6 weeks today

Andy turned 6 weeks today. I had my Ob-gyn appointment at 9:30 today. Mom came with me. On the car ride there, I was reliving the moments 6 weeks ago again. Hard to believe it's 6 weeks already! I learned from the post report that one reason that I had such fast labor was that the placenta got detached from the uterus so I was fortunate that it was fast enough otherwise it would have been dangerous for both of us. The blood results from the week before the delivery was finally in the normal range (was a bit low before) so no more iron pills to my relief.

We borrowed a baby scale at the maternity ward and he's 8 lb 6 oz now! He gained a pound in two weeks (much faster than before where he gained 1 lb in 4 weeks). He was quite restless last week with the late night owl schedule and increased appetite. The 6 week growth spur was true.

Over the last few days I developed new appreciation for mom. I have to admit that I wasn't thrilled about the idea of long term parents stay at first. But now I wish I had asked her to come earlier. I used to think I could manage and toughed it out; I fought fatigue with resistance. But now I realized I paid price of low milk production. With mom's help, I was able to pump after feeding, get more rest, and do less one-handed (even my wrist felt better after the weekend). It was wonderful to be reminded of the qualities I always admired in her. She worked with zeal and efficiency on everything. She cooked and cleaned in addition to looking after Andy. One day I asked if she wanted to go for a walk. She told me to go and that she preferred working; she finished making a ton of Zongzi (one o my fav Chinese food) when I came back. Growing up I always appreciated her selflessness and the work ethics she instilled in us and here she showed me again with her actions. We had our usual nagging and quarreling but I feel the tighter bond this time.

I went back to work today. We came to work together for lunch. It was a little hard watching them drive away. I guess it's a first day going back thing. But I didn't cry at all like I hear a lot women in my Snuggler class did. I guess it's because I know Andy is in mom's good hands.

We had the first poop putty training tonight. Mom noticed there was a little brown spot on the diaper, so she held the legs and waited. Andy had a long poop, and mom showed me how to make the sound to help him poop. It's interesting that most Chinese babies are putty trained at 8-9 mo, while babies here are trained much later. It was funny watching the stool coming out like spaghetti, only thicker and uncomparable in color and smell. It was filling up the diaper so we took him to the toilet so he finished the ordeal. He's all quiet now, probably all tired out from the poop.

Mom also got Andy to hold his own bottle tonight. Picture here.