3 Months

Maxim is now three months old (or 25 days old developmentally) and I am wondering where the time has gone. If I had to guess I would say Max is just over 10 pounds.

Maxim, you have survived a full month at home with your mommy and daddy. It has been a wonderful month with you. You are a pretty laid back baby who gets fussy when you are gassy and when your diaper is being changed. Other than that you are either sleeping or sitting back looking at everything around you. When you do get overly fussy I will take you outside and you instantly calm down. There is something with being outside that you really like. I don't know if it's the fresh air or that there is more to look at, but you do love the outdoors. 

Football season started this month and it's your daddy's favorite time of year. He has you already a fan of the Badgers and Packers. He also looks forward to the day you two can really enjoy watching football together.

The dogs just love you. Wherever you are Izzy is close behind. She likes to follow you and be right there beside you. Madison will check on you when you fuss or cry but she gives you your space. You don't seem to be phased at all by the dogs and the cat.

This month you started seeing us and following us with your eyes and I found that very exciting. You are not interested in rattles or toys yet, but I am sure that will come soon.  You are still a very smiley baby and I cannot get enough of this. I don't have many photos of you smiling as I am usually just enjoying the moment and I forget to take a picture, but I did manage to get this cute photo this morning. 

You took your first flight to Wisconsin with me while your dad drove across country with the dogs. For your first flight you flew first class (nothing but the best for my baby boy) and you were an excellent flying companion. As nervous as I was, I must say everything went smoothly and I enjoyed spending the day traveling with you. Plus it was fun to get a ton of comments from random strangers on how cute you are. You spent your days in Wisconsin meeting your family. It's been a lot of go-go-go so far, but you have been a trooper.

This month I got you out and about more. We did a couple shopping trips together and I took you to your first restaurant with your auntie KB while she was in town visiting. You did great with both adventures. Right now it's easy to take you places because you still sleep all the time.

You are a boy that just loves to snuggle and I cannot get enough of this. You just love to curl up on my chest and sleep for hours. While you are sleeping I just stare at you in awe of your sweetness and innocence. You also love daddy's chest too.

You are getting very strong as you are starting to hold your head up. You seem determined to hold your head up on your own as you look around. You definitely do this while I am burping you. I still have to provide assistance because after a short period of time you will turn into a bobble head.

Time is going by very fast and you are getting so big. I am enjoying watching you grow and learn new things. I love every minute I get to spend with you and sometimes I just can't believe we created you. You are so sweet and so special to us!

Love, your mommy

Max Takes Flight

We had plans to head to Wisconsin for our best friend's wedding and Andy thought it would be a good idea to drive and take the dogs. Uhm...I disagreed to that. After much deliberation we agreed that Max and I would fly there and drive back with Andy and the dogs. The agreement was made and at the last minute I went online and booked my one way ticket with a lap child to WI. This was not just a regular ticket, but instead it was First Class. I was stressed out about flying with the big man all by myself for the first time and just wanted to be comfortable, so what better way to go than First Class? It provided more room for the two of us. 

That morning I had such anxiety about my travels. First, I hate to fly and second, I am now one of those travelers that I would look at and hope that I did not sit anywhere near that baby toting mom. I got to the airport early and Andy is so nice that he wheeled my luggage in for me while I had Max strapped into the Baby Bjorn, carrying the Boppy in one hand and the diaper bag slung over the other shoulder. After check-in I approached security all nervous wondering how many regular travelers I was going to piss off as I moved through security at a snails pace. To my surprise I learned through the whole traveling with a baby process that there are more people who want to help (especially older men) than there are who want to judge. I must admit, I was once a judger of baby toting moms through the airport and now I feel REALLY BAD about it. As I approached the stack of bins to put my belongings in I let the older businessman behind me know that he can pass me at any time as I am more than ok with it. He proceeded to let me know that he was not in a hurry and he was there to help me if I needed it. He said he was in my shoes many years ago and knows how hard it is to travel by yourself with an infant. After I passed through the detector I had to step aside so thy could swab my hands since I did not take the Baby Bjorn off. They did not let me get my items off the conveyor belt so the nice businessman gathered them and brought my belongings to me. What a nice guy! As I gathered my items and put my shoes on, another older gentleman wanted to see Max and commented on how cute he is and then proceeded to give me helpful advice on traveling with a baby. I thought to myself "Wow, people are so friendly when it comes to babies and what's with the men?" 

I got to my seat in first class and really was hoping I did not get a regular traveling businessman sitting next to me because I don't want him/her to get annoyed that they have to sit next to a baby. Of course the man who sits next to me is all suited up traveling for work. He ended up being really nice and we talked almost the whole flight. He even offered to hold Max while I ate my airplane food breakfast. It kind of weirded me out so I told him it wasn't necessary. Then a half an hour later I had to use the bathroom and was fully prepared to take Max with me, but Mr. Suit offered to hold him again. I figured we were on a plane so there was nowhere for him to go and this is not a Hollywood movie so I let Mr. Suit hold Max. The suit stood in the aisle holding him and bouncing him. After that I realized there are more nice travelers out there who are willing to help over the judgers. 

For the three hour flight from Phoenix to Chicago Max did great as he slept the majority of the time. I was all prepared to nurse during takeoff and landing to help with his ears, but Max was not interested so I just let him sleep. Apparently his ears did not bother him as he never even moved because he slept the whole time.

