Silas - 1 Month!

 

Sweet Silas!  I can't believe it's already been a month since we first laid eyes on you!  What a precious blessing and perfect addition to our family you are!!

Everything looked great at my 38 Week checkup on Wednesday, March 13, though I hadn't made any progress toward labor.  On Thursday, I was getting really worn out and becoming convinced that you were not going to stay put until Sunday, which was my goal because Dr. Cawley was out of town for a few days and wouldn't be back until Sunday afternoon.  I started having contractions sometime after 5 a.m. on Saturday.  Some of them took my breath away a little bit, but I was sleeping and wasn't fully aware of what was going on.  When I woke up, I was still out of it and wasn't positive whether the contractions had been real or just a dream.  Your daddy encouraged me to call the hospital (around 7:40 a.m.) to find out if the on-call doctor was already in town or would have to drive in, just in case.

My contractions continued throughout the morning and early afternoon.  Your daddy left around 11:30 a.m. to go to a meeting, and I was under strict orders to let him know if my contractions got to 5 minutes apart.  When he got home, we ate lunch, and around the time we finished, my contractions were about 4 minutes apart.  Your daddy was so sweet and gave Caleb and Evie a very quick bath (per my request), and by 2 p.m., he was getting them dressed.  We dropped Caleb and Evie off at the Antles' house and headed up to Dr. Cawley's office, where we met Kim (our NP-C).  When she checked me, I was 80% effaced, bag bulging, and dilated to a 3 or a 4.  We left the office around 2:25 p.m. and headed over to the hospital.  I don't know that the nurses really thought I was in labor when I arrived, but in less than an hour after leaving Dr. Cawley's office, you were out!  Dr. Simonian had considered leaving the hospital to run back to her hotel and change into her scrubs, but thankfully she didn't because she wouldn't have made it back in time.  After just 2 pushes, you were born at 3:24 p.m., (8 days early) weighing 8lb. 2oz. and were 20" long.  Though Dr. Simonian was concerned about meconium, you did great!  How precious you were!!  After 2 nights in the hospital to monitor you for any effects of Beta Strep, we got to go home.  Right before we left the hospital, you were diagnosed with jaundice but were able to be monitored through daily blood tests.  Thankfully, your levels went back to normal after a few days without any phototherapy.

You're so strong!  When you were just 25 hours old, you held your head up on your own for quite awhile, causing our nurse to comment that you seemed more like 25 days old.

For the first week or so, you really weren't excited about sleeping at night unless it was cuddled up with me.  I LOVED sleeping with you in my arms--whether on the couch or in our bed, but I was also glad when you got into a routine.  Starting at 5 days old, you began getting up just one time in the middle of the night to eat (around 11p.m., 4a.m., and 8a.m.), and that continues to be your pattern.  You're a pretty laid back baby and have been a great eater and sleeper, praise the Lord! 

We usually have you sleep on your tummy (propped up on a small tummy time pillow) during the day and then swaddle you on your back at night. We were able to use receiving blankets to swaddle you for the first week, but after that, you got too strong and we switched you over to your SwaddleMe blanket (a velcro swaddle blanket). 

You're a content little guy and usually only fuss when you're hungry or if you need to burp. I will say that you seem to have a fairly strong gag reflex, which makes it important to burp you well or get you upright if you appear to be gagging.

I have affectionately started calling you my "Spider Monkey" because you cling to me, my shirt, my hair, etc. just like a baby Spider Monkey clings to his mommy.  I love it!

At this point, it seems like you might have curly hair when you get older because it gets wavy when wet, which is more than Caleb's hair used to do, but we'll see.  Speaking of, when you were born Caleb was so excited that you have blonde hair because now he's not the only one!  :)  You do seem to have longer hair than your brother and sister did--the hair on the top of your head is already about 1.5" long!

Silas, you're just like Caleb and Evie in so many ways--looks, eating, sleeping, your apathy toward a pacifier...however, you, unlike your brother at your age, seem to really enjoy your baths. Evie even cried during her first bath at home, but you have never cried during bath time.  You even have a stork bite right below your hairline, like Caleb used to.
 
Caleb and Evie both love you so much!  Caleb is often commenting on how cute and sweet you are.  Whenever they wake up, they always want to know where you are.  Evie will run out of her room, looking around, saying, "Baby?  Baby?"  They both love to hold you, and I've had to keep a really close watch on you--Caleb has tried to pick you up some, and Evie (in her love for identifying body parts) will try and poke her finger in your eye and say, "Eye!  Baby's eye!"  No doubt that you will be a tough little guy with these two around!

We love you so much, little Silas, and praise God for your sweet life!

(Click here to see more pictures of Silas.)