First 2 weeks!

 The first few days at home were absolutely wonderful but anything but blissful.  When you bring a newborn baby home you expect sleepless nights and late night feedings but what you don't get prepared for is projectile vomiting, endless hiccups that lead to spitting up an entire feeding and gas, lots of gas.

Preston is the absolute most sweetest baby ever but his feedings were not going well which were very frustrating to this mama!  It seemed like no matter what angle we fed him at no matter if he nursed or was fed breastmilk from a bottle, he wasn't able to keep it down. He dropped from 7 lbs 10 oz in the hospital to 7 lbs 4 oz when we left the hospital.  We followed up at his pediatrician's office on Monday (11/26) which was 2 days after we were discharged from the hospital and he was 7 lbs 3 oz and his jaundice level was at 12.  Good thing was his jaundice levels evened out and no light pack was necessary - YAY! His pediatrician recommended I see Denise (their lactation specialist) on Thursday (11/29) and I have them recheck his jaundice levels then to assess whether he needed a light pack. I met with Denise and she immediately assessed him and saw a few things that were making nursing painful excruciating as a matter of fact.  The first thing she saw was his frenulum was tight and what they call being "tongue tied".  She said sometimes being tongue tied doesn't have any effects on feeds with some babies and others it effects their feeds 100%.  She watched me nurse Preston and noticed that him being tongue tied was impacting his ability to roll milk on his tongue down the back of his throat to swallow.  He basically was being drown in milk, gagging, and throwing it all up.  All of which made sense after her explaining it to me.  She suggested Preston getting a frenectomy which is a simple in office procedure done by an oral surgeon to clip the tight tissue under the tongue to help give him more mobility.  Denise mentioned that this is something that typically runs in families and can sometimes have an effect on speech down the road.  I told her that it was interesting she say that because as you know Baker had a speech delay and she then nodded her head and said he probably had a tight frenulum too but it wasn't one that impacted his ability to feed but gave him speech articulation delay.  Right then and there I knew that we needed to get this taken care of.  I spoke with Baker's previous speech therapist and she reassured me that doing the procedure would be the best thing for Preston especially since he was so young and it wouldn't be an invasive procedure like it could be if he was older. 

I was referred to an oral surgeon and Dr. Peacock worked us in the next day (Friday, 11/30) to get the frenectomy done.  I had to take him by myself which was a little scary and since they worked us in we had to wait in the waiting room nearly 2 hours.  While it wasn't easy waiting or holding Preston down while they did the procedure, I am happy to report that it DID fix  his feeding issues and while sometimes he does occasionally spit up some or still gets the occasional hiccups episode, he is keeping my breastmilk down and is finally gaining weight and growing well! 

His 2 week check up proved that the procedure was a success weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz!! He was in the 50% for height (20.75 in) , 50% for weight, and 50% for head circumference (35.5 cm).  

He has worked his way up from eating 1 oz to 1.5 oz to 2.5 oz to officially 3 oz on 12/9.  We are still using the Medela bottles like we used with Baker and he requests feeds every 2 hours.  At night he will go longer stretches at times to 3 hours but usually its every 2-3.  We get in bed around 11-11:30 and wake up anywhere between 1-245AM and then again between 3-430AM.  Overall, I cant complain.  Baker sleeps like a rock and doesn't ever wake up in the middle of the night when Preston is crying his eyes out while I pump and he "crows" for a bottle.  Baker literally is the best big brother. He'll bring us anything we ask him to get us for Preston and will quietly play in his room if we ask him to. 

Preston isn't fond of the soothie pacifier that they gave us in the hospital.  Baker liked it okay but we found he really liked the Avent paci's so I decided to give those a try to see if Preston would like those as well.  Bingo!  He doesn't have to have a paci but when he wants it it must be the Avent air flow kind and it has to be run under water first.  He will act like he is gagging if you give it to him dry.

It's really neat seeing Preston in all of Baker's old outfits watching them get used again.  Makes me so happy that Carter's makes such well made clothes!  I've been comparing pictures of the two of them a lot and on some days I see a striking resembelence and other days I see things that set them apart and make them who they are.   

Little Milestones so far...

First little surgery (frenectomy) - 11/30/12
Stump fell off - 12/6/12
Fist Bath - 12/10/12
First Outing Alone with Mommy - 12/6/12 drop Baker off @ school, 2 wk check up, & trip to Target

It definitely isn't as easy to pick up and go having 2 babies but we wouldn't trade it for the world.  I have taken Preston with me to drop Baker off at school for several days now and I will say I am perfecting the routine of throwing on clothes, getting Baker ready, getting Preston ready and heading out the door.  I know this will drastically change whenever I actually have to get ready and look presentable with clothes other than sweats but for now we are relishing in looking a little sloppy and soaking up all the love our sweet little boy can give.  Both boys are just absolute joys in our lives and we wouldn't and can't imagine it any other way.

Brothers!

SO SWEET!

My Boys

precious feet (11/26)

Newborn shot

Signature Side Grin with Dimple

Talk to the hand!

One of the rare times he used the Soothie paci 

Sweet Preston at Sandhills seeing Denise (11/29)

Our little monkey grinning again

This warms my heart. The boys under the playgym

Tracey came to visit! 

Snoozin

More Snoozin

He holds a football already!

Napping with Daddy

We can't get enough of this sweet face!

Loves his swaddle

First walk outside in the stroller

:)

Ready to EAT!

Love this one.

Cool like Auntie Tooty

Pouty face

Sweetly resting

Evening cuddles with Daddy

Proud Big Brother Baker feeding Preston before going to school

He LOVES to help 

Last Sponge Bath 

First Bath

He's smiling--I think he loves baths as much as Baker did!

He loves to be cuddled up in a towel

Trying to raise his head during tummy time!

Baker decorating our Christmas Tree.  He put on all ornaments by himself!

Daddy helping him reach some higher branches

I would like to say a BIG thank you to my mom, my mother in law, my sister in law (Ashley), Tracey Ammons, and Katie Tracy for bringing us delicious dinners during the crazy transition period after we got home from the hospital.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family & friends and the food you guys made and/or brought us was delicious so thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!