Life As A New Mom

I love being a mom! Today Ethan is 7 weeks old. We just went to the Pulmonologist's office yesterday for a clinic and Ethan weighed in at 11 lbs! I can't believe he's gained 2 1/2 lbs since birth. He's also 22 inches long! My little boy is growing so fast. Yesterday we met with the pulmonologist, the dietician, and the social worker. I was pleased to hear that he has completely recovered from the Brochialitis! The dietician told us that as he gets older he will be able to eat normal food. We will need to make sure he eats a well-balanced diet and that what he eats is high in nutrients. We will have to keep him away from juice, soda, tea and eventually coffee. We were told that Cystic Fibrosis kids tend to not eat a ton so what they do eat needs to be high in nutrients and that's why they want him to stay away from drinking anything other than water and milk. Kids who drink a lot of juice, soda, etc. tend to not gain the weight they need to and CF kids tend to not gain a ton of weight anyways. We are very happy that he is growing very well and that proportionately he's in the 68th percentile with the goal being to keep him over 50%.

Ethan and I are beginning to ease into a routine. He's such an easygoing little guy. I think his personality is a lot like Ken's. He is calm, social, talkative, and laughs a lot! A few days ago I laid him down on his playmat and he talked and laughed at a picture of a rabbit for 10 minutes. It's so fun to watch him learn new things and to take everything in. He loves to have conversations with us too! We'll ask him something and he'll coo back and laugh. It's really funny! I'll have to get a video and post it in the next week or so.

I really wish that we could afford for me to stay home with him full-time, but it will probably be unlikely. For now, I'm on maternity leave for who knows how long. I have an appointment with the postpastum therapist on Monday to extend my disability as long as possible. I'm hoping that in the end I can get an extension of 8-12 weeks and then I'll have Paid Family Leave on top of that. If all goes well I'll be off through the end of the summer PAID! I joke about wanting to get as much time out of the state money, but really I medically need it. I have postpartum depression, which is even more common in people who have Bipolar disorder. I've been managing with Zoloft and trying to take it easy. I've learned a lot of coping strategies through the years and especially over the course of the last year and a half being off meds. I will be going back on my medication soon since I've stopped breastfeeding altogether. That's a whole other post :) It usually takes a few months for meds to start to take full effect and we have to start all over now that my body has changed through pregnancy. I'm hoping it can be done fairly quickly, but also that I can have more time paid with my baby. For now, we're doing pretty good and we'll have to wait and see what comes next.

I'll post more pictures later in the week. He's growing so fast!