Our Little Bear. I wanted to start this post by calling him our miracle baby, but then reflected that there are miraculous things about both of the kids (there's that parent-of-two equity). But I will say he's our beat-the-odds kid, hands down. He made it to 42 weeks' gestation and was born on the day that my dad, his Dawdi, would have turned 70 years old, August 11, 2009. Micah lost weight so quickly in the hospital that the NPs wanted us to supplement my milk with formula (which we kindly declined, with the promise of a next-day clinic visit), and is now off the charts for weight, height and noggin size (good thing we're not trying to get him on private insurance). A trip to the clinic, the day after we got home from the hospital, revealed to our pediatric NP, Raechelle, that he hadn't voided except for a sprinkle that morning, nor had he pooped since he was delivered. She also measured his heart rate at 92 bpm, extremely low for a newborn (120 and higher is better). She said we should put a tissue over the area on the diaper where he pees (because the disposables are so absorbent we could miss any moisture), and then asked that we call her as soon as we saw evidence of urination. When she called us at 9:45pm (on a Friday) to say that she would like us to take him in to the emergency room, Nate checked his diaper one more time (while I was on the phone with her) and it was soaked. Whew. The next day (2nd day home from the hospital) we took him back to the clinic to see the pediatrician for his heart, and she wanted a blood sample to test for certain antigens that can sometimes lower a newborn's heart rate. Nate took Micah to have that done (being that it had to be a venipuncture on a 6-day-old baby, I wouldn't have been able to stand it). His 7th day home, we went back to the clinic (by now he was peeing and pooping normally) Raechelle checked his HR: 130 bpm. She checked it again. 130 bpm! She went and got another stethoscope. 130 bpm! Barely a week old. As his Mama, I think he needed about 2-3 more days to finish whatever it is babies do in the womb. Due dates are not an exact science. When I went in for the induction, my body wasn't even close to being labor ready. I guess Micah isn't interested in being forced to do anything. Right now, that's endearing. We're just thankful he's so healthy.
He is now 2 1/2 months old, confident and cool. He knew how to latch and drink milk the first time they put him to my breast. When he fusses, it's because something needs to be different, and when the need is met he's back to his cool self. He loves to watch Natalie dance around, will smile and sing if you engage him and is just starting to laugh.
Because I made the herculean effort of training him to be content in the Moby-wrap sling we use, it is now the best way to lull him to sleep. I love it, of course, because it's like a 30-minute hug between baby and Mama. He also sleeps so well at night. There are always a few sleep exceptions (like his tag-teaming with Natalie during nap time), but Nate and I, due to experience and/or having a better sleeper in Micah, have very few sleep complaints (except for "not enough").
Slowly, the experience of having two children is turning from being simply busy to an engagement of 4 people as a family. We all sit at the table when 3 of us eat, we often are traveling in the car together or as a mobile unit with the stroller, and have started incorporating everyone in household routines (Micah's job is to sit in his chair and coo).
Our kids are great companions and we love the new dynamic of being a family of 4.
