Three weeks old today

Finn is three weeks old today. He's starting to show his personality, letting us know when he is content and when he is not. He loves his hands, snuggling, tummy time, and bath time. He is not a fan of wet diapers--or diaper changes, or of being cold. 

He's a great eater, most of the time. He's up to 3.5oz per feeding, and he's eating about every three hours. He'll sometimes get hungry after two or two and a half, and occasionally he'll go four hours. He has an adorable (and only sometimes annoying) way of avoiding the bottle when he's not hungry anymore. He opens his mouth wide and lifts his head and shakes it back and forth. It almost seems like a game to him. We need to get a video of it. Other times, he'll just close his mouth and nothing will get him to open back up.

Thanks to the generosity of my brother-in-law's cousins, Finn has been fed exclusively on breast milk. We've probably got two or three days left of milk from one cousin, and then we'll start on the milk from the other. I'm hoping we'll be able to make it to six full weeks, but it'll be close. The cleft team's dietician has recommended we save enough breast milk to allow us to have a gradual transition to formula, so we may be cutting it a bit close. Regardless, the fact that he's been able to have only breast milk so far is amazing. When we were still in the hospital, the lactation consultant came by and said their whole team was impressed that we were able to get donated milk for him, but honestly, it was very little our doing, and all thanks to the cousins.

Knowing how precious the milk is, it is hard when he doesn't finish a bottle. Fortunately, he hasn't done it often, but when we have to pour out half an ounce or more, it's almost painful. People talk about breast milk being liquid gold; it's even more valuable than that when we're dependent on others for it. We figured out that we can reduce the risk of having to pour out any milk by making smaller bottles and adding to it if he's still hungry.

His cord has finally completely  healed, so he got a real bath this morning. He loved it, particularly when we washed his hair. He was relaxed and content the whole time, until we drained the tub and he got cold, that is; then he got adorably mad until he was dry and clothed again.

Yesterday, Finn hung out with his dad and Grandpa B while I was at chemo, and in the evening he had his first trip to Costco and first trip to his Brotzman grandparents' house. Today he got to experience Target. He slept in his infant seat carrier draped under a blanket the whole time, which helped us to get in and out of the stores quickly.

He's sleeping well. He usually has one or two fussy periods in a day; we prefer it when those times are during the day rather than the middle of the night. He's having more stretches of 4 hours of sleep at night, which we really appreciate.

We decided to try a pacifier with Finn, after noticing that he loves to suck on his fingers, that sometimes he just can't settle down, and that when we give him his Vitamin D supplement, he loves to suck on our fingers. We're experimenting with several different kinds now to find one that he can keep in his mouth; from what I understand it can be difficult for any baby, but with his cleft, there's a bit more of a challenge. He wasn't interested in the ones we tried last night, so we picked up a couple more today and will see what he thinks of them. We'd prefer him not take a pacifier, since our understanding is that he won't be able to have it for a while after his surgery, but it seems like it might be something he needs--and it's easier to wean from a pacifier than from fingers, since we can just take away the pacifier.

I'm finding chemo to be easier now that I'm not pregnant. I have more energy even on my hardest days, and I'm so glad for that. I was really anxious about trying to take care of a baby with the amount of energy I had in the days following chemo--Mondays through Wednesdays are my most exhausted and achy days, but they're not as bad as they were when I was still pregnant. It also helps that I can now take ibuprofen for the aches instead of just Tylenol, which didn't seem to do much of anything for me.

I've only got three more chemo treatments to go. It's hard to believe I'm so close to being finished with it. Each week, I walk through the garden on my way into the infusion center, and I pass by the chemo bell, look at it, and think about when it'll be my turn. Soon, I think. Soon. And it is soon: August 5, 2016, which is also Kevin's birthday, is going to be one awesome day.

I noticed on Wednesday night that my lump was much more noticeable and closer to the surface than it had been, and I'll be honest, it panicked me. I talked with the oncology PA on Friday about it, and after checking it, she said she wasn't worried and that it was probably just the changes in my breasts from not being pregnant anymore. My milk never came in (a blessing, I've decided, since I didn't have to deal with the physical pain of letting it dry up nor the emotional pain of having to deal with milk that I couldn't use), so my breasts have changed somewhat over the past few weeks.
Even though she wasn't worried, the PA said she would send me for an ultrasound if it would ease my mind, and I agreed. They were able to get me in that afternoon, and they even worked me in two hours earlier than my scheduled appointment time when we walked over after my infusion finished. We had good news from the ultrasound: the tumor now measures about 1.5 cm, which is less than half the size it was when I was diagnosed March 1. I knew it was smaller, but it's kind of comforting to have that confirmation. I had hoped it'd be smaller, or even gone by now, but I'll take it. My oncologist has said that what we still can feel of the tumor could be all or mostly scar tissue by this point, though we won't know until surgery.

My hair is continuing to grow--Kevin observed this evening that it's sticking straight up on top now, and when he took a picture of me and Finn from behind me, I noticed how much darker it's looking. Yesterday morning I thought it almost looked like I had bedhead! It's hard to believe I almost have enough hair now for bedhead!

My eyebrows and eyelashes are continuing to thin, but they're still there. I know that it's possible, even likely, that I'll lose them completely, and that it might not happen until I'm done with chemo. It's odd to me; my head hair is coming back, and soon I'll have to shave my legs again (ugh!), yet my eyebrows and eyelashes are just now going. From what I've read and heard from others though, it's pretty common.

That's all I can think of for now. Finn's sleeping on my chest as I write, and I think he's got the right idea. Good night.