As Gavin said, "Liam is here!"

Liam Johannes Guittar joined us as an "outside" baby on Sunday, July 31st at 8:50am. 

The birth story will come in a separate post as I suspect it will be a long post.  He was born at home--well, my parents' home, in my parents' bedroom and almost in their toilet! :) 

Liam had his first pediatrician appointment on Monday, after 28 hours of being born.  Our pediatrician is on maternity leave so we had a substitute who was awful.  Our midwife is certified to care for newborns up to 60 days and she did a very thorough newborn assessment of Liam after birth and she said everything looked really good.  She showed us what vitals we needed to take every 4 hours for the 1st 24 hours (heart rate, respirations, pulse, temperature) which we did and were great for both of us.  So, the pediatrician's appointment was just to double check what we already knew.  This doctor was not thorough at all.  After I came home, I realized they never even took his temperature!  All she did was just push the "medical" stuff on me like "let's get his Hepatitis shot and circumcision done" type things.  I wasn't interested in either at this point.  When will Liam be exposed to Hepatitis B??!?  I don't see how this needs to be the first vaccine for a newborn.  Although we will circumcize Liam, I don't want to do it this early.  Gavin was circumcized within 18 hours of being born and the lactation consultant said that it is such a traumatic experience that they have a hard time latching after that.  So, I want to wait until Liam and I have a good milk supply and feeding schedule going before he is traumatized.  I hate that we're doing it but we have to at this point to make it even with Gavin.  If I knew what I know now when I had Gavin, I wouldn't have circumcized him and it would be a non-issue now but it is what it is.  The doctor asked me to come back with Liam the next day so they could do a blood test to determine if he was jaundiced even though she said he looked good and Kaleen had already told us his coloring was good.  They also wanted to check his weight.  He had dropped to 6 lbs. 8 oz. (from 7lbs1oz).  At the end of the day, I came home and talked to Nick about the experience and we just opted to skip the doctor's appointment and wait until Wednesday when Kaleen was coming to do the follow-up visit and she would assess Liam then.   

By Wednesday, Liam's weight was up to 6 lbs. 12 oz. so he had gained 5 oz. in two days.  I was concerned he wasn't getting enough nutrition since my milk was not in and he had wanted to nurse constantly which I interpreted as him not being satisfied.  This was partly true.  Kaleen said there's a period usually at this time 2nd-3rd day when they start getting a little anxious because they want milk and the milk hasn't come in but that it's not a big deal.  I had a hard 2nd day because Liam wanted to nurse constantly and I think he had a bad latch on the 1st day which made me really sore and even caused bleeding on one side.  It was so painful to have him latch that I almost gave in to formula then.  I knew it went against what every lactation consultant/breastfeeding advocate says but I was in such pain I wanted a break.  So, after a call to Kaleen and reassurance that he was not starving I did not opt for the formula but I did disregard the "no pump" rule and I pumped the one side that was injured and painfully engorged.  That got me through 2 feedings!  A break indeed.  I also sent Nick to Target to buy every remedy he could find and after some gel pads, compresses, and lanolin cream, I was ready to give it another shot.  When Kaleen came yesterday, she watched me nurse Liam and gave me some advice that helped a lot.  Yesterday and last night, Liam nursed perfectly and I actually do not mind the feedings now.  My only concern now is that he has not pooped since Monday.  Liam had a poop marathon with 6 poopy diapers in the first 24 hours and has had none since.  I'm hoping now that the milk is in, he will poop.

This morning (Thursday) Gavin woke up with a low grade fever.  It was only slightly above 100 but as a precaution Liam and I are quarantined in the bedroom.  I feel terrible for Gavin.  Yesterday was the first time I got to spend quite a bit of play time with him and instead of playing he just wanted me to hold him and he kept saying "Mama....Mama....Mama" while hugging me.  So I know he misses me and now we're totally separate. :(

Gavin likes to look at Liam and he will say things like "Liam is so cute", "Liam is little.  I'm big".  The "I'm big" part has really helped with potty training.  He has been using the potty more often because 1.  the "big boy" is really being reinforced now and 2.  my mom had bought a stash of toys for him to have every day once Liam came so he wouldn't feel "abandoned" and he knows he needs to go to the potty to get a surprise.  The problem is that now he comes and asks for a surprise all the time. 

Yesterday we had a couple of funny moments.  He saw me breastfeeding while Kaleen was here and so she explained to him what I was doing.  I had not really thought about talking him through this but he seemed to understand.  The funny part is that Gavin does not really drink milk anymore but yesterday he would ask for milk everytime Liam would nurse and when I didn't have Liam he wanted to drink his milk on my lap!  I'm just grateful he is not asking to latch!    

Hopefully Gavin will feel better soon and we can get some family pictures done so I can post here.  So far I've been so focused on sleeping, eating, getting a shower, etc. that I have not thought about the extra stuff like taking pictures!  So, I need to get better at that so I can start posting fun stuff. :)