I may cook curry tonight while Jeff plays with Ethan and eat that for the rest of the week...

Happy 3 weeks birthday!

Ethan is 3 weeks old now. I feel like he has grown a lot this week. We weighed him today at home (not too precise of a scale but is close enough) and is 10 lbs now. No wonder why my arm gets sore when I'm feeding him! He looks like he is more looking at things now, and is very alert. He continues to hate taking naps during the day but sleeps very well at night.

Today was Jeff's first Saturday without my mom here. Jeff got to experience how Ethan is during the day (not sleeping). And Jeff was kind enough to let me sleep in the morning while he held Ethan. Yes, Ethan sleeps well if you hold him. But then you don't get much done... So I feel pretty rested today :-)

We bought a cheaper version of Baby Bjorn imitation from Jeep. I would say it's as easy as Baby Bjorn to put him in and out, and is pretty comfortable. I tried it on Friday afternoon because Ethan was being fussy every time I put him in his bassinett, and he fell asleep pretty quickly and stayed asleep for over an hour! We did buy Baby Bjorn too, but I guess we'll return that one. Jeff's co-worker offered us a Moby Wrap, so we'll try that next week too. Yey for hand me downs! If you have some, feel free to send them my way :-)

2 week check up

Ethan had his first doctor's appointment today; two week check up. He is a little shy of 2 weeks old, though. He weighs 9 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long. We are pretty proud of his weight gain, considering that he was down to 7 lbs 11 oz 8 days ago. He sure has been eating a lot! But he did amazing at the doctor's office. He fell asleep as soon as we put him in the car, did not cry at all while the nurse and the doctor poked him around and weighed him and such, and was very content looking outside on the way home (although I don't think he can see much yet).

He has been sleeping well except for the afternoons. At night, he usually eats at 11pm, at 3am, and at 7am. And in the morning he usually does ok, but in the afternoon, he is up most of the time wanting to eat. Today has been a little better and he is up but a little happier. What do I play with 12 days old though? I've been reading whatever I'm reading to him out loud and making up songs. But it would be a lot easier once he is able to see better.

My mom is leaving on Saturday, so the true challenge will start next week for me. We are thinking of getting a Baby Bjorn baby carrier so I can carry him around. We bought a carrier from Infantino at a garage sale, but it is not very easy for me to put him in it by myself. And I have heard good things about Baby Bjorn... it's a bit pricy, but if this can spare my sanity, it's worth it! If you have other recommendations, let me know!

Happy 1 week birthday!

Ethan is 1 week old today. This past week flew by so fast. We got home on Monday and we had a semi rough start but we are getting the hang of it.

Ethan lost 13% of birth weight by the time home care nurse came on Wednesday. I think my milk came in a little later (maybe because of c-section?) and was not producing enough for him. We fed 18 times within 24 hrs before we went to see a lactation specialist on Thursday, and he had gained 2 oz back! This was very tiring for all three of us.

Since yesterday, he has been sleeping 2-3 hours and much more content. Yey for a happy baby with a full tummy! We are finally catching up with our sleep (ok, somehow two 2-hr sessions feel like a good night's sleep now). I hope it will continue.

Below links are Ethan's pictures on Picasa, but I made an album for each day, so we have a few links. Enjoy!

May 31
June 1
June 2
June 3

Welcome Ethan James Claassen!

After a long labor, Ethan James Claassen was born on Saturday, May 30, at 9:40 am. He was 8lbs 14.5oz and 19.75 inches long.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to have a non-stress test. The test showed that I was having some contractions but not many, and he was healthy. We scheduled for induction on Saturday at 8am, but we sure were hoping that he would come out before Saturday.

I started having contractions 10-15 minutes apart that night. Since I was bleeding a little, I called the doctor on thursday morning and she recommended me to go to the hospital. At the hospital, the nurse checked and said "your contraction is 7 minutes apart and you are 3 cm dilated, but not yet. I can feel the baby's hairy head though." We walked around the hospital for about an hour but there was not much progress. So we went home.

Friday morning, my contractions went down to 5 minutes apart, but each contraction lasted about 2 minutes with some horrible back pain. We went to the hospital again, hoping that it was it. Same nurse checked me again and said "it's only 3-3.5 cm dilated. Your contractions vary between 4-6 minutes. I'm surprised how slow it's progressing!" The water was bulging so she did not check too much. We were sent home again.

I kept having contractions about 4-6 minutes apart all day long, pain of about 7-9 on scale of 1-10 (yes, I know I don't tolerate much pain). Around midnight, we decided "ok, we won't be sleeping tonight, and we'll be back at the hospital again in 8 hours anyway, so let's call the doctor and see what options we have". The doctor agreed with us that we should get some sleep since we hadn't slept for two nights at that point. We went to the hospital at 1:30 am, got the epidural at 4 am and I slept for 3 hrs. Oh, that was the best sleep I'd ever gotten! My water broke at 7 am, and the doctor checked me for the last time. Then he said "well... it doesn't feel like a head". He quickly did an ultrasound and sure enough, the baby was breech! We quickly shifted our plan from induction to c-section. The surgery started at 9:35 and he was out at 9:40!

Looking back now, it makes sense that my labor went forever long and I had a horrible back pain. Our guess is that he flipped sometime on Thursday after we came back from the hospital. Even though it was not how we planned to have him, I was glad that I had a c-section considering how big he is. All the doctors and nurses were good, too, that I have nothing to complain about.

We've been home for over 24 hours now, and all three of us are still adjusting to this new life. I feel like Jeff and I have learned so much already! It has been a lot of fun hanging out with Ethan. Oreo is adjusting to Ethan ok, too. Ethan sure has been more awake and crying a lot more than when we were at the hospital, but he is only three days old. We'll see how our next few weeks will go :-)