 Back to the hospital |
Cameron had jaundice as well, but Dex's experience was much easier than Cam's. They detected the elevating bilirubin levels in Dex after only four days - it was 10 days in Cam's case. This meant that Dex's jaundice was not as severe so he did not need an IV or the accompanying catheter that Cam had to endure. The technology had also improved in the two years since Cam had been in The Box. Dex had a simple and comfortable platform on which to lie whereas Cam had a weird paper-mattress thing with a tube sticking out of it. Also, Dex's visor to cover his eyes from the lights was very easy to get in place and more importantly, stayed in place. Cam had this awful band with velcro patches that did not stay in place and we had to put a mesh thingie over his entire head to try to keep the band in place over his eyes. Cam was constantly clawing at his head covering and I was always adjusting it to keep his eyes covered, whereas Dex just lay there quietly, enjoying the warmth of the box. Dex's bilirubin count dropped dramatically overnight and we headed home on late afternoon on Sunday.
One of the nurses at our pediatrician said that second babies are always opposite of the first, and so far it's been true for us - Dex has been a low maintenance baby so far. He behaves exactly as people describe babies: sleep a lot, eat, and poop. He sleeps for 2-3 hours at a time between feedings, a far cry from the 1- 1.5 hours that Cam slept, and when he's awake all he wants to do is eat, and then he'll drift back to sleep quickly. He's been very easy to take care of, so much so that Sara told me to go back to work early and save my paternity days for a future vacation.
The only negative of Dex so far has been that he poops a LOT. He feeds, poops, we change him, then he poops right after that, we change him, and he poops AGAIN. And when he poops, watch out - as Sara's mom says, "Dex just had a thunderstorm in his diaper."
Almost from day 1, Dex has smiled as he's drifting off to sleep and he's even laughed on a few occasions. By accident, I got a picture of Dex smiling - I was so excited when I Dex smiled just as the flash went off.
I don't remember exactly when Cam started to smile but it feels like Dex is smiling much earlier. I hope that this early smiling and laughing, combined with his general low maintenance, means that he'll be a happy and easy going kid. It will be a treat if we have sweet-natured Cam and an easy going Dex. It will most certainly lead us to wanting another child... :)
 Cutie pie |
That was early on, and Cam's less shy aroud Dex now. He climbs up onto the couch beside Sara or I and interact with Dex, or if I'm looking at pictures of Dex, Cam will climb up beside me and say "Cute!" or "Cute baby!" If Cam is playing with a car and he sees Dex sitting there, he'll grab another car or truck and bring it over to share with Dex. It's very sweet to see.
In the mornings, I go down to Cam's room and get him ready for the day, then we both come upstairs so I can get ready. While I'm washing up, he'll run over to the crib and if Dex is sleeping in our bed, he'll say "Where's baby?" and then run around the bed to look for Dex. When Cam sees him he'll excitedly climb up onto the bed and talk to Dex. I get a little nervous over Cam's boisterous energy as I'm worried he'll bounce right onto Dex, but so far Cam's been pretty good at staying off of Dex.
So far, Cam's been a good big brother to Dex, treating him well. I hope that lasts through their entire lives together...
I'd love to wrap up this blog post in style, but I'm falling asleep at the keyboard so I'll just wrap it up now. As always, you can look at the new pictures by clicking one of the images above or just click here.