Carter: Week 3

My baby is 3 weeks old! How is it that I can feel like he has been with us forever & at that exact same time like we brought him home from the hospital just yesterday? I almost can't remember what it was like before we had Carter. ALMOST. *wink*

This has been quite the busy week for our little guy. Monday & Tuesday were not such great days. I'm pretty sure that Carter was going through another growth spurt as he was eating almost non-stop. He slept very little both days & then Tuesday night slept like a log.

Wednesday we went & spent some time with the GG's (great grandparents) & Carter had his first REAL smile!! And it was purely for his momma. =) Since then he has smiled at daddy once & mommy one other time. I can't wait until he is smiling & laughing all the time. Carter also made his first happy cooing noise while he was awake & alert. It was while he was playing with great grandma. As you can see our boy also has been a lot more into his toys this week. When he is alert, awake & happy he LOVES playing. This was him during some tummy & play time the other day. I can't believe I actually caught him lifting his head up in a pic!!

This is also the first week that mommy has gotten peed on during a diaper change. Yikes! We went through 3 different outfits on Wednesday alone. He had reserved these special moments only for me until today when he finally peed on daddy.  *devilish grin*

Unfortunately.....I took baby boy to my work today & weighed him on the EXACT scale he was weighed on at his pedi appt last week (It was the exact same time of day & he had a diaper change just like at his appt). =( The first time I weighed him he was only 6lbs 13.6oz. I thought "OMG! He's not back to his birth weight at 3 weeks. I freaked out & adjusted the scale correctly & weighed him again. He still was only 6lbs 15.6oz. =( He is NOT gaining very well. He should have gained more then that in the last 10 days. In all honesty, I was expecting at least the low 7s. I am not a pleased momma. It means that since I have started pumping, he is going to have to start taking bottles of BM instead of me continuing to EBF. I can't risk my poor baby's health for my selfish wants. Since I don't really produce enough right now to continue to BF & pump I am going to have to start EPing for the time being. =(

Fortunately for us, Carter had no problem transitioning to a bottle. He was a little hesitant at first & still looks at momma kinda weird while I am feeding him, but it's amazing the difference it has already made in my poor little guy's demeanor. He is no longer fussing all evening long demanding to be fed every 10 minutes (last night he ate for 40 mins on one side, 40 mins on the other & then another 20 back on the other before he finally passed out). He had much more contented alert time this evening & is now fast asleep. I am hoping that he will catch up a bit in the weight gain this week & hopefully I can produce enough milk by pumping to keep him fed. Since he was eating for a good 40 mins per feeding & NOT emptying my breasts I will really have to keep up on the pumping to maintain & try to build up my supply. In the last two days of pumping alone I have found that I am getting the hang of it more. I may have to look into something to try to increase my supply. We'll see how this week goes. I'll keep ya'll posted.