Day 49

During pregnancy, Vivian exercised incredible self-control and discipline. She religiously strayed from restricted foods and made sure everything she did was best for baby. One of the things she couldn’t wait to do after giving birth was to get a digiperm for her hair. Perms are typically not recommended during pregnancy because harmful chemicals could be passed to the fetus. Saying Vivian was excited when she could finally book an appointment for a digiperm would be an understatement.

Today marks the day we go to Japantown for Vivian’s digiperm. The appointment is set for 10a, so we get up early to prepare. The last diaper change before we leave is a poopie one. Jackpot! Connor’s been pooping about once a day for the last week or two, so having a poopie diaper means we won’t have to deal with changing another poopie diaper for the rest of the day.

We arrive at JTown and I drop Vivian off at her stylist. The digiperm is supposed to take four hours, so I have some time to kill. I put Connor in his stroller and start walking around the JTown mall. Most of the shops are still closed, so there isn’t much to see. Connor’s still in a deep sleep, so I decide to set up camp at a nearby coffee shop.

About two and a half hours in, Connor starts to moan and groan in his sleep. It doesn’t take long for Connor to wake up once this happens. Quite a few heads turn in the shop to see where that moaning is coming from, but once they see it’s from a baby, they seem to lose interest.

It’s almost time to feed Connor. I heat up the bottle of milk and like clockwork Connor wakes up and starts to gulp it down. Vivian calls and lets me know she’ll be done an hour early. It’s perfect timing cause I really need to go pee and the coffee shop has a small bathroom that won’t fit a stroller.

Vivian arrives as I’m finishing up the feeding. Connor’s diaper is ready for a change. We can’t find any bathroom facility close by with a changing station, so we decide to just change him on a bench inside the mall.  Pee diapers are quick changes anyways.

We lay out the foldable changing pad and sit on opposite sides of the bench to block Connor, who is in the middle, from onlookers. As Vivian opens up Connor’s onsies, poop can be seen on the edge. Wait, Connor pooped this morning. Why is there more poop? He hasn’t pooped more than once a day in about a week. Maybe this is why he was moaning and groaning so much in the coffee shop.

Vivian takes a wet wipe and with broad strokes, begins the process of cleaning Connor. I’m pretty sure at one point Vivian blocked Connor’s peepee, so I’m shocked when a stream of pee shoots over Connor’s head straight at me. With quick ninja-like reflexes, but unfortunately no tissues, I block the stream with my hand. With mouth gaping wide open, Connor’s crying at the top of his lungs. It’s fortunate that the noise in the mall drowns out some of the crying so as not to draw additional attention to us. I’m glad when I see the stream begin to die down, but any relief quickly turns to disbelief as I see the pee start to land on Connor’s face. Oh no!  With my hands already wet I don’t know how to cover Connors’ face without dripping more pee from my hand. I panic as I see a few drops of the stream go in Connor’s mouth. Oh god, that can’t taste good. The stream ends as quickly as it begins, but a droplet of pee remains on the edge of Connor’s quivering lips. Don’t roll in. Luckily, Vivian is able to pull out a wipe and soak up the droplet before it makes its’ way into his mouth. The worst is over and we deal with cleaning up the aftermath of peepeepalooza.

This is our first trip to the city together as a family, so we want to make the most of it. We decide on ramen and udon for lunch. Connor sleeps inside the stroller as daddy and mommy get a chance to fill our stomachs. By the time we’re done with our nice, peaceful meal, Connor’s hungry and it’s time for his next feeding.

Vivian decides to nurse him in the backseat of our SUV. After what we’ve been through today, it’s no surprise when a few minutes into the feeding, Connor spits up milk on Vivian’s lap. Wipe it up. No biggie. Shortly after that, Connor let’s out a big, wet, juicy poop fart. What?! Three times on the day we decide to take him out! If we interrupt his feeding to change his diaper, we know he will be fussy, so we decide to finish his feeding first. I roll out the changing pad on the front passenger seat and get everything set up. Vivian tells me that Connor’s back feels damp. She checks and sure enough, his pooped has leaked through the top of his diaper and up his entire back. It’s also leaked through his onsie and further soaked Vivian’s pants. So much for waiting. She passes Connor to me. I place a hand beneath his neck and upper back and feel the slick moisture through his onsie. Better get to work quickly. I lay him down on the changing pad and immediately he begins to slide into the crack between the seat and seat backing. Damn these bucket seats. A small trail of poop smears across the path that Connor slid on the changing pad. Poo. Everywhere. It looks like somebody spilled a serving of milk chocolate fondue down his back. Not cool. Peepeepalooza just became peepeepoolooza.

Luckily we have a plastic bag handy to dump all of Connors’ soiled clothes. As I slide his clothes off and dump it into the bag, I frantically clean Connor and the changing pad with a wet wipe. To prevent him from peeing everywhere, I have a glob of tissue covering up his peepee. Of course, now that I am prepared, he doesn’t need to pee.

As I wipe up Connor’s back, he lets out a gurgle as if there is a puddle in his throat. Achoo! He lets out a sneeze and breast milk flies all over my face. Lovely. He then spits up the rest of the milk onto the changing pad. Things couldn’t be going better. Vivian and I can’t help but laugh at this point. We pull it together and finish cleaning up Connor and change him into a fresh outfit. Luckily Vivian packed two extra outfits for Connor today cause we used them all.

By the time we get home, we’re exhausted. We take Connor out of the car seat and the biggest smile lights up across his face. His curious eyes alternate between staring at me and Vivian. The smile never leaves his face. I’m not sure exactly why he’s smiling, but it’s the perfect reward at the end of such a rough day.

Day 44

Sadly, going back to work means I’ve missed some first moments with Connor. A few days ago, Connor started conciously smiling. Mommy has been keeping tabs:

March 3 at 5 weeks old, Connor smiles at MaMa for first time.

March 4, Connor smiles at mommy for first time.

Every day I come home from work and I notice his cradle cap, which is a common baby dermatitis that makes skin look a lot like over baked cheese pizza, is a little worse. It’s especially bad around his eye brows and his cheeks. We’re told it will pass in a few weeks, so we’re waiting patiently.

Day 40

Connor poops about once a day now, but when it happens, it’s epic. You will first hear the thunderous wet fart. I imagine what follows is like a volcano of melted chocolate erupting. The result is a diaper bursting at the seams with gooey mustard poop.

We’re told that it’s normal for the frequency of poops to reduce once baby is around one month old, so Connor’s right on schedule. The thing is, when feeding on a strict breast milk diet, the poops don’t really smell and sometimes you’re not within earshot when it happens, so you never know when you’ll hit the jackpot with the lucky diaper change.

Day 38

With all the constant feedings, Vivian hasn’t been able to get much sleep lately. So today, when Connor falls asleep by himself in his bassinet without being picked up for the first time, it is a big deal.

Vivian: “He woke up from noise but was not crying. He looked around for a few minutes. Then he was about to cry and I gave him the binky. When it fell off I gave him his quarter oz of leftover milk, the binky again. It fell off a few times and finally Connor did not tilt head to side so binky stayed on longer until he fell asleep!!”