What really shocked us was how much he's grown in length! He was 19 inches at birth, and now he's 22 inches long! That jumped him into the 74th percentile for length. Now John noted that the method for measuring his length is not perfect. All they do is lay him on a long piece of paper, mark the top of his head and then straighten his leg to make a marking below the bottom of his foot. If Evan was stretching his midsection during the measurement he could easily get a longer measurement than during a time if he was just laying normal. Either way, maybe he's already starting to grow length to match how long his feet are! They've been pretty long since birth, and if he's anything like a puppy with big feet, we figure that means he's going to grow long and tall to grow into his long feet! :)
His head circumference was measured today at 36 cm, which is only the 14th percentile. I hope that doesn't mean that his brain isn't growing as much as it should, as I read somewhere that a baby's head grows a lot in the first few months because of the rapid development and growth of the brain! The other thing John and I thought was interesting was how the doctor's office measures his length in inches, but his head in centimeters! What a way to mix up using both the English and metric measurement systems! At birth, his head circumference was measured at 13.5 inches, which is just over 34 cm. That means his head has only grown 2 cm in circumference over the first month of his life. Maybe I need to up the fat and omega 3's in my diet?
Regardless, the doctor didn't seem alarmed by any of his measurements or anything else during his appointment. Thus, it seems Evan is healthy and doing just fine for a nearly 1-month-old baby boy. Now that's he's about 1 month, the doctor advised us to start trying to feed him by bottle at least once per week, and said if we want to try using pacifiers with him that we should start that now too. I guess if you start them before 1 month, they may get nipple confusion. However, if we wait much longer past 1 month, they may never take to a bottle or pacifier! Such a fine line there! So, I just got done boiling his pacifiers that we can try using with him later tonight. I figure since Evan's started having fussy periods in the evenings, that's the best time to start trying the pacifier with him.
Plus, I guess I'll have to start pumping more and get some bottles for us to start trying to bottle feed him a bit. The best part about this is that John can help with middle of the night feedings now! :) [Not sure if he realizes this yet or not!] The downsides are that it's just that much more stuff to have to clean when we get done feeding him, and that I'll have to pump regularly and build up a supply of milk for him to be fed by bottle. One other good piece of news from the doctor today is that Evan should start to go longer overnight without needing fed now! No more worrying about feeding him every 3 hours overnight...rather if he goes 4 or 5 hours at a time at night, that is okay for him (and even better for John and I!).
At the end of his appointment Evan had to have a shot....his second Hepatitis vaccination shot. He sure didn't like it. Just as the nurse told us he would do, he cried really loud, turned bright red, and stopped breathing for a moment (from crying so hard). It was clear she'd done this a thousand times with infants! After he caught his breath and the shot was well over, he was fine again. The nurse said there will be more shots next time at his next check up too (one month from now). Poor guy. John told him he cries just like daddy does when he gets shots! :P
All up, I just can't believe it's almost been 4 weeks! I thought that waiting a whole month before using a pacifier or bottle would be an eternity, but alas, it has come and gone and I never once wished we could already start using either! Evan really has been an angel for us though. If he wasn't as easy to calm and soothe, I can bet we'd have broken out the pacifiers long ago!
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