At Home With Anders Rocket

For some reason my post titles these days sound like movies or TV shows. But that's neither here nor there. We have been at home with Anders Rocket for almost a week and a half now, so it's time for a recap of that time.

Donna came home with us for the first week, to help with the transition and get us settled. And boy, did that make a big difference. Seemingly the instant we walked in the house on that first Monday night and unloaded the cars, the house turned into a disaster. But gradually over that first week, we managed to rein in some of the mess.

There were quite a few things that we had to do right off the bat. The bassinet we borrowed from Malinda and Jean was set up in our bedroom, and tables were erected and equipped in our bedroom and the guest room to act as changing stations, one for each floor. Once those essentials were complete, all we had left to do was raise him for the next 18 years.

Both Corinne and I are home fulltime for now. Taking care of a newborn can be a fulltime+ job, and we wanted to make sure that neither of us was overly burdened. Kids are supposed to be a good thing, right? Not only that, but we have heard from many of our friends that they regretted not taking advantage of all of the "free" time available via the Family Medical Leave Act. We have stayed connected to work and have tied up some loose ends, but for the most part we've been home with him.

We've made progress with his feedings since we've left the hospital. Initially we were instructed to feed him every 2-3 hours, waking him up as necessary. We also supplemented him with formula (and later on, pumped breast milk) until he was breastfeeding better. After 2.5 weeks, we've now had several days in a row where he didn't need to be supplemented after feeding. More importantly, we've stretched the night feedings to 4 hours (from 3) and are just about ready to switch entirely to "on-demand" night feedings. It's amazing how much of a difference 1 hour makes. Thanks to our friends Amy and Andrew (who have had several early babies of their own), we now have a scale on loan that we can use to track his weight. He's now well above his birth weight and still gaining.

In general Anders is a pretty "chill" baby. He doesn't cry unless you are actively doing something to him, such as changing him, bathing him or doing something else that makes him cold. Even when he is hungry his signals have been pretty clear - tongue out, fist in mouth, with an occasional sound to make sure that you are paying attention.

We weren't quite sure how Max was going to react to Anders. In the past he has generally been afraid of small children, but in those cases the kids in question were walking around and generally walking towards him, so the current situation would be different. In fact, Corinne and Donna even devised a secure netting system over the top of the bassinet that should theoretically be strong enough to hold Max's weight if he decided to jump in the bassinet. In the end, Max has been rather indifferent to the whole situation. Occasionally he looks at Anders and probably wonders what it is, but in general he has completely ignored the new addition. We'll have to see if that changes once Anders is more mobile.

We've learned a few things about babies during these first few weeks home that we thought we'd share:

• Babies' digestive tracts are a pressurized system. When food goes in, "processed food" comes out the other end, typically at high speed. I'm guessing it's somewhere around 15-20psi. (Corinne has unfortunately experienced this several more times than I have, despite the fact that I do most of the changings.)
• Babies have a lot of clothes, but typically don't wear any outfit for more than a few hours at a time.
  

Possibly the best part about having Anders has been that Corinne isn't pregnant anymore! Towards the end she was really uncomfortable most of the time. Even though she has been getting up every 3-4 hours to feed, she still says that sleeping is much better than in those last pregnancy weeks. Thank goodness he came as early as he did! (Okay, maybe that's not the best part, but it is significant.)

Donna had to return to Seattle on Sunday - something about getting back to work, though I can't quite remember what that means right now. ;) But before she did, she cleaned our fridge, freezer, oven, and bathrooms, cooked virtually all of our meals (including a few that are in the freezer for later), provided advice from the perspective of someone who has done this before, and just generally did all of the stuff that we didn't manage to find time to do. Thanks!



In the past few days, we've even managed to get Anders (and Corinne) outside. We used to walk to the mailbox in the evenings after work as a way to get some exercise, quiet time, and fresh air, so we decided that all 3 of us should get back into that habit. (Our mailbox is about 1/4 mile down the road.) It's nice to be home in the country!

We've also had a few of our "country neighbors" stop by to check out the new addition.

I guess that about does it for now. We've had a number of visitors stop by to say "hi", drop off clothes (or swap girl clothes for boy clothes), or even bring food. We look forward to introducing him to everyone!

- Mike (& Corinne & Anders Rocket)