Caleb is Two Months Old

Caleb turned two months old earlier this week, to great fanfare. Actually, pretty much no day goes by without fanfare of some sort – such is the life of the first child and first grandchild (on my side), I guess!

He went to the doctor yesterday for his monthly checkup and got four shots. After that horror, he slept most of the afternoon away and then was extra fussy and hungry during the night.

He’s starting to focus more deliberately on things and smile at people, which is pretty cool. I uploaded a new round of photos from among the hundreds (seriously) taken this month. He probably thinks he’s the child of two full-time paparazzi.

Caleb is One Month Old

Caleb turned a month old the other day, and he has been doing quite well. A week ago, he was getting over a small cold that caused some congestion, but he’s back to normal now. He’s up to 9.1 pounds, 22.5 inches, so is averaging about a half-pound gain a week, which pleases the doctor. He’s about to get too tall for his newborn clothes, but isn’t fat enough to look good in most of the 0-3 month stuff yet. Still a skinny boy!

Tricia’s been staying home with him during the day, which consists mostly of eating and sleeping. He’s starting to make more grunt-like sounds and stay awake longer after some meals. On the days they do get out, they go see the multitude of grandparents or friends.

I posted some more photos of Caleb online from the past couple weeks, so enjoy!

Caleb is Born

After much anticipation, I’m very happy to announce that Caleb Owen Maxson was born on Saturday, January 20, at 4:58 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 15 oz, and was 21 inches long. After a 2-day hospital stay, we came home on Monday. Mom and baby are recovering well and trying to get sleep whenever possible.

We went for our first pediatrician’s appointment today, which went well. Caleb might disagree, considering his reaction to the bright lights, little clothing, and heel prick he experienced. The rest of the week will be spent practicing feeding, Tricia sleeping more, and Jon working from home.

Check out more photos of Caleb here!

The Baby Plan

We were at the doctor today for Tricia’s weekly checkup. She’ll be at 41 weeks tomorrow, so a week past her due date. Everything looked good, but he and Tricia are both ready to get this show on the road, so we’re going to start the induction process tomorrow (Friday) night. There are some preliminary things to do that night, and then they’ll likely induce her on Saturday morning.

Stay tuned for more news!

Entering the Home Stretch

You probably know that Tricia and I are expecting our first child soon. Well, “soon” is fast-becoming “now,” as Tricia’s due date is January 12. Everything has gone well to date, and we are looking forward to the as-yet-unnamed boy’s arrival. We decided to renew our apartment lease for 10 months at the beginning of January rather than buy a house, so we’ve been getting a baby room set up and stocked. Of course I’ll be posting news and photos here once the day arrives!

Into a Regular Recovery Schedule

So this blog posting thing hasn’t happened as frequently as I’d imagined it might! If it makes you feel any better, I do think about posting much more often than I actually have written. I must be busier than I thought I was.

Anyway, I was back at the cardiologist last week to check on some lingering inflammation at the bottom of my heart where it was apparently rubbing against the pericardium (lining of the heart). This wasn’t entirely uncommon, but the doc had me take high quantities of ibuprofen for ten days to hopefully neutralize it. It seemed to work, as they said I sounded much better this time and didn’t detect any of the telltale “sandpaper” sound, I guess. I don’t have to go back to see the cardiologist for another 3-4 months. I am scheduled to check in with the surgeon at the end of January, so I appear to be back on the “routine” post-operative checkup schedule.

I’m not in any pain from the surgery, really. The only medication I’m still taking is atenolol (which lowers blood pressure), and the surgeon may discontinue that after my January appointment. I’ve been taking that for years, so it’s no big deal. My daily life is back to normal, and sleeping and eating have been much improved over the past month. I guess just about when everything is returning to normal, I’ll disrupt it again with our first baby, coming in January!

Two Weeks of Work

Well, I’ve been back in the office for the last two weeks, and it seems to have gone well. I started driving again this week, which was an enjoyable milestone. You don’t realize how nice the “small” freedoms are until they’re taken away, I guess!

Anyway, I saw the cardiologist earlier this week, and he said that the heart valves sound great. He had a minor concern about some lingering inflammation in the pericardium (the lining of the heart) where he could hear it slightly rubbing against the heart muscle, like a sandpaper sound. He said inflammation is fairly common among post-surgery patients, and just wants me to take a higher dose of ibuprofen for 10 days to hopefully knock it out. I go back to see him in three weeks, and back to see the surgeon around the end of January.

In the meantime, as life gets back to normal, we’ll probably be going out this weekend to look at some houses, and Tricia has a couple bridal showers to go to for her brother’s bride-to-be (in 2 weeks). Plus, we’ll continue to formulate a baby registry and keep preparing for that new arrival. Life is busy!