Palmer Family Chronicles: Sumner's First Month

I cannot believe I am already posting about Sumner’s first month. Where did the time go? I just took a picture of him so I could remember exactly what he looked like at one month old, and afterwards I stood there and cried my eyes out. Matthew just held me and let me “let it all out”! The tears I cried were a mixture of happy and sad tears. Happy, because I am so blessed to have Sumner in my life. A perfect little miracle! Also happy because we have so much to look forward to! Sad, because I realize how quickly time is going to fly! I just know with a blink, it will be his wedding day and I will be wishing so badly to go back to this exact moment, but I won’t be able to. Even as I type this, I am beginning to cry again.

Happy One Month, Sumner.

The first month of his life has been a hectic one, but I wouldn’t take it back for anything in the world! We got home from the hospital on Tuesday, June 12^th! I was finishing the last two classes for my specialist degree. The last two classes only lasted for three weeks. The classes were scheduled for two days a week, for three weeks, from 8-4:45, in Americus. I went the first week and had Sumner the next day. I missed the second week of class because there was just no way after just coming home the day before, and having a c-section, that I could travel and sit in class for such a long period of time. Plus, I was nursing and had not produced enough milk for Sumner to make it without me, and I just couldn’t take him being so young. So, since I missed two classes, one of the teachers for the first class gave me two make-up assignments to compensate for the two days I missed. The make-up assignments were two, six page papers, about legal issues related to education. The other teacher made me go back the week after classes finished and make-up the two days I missed. Not only did I have to do the make-up work, but I also had an enormous amount of work to do that was just the regular work for the classes. Since we were completing a whole semester in three weeks, there was a TON of work! My assignments that had to be completed in ONE WEEK were: four discussion posts, respond to eight discussion posts, two presentations, five “mini” papers that were about ½ page each, and the two six page make-up assignments.

So, as you can imagine I was very stressed from the get go. I was dealing with the changes of becoming a mom, nursing, school work, recovering from a C-section, and exhaustion I have heard about post-partum hormones, but nothing anyone could have told me prepared me for them! They are INSANE! I’m telling you, I have never felt so emotional and crazy in my entire life. I felt like a horrible mother because I had to spend the first two weeks of his life writing papers and doing school work. I also had to leave him to school when he was only a week old. It was so sad. But, I persevered through it, and am so thankful I didn’t give up! It is wonderful to know I accomplished my dream of getting my specialist degree! Now I get to spend all my time taking care of and loving on my sweet baby!

EATING

So many things have gone on this past month. Sumner has changed so much. When we first came home from the hospital he was eating around 2-2 ½ ounces every three hours. That did not last long. He had a very hard time latching on so instead of feeding him at my breast I would pump and feed it to him in a bottle. It was extra work, but I liked it because I knew exactly how much he was eating. Well, after a few days of only eating 2-2 ½ ounces, he would scream his head off at the end of the bottle because he was still hungry. So, slowly we kept adding more. First he went to 3 ounces, then 3 ½, and eventually 4. He started eating four ounces at two weeks old. I remember worrying about him over eating so I called his pediatrician and she said she was surprised he was eating so much, but it was fine as long as he wasn’t spitting it all up. She also said she figured he wouldn’t continue taking that much. She figured he was just going through a growth spurt. Nope, he is still taking 4 ounces. In fact, he is starting to be real fussy after the 4, so we are thinking about increasing it just a little and see how he does. By the way, my pediatrician and the nurses have been wonderful! I bet they think I am crazy, though, because I call them all the time with questions! J

I was so stressed about him getting on a schedule, but he has done well on getting on his own schedule. The first two weeks it was like clockwork. He would wake up every three hours ready to eat. I didn’t have to battle the issue of whether or not to let him “cry it out” if he started screaming after one hour of eating. At the end of the second week he actually stopped wanting to eat every three hours, and moved to about every four. Now that he is a month old he has gone back to about every 3-3 ½ hours. At night he goes longer. The best two nights we had, we fed him about 11:00 pm and he slept until 5:00 am. He did this back to back and I couldn’t believe it! Normally, he goes about four-five hours at night. Usually, Matthew will feed him at midnight and I will feed him the next time he wakes up which is usually around four. The only bad thing about the middle of the night feedings are that he sometimes has a hard time going back to bed. Even though I keep the lights out and silent, he sometimes becomes wide awake and does not want to lay down and go to sleep. So, I end up putting him in his swing and laying on the couch. I will doze back off and he is totally content just swinging! The past few nights he has done better with this. After we feed him, change him, and swaddle him, he goes to sleep. I am crossing my fingers this continues. I plan on working on a better schedule once he is six weeks old. I hope to get him to where he wakes up around the same time each day, eats around the same time each day, and naps at the same time each day! We will see how that goes! I have talked to people who were consistent, and are doing very well! Maybe I will be so lucky!

