the baby blog of bryan and rebecca
We took Mason out the the western suburbs today to meet his great grandparents on Rebecca’s side. Needless to say, we took some pics. After that we took Mason on a visit to the Bolingbrook Ikea (heehee, we didn’t take any pics of that, sorry).
He has been pretty cranky the last day or so, and it was suggested that he is having a growth spurt. He has been lifting his head up again, of course I have pics.
So Mason rolled over today, at 2 weeks. Which makes sense cause all he ever tries to do is roll over. He sits in his cosleeper and tries and tries and tries and grunts and grunts and grunts as he tries to move. Rebecca set him in his crib on his back and went to the bathroom, when she came back, he was on his stomach, and was holding his head up. Last night he was on his side and kept trying to swing his legs around to get onto his stomach.
Hopefully this is indicative of things to come and he will be totally strong in a toxic spill kind of way and will be able to lift cars up and stuff. That would rule.
We took Mason on his first trip to Ikea! We took pics. We bought Mason a big stuffed snake. Then we took Mason to my co-worker Catherine’s house. Although Ikea didn’t have what we wanted in stock, it was a fun trip. Mason sat in the snugli and walked around Ikea no problem.
And yes, it is 4am. We got up with Mason. I did my quickest diaper change ever and we put Mason back down to sleep after he ate a bit. Now it is time for me to go back to sleep.
Through a turn of events, I also got a new (to me, otherwise used) digital SLR camera today, so there will be more pics coming. Like for example I just took this otherwise unnecessary group of pics of us all hanging out after daddy got home from work. There will likely be more pics coming now.
(sorry for the lack of updates, I had a minor server problem)
Mason is sleeping well lately, although ONLY with us. He will sleep all day in any number of places, his pack-n-play, his co-sleeper, whatever. But as SOON as it is night time and it is time to go to sleep, Mason is NOT happy anywhere but in bed with us. He will sit in his bed and try to move around and moan and grunt until we pick him up. Then he is fine. So he has been sleeping with us. It is actually really cute. He sleeps between us and he is totally fine. No pillows, nothing underneath him. Once we put him in bed with us, he falls asleep right away and sleeps for about 4-6 hours at a stretch no problem.
He is awake and alert more and more each day, which is nice. We have started taking him for walks, and though he sleeps most of the time in the snugli, he doesn’t mind it, and it is nice for us to be out and about. Too bad it is so dark after work now. I have started working again, and that is fine, although it would be nice to be at home with Mason and Mom.
We took Mason out to lunch both Saturday to Feast and Sunday to Flying Saucer. He was fine, and slept most of the time at each in his infant carrier. He is really a pretty good little kid overall. Rarely cries.
We gave him a bath last night, figured it would be a good idea. I have no idea how often you should bathe a baby. Although he was cold, he seemed ok with the entire process.
The other interesting thing of the weekend… my mom brought over some pics of me when I was newborn, and man does Mason look exactly like me. It is really funny. I will scan some pics in and post them up for comparison.
So we had our first pediatric appointment today with our pediatrician this AM and it went well. We were initially concerned as the doctors at the hospital were SO concerned about the bilirubin and whatnot. The pediatrician was very calm, collected, and knowledgeable and told us that our bilirubin levels were totally normal and safe. He pointed out that he is above weight (good thing) by 5 ounces and he looked great. Doctor said “your baby is perfect”. Which of course we already knew, but you know… 😉 But overall it was just nicer to have a doctor that was very upbeat, positive, and ran along the same lines that we did. Phew. Rebecca was very relieved.
The car ride with Mason was fine, he seems to be fine riding in the car. Odd thing, both the passenger side rear seats in both cars have SOME issue with them, so the baby has to ride behind the driver. Which is usually me. Which means that I have to ride all forward and what not. It sucks. I need to get those things fixed. Soon.
well mason’s bilirubin finally got low enough and we were allowed to leave (13.1 for those that are in the know). We just got home about 1 hour ago. His first ride in the Audi was good, although it is really hard to drive slow and it MAY not have been the best time to be driving in the rain with temps in the 40s and race tires and race pads on, but all went fine.
On the way home we stopped at taco bell. Mason didn’t get anything, but that is because he didn’t know the menu and he couldn’t make up his mind quick enough. You snooze you lose. Rebecca and I got dinner.
BIG thanks to the mom’s who I know worked hard to clean the house for us, it looks great. Everything is neat and clean. And Gail bought food and many other little do dads that look great.
Today was a long day of anxious waiting, but we are all home, all are well, and now it is time to actually pretend to be normal, get used to life with the baby (as best we can for now). Rebecca is still sore from the delivery and her stitches, so I am playing run around the house guy for a bit. I gotta figure out when I am going back to work.
are on my fotki… more will follow.
So the official word is that his Strep B culture came back negative, so he is fine there. The only still out standing is his level of bilirubin. There is a sliding scale I guess that takes into account age in hours and bilirubin level and plots it on a percentile. We are in the 75th percentile. So currently Mason is sitting under a bili-lite and on top of a bili-blanket in an attempt to get the levels lower.
Basically, bilirubin is a yellow pigment released during the normal breakdown of red blood cells. It is carried in the blood until the liver grabs it and filters it out. The issue is that, in infants, there is more bilirubin in the blood stream than the liver can breakdown and thus the yellow pigment actually gets absorbed and the babies skin takes on a yellow color. The lights help break the bilirubin down and thus makes it easier for the liver to filter it out, I guess?
So the bilirubin levels are higher in breastfed babies, which Mason is. So they have him under the lights in an attempt to get his level down below 13. He was at 14 this AM… It is a bit confusing, since the levels on the chart go up as the baby gets older. So it is not an exact science really, or so it would seem based on the words of the pediatrician. So we are under the lights, waiting for the level to drop. So we wait some more. The light treatment runs for 6 hours and then they restest. The test takes about 1 hour to run. If it is higher than, I would imagine 13?, then we go under the lights for another 6 hours plus 1 hour test. So We leave at 4pm. Or we leave at 11pm. Or we leave at 6am tuesday. Or Or Or etc.
So we are eager to leave, and technically too high levels of bilirubin can eventually pass the barrier into the brain and hurt development, although I doubt that is likely, it really isn’t worth getting home 6 hours earlier for that. So we wait…
Mason Alexander Knight