6 weeks

Jadyn turned 6 weeks old on Thursday night, and she is growing by leaps and bounds. The changes we've noticed recently are that she has made marked gains in controlling her head, she has begun reaching more purposely with her hands, she follows noises and our faces as we move around her, and she smiles when she sees us and we talk to her. She still sleeps a lot, taking longer naps earlier in the day, with the evenings reserved for most of her fussiness and cluster feeding. Jadyn has always been a good night sleeper, and twice in the last week she has slept for 6 straight hours (midnight-ish to 6am-ish), giving Jenny a large chunk of uninterrupted sleep. Happy Mommy means happy baby!

Jenny had her post-partum doctor visit this week as well, and the doctor assessed her various labor wounds and said everything looks good and well-healed. Jenny's body has shed half of her pregnancy weight gain, and the rest will come off either slowly as breastfeeding continues over the coming months or more quickly after breastfeeding ends. The visit also provided the opportunity to find out what was discovered upon closely examining the placenta (it was sent to pathology after Jadyn was born). The report said the placenta was perfectly normal in every way except that it was small -- in the 10th percentile for placenta size. But it had the right number of vessels in the right places, the umbilical cord was close enough to centrally-located that its position was not a cause for concern, and there was no evidence of any kind of infection in the placenta. The doctor said that a small placenta could still do the job of nourishing a baby, so the placenta's size didn't necessarily cause the need for bedrest. She also said future pregnancies may not require bedrest, though she'd watch growth more closely as a precaution should we choose to go down that road.

Here are some recent pictures of our big girl Jadyn. We suspect she is now over 9 pounds -- it's hard to believe some babies are born this size! Her head seems huge compared to when we met her 6 weeks ago, but a growing brain is nothing but good. Enjoy!

Go Heels! (thanks to Aunt Julie for this timely onesie)


Daddy playing games with Jadyn



Jadyn sleeping in her swing


What Jenny found in bed when she returned from her early morning yoga class







Evidence that Jadyn can hold up her own head!

One Month Old!

Last night at 10.19 marked the end of Jadyn's 4th week, and she is now one month old. Her 4-week doctor appointment was this morning, at which time she weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. She is in the 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for length. Dr. Nyweide is very pleased with her growth -- two pounds and 2 inches since birth -- and says that she is doing great. We have definitely noticed her increased size, as she is filling out her newborn-sized clothes, and will be transitioning into the great 0-3 month-sized clothes real soon.

Since the last post, we've enjoyed an 8-day visit from Jenny's mom, Jeanne. Grandma Jeanne took advantage of every opportunity to hold Jadyn, and she also went way beyond the call of duty by pitching in around the house, helping care for Jadyn, and allowing us a few chances to get out of the house for dates without the baby. What a treat! Thanks, Grandma! We miss you already.

While Grandma was around to help, Jadyn had her first bath at home. She did great for a few minutes, and then she started screaming -- we think she got a little cold. The photos we snapped were in the screaming phase; check them out below. We also tried our first 'educational bottle' with Jadyn while Grandma was around for expert advice. Jeff fed Jadyn about an ounce of breastmilk from a bottle during one of her fussy periods one evening. It took patience because, at first, Jadyn wanted nothing to do with a bottle. But Jeff outlasted her, waiting until she got hungry enough so that she chose to figure it out and drink it. (We followed it up with her typical warm mommy milk service, so all was well at the end of the experience.) The doctor says we can continue with educational bottles 3-4 times a week over the next month or so. We won't feed her bottles in place of feeding at the breast until after 2 months, as Jenny's milk supply needs to be well-established, and we don't want Jadyn to start preferring the bottle quite yet (it's easier to get milk out of a bottle than a breast).

Jadyn has also had the privilege of visiting both Jenny's and Jeff's places of employment while Grandma was in town. At just one month of age, we do limit how many people handle her (and we have a big bottle of hand sanitizer for when someone healthy just HAS to hold her), but we feel it's important to get her used to being mobile. She has handled all her outings well -- we are very impressed and feel very lucky to be blessed with such an adaptable child. Go, Jadyn!

Stumpless in Seattle

Jadyn lost her umbilical cord stump on Sunday night. So, like many silly first time parents, we took pictures to document this physical change. We told her that she was such a big girl and that she was growing up before our eyes. Yeah, she'll be 3 weeks old on Thursday -- time is just flying past us all, let us tell you. We've included a few other pictures here, so you can see some of the great facial expressions she has (when she is not sleeping or screaming her head off).




While Jadyn attended many yoga classes with Jenny while still in utero, today was her first time in a yoga class outside the womb. To celebrate, Jenny dressed her in her very smart sleep n play onesie with polka dots and cats. For the first few minutes of class she was rocked in Jenny's arms, and the last 15 minutes of class she had a snack of warm milk, but the time in between she dozed on the floor making cute baby sounds that seemed to be well tolerated by the yogis in class. And on Square Root Day, 3/3/09, no less! She won't see another Square Root Day until 4/4/16, when she'll be 7 years old. Wow. Someday we'll be parents of a 7 year old. Un-freakin-believable.