The Toes We Love

Baby Adam, looking less than thrilled

Adam had his follow-up doctor's appointment today. His doctor wrote Good Exam on the paperwork we bring home, making us very happy parents. Our son weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and 19 3/4 in. He's grown 3/4 in and gained 1lb and 3 oz since we brought him home from the hospital. A growth rate of about 2 oz a day!

I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday, because Adam's first blood work came back with a borderline elevated TSH. This may be an indicator of hyperthyroidism which is very rare for newborns, but does need to be treated when it occurs.

If the results are abnormal in the second set, we will have to take Adam to an endocrinologist and see about treatment. Treatment, if necessary, will last until the antibodies that he got from the placenta have run it's course (about 6-8 weeks). By that time, he would no longer require medication to treat his thyroid.

False positives are common since the ranges of normal and abnormal overlap to error on the safe side--meaning to catch any potential problems rather than letting any slip by undiagnosed. Adam has no signs of hyperthyroidism and none of my blood work (before or during pregnancy) ever came up abnormal, so the first results are very likely false positives. His second set of blood work should come in any day now, so we're praying that the results are normal. Then, we can rest assured that he is in perfect health.

Adam and Matt, cuddled and comfy

One of the major struggles in caring for Adam is in changing his diaper. During a middle of the night changing, we had to deal with a geyser of urine. Unfortunately, my first reaction was to lift his legs. Don't ask me why. That resulted in the stream of urine that was landing on me to target Matt who was standing at Adam's head.

Earlier in the day, he'd peed into the sleeve of my mom's jacket. I do NOT know how he managed it. Matt said, "I walked in and saw pee dripping from your mom's sleeve."

Right before leaving for Adam's appointment he was able to once again get my mom's jacket while changing him. I thought we were getting good at keeping messes contained, but since his circumcision, things are a lot less in control.

By the way, his circumcision is healing very nicely. Thank God! He doesn't appear to have any discomfort now when he pees which is a huge relief.

Round 3 goes to Mommy and Daddy

Our only win thus far

Every day, Adam increases his awake time. This gives us an opportunity to bond with him by reading, singing and talking to him, playing music and cuddling with him. When his awake times are more during the day than at night, Daddy and Mommy will be able to get a tiny bit more sleep. We are exhausted and we're about to be even more exhausted when grandma goes home this weekend. She has been a big help, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and helping care for Adam.

I cannot express in words how in love we are with our son. We love every single part of him and we're still gushing over things like his adorable feet. They are soft by two definitions: smooth and supple.

Adam's adorable feet

The toes we love