Lars had a much more eventful first month than with the girls. Putting them in their carseat for a short activity was a big deal. Poor boy has been shuttled back and forth to school, gymnastics, and swim lessons. Some days I'd just look at him and think, "When did I last nurse you at home instead of on the go somewhere?" I really look forward to the evenings when the girls are down and I can just hold him without having anywhere to go. - I do usually have a kitchen to clean, but that's so much less pleasant than holding a sweet smelling baby (or sour smelling, depending on lots of factors that day!).
Poor Lars was pretty sleepy the first two weeks, probably due to me being on some high-prescription antihistamines. It was tough to keep the little guy awake and so he seemed to stay more like a brand new newborn who just sleeps and sleeps all the time. Happily, even off the drugs he's been a good sleeper and maintained a pleasant personality. He is a very calm and alert baby. Sometimes the girls ask why he's crying and I say it's because babies cry. They know that, but he's been such a good baby that he normally doesn't just cry. He's got lots of spit-up, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much. I felt like the other girls (especially June) were pretty fussy and I really had to work with them to diffuse the gas in their tummies. I think part of it is that I'm more careful about what I eat now. I noticed with June that she was more fussy after I had a really fatty dairy, like Blue Bell ice cream. So with Lars I avoid ice cream and too much dairy all together.
Like I've written before, he's been a good nurser from day one. In fact, from his two week appointment to his three week, he went from 8 lbs 1 oz all the way to 9 lbs 8 oz. The doctor did a double take when she read his chart. He's a little tubby and a little short and has a fat head :). At the month check up, he was 10 lbs, 8 oz and 20.5 inches long. That translated to 80th percentile for weight and 30th for height, ha ha. And his head was in the 90th percentile! It's actually all a blessing because all the antihistamines can make milk dry up, so I was very blessed and happy that that didn't happen. I was hardly ever painfully engorged with him like I was with the girls, I'm not sure if that's been because he's such a big eater or because of the meds. Either way, it was nice.
The circumcision was sad and I really didn't like cleaning that area.... And I don't know why, but they won't circumcise in the hospital here. They made us wait until he was two weeks old, which felt even more sad! I often just think he's another girl since he's wrapped in lots of the same blankets and then I get a surprise when I open him up for a diaper change. What's that?!
That's pretty much all the news. I got back from my last appointment with the rheumatologist and hooray - it doesn't look like I have Lupus! There isn't really a definitive test for it. There are eleven markers and you have to have four of them to be diagnosed. The rash was iffy, so really we just had the positive ANA test. She did find that the ANA was drug-induced. She thinks it was probably previous birth control (a medicine that has hormones) that induced the autoimmune response. So that was interesting. She also found another uncommon antibody in the blood tests. This was actually is linked to more miscarriages and blood clots. Since I've had two miscarriages out of five pregnancies, it's probably due to that.
He is surely a keeper!!!SO glad I have been able to watch him grow!!Love your blog.
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