The Beginning

Our little family on St. Patty's Day! Quint is 1 week old :)

Well, I have decided to try my hand at blogging to stay connected with everyone and keep everyone connected with Quint! My 'quid pro quo' for all of the love and warmth our little boy has been showered with from so many since before his birth. It was almost overwhelming, and I thank God and all of you for how blessed already our little family is and feels. And in the tradition of quid pro quo, I hope all of you get a little something from the little something I will try to post with whatever routine I can manage at the different stages of his life! I can't promise a posting every day, but I will try for weekly or biweekly, with bonus milestone entries as he hits them.

I guess I should start from the beginning: on Quint's first birthday. Our precious William Allister MacKenzie V was born at Winn Army Hospital on March 10, 2011 at 1255am (0055 for you military types) and was a stocky 8lbs 9.1 oz 19.5 after 3.5 hours of labor, 2.5 of which was pushing! I'll spare you the details, but it was WELL worth the effort and I couldn't have done it without the love and support of my husband and wonderful mother in law, Crystal. I was so happy that Will IV got to spend the first hour with our precious baby boy for his initial skin to skin bonding experience.

The first few days at the hospital were a bit of a blur, but I mostly remember just spending a lot of time sitting there and marveling at this wonderful life God knit together and entrusted to Will and I. I love everything about him; his high chubby cheeks (chipmunk-esque if you will), little button nose, blue-gray eyes, and yes, SHOCK of reddish-blonde hair just like daddy's. It was such a special time that I was so happy to share with my in-laws and my grandparents (who cut their vacation to Florida short to help take care of me 1 week before Quint was born since Will was gone) and of course, my husband Will who slept for 2 nights on an awful hospital chair to spend those precious first days with Quint and I. I must say, I was also very impressed and pleased with my experience at Winn and the very professional and helpful staff.
Quint's first week of life outside the womb was another blur, but I do remember all of the well wishes, texts, calls, meals delivered and visits from friends and family who were eager to share in this experience with me and I with them. It made the experience that much more joyful and wonderful to share his life with so many of people who already loved him so much! The prevailing activity for that first week, however, was learning how to nurse and I absolutely couldn't have done that without Crystal. Nobody told me how difficult breast feeding is initially! I mean sure you read about latching and know how important the right latch is, and sure you read about nursing every 2 hours for the first couple weeks. But until you try it, you don't know how tough it is to get a "good latch" that doesn't hurt, or just how fast 2 hours zip by before it's time to nurse again, especially when you want to sleep so badly... I will spare you the details, but with the CONSTANT help of my extremely patient and knowledgeable mother in law, I managed to finally get the hang of it and was able to nourish our little boy, which is an amazing and wonderful feeling even without the added bonus of bonding you feel and strengthen while nursing! And because of the graciousness of my husband and father in law, (Will III and Will IV :)) I was even able to get a little sleep as they all took turns holding, walking and consoling baby Quint. And thanks to my church family, we all (even little Quint!) ate VERY well :). He is a much loved and very blessed little boy and I thank God for providing for us in a way that enables us to create that environment for him!
Quint's next big visit was from my dad, Roxana, Karen, David and Jack-or Abuelo, Abuelito and his Aunt and Uncles! This visit was a bit more hectic, but very fun and good for little Quint. He even went to his first museum at the Sea Turtle Museum on Jekyll Island and his fist mini vacation to St. Augustine Florida! I think he really took it all in ;). And my lucky little sister got to share a hotel room with me, Quint and our 3 hour feeding schedule complete with puming and LOTS of crying and fussing at being in a completely new environment. It was one big, hormonal (for me... just ask my family ;)) exciting adventure and I am so glad Quint got to meet these important people in his life so early on!
Initially I tried to implement the Baby Wise methodology for little Quint. This is a pretty strict 3 hour feeding routine that starts after week one! You feed every three hours (beginning of feeding to beginning) and follow a feeding, activity and sleep cycle. This worked out pretty well for us since Quint was such a good boy! I tried not to bee too rigid, if Quint woke up at 2.5 hours rooting, I fed him, but I never really let him sleep more than 3 hourse because I didn't want him to become malnourished. I have adapted it since week two accoding to Quint's little rhythms. For instance, now I let him sleep 3.5 hours or sometimes even a bit longer if he is really sleeping well. Or if he really wants to nurse/suckle after his "activity" I let him for comfort and just let him sleep a little longer. So I guess it is a combination of on-demand/baby wise that I have fallen into. It seems to be working as he has been sleeping pretty soundly from about 2200 (1000pm)-0300 for the past 3 nights and I am able to nurse very quickly and put him right back down and he wakes up again at about 0600 or 0630 and goes down about 30 minutes after that feeding. Lately Quint has been very gassy after this feeding. If I am able to drift back to sleep, it is to the sounds of Quint's little Gas Symphony, which consists of variations of hiccup, burp, fart and grunt. His next feeding is roughly 0900-0930 where he has a lot of "quiet alert" time afterwards which I LOVE. He'll sit and look around, make faces, flail his arms, and move his legs. I have been trying to do these little infant stretches and exercises with him during that time, which I think he likes... at least it seems to be helping with the gas! Quint doesn't sleep much in the morning and is usually up from a quick 40 min nap at 1130 or 1200, where we nurse and he has more "quiet alert" time. He sometimes gets fussy here and I have to hold him for the entire nap. This is also the feeding where I finally get him dressed and get a shower in (sometimes). His 1830 feeding is usally more fussy time, and the 2130 or 2200 feeding is a touch and go as well. But I don't really mind and he eventually calms down and takes his little naps. It is good that he is expressing himself as my father in law says :).