A Love that Grows Stronger: 3 week update

so Lincoln is offically 3 weeks old. I can't believe it's been 3 weeks already. I still have dreams of that day when we first met our precious baby boy. I'm also still in disbelief that he is mine! It seems so surreal sometimes that I finally have everything I've ever wanted. A wonderful loving husband whom I'd be lost without and a beautiful baby boy who brings more joy to my life than can be expressed through words.

Well anyways, this last week has been a rough one. When Lincoln was born we were told not to swaddle him. Apparently it's a SIDS risk...all you have to do is mention those 4 letters and I will do the exact opposite, SIDS is my #1 fear, I honestly sometimes wake up just to check and make sure he is breathing!
So anyways we have not been swaddling. The problem with this is that Lincoln will sometimes startle himself awake so hard he would be almost inconsolable. However this only seemed to happen during the night. During the day he would sleep in the bassinet or lamb chair for hours without waking. But at night the only way he would really sleep for longer than 20 minutes was on my chest or next to me. Well that can be a danger because I could roll over on him and then he could suffocate.

So this week I pretty much was awake all night, my wonderful sister would come over round 9 or 10 and watch Lincoln for 3-4 hours while I just slept. I would feed him right when she said she was coming over and then hand him off and she would do homework, or even clean my house while I took my 3-4 hour nap. She was to say the least A LIFE SAVER! Well this weekend I knew that this routine could not continue, after all Stace starts her fellowship this week so she would not be around.

Adam and I debated the swaddle thing, talked many times about it. I discussed it with several friends and family members and it really honestly weighed heavily on my heart. Friday night I Youtubed how to swaddle and tried it with a couple of his blankets but they are all sort of thick and stuff and didn't really work.

Then someone suggested the happiest baby on the block and I remembered that my insurance company sent me a copy of the DVD when I first got pregnant. So yesterday I went to Target and bought a four pack of the aden + anais blankets. Then came home and watched my DVD.

last night at bed time I swaddled Lincoln, and then fed him and put him to bed. 2 hours later he woke up, I fed him and then put him back to bed. 2 hours later he woke up and I once again fed him and put him back to bed. Then 2 hours later I fed him again. Finally I fed him at 5 am and put him back to bed. He woke up 45 minutes later and I put him on my chest and he immediately calmed down, then he had a HUGE blow out, so I think his stomach was just upset.

Needless to say last night was the best night of sleep I've had since he was born. I know only about and hr and half of sleep at once doesn't seem like a lot, but it sure beats 20 minutes here or there. I still took a solid 2 hour nap today while Adam watched him but I'm so excited at the fact that he was able to sleep on his own for 2 hours or more at night!

So other than this grand swaddling debate Lincoln is doing really well. This week we have graduated to sleeping mostly at night and having our wake times during the day. This happened half way through the week after some great suggestions of friends, such as waking him up before bed with a bath or just water, and keeping this dim and quiet during the night and most importantly not changing him every 2 hours at night because this would wake him up. So positive improvements.

But He is a rather fussy baby I think. I'm not sure if its normal fussiness or not but to me he seems fussy. He sleeps and nurses a lot of the time, he is awake a few times throughout the day and when he is awake he is only happy for like 20 minutes max then he starts screaming! then will fall asleep or calm down and the whole cycle starts again. I'm not sure if this is normal or what.

I've done some reading on this thinking it was what I was eating but according to the womanly art of breastfeeding it's not. So I will continue to do some research, but for now the 5 S's of the happiest baby on the block is really working.

But thursday he had his 2 week doc appointment. He is 8lbs 12 oz. and 21 and 3/4 inches long. He is in the 55% for length and 35th for weight. This is down from his 5 day appointment but I'm not too concerned, he seems to be thriving the the doc was ok with everything. So hopefully he will continue to thrive. His next appointment is in 2 weeks so we will see. Overall my baby boy is growing and doing well!

Oh and the highlight of the week. The St. Louis Cardinals winning the world series the year our Lincoln was born!!! :) yay!