Lex's First Well Baby Visit

Lex had his one week checkup at the doctor on Wednesday afternoon, and everything went swimmingly.

Babies are expected to lose up to 10% of their birth weight before they leave the hospital. Lex was 7 lbs 15.5 oz at birth, and he was 7 lbs 6 oz at checkout, which means that he lost 7% of his birth weight, which was totally fine.

Then, they are supposed to gain that weight back by the time that they are two weeks old. When we were at the doctor on Wednesday, he was already back up to 8 lbs! He's ahead of schedule!

He also measured in at 21 inches long, and was proclaimed to be a healthy little boy!

I'm sure that all this weight gain and non-jaundice-ness is due in large part to the fact that my milk came in this time when Lex was about 4 days old. I almost cried tears of joy the first time I saw milk running down his little cheek after he was done nursing. What a complete change from the experience we had with Connor in the beginning!

But, because we had so much trouble with Connor and nursing and dehydration and jaundice, I wasn't taking any chances this time. Against recommendations, I went ahead and introduced bottles of formula to Lex when he was a day old. At first he was having two 2 oz bottles of formula a day (about 12 hours apart). Then, after a few days, he only needed to have a bottle in the middle of the night. Now, we have had a few nights when he didn't need any formula. And there wasn't nipple confusion. He can eat just fine both ways. And, he takes a pacifier, too. I know, we are breaking all sorts of newborn rules, and Lex is happier for it!

(Actually, all of the nurses at the hospital, and our pediatrician, were very supportive of my decisions, they were just surprised by them.)

And...in other news...I had the doctor look at my belly while we were in the office on Wednesday, as well. Kevin didn't think that it looked quite right, as there seemed to be a hard spot under my belly button. After a quick examination, she decided that I have a hernia right under my belly button as a result of the muscles stretching apart. There is no plan for treatment right now, as we are just going to have to wait and see how it heals as I recover. But, I'm definitely not going to be able to lift Connor (or anything else other than Lex) for a long, long while.

I knew I had hurt myself towards the end of the pregnancy because I had trouble getting out of bed and it hurt whenever I did. I guess my belly just got too big for my little self!