Our Big Boy

More pictues of Alexander to come tonight...

We took him into Edward's clinic today for his well-baby check. It can take newborns two weeks or more sometimes to get back to birth weight. We've been working really hard to make sure Alex is eating enough and often because he's already so small. When he left the hospital, he was 5 lbs. 5 oz, down from his birth weight of 5 lbs. 8 oz. While three ounces doesn't sound like a lot, it is if you only weigh five pounds! That was normal though, as most kids lose weight. Anyways, I'm happy to report he's a BIG 5 lbs. 9 oz. today. Way to go Alex!!! On the growth chart, he's in the 5th percentile for height, 5th percentile for weight, and 10th percentile for head...even though he's little, he does have a big head, in perspective.

Just to compare...Madison always comes up in the 50th percentile across the boards. Luke started in the 95th percentile for weight, 50th for height, and 105th for head. He's averaged out a little now to 60th for height and weight and 95th for head.

Alex is doing really well and never cries. He'd sleep through the night if we'd let him, seriously. All of his energy is just going towards eating right now. He's really tiny, but so cute.

I'm making progress, very slowly. I did lose four units of blood at the hospital, and it will take about six weeks for my body to recover from that. I'm on two iron pills a day plus my prenatal just to help that along. I was given 22 pounds (yes pounds) of IV medications at the hospital, so I have a lot of water weight coming off right now. I dropped 10 pounds in the first 18 hours I was home, no joke. My overall weight gain at check-in at the hospital was 11 pounsd for this pregnancy. I'm at my pre-pregnancy weight already, and I still have a lot of swelling...how low will the weight go??? Don't care, just keep on dropping :) I came up anemic too, so that's making me very tired (moreso than normal with a newborn), shortness of breath (aside from my normal asthma), weak all around, and very dizzy especially if I try to pump milk for Alex...thankfully, we put him on formula right away due to his small size, and that's what is helping his growth along. Edward also found it interesting that one other lab result for me, the Coombs test, came back positive. I guess it's rare for it to do that with a mom; babies it's more common, but Alex was fine. Anyways, that has to do with my O Negative blood and the fact I've had six Rhogam shots (because all three of my kids have positive blood). Basically, in non-medical terms since I'm not a medical person, my blood cells are attacking each other trying to break each other down. That with the anemia and the loss of so much blood makes me a very strange case right now...but, no surprise due to such a strange pregnancy. Again, all of this will take at least a couple of months to get over.

Interestingly too, I've tried to figure out why this pregnancy was so bad and so different from the others. I know they are all different, but this was really bad on many levels. Madison and Luke have O positive blood, and things weren't bad with them...Luke was right at the end, but not all the way through. Alex came back with B positive blood, which didn't mix well with mine...just a strange notation.

Sorry, you can see how fascinating medical conversations get at our house with Edward here, especially when his wife's medical conditions have turned her into a freak show. It is interesting, though.

More pictures after dinner