Jude - Week 3

Well, we had a little trouble this week at Jude Central. We went in for our two-week visit with the pediatrician, and Jude only gained three ounces in ten days, and was not back up to his birth weight. It seems that the baby is not demanding enough when it comes to eating. Since milk production works on a supply and demand system, my body responded by making less milk, and it was kind of a downward spiral from there. So, we've had to start supplementing his diet with 4-6 ounces of extra milk a day. In the meantime, I've been using the pump to try to increase my supply so that eventually we can stop supplementing. It was pretty upsetting for me to realize that we have not been feeding our baby enough, and giving him the first bottle was pretty difficult. However, he loved it and immediately fell asleep afterwards. We think that some of his fussiness has been due to hunger. He has seemed happier in the past week, and gained three ounces between Monday and Thursday. We go back in tomorrow to do another weight check, and hopefully he'll be up another four ounces or more.

We had some fun social events this week. On Thursday, we drove out to Hood River to see Jude's great-grandmother Cornett. We had a nice visit with her, and learned that Oma's great-grandfather was named "Judson". She wondered if we'd named our baby after him. Since we didn't even know he existed, we couldn't claim that we had, but it does make a good story!

From Jude, September 2008

On Friday, Jude met his second-cousin Justus. Craig and Julie and Justus came over for pizza and salads, and the boys had their first play-date. Both babies did really well that night, and it was fun to see them together for the first time. Jude has some work to do before he catches up to his cousin in size, though!

From Jude, September 2008

Saturday, Jude invited some friends over for beers on the deck. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve also came over to meet the baby for the first time. Jude had the honor of being the first baby that Chippy has ever held! She was sitting in his rocking chair, so she really had no choice.

From Jude, September 2008

From Jude, September 2008

Sunday we spent the day in Vancouver, first visiting Greg and Elizabeth, then spending the afternoon with Grandma Terry. A few of the Miller family came over to meet the baby while I got in a nice nap and managed to read for a few minutes. E Ben dressed him in a "golf shirt" onesie and everyone got a kick out of that!

From Jude, September 2008

From Jude, September 2008

In case you didn't figure it out already, our September photos are posted here.

The baby is doing well. He seems generally happy and healthy, and we're getting used to being parents. We have had a few challenging nights, but generally he's a really good sleeper and goes back down after eating during the night. I'm feeling good, although I would always like to have more sleep! That's all I can think of for this week...