one week!

Olsen is more than a week old now! He has had a pretty eventful first week. First off, he was born. It must be a really weird feeling to be a newborn and getting used to life outside the womb. It's funny to watch him get used to his body. His arms and legs are like springs and his grasp is really tight. I read that these reflexes don't last long and soon his arms and legs will be more relaxed, so we have to appreciate his springiness while it lasts.


He had a case of jaundice when he was born and for his second night in the hospital, he had to stay under the blue bili lights in our room. He had to stay under them for 3 hours at a time, so we couldn't pick him up when he fussed under them. And he did fuss. He did not seem to really like them that much. We were able to take him home the next day and we had to bring him in the next two days to get his bilirubin levels checked to make sure that his jaundice was gone.


The difficult thing about the jaundice is that the best way for him to get over it was for him to eat a lot so that he could poop a lot to release the extra bilirubin. But the jaundice made him so sleepy that he was really ineffective at breastfeeding. So at the hospital we had to supplement with formula and then at home, I have been pumping like crazy. He is over the jaundice but he is still not really eating at the breast. It's been kind of frustrating because he has a really lazy suck. We've been putting him on and trying to get him to latch. He finally latches but then he sucks very weakly. Then eventually, he gets really hungry and cries and then I cry because I can't feed him. So then we give him a bottle of pumped milk and then I pump. It is a time-consuming, frustrating process, and I hope he can get it soon or else I will have to become attached to my pump, I suppose.

One other challenge that Olsen has right now is a case of hip dysplasia in his left hip. Olsen's pediatrician found it the morning after he was born when he moved his legs around. His left hip socket is shallower than normal, so his left hip can easily become dislocated. We're not sure why he has this since it is most common in girls and breech babies, which he is neither, though it is more common in first born babies. The good news is that since he is so young, the treatment method is for him to wear a harness for a couple of months. The harness will keep his legs abducted so that as he develops, it will press his hip ball and socket together to form a deeper socket. From what I have read, this works 90% of the time and no further treatment is needed. So, we are praying that this will work so that he won't need surgery. And the good thing is that since he is so little, I don't think the harness will bother him too much. We go into Salt Lake on Monday to see an orthopedic pediatrician to get his harness.

That is pretty much his first week in a nutshell! (Plus his umbilical cord fell off today...)

Here is another video of Olsen (including the bili lights and putting on his first clothes!)
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