Gerritt is 3 months old!

Well, the special day we've been waiting for is here - January 1st. Gerritt is 3 months old today. At a 3-month mark he supposed to start sleeping through the night, hold his head up & do other magical things. His development has progressed significantly from a state of a helpless newborn. He is able to support his head when held upright; he is starting to grasp objects with his hands to take a closer look or to try tasting some of them (blankets are his favorite so far); he is able to sit with support; & he definitely knows our faces. His vision has improved as he starts smiling when I am coming toward him, not just when I am up close. We've been putting him on his tummy to strengthen his shoulders & neck & he is able to hold his head up for a few minutes. A big change this week was that he is finally able to use his Rainforest Jumperoo! When we tried putting him in it a few weeks ago, he couldn't hold his head upright & his feet couldn't reach the floor. Now he loves to exlore while sitting in it & to even jump up & down.
Gerritt is also sleeping better. He usually sleeps for at least one 5-hour stretch & has been known to sleep for 7 hours straight on a few occassions! We are in the process of establishing a consistent bedtime routine so he can learn to fall asleep by himself eventually.
Last Saturday (December 29th) we were supposed to go to a Christmas party & ended up visiting the ER at Children's hospital instead. On Saturday afternoon Gerritt started to have some drainage from his left eye & it looked slightly red. I was convinced he had a bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye). I knew it was only going to get worse over the weekend & really didn't want to wait till Monday for him to be seen by his pediatrician. So my husband & I took him to the Minute Clinic. Our efforts didn't pay off, unfortunately, since such clinics only see patients who are 18 months & older. After contacting the office of our pediatrician & talking to a nurse, we've waited for over an hour to hear from someone. So we've decided to take matters into our own hands & go to the Children's ER. Two & a half hours later, after being seen by 2 nurses & 3 doctors, we were on our way with antibacterial eye ointment for Gerritt. The doctors decided Gerritt had viral conjunctivitis, however, prescribed antibiotic eye ointment just in case it was bacterial. We've applied the ointment once & Gerritt's eye cleared up the next day. The infection was gone too quickly to be bacterial... I have since learned from a friend who is also a Mom that freshly expressed breast milk used as eye drops could have worked equally as well. I probably overreacted by taking my son to the ER but who can blame me? I am a first-time Mom!
I am still supplementing Gerritt's diet with my own breastmilk. I can't believe I've managed to keep up my supply for this long! It is sure like a full time job, pumping every 3-4 hours & always being aware when you have to pump next. I've taken my breast pump with me to many places including friends' houses, doctors' appointments & work. I am not breastfeeding any more but continue to pump since the documented benefits of breastmilk are too significant to ignore. I felt alone in my efforts until I ran across a website dedicated to women who only pump, but not breastfeed for various reasons. I am certainly happy I didn't give up & continued pumping through the first challenging weeks of motherhood & while recovering from a major surgery. While I wasn't happy Gerritt when got his first cold a couple of weeks ago, I am convinced my breastmilk helped him to recover in only 3 days. On some days when I feel like I should be working more, I remind myself that I am already doing the most important job in the world. This time is so short, yet so critical to Gerritt's future health & emotional well-being. Some day I will probably miss these precious moments when Gerritt was a baby & I had him all to myself...
Only 10 more days until the arrival of Gerritt's Russian babushka!