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We did a photo session of Jax at two days old, trying to capture him in my hands the same way I had held all the fruits and vegetables in my hands. Since he was born full term, and big, and unmedicated, he was extremely alert from day one.
Several months earlier, I took photos of a friend's baby at two weeks old who gave me perfect curled-up, sleepy newborn photos. He was born at thirty eight weeks and was barely five pounds. But my full-term, ten plus pounder son? Was never, ever going to curl up in a newborn ball for photos. We tried. Oh we tried. Seriously, if he wouldn't do it at two days old, he was never gonna do it.
So I think Benjamin took about sixty photos of Jax screaming his head off. I was so overwhelmed with being a new mom, learning to breast feed, and my sleep being next to nill, that I never sorted through these photos. I posted three of them, just to show him and our little family. But the rest I just remembered about. Fun to travel down memory lane. And to remember that even though he was "little" then, he really was a big newborn!
(EDIT: Following text is a brief discussion about circumcision. Skip section to next group of photos if you don't want to hear about that. It's not something I normally talk about; just here.)
Side note, because we had a home birth, he wasn't circumcised until day
eleven. In these photos, he is obviously intact. (EDIT 2014: I decided to put a sticker over the full-frontal shot. It just seemed a bit much for a world wide internet and a baby who will someday be a man.) Circumcision is a decision that
many families are wrestling with today. I feel it is an extremely
personal decision, and have been upset by some of the animosity between
parents over the subject.
We felt that if the Lord asked so many
generations of Israelites to do so, He must have had a good reason. In
the New Testament, it is not commanded to the Gentile converts to become
circumcised, however, Paul reasons there are benefits to it. While we
didn't feel it was necessarily commanded by God for Christians, we did
feel that Scripture recommended it as beneficial for a variety of
reasons.
Modern medicine is extremely conflicted in its assessment of
the health benefits, or lack therof. We read many articles insisting it
was beneficial, and many articles insisting it made no difference.
Since there didn't seem to be a clear agreement, we didn't feel there
was a strict medical necessity based on current research, not to do it.
And since we were already leaning toward circumcision because of our
thoughts regarding its Biblical history, the medical reasons didn't
cause any different decision.
Those were our thoughts, but I have many
Christian friends who feel differently, despite their deep respect for
Scripture. We don't judge anyone, but can only make the decisions we
feel are best for our own children. Regardless, we made the decision
jointly and in agreement. However, I am happy that I have some photos
of him prior to the procedure, just for the record. We had no issues
with him recovering from it, and he didn't cry much more than he did
when they stuck his heel for the newborn blood tests. In fact, I'm pretty sure he wailed more during this newborn photo shoot than he did following his circumcision!
This extra cartilage in the middle of his ear has mostly gone away as he has grown. I can also tell in this nursing photo that he is not entirely latched on well. He's such a good nurser now, but those first two weeks were rough. I'm glad we persevered through the pain and struggle to get to where we are today. Nursing is one of the most beautiful gifts I've had from having a baby. It is a delight every time I get to cuddle and nurse him. I have no intentions to wean him until he wants to wean himself.
Also, in retrospect looking through the photos, perhaps he cried so much from the sunlight in his eyes. He seems happier once we turned him face down.
