3 Weeks

Little Miss Charlotte turned 3 weeks old last week, which meant it was off to her first pediatrician appointment.  A home nurse had visited her just two days after being released from the hospital (huge perk or small town living I suppose), but this was her first visit with Dr. Scott.  We were excited to see if she'd been gaining weight, although we suspected that she definitely had, and we received great news!  Our baby girl was headed in the right direction and had been packing on the pounds and inches. 

Her 3 week stats, on January 12th, were:

Age:  20 days

Weight:  9lbs 7oz., 75th percentile (she was 8.6 at birth, but only 7.6 when leaving the hospital)

Height:  22 inches, 90th percentile (was 20 in. at birth)

Head Circumference:  37cm., 55th percentile

No vaccines yet; this was just a basic well baby check, and overall Charlotte looked wonderful.  She seems to have a pretty easy going disposition so far.  She only cries when she's hungry or her belly hurts, she likes her big swing, bouncy chair, and play mat from time to time.  She's not too sure about her little swing, and typically spits out a pacifier or turns it down all together.  Her only "issue" at this point is lots of gas and upset tummy.  We didn't have either problem with MJ, so it's a new one to us, although probably fairly common in newborns.  It's hard to see her in pain though.  She's only breastfed right now, so we're not sure if it's something in my diet that she's sensitive to (dairy possibly) or just an immature digestive system that needs a little time to develop.  It mostly seems to bother her in the evening though, and she'll get very gassy and uncomfortable and unable to fall asleep.  The doctor preferred not to try any medications this early on, which we wouldn't want to yet anyways, and said if the problem got bad enough we might want to consider a small break on breast milk and try an elemental formula (the most easy to digest) to see if that made any difference.  Hopefully we don't have to go that route, so right now we're trying to wait it out and use Mylicon and Gripe Water to make her more comfortable. 

At three weeks old, she's nursing every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night.  Now that she passed birth weight, I no longer have to wake her to eat during the night, which is wonderful!  She's had a couple rare longer stretches of sleep, and I'm hoping for more soon!  :)  She's sleeping in our room in the evening-either in her pack n play or her swing, and during the day she naps just about anywhere-bassinet in the living room, bouncy chair, our arms, etc.  She sleeps the majority of the day, usually with 2-3 awake periods where she's alert and active for an hour tops.  When awake, her strength just amazes me!  Even in the hospital she was already beginning to lift her head and was grasping at her pacifier, and since then she's only gotten stronger and stronger.  She completely shocked me when she rolled over, from belly to back, at two weeks old!  This just seemed crazy, so I figured perhaps it was a fluke, but she's made it clear that it wasn't.  She's done it at least a couple more times since then.  Apparently, she's not a big fan of tummy time and she's determined to prove it.  :)  She regularly turns her head from side to side, swats at toys, and turns her head towards a voice or light.  She has these big dark blue eyes that look so wise already.  She'll just stare at me like she's studying me, and it's so precious.  These first few weeks have flown by and it's amazing how quickly she's changing already. 
Here's Charlotte playing on her little play mat at three weeks old: