One Month

It's hard to believe a month has already passed (more than one month, technically). Everyone warns you about how fast babies grow, but I really can't believe it. I literally watch him grow before my eyes, like one of those toy sponges that expand when you add water. It's simply amazing.

Hospital photo, within an hour or two of birth on 10/20/13

The past four and a half weeks, growing so fast!

Oliver weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz at his one month appointment, up from his birth weight of 6 lbs, 10 oz. He also added another 2.5 inches in length, which makes sense since he has outgrown several of his newborn jumpers due to length. He's only about 10-15% for weight, but nearly 70% for height, so we need to work on packing on the pounds. That shouldn't be too hard. He's become a much more ambitious feeder lately. (Thank goodness!)

This is a bit of a photo dump, but here are a few highlights from the past month. 

We have two main infant carrier options in this house. Nicole prefers the Ergo since it is two buckles and you're done. Adam prefers the Moby wrap, but he is far more coordinated than Nicole. Oliver likes both.

Sleeping Series No. 1

Babies do a lot of sleeping, and Oliver is no exception. He takes his best photos when he's napping. 

We've had our fair share of health scares in his first month. Obviously, like so many others, we had the jaundice experience, and now we're running through the checklist of annoying but innocuous infant issues: newborn skin rash (erythema toxicum) - check, conjunctivitis - check, baby acne - check. Oh, that baby acne! I would probably have 100 more photos except for his acne. Poor guy. We picked it up in week two, hit our peak bumpiness in week three, and we're still going strong in week five. Sigh...

Four weeks today! The resemblance to Adam is amazing. I don't think I got a single trait represented, except perhaps for his penchant for long naps and slow meals.

Pickles has come around to our new house guest. She likes that we now keep the house at a warmer temperature, but I'm not sure how she feels about losing her place on my lap.

Sleeping Series No. 2

 

I know this is a fake smile, but I'm going to pretend it is real.

This is perhaps our favorite video. It is simply two soft wails - not quite cries, not quite coos. We're not really sure what it means, but it makes our heart ache when we hear it.

I love when Oliver falls asleep on my chest, which he does quite frequently at this stage. This is the reason why I now get nothing done.

Our second major health scare of the month is Oliver's hearing. We failed our newborn hearing screen twice and were referred to the audiologists for a more extensive test, the OAE, which measures otoacoustic emissions from the cochlea. Unfortunately, he also failed that test twice and we were then referred to even more extensive testing at the U of MN. Here we are on our way to the U for an ABR (auditory brain stem response) evaluation, which measures the function of the auditory nerve. He wore his best fuzzy bunny outfit for the occasion.

The ABR requires that you remain silent and still throughout the whole procedure, which can take up to an hour. Infants will generally sleep through the testing, but anyone older than three months or so would require sedation. To his credit, Oliver slept through the entire evaluation. The technician said he was her best patient yet, and I don't think she says that to everyone! We got a lot of useful data; unfortunately, the results showed he will very likely display some hearing loss, particularly at the higher pitches. This was just about the best news Adam and I could have hoped for. We (well, I) had spent the past few weeks mourning his potential hearing loss after his failed newborn screens and OAEs. I couldn't even read him a bedtime story without crying. Just the thought that he would never hear spoken word or music made me break out into huge sobs.

We will need more testing to determine the extent of his hearing loss and a possible course of treatment, along with a determination of its cause (genetic, viral, structural, etc.), but for now, we are so, so grateful that all hearing is not lost. For what it's worth, we have some very competent contacts in the hearing department that may be getting a call from us. We are fortunate indeed.

As a treat for his good behavior (and so mommy and daddy could get some sleep!), Oliver got a new bed. He was just not a fan of his bassinet, with its firm mattress and zero incline, and we had heard very good things about this little Rock 'n Play Sleeper. So far, he loves it! He is back to sleeping like a baby! (And we haven't even had to use the vibration feature yet. We're saving that for emergencies.)

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for this little gift. He has been blessed by the love and support of so many friends and family. The long journey was worth it to meet our little man. No matter what the future holds, we wouldn't trade him for the world!

Here are some photo outtakes. This was a far more typical experience of our weekly shoots. I'm going to have to work on my shutter speed settings, and Oliver is going to have to work on his head control and total body coordination. It's a team effort.