I can’t believe it’s been one month already!  One month since I was pregnant, one month since I went into labor for the second time, one month since we brought home a new baby!  It all seems so fast and yet it’s getting harder and harder to remember what life was like without Juliet in it as well.  We just had our one month check up, so here is our first update!

S T A T S

Juliet was 7 lbs 14 ozs at birth but lost weight after birth like all babies. She did lose more than the normal 10% of weight, dipping down to 6 lbs 14 ozs at her lowest. But we have rebounded slowly and now she weighs 8 lbs 8 ozs (the same birth weight of big brother) and comes in at the 25th percentile. At birth she was 19.5 inches tall and now she’s a solid 21 inches at 50th percentile for height. Her head is in the 25%, and all in all the doctor said we are growing and progressing nicely.

 

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J A U N D I C E

The doctor said all signs of her jaundice are gone, which is wonderful news.

N I G H T  S L E E P

Overall Juliet is doing well in the sleep department — much better than Drake ever did at this age.  She seems to have a schedule where she will  take her longest stretch of sleep right around 6-7PM after her last feed.  She can sleep upwards to 6-7 hours straight some days, wake to eat and go right back to sleep.  Then have another wake up and right back to sleep.  She tends to wake up anywhere from 5-7 most days and usually after that feed it’s hard to get her to go back to sleep right away.  Some days it’s easier and other times this is when she wants to be awake, so that part has been a bit of a struggle for me as that’s still a little early for me.  She is quite a noisy sleeper too with all kinds of grunts, groans, and other amusing noises through the night.  She does seem to have a hang of daytime and night time though, as her longer sleeps are during the night hours.

N A P S

Naps during the day are harder and a bigger struggle for us.  For the last few weeks her longest naps have only been around 30-45 minutes.  She will sleep longer if being held, but with Drake as well I can’t hold her all day. Sometimes it takes so long to rock her to sleep that by the time I place her down it’s only half an hour or so before she needs to eat again, which can be frustrating.  I’m learning to do a lot of things one handed and I think in time I might be breaking out my Beco carrier to get more done and spend more time with Drake.

E A T I N G

Juliet is a much better nurser than Drake ever was.  Now that we are over the initial troubles, we do have a solid rhythm it seems.  During the day she likes to eat on average every 2 hours.  I don’t mind this as I feel like she stacks most of her calories during the day so that she does sleep a good portion at night.  Juliet isn’t a comfort nurser either like Drake was, and I prefer that.  On average most feeds don’t last longer than 15 minutes though she has gone close to half an hour, but it’s rare.  She eats and then releases on her own most of the time and seems happy, content, and full.  She is exclusively breastfed at this time; the only time she had formula so far was that 2 day period where we were wondering about jaundice.

G E N E R A L  N O T E S

Juliet seems to be a happy baby, though happiest when held.  She has been a bit clingy and fussy these past weeks, which is a new development.  I’m not sure if this is a phase, and for now we are riding it out.  I don’t feel like we have as many  happy alert moments as we used to, so I do hope this passes soon.  Gas seems to be an issue with her even with the use of gas drops.  I am still trying to catch her first real social smile on camera though have caught a few gassy smiles asleep and awake.  We still haven’t caught her rolling over on camera yet as well and hope to catch that soon.

Overall despite the clinginess and gas issues, she is a happy easy baby that sleeps and eats well and just wants to be near you.

And just for fun here is her 1 month photo side by side with Drake. (I made that giraffe before Drake was born and thought it would be neat to compare the babies with it.)