He has certainly lived up to his name's meaning. Matthew means "gift from God." He has truly blessed Matt's and my life.
It has been a crazy busy month to be sure. Just after we got Matty home from the hospital he got dehydrated -- and gave us a pretty big scare. We rushed off to Kennestone's ER and they transferred him to CHOA at Scottish Rite. Note: I was NOT happy that my 5 day old baby boy was in an incubator being driven down the interstate in a specialized ambulance that said "pediatric/neonatal critical transport." The doctors at Children's were pretty sure he was just dehydrated, but since the ER docs at Kennestone had done a spinal tap and blood cultures, they admitted us for observation to be proactive with antibiotics just in case something developed from the cultures. Thankfully, everything turned out to be just fine...we figure it was a combination of a few things that led to Matty's dehydration, but given the amount he's eaten this past week, I don't think it is a problem any more.
As a side note, I have to give a HUGE shoutout to Children's Hospital of Atlanta. They were thorough, kind, and treated the entire family. When we were in the ER about to be admitted, they called upstairs and told them I'd had a c-section and was breastfeeding so the nurses brought in a bed for me so I could stay with our baby while he was being observed. They got a lactation consultant in to help us out. They provided me with a pump since the baby was being hydrated via an IV. And since I was breastfeeding, they provided me meals at no extra charge to us. The doctors were excellent. And the nursing staff was incredibly helpful during for our 3am feeding. They took Matty, fed him, and stayed with him so Matt and I could get some sleep!!! I did wake up up in the middle of the night and they hadn't brought him back, so naturally I freaked out a bit. Matt found him at the nurses station...apparently the nurses were enjoying holding him, and I guess I'd rather have my little one in someone's arms rather than a cold bassinet.
In fact, it looks like Matty prefers to be in someone's arms as well.
Matty with Grandfather
Matty with Lynnie
As you can see, holding Matty is incredibly rough on my mom...
Length: 22.25" (he's grown more than an inch since he was born!!)
Weight: 10 lbs 11.5 oz
Head size 15" (it's grown 1.25" since birth!)
The pediatrician says Matty's muscle tone is excellent, and he said Matty has already reached a 2-month milestone of holding his head up while he's on his stomach. And Matty is starting to "crawl" while he's on his tummy. (I know...it isn't real crawling just yet, but the pediatrician told us we are in trouble!!!)
Here are some pictures from Matty's first month. It's crazy to see how much he's changed from birth to now! I would encourage all new parents to really take the time to see their baby over the first few weeks...they change so quickly!
Coming home at 4 days
1 Month Old
I'm 1 Month Old!!
I've managed to get some great pictures of our little guy asleep...
One of my favorite pictures!!
I guess labor was tough on him too.
Just after a midnight feeding...he is "milk drunk"
Such a stressful day...he had to nap in his mamaroo
And I love some of the funny faces he's making!
Most of all...I am loving his smiles! I managed to catch one on camera, but most of the time I'm too busy lovin' on him to get too many other shots.
I suppose the right thing to say is I'm looking forward to watching our little guy grow up, but truth be told I want him to stay in this stage for a bit longer (although I will be happy when he can finally tell us exactly what he wants).
That being said, I have such big dreams for this guy. I am excited to see the little person he's going to grow in to. I want him to be sweet, kind, thoughtful, trustworthy, loyal, honest and funny (I'm sure I left off a few attributes). All of these traits should come easy for him...they're all traits his Daddy has.
I am loving spending quality time with my little man. We're definitely still figuring things out, but I hope he'd say that we're getting better at it!
Until next time...
