Being Momma G: Day 32

Sean is 1 month old today!

What a milestone! Time has flown by, even if some of the days and nights have felt like an eternity.

I have obsessively tracked his feeds and nappies and sleeping patterns over the last month, and for that I won't apologise, as my life in the past month has been one long feed and endless nappy changes, and listening to our little man scream and cry and scream some more, with some stretches of sleep in between.

Some interesting things have happened in the past week, so before I go back to tracking the feed and nappies and such, I thought I'd share these precious moments with you.

Sean smiled a big toothless open mouth smile on Sunday morning. It was a real smile too! We had just fed on one side, and Sean was lying on the pillow resting and relaxing before we switched sides, when he looked straight at me and smiled. I was so thrilled and surprised I cried.

This week, Sean found his neck muscles and has been busy exercising them. Our little man, who has a number of nicknames (Speedy, The Milk Monster, Monkey Moo, Poozooka), is now also known as The Wee Meerkat. He is so cute when he's stretching himself tall and straight and moving his head around, just like a meerkat!

The heat has been unrelenting this week, which is making our poor little man's face already covered in baby acne much much worse. The spots have spread to the back of Sean's neck, as well as over his shoulders and onto his chest. I just wish I could wipe the pimples away. Poor darling boy. Things are only going to get worse tonight, with our air conditioner broken down and we have 2 fans for reprieve against this horrendous heat (as I type this, the lounge room is 34C).

After not putting on enough weight at the past 2 weigh ins, Sean clocked in at 4.3kg today, an increase of 400g since last Tuesday's weigh in. Woot! Go little man! A combination of reflux medication for Sean and motilium for me to make more milk have ensured The Milk Monster is getting enough milk to grow big and strong.

We've had many outings this month, when we should have been observing confinement. Thank goodness my folks weren't strict with me about observing this practice.

In 2 weeks, our little man will be getting his 6 week jabs. He's growing up so fast!

We've had a lovely day today. After not settling well last night, Sean and I went to the living room while I tried to settle him away from Jonathan, and he eventually fell asleep in my arms at around 1am. By this point, I'd fallen asleep as well, so we both went to bed. Sean stayed asleep until 4.15am and managed to become completely awake by the end of the feed. As it was still early, we went back to bed together and had some cuddles before sleeping some more.

We woke together at 9am and after the feed, I left Sean in the bassinet while I had a much needed shower. I had an appointment to see Dr Siva, as a follow up from last week's visit. This week, I had more questions for Dr Siva, who was pleased to see how much happier both Sean and I were. One of my questions was to do with my scar, as I seemed to have developed a small infection along a small section. And my fears were confirmed - the scar had opened up and I now required more antibiotics to treat the infection. Bugger.

Another follow up appointment was made for Saturday for Dr Siva to check how I was healing, and with that all arranged, Sean and I came home to have another feed and to get ready for Mothers Group.

As our air conditioner was well and truly broken (it was blowing hot air instead of cold), I decided to head to the West Ryde ECHC earlier to enjoy their air conditioning. Last week, we parked in the open air car park in the blazing sun a few minutes' walk away from the centre, as I didn't realise there was underground parking nearby, so today, I trialled the underground parking. So much easier and so much nicer!

Sean and I were the first ones to arrive for Mothers Group, so we lapped up the air conditioning while we waited for everyone to arrive. The group was smaller this week than last - at least 4 of the mothers and babies did not return. The lovely ladies I spoke to last week all returned, which was nice to see.

This week's class was all about settling a baby, and Sean gave a fabulous demonstration of a baby who refused to be settled. The lady who convened the group today did everything she could to settle Sean, after spending about 45 minutes seeing me try to settle him with limited success. She took her hat off to me for continuing to try with all the "right" settling techniques. Sean's cries meant I only heard about a third of what was said during the discussions. Finally, around 3pm, the little guy fell asleep.

The ladies from last week lingered after the group to continue chatting. In our group are 2 lovely Irish ladies - Suzie and Janet, and their babies Cara and Caitlin respectively, and 2 gorgeous Chinese ladies - Rachel, mother to Madison and Candy, Nathaniel's mother, and of course me. It was so nice to chat with the other mothers, whose babies range from 4 weeks (Nathaniel is the same age as Sean) to 3 months (Madison is the eldest amongst the babies). I would really like to stay in touch with these ladies when the weekly groups are over.

Sean wanted to be fed before we left the centre, so we took advantage of the air conditioning and fed before we headed home. Sean fell asleep straight after the feed, and slept all the way home.

Jonathan was already home by the time we returned, and the afternoon heat had made our house very very hot. It didn't seem to bother Sean too much, as he continued to sleep until 7pm. Jonathan and I however were wilting under the conditions.

When Sean woke at 7pm, Jonathan gave him a bath in an effort to keep the little man cool. The bath must have worn him out, as Sean went almost straight to sleep after the feed - he did protest a little, but I'd like to think it was more against the heat than against sleep.

It's just on 11pm now, and Sean is still asleep. I'm not surprised - staying asleep is a good way to keep cool. I'm quite tired and would like to sleep, but alas, it's just too hot to sleep. We have tried turning on the air conditioning again, in hope that it has recovered enough to blow out some cold air to give us a bit of reprieve, but to no avail. The air outside is cooler than the air inside the house, so we have now turned off the air conditioner and opened all the windows. I can't wait to see the repair man tomorrow, and hope that he will be able to fix whatever the problem is on the spot. This week is going to be hot hot hot and I don't think I can stand another day like today.

Our darling boy looks so sweet right now, sleeping so peacefully without a care in the world. Happy 1 month, our little monkey moo. Daddy and Mummy love you!