One Month Wonderful

 

 Over the weekend, our little man turned one month old!

 I took him for his one month well-visit last Wednesday, and he came in as quite the chunker:

9 lbs., 10 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long.

That's 50th percentile in weight and head circumference and about 25th percentile in length.

Here are the stats of Evan's siblings at their one month appointments:

Stella: 9 lbs., 2 oz. and 21 1/4 inches
Nora: 8 lbs., 6 oz. and 21 inches
Liam: 9 lbs., 14 oz. and 22 1/4 inches

(Nora was definitely our little peanut, and Evan seems to be a bit thinner but a bit longer than his older brother.  Stella is right in the middle there).

This past month has been wonderful with Evan James.  We have just enjoyed every second of his life! The newborn stage is so fleeting and so precious and so miraculous.  This little life literally grows by the minute and changes daily, and I get to watch it unfold before my very eyes.  

As far as a schedule goes, we pretty much just live life with the three older ones and Evan just goes with the flow.  He eats about every 2.5-3 hours during the day (lately he's been doing three hour stretches more often which lends itself to better feedings each time).  At night we have a hard time getting him to go down (darn witching hour), but once he's out, he usually sleeps for a 5-6 hours stretch followed by a 3-4 hour stretch.  He naps pretty well during the day and usually gets one LONG nap in during the afternoon.

Life with Cleft:  Life for Evan with cleft is really no different right now than life for any newborn.  Thankfully he is able to nurse like a healthy baby, and we haven't had any issues other than the usual learning to latch, burping, occasional gas, etc.  We have not been able to use a pacifier for Evan which has its pros and cons.  Following surgery next month, Evan will NOT be able to use a pacifier or bottle of any sort because his lip will be healing and have sutures.  He will be fed by syringe for a week.  If we had him attached to a pacifier, after surgery he will definitely NOT be able to use it so he would be pretty unhappy at that time if were dependent on it.  So, we have tried really hard to not use one and so far have been successful.  This can be difficult at night because sometimes he just wants to suck for comfort which means that we nurse A LOT in the evenings.  I sometimes feel like a human pacifier (which isn't fun) but my sweet baby boy is worth it.  Also, he is learning to self soothe a bit, so maybe his need to suck will lessen over time.

This Friday we take Evan for his pre-op appointment at Children's where he will get registered for surgery in December.  I'll update what we discover after that appointment.