Marlowe update: One month old
Marlowe is technically 7 weeks old, but I’m just going to capture the first month. Since I didn’t get to post much from that month, this post is going to be long and photo-heavy. She had a pretty busy month after we came home from the hospital on December 31. (I covered her birth story and our hospital stay in this post) On January 1, her first full day home, she had a blood draw to get the “all clear” for her bilirubin, she met Meemaw and Peepaw, plus she got to see the Buckeyes win the Fiesta Bowl! Since she was “born a Champion”, it was fitting.
The next day, she had a visit from her Uncle Patrick and Aunt Hailey, and then my parents came to stay for a couple of days. Lo’s mom had been staying with us since we got home and she stayed another night to avoid going home and catching the sickness that Lo’s dad had.
The following day, Sunday, was her newborn photo shoot at our house – it’s hard work to try to stay asleep for all of the pictures!
My parents left on monday and we were all on our own. It went well enough. The lactation consultant came when she was a week old. It was somewhat precautionary, but she also was struggling to latch at times. As expected, she had a tongue and lip tie like Jenson did, so we schedule to have that revised. Her first Dr. appointment wasn’t until January 6, and it was with a new doctor that is close to where we live now, and we really liked her. Marlowe weighed 7 lbs., 13.5 oz. at that appointment – still down from her 8 lb, 6 oz. birth weight, but that was expected.
The following weekend brought Lo’s mom back to stay with us on Friday. She came to paint the window trim for the new windows we had installed in late December, but she helped out with the kids a ton, of course. Our friends Chuck and Kelley visited on Saturday and brought possibly the most adorable outfits ever. I’m so disappointed that I didn’t take a picture of them with Marlowe and/or Jenson! They’ll be in Florida for a few months, so we won’t get one for awhile. On Sunday, Lo’s sister’s family came to meet Marlowe. Do you want to see chaos? Put 5 cousins under 4 in the same room for a few hours. Marlowe was the most well-behaved of course, because she slept most of the time. Between Sadie and Jenson (who actually play really well together) and the twins (who are into everything and very ornery). It was busy, but fun. These cousins are going to have so much fun together as they grow up!
Marlowe’s tongue and lip tie revision was on Monday with Dr. Jordan, a dentist in Delaware who was trained by the dentist that performed Jenson’s revision. She was amazing. She did a great job with the procedure of course – which is super fast – but she did an awesome job with us, the parents. She was so kind and comforting…it’s hard to see your baby have any procedure done, even if its quick and relatively painless. She emphasized several times that I should call her cell phone if I had any concerns, and she even called me the next day to see how everything was going. Marlowe started latching more easily afterwards, so it seemed to have helped. She was fussy for a few days, but nothing overwhelming or that could be blamed on the revision directly (babies are just fussy sometimes).
On January 15, pretty much my entire family came to visit. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were flying in from Vegas, so it was the perfect time for everyone to come visit with them and meet Marlowe. There were 11 extra people staying at our house, and it actually went pretty well. Marlowe got to be held constantly, which she loves, and Jenson got tons of attention, which he loves. Everyone left on Monday except my mom, Summer, and Max.
Her 2 week appointment was on January 18 and she was 8 lbs, 12 oz., so she surpassed her birth weight and I didn’t need to wake her anymore. Hurray! Lo went back to work on Tuesday, but I still had my mom and sister for help, luckily. His 3 weeks off flew by so fast! My sister and mom painted the bathroom that is connected to the nursery since Lo and I didn’t get to it. We still haven’t put the furniture or anything in her room (fail)…but she’s still in our room with us, so no biggie. Summer left that Thursday, and my mom left on Friday. I was sad when she left – it was time, but I was nervous about being home all day by myself with the kids the following week. It didn’t help that Lo and Jenson both got pretty sick with ear and throat infections, so Lo was only able to help with Jenson as much as he could. I was tired and up for 1-3 feeding each night for an hour each, and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. Marlowe cooperated by being pretty content though.
