Thomas' Page 0-3 Months
Thomas Valdemar Blankley was born on Monday, July 10, 2006 at 3:45 am, 53 cm long and weighing 3.73 kilos (about 8.3 lb). He was born by caesarian section, as he didn't seem to want to come out even after many hours of labour and full dilation; in the end we found out it was because his umbilical cord was too short (30 cm as opposed to 50+), so he was kind of hanging on his little bungee rope...
When he did come out he was quite a hit, scoring perfect 10s on his Apgar tests (basic checks done for skin, voice, and other criteria to evaluate whether any extra care needs to be given) and displaying a full head of hair! He seems to have his father's hair and nose, and his mother's eyebrows and chin - we havn't quite decided about the source of those big blue eyes yet but they're certainly a hit with the nurses!
(Click photos to enlarge)
Some photos from Thomas' first couple of weeks
At 6 days, Thomas weighed 3.485 kilos; it's normal for babies to lose around 10% of their birth weight in the first week, but they usually make it up in the second week.
Unfortunately the incision from the caesarian cut got quite infected, and we ended up spending Thomas' second and part of third week in hospital as the whole family got admitted while Cindy's wound was treated. There were some advantages to this, as we got excellent care and didn't have to worry about cooking, cleaning, or messy linens for the 10 days we were there! But it's good to be home again and gradually we're getting into a... well, not routine yet, but we're getting the hang of living as a family of three.
At 18 days, Thomas weighed 3.9 kilos and measures 54 cm long. The health visitor also checked various other statistics, reflexes, leg length etc. and all appears in order.
At four weeks, Thomas hadn't really put on much more weight. The health visitor noticed that the membrane connecting his tongue to the base of his mouth seemed a bit short, possibly causing him difficulty feeding. So we went to the doctor and had it cut, which Thomas found quite disconcerting but quickly recovered. Since then he has put on a bit more weight, which could be related to the cut, to Cindy recovering from a short but nasty cold, or to various other factors.
He's had quite a lot of spots on his face and neck, apparently very common at this stage - caused by some of mother's hormones still circulating in his system. Starting to clear up in the 4th-5th week.
Some photos from around 1 month:
Thomas (affectionately known as "The Wiggler") has also taken over our bed; Wiggles meets the Whoozit, brought from Canada by our neighbor Natalie; some of his highly entertaining expressions
Around 5-6 weeks:
Thomas is starting to display more great facial expressions, and show more interest in distractions like his colourful Activity Centre, courtesy of the gang at work. It's around now that he should start to appreciate colourful, 3-dimensional objects over flat black and white ones - and the yellow squeaky duck definitely seems to have caught his attention!
Enjoying lots of attention from visiting Granny Lynda and Auntie Lisa:
End of August (7 weeks):
In the past couple of weeks the Wiggler has started to give us some beautiful big smiles, and reach out for moving objects such as toys, parents' faces etc. Unfortunately we all have colds this week, and his snuffly nose is causing him some discomfort. We've discovered that a nice shower with his dad helps a lot, and also seems to lead to a much better sleep afterwards. Thomas loves the shower - but he's not so keen on getting out of it!
At 8 weeks, Thomas weighs 5.2 kilos (11.44 lb), has already outgrown his first clothes, and is beginning to find his voice. We're all more or less over our colds, and Cindy's been to the 8-week doctor's appointment and gotten the green light to resume normal life, including exercising, cleaning, lifting etc. With some coordination from the health visitor we're now members of two different "mother groups", consisting of first-time mothers of babies born around the same time & living in same neighborhood; one English-speaking one consisting of non-Danes, and one Danish one where they have tried to match mothers with similar backgrounds and interests. We've only just gotten started with these groups, but with luck the children will get along well, and possibly in time go to some of the same daycares / schools.
At 2 months (9 weeks): Thomas is currently eating about half mother's milk, half formula; he doesn't have any problem latching on to breast or bottle, and has a voracious appetite! Thomas' favourite things at the moment: the shower, getting bounced around to "My Sherona" while getting his diaper changed, his Paco mobile, and watching the bouncing animals on his pram as we roll over the cobblestones on the Brygge. Sometimes he sort of holds his bottle himself! He also likes to be carried around in the sling, when he's in the mood... looks like exhausting work...
At 10 weeks: Thomas is now 6 kilos, and about 59 cm long. He's just starting to grab things successfully, especially the Whoozit and his parents' chins! He's also getting more into some of his other toys, and is discovering his own hands.
Sweet smiles can change so quickly!
September 24th - 11 weeks already. Thomas Wiggler is babbling quite a lot now, and appears to be in another growth spurt. We found out this week that he doesn't have Danish citizenship after all, as we had originally thought - but he should be fine with English and Canadian. He seems to have enjoyed the English mothergroup meeting on Monday! He's also starting to get quite chatty.
Around 12 weeks: Thomas has enjoyed lots of attention this week, flashing beautiful smiles for another grandmotherly visit, this time from Canada. We took lots of walks, some with the pram, some with the sling - including a lovely stroll through nearby nature area Amager Common, where Thomas met his first horse!
Thomas is starting to grasp things more consciously, follow movements with his eyes, and getting better at raising his head during his daily "tummy time" - it's quite a workout for him. Among his new imported friends are Winnie the Pooh from UK and Douglas the moose from Canada.
Updated 12.10.06