SLEEPING AND SCHEDULE

Sleep deprivation is a crazy thing! There have been many nights when we have no idea what exactly went on during the middle of the night. It’s as if we just sleep walk through all of the motions! One of us will wake up in a weird place and not remember how we got there! There have also been a lot of funny conversations during the middle of the night between Matthew and I. We enjoy sharing with each other the crazy things we have said and done the night before. It’s also funny how now a days, getting four hours of continuous sleep is something to celebrate! Since he was about two weeks old he has done pretty good about staying awake during the day. Typically, once he wakes up in the morning (usually around 6:30-7:00) I feed him and after he eats we have play time. He is very alert this time of the day. He will stay away anywhere between 1 ½-2 hours. He just looks around and studies everything. Then he will drift off to sleep and wake up to eat at the three hour-four hour mark! This schedule continues throughout the day, however his wake time between feedings may only be one hour. We give him a bath at night, right before he eats. At first he didn’t like the bath at all. Now, he enjoys it until we rinse his hair and take him out. After that point I begin his “nighttime routine”. What I mean by that is I try to keep the house quiet and dark. I will also swaddle him and put him in our room where he sleeps. During the day I wake him up to eat if he doesn’t wake up on his own. After his bath and nighttime feeding, I stop waking him up to eat. I just let him wake up on his own. He tends to go longer at night for some reason. Matthew and I take turns getting up with him, which is nice. Like I said earlier, the only problem we have had at night is when he doesn’t want to lay back down. It isn’t a big problem, though, because we can put him in his swing and he is fine. I just don’t like him getting into that habit. When we first got home from the hospital he slept at night in his bassinet. He didn’t mind it too bad when we laid him in it around 9:00 pm. But, when we laid him in it after eating in the middle of the night he would squirm and fuss! We found that he sleeps so much better and so much longer in his nap nanny. So, ever since he was around two weeks old, he has been sleeping in it on the floor by our bed… I don’t know that is the best thing, but he does so well in it, and it makes me feel better because it is inclined, so if or when he spits up, I don’t have to worry about him choking. Our plan is to start putting him in his crib at six weeks. We will see how that goes…

OTHER IMPORTANT MILESTONES

· When he was born he weighed 6.57 lbs. The day we left the hospital he weighed 5.10 lbs. We had to go see the pediatrician the next day because of his jaundice and he weighed 6 lbs. We had to go back the next week for his one week check-up and he weighed 6.10 lbs. I weighed him Friday, July 6^th (four weeks old) by first weighing myself and then weighing myself while holding him. According to that he weighed 8.5 lbs.

First doctor's visit!

· Since he was so little, but at the same time he was long, we had a hard time finding diapers to fit. He started off wearing premie diapers. After about one week he began wearing newborn diapers. We went through a stage where he must have been between sizes because every time he would tee-tee, he would somehow wet his entire back. It didn’t matter who changed his diaper (the nurse, Dr. Griffen, me, Matthew, Aunt Connie, Mrs. Cindy) it would happen. I constantly had to wash him off and do laundry! It was a happy day when that stopped happening!

· He has about one poopy diaper a day and you know when he is doing it because he makes the most hilarious facial expressions.

· He likes bright colors! He really becomes alert when he sits at his changing table in his room. I think it is because of all of the bright things!

· He has been able to hold his head up on your shoulder since he was in the hospital. He has gotten so strong and can do it even better now.

· He is able to track things when you put them in front of his face and move them slowly.

· Sumner already loves his Dee Dee so much (my mama)! She has been such a life-saver! This is Matthew’s busy time of the year. He leaves around 6:30 each morning and doesn’t get home until 8:00 some nights. If it weren’t for my mama I do not know what I would have done. She spent the night with us the first week, which was WONDERFUL. Afterwards, she still helps me during the day when Matthew is at work. She either comes to my house or I go to hers and we spend the day together. She helps me do chores around the house and watches Sumner so I can take a nap in the afternoons. She has bonded with him so much!

I am sure there are things I have missed talking about! Having a baby is the hardest job I have ever done, but also the most rewarding! I look forward to things to come, but am in no hurry for them to get here!

First time going to church