I was nervous for no reason. Everything went fine once I was on my own the following week. Marlowe is a pretty darn good baby and Jenson loves her SO much. I won’t say he’s never jealous, but he handles it pretty well. He’s going to be an amazing big brother. Boof seems to like her too. She ignored Jenson until he was 6 months old and starting to eat food, but she really keeps and eye on Marlowe. If someone is around that Boof doesn’t know that well, she just sits and watching them around Marlowe. It’s pretty amazing.
And suddenly our beautiful, perfect baby girl was a month old. It went SO fast. I know everyone says that, but having company for the entire time minus about 7 days made the month just fly by!
Marlowe: December 29 – January 28
Age: 1 month old
Weight: approximately 10 lbs (no appointment, so no exact weight)
Length: 21 inches (just a guess)
Clothing size: Some newborn, but mostly 0-3 months by the end of the month as the newborn started to get short.
Hair: Light, baby bird hair. It stands up all over the place and is so fine. It’s mostly blond, but there is the slightest ginger tint to it, and her eyelashes are a coppery gold color (is that a color?). It’s pretty long on the side and in the back, but it isn’t very thick towards her forehead.
Eyes: Dark blue for now.
Teeth: None, thank goodness
Temperament: She’s generally a pretty calm baby and is less fussy than Jenson was, but she has a temper. By the time she was about 2 weeks old, if she had to wait too long to eat (like 2 minutes) or was unhappy about something, she’d go from a warning whine/cry to a screaming-and-can’t-breathe cry. She turns bright read and no sound it coming out – it’s pretty awful when that happens.
Sleeping: Marlowe was a good sleeper from the start, so she was going 3-4 hours for the first stretch at night, even though I was technically supposed to feed her every 2-3 hours until she got back to her birth weight (which happened by her 2 week old appointment). Waking a sleeping baby is a terrible thing! By the end of her first month, she was regularly going 5 hours, sometimes 6 before her first feeding, and then it was every 2-3 hours for the rest of the day after that. When she’s not sleeping, she’s really alert – even just a few days old.
Eating: All breastmilk after the first few days. We had to supplement with a little formula for her first couple of days to flush the bilirubin from her system, but after that was cleared, we went back to just breastmilk. She was a fussy eater until we had her tongue and lip tie fixed at 2 weeks old, so sometimes we had to give her a little bit of pumped milk first, so she would calm down and latch better. She’s starting to get fussy and is spitting up more after nursing though – like she’s having gas or reflux, so I think we’ll probably have to get baby zantac for her.
Movement: She has a super strong neck and really never bobbled that much. She didn’t love tummy time, but could lift her head well enough. We did a lot of it while we lounged back and she laid on our chests, and she did better with that. She likes to push away and look around while laying like that or while in the baby k’tan carrier.
Milestones:
–1st trip to urgent care (for bilirubin blood draw)
–Tongue and lip tie revision laser surgery
–1st trip to the library storytime
–Smiling and focusing on things really well
–Met lots of family and friends
–Went outside in the snow (don’t worry about her exposed hands, we were only out there for 2 minutes for a picture, and most of the time she was tucked against me.
–First tub bath
Favorite toys/activities:
–Laying on changing table (just like Jenson)
–Looking at the black and white paintings on the wall (Amsterdam and London)
–Staring at the curtains behind the couch
–Being swaddled
–Nursing and being held
–Riding in the baby k’tan
–Laying on the playmat (poor thing never gets the mat to herself if Jenson is around)
Dislikes:
–Not being held
–Having to wait a minute once she decides she’s hungry
–Taking a break from nursing to burp
–Bad dreams
Sounds and Words:
–She’s noisy when she sleeps – lots of grunts and all kinds of noises
–She gulps really loudly when eating, but I think she’s just trying to keep up with my supply.
Looking forward to:
–Her two month appointment so we know her accurate weight
–Weekend trips to visit both families
–Marlowe becoming more interactive with us
–Settling in at home as a family
Watch Marlowe grow:
