Austin at 4 Months

Austin has caused us a lot of worry in his short life, granted these things are relatively small.

1) At his 2 week appointment, we weren't able to see his regular pediatrician. The pediatrician we saw was concerned about a bulge over his soft spot and that the fluids weren't draining correctly. We scheduled an appointment for an ultrasound. It came back normal thankfully. When we saw our regular pediatrician at the follow-up visit, she took one look at Austin and saw that he had the same "look" as Bryson--same head shape mostly. Bryson's soft spot still has not closed up which has to do with the disease Matt was born with, cleidocranial dysostosis. She had no concerns about Austin whatsoever and just said we would treat him the same as Bryson--watch him carefully and make sure he meets all his milestones. I know it's better to be safe than sorry, but if I only would have been able to see my regular pediatrician who knows my kids and their history, we could have avoided the drama that came along with that ultrasound appointment!

2) After the 2 month appointment, our (regular) pediatrician was concerned about a slight bulge on his forehead (right side). We scheduled an appointment with a neurosurgeon downtown 3 weeks later. At that appointment, the neurosurgeon said the slight bulge was due to the fact that he sleeps too much on his right side. We were assigned the task of having Austin sleep on his left side exclusively so that it could balance out. We haven't had a follow-up appointment yet to see if that has worked, but I think it's helped so far. Matt and I had not noticed that Austin tended to favor his right side when it came to sleeping; forcing Austin to sleep on the other side totally messed up his sleeping schedule which was progressing so nicely. At 3 months, Austin was mostly nursing for the last time at night around 7 to 8pm and then sleeping till 3:30am and then up for good at 6:30. Forcing him to sleep on his left side caused his sleeping schedule to revert to a newborn. I was nursing at 11pm, 2am, 5am then up at 6am to go running. (I'm training for a half marathon.) It was SO hard to go backwards. He's finally adjusted to sleeping on his left side, and we're making progress in a good direction to sleeping longer. Still not where it was though.

3) We had to do another doctor's appointment for Austin a few weeks ago because he hadn't had a BM in 9 days! Things seem to be working okay still and going longer between BM might just be his "normal."

So with all the frequent well-check appointments, we've been going to the doctor a lot for baby Austin!

Austin is now 4 months. We've been doing lots of tummy time, and he has rolled over 4 different times from his tummy to his back. I am his favorite person and sometimes nothing else will make him happy except me holding him. The kids love to make him smile. The first person Carter and Bryson want to see when they wake up in the morning is baby Austin. Caleb is the only one allowed to pick Austin up, so he's a great helper when I'm teaching piano and the baby just wants to be held by someone standing up.

Austin's 4 month measurements: 15 lb 9oz (52%), 24.5” (20%), and head circumference was off the charts but following the curve. His stats were almost spot on to Bryson’s except Bryson weighed 15 lb. 4 oz.