My layovers have now changed as B.M. (Before Max) I would spend my layover in a bar/restaurant chatting with other travelers over a glass (or two) of wine. Things have changed now that it's A.M. (After Max) as I did not spend my three hour layover sipping on wine socializing. Instead I walked all over the Chicago airport to make Max happy as all he wanted to do was look around at everything and wanted me to keep walking. Throughout my walk i was stopped a dozen times by travelers oogling over my adorable son and asking questions. Of course I agreed with all of the travelers that Max is such a cute baby. Oh, I also got in some time to nurse him and change his diaper.

We then boarded another small plane to head to Madison. Again Max was a rockstar as he slept the whole flight. I was definitely a proud mommy that my baby boy did so well with traveling as he was so chill and just went with the flow. I had such a great experience with him and will never judge another parent traveling with an infant again as it is hard work.

My very tired self (only three hours of sleep here) with Max in First Class heading to Chicago as he slept.

When we arrived in Madison we were greeted by my parents who were super excited to see Max. 

Wide Awake Baby

At 5am the big man was wide awake and ready for breakfast and a diaper change. Usually after a big feeding he passes out, but this morning he was wide awake and wanted to be entertained. I took the big man out back to entertain him while I watched the sun come up. This boy loves to be outside. Whenever he is fussy I take him outside and he calms down instantly...it's amazing!

Tummy Time With Izzy

Izzy was very into Max's tummy time the other day. She just sat there and watched Max very closely and listened well when I told her she was getting too close. She has done really well with Max and follows him around the house.

 

Maternal Separation Anxiety

Another parting gift that I left the NICU with is maternal separation anxiety. This is where I get anxiety by leaving him for any length of time. This is another thing that I did not expect to go through as a new mom. If it wasn't for the NICU experience I don't know if I would have to deal with this or not. 

It all started when I gave birth to Maxim and he was in my arms long enough for Kim to snap this picture.

That was a mere few seconds and then he was taken from me and went straight to the NICU and our journey began. I was able to hold him for about an hour a day for the next two weeks. I did not get that initial mommy and baby bonding time that is very important. I felt that I did not get true bonding time with him until he came home from the hospital almost 7 weeks later. That made me feel like I was separated from him for 7 weeks which is a very long time. This is not a normal experience and can take a toll on any mother. That traumatic experience has caused me to not want to ever leave him again. 

Now that he's home I am loving every second I have with him and I can't imagine being apart from him for any length of time. I had a nail appointment 3 weeks after he came home and I stressed about it the whole week leading up to it. I wondered how I was going to leave him for one hour. This has nothing to do with Andy as a father as he is an amazing father. This only has to do with me being separated from Max again. Well I went to that nail appointment and it was a rough hour. I did well so I went back for a pedicure a few days later. I celebrated leaving him twice for an hour each time. I read online that the only thing I can do to get over this is to take baby steps in leaving him with people I know and love. So far, I have only been able to leave him with his daddy. I have to get over this because we have a wedding in a couple of weeks where his grandparents will be watching him. I am already having anxiety over this, but I do know that I have to leave him so I can get over this.

I mean, how can you leave this adorable baby boy at all?

I am aware that a lot of moms deal with maternal separation anxiety, but I would like to believe that if I didn't have the NICU experience I wouldn't have to deal with this anxiety. 

Gassy Baby

It's common knowledge that newborn babies are gassy, and Max is definitely no exception to that. He is one very gassy baby and I recently learned that premies are more gassy than full term babies. That is because we put food in their system way before their bodies are ready. Basically we messed with his GI system so he is very gassy and his system will eventually become normal within the first year. I was also told that we will experience his extreme gassiness for the next 8 weeks and then he should be a regular gassy baby. I don't mind him farting all the time, but I do feel bad for him because obviously his tummy hurts a lot and he is constantly fussy over it. No, he is not colicky, but the nurse told us this is just normal premie behavior. 

We learned all of this information from the nurse that came and checked on him last week. Max is enrolled in a state program for premie babies to ensure he is developing properly. This was something the NICU nurses encouraged us to sign him up for. A nurse will come to the house every other month to check on his developmental skills to make sure he is progressing and if he gets too far behind in something we then can get him help right away. At first we thought this would be too intrusive and was not interested, but the nurses insisted its a great program and we can end it whenever we want. Well we had our first visit last week and I learned a lot from the nurse and I am glad she visited us. 

The first appointment was more of a "get to know you" meeting and then going forward she will test Max on his skills to see how far along he is. She weighed him and he came in at a whopping 8lbs 12 oz. WOW! He gained a pound in a week. We also discussed his feedings as he sometimes nurses and other times he will only take a bottle and this can get frustrating. I mentioned how it would be nice if he could just nurse all the time and do so without being fussy. I learned that we were confusing his gassiness with hunger. Premies will root when they are gassy since their tummy's hurt and they are confusing that with hunger. She informed us to soothe him first before trying to feed him. Do this for at least 20 min and if nothing is working then he probably really is hungry. She also informed us that he should really only be eating every 3-4 hours so that should help us figure out if its gas or hunger. No wonder why he as been gaining weight fast as we were feeding him all the time whenever he was rooting. Based on the new found information I have been very successful with nursing him at every feeding. It has been much better and less tiring on me. 

I am very glad we signed up for this program and going forward we are able to make sure Max develops properly. We will see nurse Jackie again in two months.

All pooped out from the Badger football game on Sarurday!

Picture of Cuteness

Max is in a milk coma here and is absolutely adorable!