Tyler's 2 Week Check Up

Yesterday was doctor appointment day. I went to see Dr. Mac to make sure that my c-section scar is healing appropriately. He was happy with my progress and said that I should avoid abdominal exercises ... I assured him that would not be a problem! :) Other than that he said that everything looked great and cleared me to start walking for exercise. He even mentioned that I had lost "a lot of weight" ... yeah! He clearly knows how to make his patients feel good about themselves when they still have that post-baby belly pooch.

After leaving Dr. Mac's office we went up to the next floor to see Tyler's pediatrician. Andrew's pediatrician is actually a family practitioner (i.e. he sees patients of all ages, not just children) ... in fact, Andrew, Douglas and I all go to the same doctor. I love our doctor, but Doug and I agreed that we wanted to see if the care would be different at a pediatrician's office.

Doug and I really liked the doctor that cared for Tyler during our hospital stay so we decided to give him a try for the next 6 months or so. Walking into his office was a sort of rude awakening ... it was packed and the waiting area was not very big. Nothing like the roomy waiting area at VFP. The good news was that we didn't have to wait very long to be seen ... the bad news was that when we were taken back to our room it was tiny. Doug's reaction was that they were "packing us in like sardines." I guess children get children sized rooms.

The doctor was great though and he said that Tyler looks perfect. He was very happy with his weight gain - he is up to 9 pounds, 1 ounce, which is great! Most babies lose weight right after birth and are up to their birth weight at 2 weeks, so the doctor was extremely pleased that Tyler is nursing well and gaining weight. Tyler measured 21 3/4 inches which we thought was odd since he was only 20 1/2 inches at birth. Apparently, the length at birth is not an exact science since babies tend to keep their feet scrunched up like they were inside the womb, which makes it hard to get an exact measurement. In other exciting news, Tyler's umbilical cord stump fell off Sunday night so now we can see what his belly button looks like - and the verdict is cute, of course! Tyler goes back to the doctor at 2 months for his first round of vaccinations. We are actually going to take him in a week early since we will be traveling to California to see my friend Allie get married when he turns 2 months old.

After leaving Tyler's doctor we had to take him back to the hospital for the second mandatory PKU screening. This test screens for potential genetic disorders. Tyler was getting pretty hungry at this point (read: fussy) but he quickly forgot about his hunger when they pricked his heel and then proceeded to squeeze blood out of his heel to fill the 5 dime sized circles on the paper. Needless to say, we were happy when that was over (although I knew what to expect because I took Andrew for the same test 2.5 years ago). The poor couple that was after us seemed pretty anxious after seeing Tyler's reaction!

I can't believe that Tyler is already 2 weeks old. As I expected when I was counting down to his birth (which seemed like it would never get here), the weeks after his birth have literally flown by. I am trying to appreciate every moment of this infant stage because it passes all too quickly. We spend a lot of time letting Tyler sleep on our chests and enjoying playing with his tiny hands and feet. Andrew likes to compare his "big" hands and feet to his baby brother's, which is really cute.

Andrew is really enjoying being a big brother too and he has shown that he is both proud and possessive of his little brother. This weekend I was walking with my mom with Tyler in the stroller and Andrew was walking next to us on the street. A neighbor said hi to Andrew and he was being shy so he didn't want to say hello back, but he did say, "This is baby Tyler" without being prompted. He wanted to show off his baby brother! Then, yesterday we were at Doug's parents house after the doctor appointments and Doug's mom asked Andrew whether Tyler could stay with her instead of coming back home with us ... Andrew was adamant that Tyler had to come home with us! It was very sweet.

I love being a mommy to two amazing little boys!