See pictures from Dash’s week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and his one-month photoshoot.
Growth: Lost weight after birth, which is normal, but surpassed birth weight in one week. Wore newborn sized diapers for one month (then moved onto size 1 diapers).
- Height – 0.6 m (1′ 10”) (69th percentile)
- Weight – 4.6 kg (10 lb 3.5 oz) (57th percentile)
- Head circumference – 37 cm (14.57″) (38th percentile)
Loves: Staring at lights.
Sleep: For the first two weeks, he was like a normal baby, waking up every 3-4 hours. But after about two weeks, he started sleeping 5, . . . 6, . . . then gradually . . . 7 hours at night in one stretch . . . . -0- To say he is a good sleeper is an understatement.
Feeding: Exclusively breastfed. He eats well. He latched instantly when he was put on my chest after birth.
To get a proper latch, I insert my finger above his lower lip and below his upper lip to widen his latch. He is fed on demand, sometimes hourly when he is going through growth spurts, but usually every three hours or so. Each feeding session lasts 40 min to an hour, I think because he is a slow eater.
Engorgement of the breasts came in about three days after birth, and boy, was it painful. For the first few weeks, my breasts felt as big and heavy as honeydew melons, and as if they were getting more and more full of liquid by the minute and about to explode out into the open. So, even though the breast pump machine looked scarily destructive of my nipples, I put on a brave face and started pumping as early as six days after birth. I had to. Otherwise, my breasts were going to swallow me alive. The pumping machine max level was 10, and I pumped at the puny low level of 2. Haha.
My breasts sprayed with gusto everywhere, my bra, outfit, couch, bed, Dash’s face and hair, Care Bear’s hands, car seat in our car, Dash’s car seat, dining table, my laptop, and more. My breasts and nipples hurt for the whole month, because I was still getting used to breastfeeding.
Highlights:
- Went to the beach twice (Baker’s beach in SF and Natural Bridges Park in Santa Barbara), art museums twice, and many restaurants.
- First Thanksgiving with all family members.
- First outing outside of home (other than the first three days in the hospital) was on his eighth day, to go grocery shopping at Costco, where he slept the entire time.
- His eighth day was also the day California was recorded to have the worst air quality in the world, due to the fires.
- Bris (circumcision) on his tenth day.
- First hike was on his sixteenth day. It would’ve been much earlier if it weren’t for the bad air quality.
- First party Dash ever attended was aba’s work holiday party at the Tech Museum in San Jose (read about it here). He got dozens of comments about being a cute fresh baby. He slept through most of it.
Our favorite facial expressions of Dash: MAJOR POUTS; the silent, breathless, red scream face he made when we gave him his first bath ever, in the bathroom sink, before he let out the loudest scream in his life; “milk stupor” or “milk drunk” face after feeding; sleeping with his tongue sticking out and hands in superman position.
Nicknames we call Dash: monster (used by abba only, at night when Dash refuses to fall asleep), package (because we carry him around in one arm, like a package, wherever we go), old man (because of his receding? hairline), bug (because he is almost always attached at my nipples, sucking . . . ), blob (because that’s what he looks like, a shapeless droopy dough, when he is being burped on our thighs), 고객님 (= “dear customer”; and umma is called the restaurant).
Miscellanous: Must cut fingernails every 4-5 days. Otherwise, he claws umma’s breasts relentlessly and scratches his face and ears, cutting his skin open (which heals within a matter of hours/days).
Umma’s recovery: Lots of witch hazel pads, adult diapers, mesh disposable underwear, Dermoplast (numbing spray), and ice packs. Was able to walk and sit normally starting the day after birth. Lots of very uncomfortable queefing 24/7, even while sleeping (please make them stop.. T_T).
I took norco a few times in the first 2-3 weeks and stopped because I realized that they bring on massive, temporarily debilitating (40 min or so) migraines. So then I took ibuprofen 1-2 times a day, almost every day, for the first month.
“I feel complete.”
Umma’s take on motherhood: 1) IT IS SO FUN. 2) Time is going by so fast. I am alarmed that he is growing bigger so fast. I want to get pregnant again already, so I can have another tiny newborn. XD 2) I still can’t believe my luck of finally having a baby. I feel complete. 3) Wow Care Bear really does not like it when he can’t get sleep at night, even if the reason is cute Dash.
Surprises of motherhood: 1) I did not know that newborn babies grunt. A lot. And don’t coo, at least in the first month. 2) He stares at my acrylic paintings on our living room wall! Intently. I’m so honored and moved that I have a very interested audience that I almost shed a tear. *^D^*
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