Weight/Length: Does it make me a terrible mother that I'm not sure? It is honestly not worth the effort at this moment to try to measure and weigh her. I'll try to do so tonight before bath time and report back. I know she's back up to birth weight, does that count?
Sleep: Still sleeping really well. The past few days, she has really woken up. That is, she's been awake during the day a lot more than previously. She is up twice at night - normally sometime between 2-3 a.m. and then again between 6-7 a.m. Although I guess that's only considered being up one time since 6-7 is waking up time for most people anyway. Normally after the 6 a.m. feeding she'll sleep for 3-4 more hours, so I've been taking advantage of that and going back to sleep with her - sometimes for the entire 3-4 hours depending on how the night went. Fingers crossed she keeps this up slash starts sleeping ALL the way through the night soon - she's doing great!
Feeding: Depends on the day. Since my breast feeding post there have been a lot of ups and downs. Essentially, over the past few days she has been ravenous. Like every one and a half or two hours. Meaning, she'll nurse from 10-11, for example, and then be hungry again at 11:30 or 12:00. I could not catch a break. And a lot of times after nursing for an hour she would still be fussy and hungry and I could hear her little tummy rumbling so I'd supplement with some pumped milk. I couldn't figure out what was going on - just thought maybe she wasn't getting as much as I thought she was since she's such a slow eater and likes to sleep while eating. I also did some research and suspected that the nipple shield was a big part of the problem because it slows down the milk flow from the breast. I called the lactation consultant yesterday to confirm this. While I was waiting on a call back, Lilly got hungry. I undressed her (we feed her naked in hopes that she'll get cold and stay awake for feedings) and laid her on the pillow and got ready to nurse before I realized I couldn't find the nipple shield. I was sitting there looking around for it, and what do you know, she found my breast all on her own, latched right on and ate. WHAT. Is this really happening?! I am happy to report that we have not used the nipple shield in over 24 hours now. HOWEVER, our struggles are not over. She is really lazy and has regressed to a terrible latch without the nipple shield. She is SO stubborn (wonder where she gets that from? wink!) - I know she knows how to latch, she's done it plenty of times before! She just won't. It's like she's teasing me. Normally it will take 10 minutes of her crying and me calming her down and both of us getting frustrated before she'll latch on, and then the latch is really painful. Allegedly, it's not supposed to be painful, so I have been breaking the latch and trying to reposition her, but in the end I have just suffered (and sometimes cried) through the pain and let her eat because I'd rather her hurt me and eat without the nipple shield than use it. Last night during the 2 a.m. feeding she got so mad that I couldn't get her to eat, so I had Dan come give her a bottle and I pumped, but since then she's been ok. I am getting very close to making a change and solely pumping and giving her bottles of breast milk. I checked with the lactation consultant yesterday, and we do not lose any of the benefits of breast feeding by doing that. It would be MUCH easier, would take less time for me (since she's such a slow eater), would be less painful, and Dan could help with middle of the night feedings. I'm still chewing on it - we're going to give the breastfeeding another week-ish until we go in for her one month appointment. In the meantime, I'm going to keep plenty of pumped milk ready for middle of the night feedings in case situations like last night occur and I'll try to stick to breast feeding during the day. We'll make a decision on pumping/bottle feeding soon - and I'll keep you posted!
Firsts This Week: Lots of firsts this week! First time meeting Uncle Chris, Aunt Andrea, and cousins Ryan, Erica and Ian. They were all enamored with her and SO cute. We also went on our first walk in the stroller, which she loved - slept right through it. First time out with Mommy - just to the drive through window at the bank for a deposit, but whatever. First real bath (read: not a sponge bath). First Valentines Day! First time using a paci last night. I was hoping to avoid that "first" until she got the hang of breast feeding better, but she acts hungry a lot of times when in reality it's just a self-soothing suck reflex thing, so the paci really helped her calm down and helped keep me from going insane. Except for a two-hour period today she was not happy unless she had it, and she spit it out every 30 seconds, so that was annoying.
Developments: As mentioned above, she's awake and alert a lot more these days. She's discovered her tongue and sticks it in and out a lot. She's found her hands a few times and sucked on them. And she's just generally more active - always moving!
What I'm Thankful For: Support from family and friends (recurring theme, yes?). It is so easy to get frustrated with these feeding issues we're having. I've heard from several of you over the past few days after my breast feeding post, and I cannot tell you how much it meant or how the words of encouragement, advice and support came at the perfect time - literally. I really needed the encouragement, and it seemed like all of it came when I was at my wits end. Proof that the Lord answers prayer, for sure - it was all such perfect timing. I'm also thankful that Lilly is, for the most part, a really great baby! She really only cries when she's hungry, she's a good sleeper - if we could get the eating under control, we'd be as close to perfect as it gets!
What I'm Looking Forward To: Having Dan at home on Monday - his firm is closed for the Holiday. I'm hoping I can get out of the house for a few hours to run some errands, and I'm really looking forward to it. I always feel so busy during the day, but it's still easy to feel cooped up.
Next Pediatrician Appointment: February 27. Can't wait to see how much Lilly bean has officially grown!
How Mommy's Doing: Still sleep deprived, but overall I'm doing great. Lilly and I are settling into a sort of routine - as much of one as we can, anyway, given the fact that she is never hungry on the same schedule. I'm down 25 of my 30 lbs of total pregnancy weight gain. I have a feeling the last five are going to be a pain, especially considering I'd like to lose more than 5. Still too scared to try on my pre-pregnancy jeans - I'm still pretty fleshy, so I'll wait a little while longer for that. It feels like I'm mostly back to normal "down there," and I have already started worrying about my doctor appointment in a few weeks. Other than that, still just learning the ropes and taking it a day at a time!
I guess that's all for this week - and perfect timing, too, because the milk monster is waking up to eat again. Until next time, maybe you could help solve a discussion Dan and I are having: Is Lilly considered to be one month old next Tuesday, since that is exactly 4 weeks from the day she was born? Or is she considered to be one month old on February 24, one month from the day she was born (January 24)? I need to know because I need to know when to take a picture of her using the stickers Auntie Meagan got us!
I was going to put some pictures of some of Lilly's firsts but I honestly don't feel like dragging out the camera, so I'll just leave you with one from today - her sleeping pose when she's not swaddled makes me laugh!
Sarah
Hey Sarah! You use the date that she was actually born. So Feb 24th you would take the picture! I had the same question before I took Caleb's one month picture. I had no clue when to take it.
ReplyDeleteI have to say after having 2 that it really depends on the pediatrician and what they consider 1 month. Logan's ped considered 4 weeks a month while Emmett's considered it on the day he was born. You can call and ask them, that't what I had to do when we moved to MS.
ReplyDeleteLove ya!
SAME SAME SAME issues here with the breastfeeding. I remember buying like 10 shields so I would never be without one, crying hysterically at the ped because I tried to nurse her on demand but failed because I didn't have a shield, etc. We made it four months with the shield (and I had no issues with supply or flow) then five more exclusively pumping. You're doing great, and it's awesome she is sleeping so well! PS/ looks like the nasty three week growth spurt has struck. Think there is another at 6 weeks and 3 months? Can't remember.
ReplyDelete