Baby Tomasov

The pediatrician said that Evan is growing like a weed! He has grown 3 inches in length and is now 22.5 inches long. He also gained 8oz since Friday and weighs in at 7lbs. 12 oz!  His jaundice has improved, but is not completely gone yet. Now you can only see a little yellow in his eyes. Last week his face and chest were also yellow.  So the eating every 2 hours and the sunbathing is definitely helping! We have to keep that up until the yellow in his eyes is completely gone (she said that could take up to 2 weeks).  Other than that, everything looked good today! We dont go back to see her until November when he will have his 2 month appointment.

Evan had his appointment wtih the pediatric surgeon today for a consultation about his tongue tie. The surgeon confirmed that he did in fact have a tongue tie. He said it can affect a person at several different points in their life. As an infant, it can cause problems with breastfeeding and gaining weight. As a 5-year old, it can impact a child’s speech because the tongue can not move where it needs to in order to make certain sounds. As an adult, it can cause a person to have more cavities and an increased risk for gum disease because the tongue can not move around the mouth to clean out food, etc. He recommended that we get it taken care of now because it will make things easier for him later on. He was able to do the procedure in his office today in less than a minute. He put some gel under Evan’s tongue to numb the area. The he used a cauterizing instrument to cut through the membrane under his tongue. Evan did very well with this!! He was pretty cooperative and didnt appear to be in any pain. He hardly cried at all! We were so proud of him! He has already stuck his tongue out at us several times since we have been home! We are hoping that having this done will help with the breastfeeding and weight gain. We will keep you posted!

Evan’s umbilical cord fell off last week, so now he gets tummy time every day. He doesnt usually like this, but we know he needs to do it anyway. We try to make it as fun as possible by having him lay on him monkey mat. You cant really tell from the picture, but he is definitely crying! We have him do this for at least 5 minutes at a time. We are hoping it is more fun for him once he can start to hold his head up. He is really trying, but isn’t quite strong enough yet.

Evan did pretty well for his first bath. It was a sponge bath, since his cord hadn’t fallen off yet. He was pretty happy until the end when we wrapped him up in his cookie monster towel!

It’s hard to believe that Evan is already 2 weeks old! It has been a busy 2 weeks as we are settling in and still adjusting. We certainly do not have any kind of a schedule yet. We have to focus on his jaundice and weight before we attempt to get into a routine. Evan has been sleeping for 3-4 hours straight at night, which is wonderful. I typically get up 2-3 times during the night to feed him. We try not to let him sleep tooo much during the day, that way he sleeps better at night. With feeding him every 2 hours during the day, he usually only gets in a couple of naps, which are for at most an hour.  Evan and I are getting used to daddy being at work. The first day or two were a little challenging, but it is getting easier. He is much more active and alert than we had expected him to be. He is squirming and moving all around and keeps his eyes open a lot of the time. He is able to focus on our faces and other objects that we put in front of him. We even get smiles from him sometimes!! We know they are accidental smiles, because they usually happen when he is sleeping, but it is still adorable!

Evan had his first appointment with the pediatrician last week. Overall he is in good health. He had some yellowing in his eyes and skin, so they sent us to the hospital to have some blood work done. His jaundice levels came back slightly increased. She said that when it happens around a week after birth, it is usualy because of the baby adjusting to mom’s milk. I now have to feed him every 2 hours during the day (but I can let him sleep at night!) Evan also needs to be exposed to sunlight everyday. So I take him for walks every day (and daddy comes along too when he is home). He also gets to “sunbathe” every day. He wears only his diaper and lays in his bassinet in front of the window just soaking up the sun! He LOVES this! He just squims around as happy as can be! We have found that he loves to be outside, which is great since the weather is still nice! The pediatrician was a little concerned about his weight. He had only gained 3 oz. the first week, and is still not back to his birth weight. We were back to her office again last week for a weight check. He had gained another ounce!! We are hoping that by feeding every 2 hours, he really starts to pack on the pounds! We go back again on Wednesday so wish us luck!

We have had one full day with Evan.  He’s been sleeping and eating well.  Thanks to Julie who made us dinner for the night and came to hang out with us for a bit!  We are all ready for visitors, so if anyone wants to stop in you’re welcome!  All we ask is to let us know before you head over so we can coordinate your visit with our feeding and sleeping!  My family is coming to visit tomorrow for a few days, but everyone is still welcome!

See them all here.

Jenny and Evan made it back home safely.  Evan decided to sleep the whole ride home.  (It must have been due to his dad’s expert driving skills.)  Both Evan and Mom are taking naps right now.  I’ll post some coming ome pictures after I get my nap in too!

I just got word from Jenny that Evan is very hungry!  He just had his first successfull feeding, lasting about 15 minutes before he switched and continued eating.  We’re both very excited that he learned how to feed before he left the hospital.  Lets hope a full belly will let him (and his poor mom) sleep for a while tonight!  He has to be awake to meet Burt, Trouble, Bosco and Gordon tomorrow.  That poor kid has no idea he’s coming home to a zoo!