Jacob is 3 months old today, & life is much better! His painful colicky episodes gradually subsided. Part of it was probably due to his digestive system becoming more mature, but also due to us becoming more aware of his physical needs. The main breakthrough was learning to put Jacob to sleep before he got overstimulated. Through experimentation we found out that the longest he could stay awake was about 1.5 hours & pushing his awake time any more ensured at least 30" of screaming.
Jacob has started to laugh this month. Not just smile back at us, but really giggle. It's surely the happiest sound in the world! He usually laughs when we tickle him. Jacob also rediscovered his hands. He loves to suck on his knuckles. His arm control has improved tremendously & he gets very determined look when trying to reach for objects. He loves to grab onto the dangling plastic animals when sitting in his recliner. Jacob is very strong. He often lifts his head off the pillow as if trying to get up & also able to roll onto his side.
Jacob definitely recognizes people & gets scared by strangers easily. My Mom, Gerritt, Jacob & I attempted to have lunch at the Italian restaurant the other day. It was a disaster! Jacob cried every time the waitress came to our table & every time someone passed by. The final straw was a man walking past our window outside. Jacob was simply inconsolable, & we started to get the dirty looks from other restaurant customers. My Mom made the decision to take Jacob out of the restaurant while Gerritt & I finished our lunch. Poor thing! She had to finish her meal at home later that day. :-(
Jacob hasn't had a single doctor visit yet. It's not a big deal that I have no idea in what percentile his height & weight are. It took having my 3rd child to realize that well-child check-ups are a complete waste of time. I have to drive somewhere in order to sit in a waiting room & have Jacob be exposed to sick people, hear him scream so he could be measured & weighed on a cold exam table by strangers & then subject myself to a lecture about my belief in the alternative vaccination schedule by a pushy doctor.
I haven't been in a rush to get Jacob vaccinated since he's almost exclusively breastfed. Remarkably, although breastfeeding didn't work out for us, I've been able to feed Jacob breastmilk through exclusive round-the-clock pumping. I just realized I've been sleeping fully dressed since Jacob's birth (a cotton shirt, fleece pants & jacket) to avoid getting cold when waking up to pump at night. Exclusive pumping is hard work, & there is no way I could have done it without my Mom living with us. I simply couldn't have maintained my pumping commitment with Jacob's one month of colic & two other young children needing so much of my attention. I was fortunate to receive some donor breastmilk from one of my RN coworkers at the hospital. She gave me 90 oz of her frozen breastmilk so I was able to feed it to Jacob while freezing some of my own milk (this way I can stop breastfeeding a little bit sooner when the time comes).
My pubic bone pain has finally subsided & I am now able to sit/walk for prolonged periods of time as well as cross my legs. I still need to lose about 10 lbs to reach my pre-pregnancy weight & strengthen my pelvic floor. I've been getting some physical therapy to fix my separated diastasis recti muscle. I've said it before & I'll say it again - pregnancy & delivery are the easy parts of having a baby!
Thanks to my Mom, my husband & I had our first get-away since Jacob's birth recently. We were gone for only one night & I had to pack my heavy rental breast pump with me, but it was still worth it. We are looking forward to another get-away next month!
