One Week Old.

Miss M -

Man oh, man, where has this last week gone? I can't even remember being pregnant anymore! I can't imagine life without you, it's hard to believe it's only been 1 week. How are we doing? Daddy and I love having you home with us. I have loved seeing Daddy turn into a confident, caring, loving Daddy. Not that I had a doubt in my mind that he wouldn't be that kind of Daddy, but it makes me tear up to see how much he loves you, all his nicknames for you - calling you Princess and telling you how much he loves you. 

You've already changed in a week, I think. You're a wonderful baby, barely crying at all, mostly just sleeping and eating, but that's expected for the first week. 

 Eating

I was worried about breastfeeding, super worried about it actually. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to nurse because other women in our family haven't been able to nurse - their supply dried up, they think. Even though it's not genetic, I couldn't help but be worried that something would happen and I couldn't nurse either. I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I'm pretty sure we're doing great! I nursed about 30 minutes after you were born, and we haven't had too many problems! I've been averaging about 2-3 hours apart, sometimes sooner. It's so hard not knowing how much food you're getting, but when we went to the Pediatrician on Tuesday, you already passed your birth weight, so we know you're getting food! The Ped. said that I should have no problem with supply, and I could push your feedings back to about 4 hours apart, but I'm not comfortable with that. I'll stick with 2-3 or whenever you're hungry. Sometimes feeding sessions are 15 minutes, and sometimes they're close to an hour, guess it depends on if it's a snack or if it's a full 5 course meal! 

We had one issue though - your latch wasn't very good, and I cracked and bled from that. I actually got out the manual pump I got from the hospital to see if I could pump because nursing hurt so badly! The first pump was blood and it freaked Daddy and I out! This was Monday. I stopped right away and called the lactation consultant, well after googling it first. Turns out it's okay if you drink the blood, it just might show up in your diaper. The LC called me back later that day and put in a script for a stronger cream that Daddy went to pick up. She told me to pump for 24 hours and see how it felt the next morning. It felt so much better and we got right back to nursing, but not after a few tears shed. We actually even gave you a bottle too, since I was nervous you weren't getting enough milk from just one side. So far, it hasn't caused any confusion, so I'm hoping we did the right thing. We tried to give you a pacifier too, to see if it would help you sleep, but you didn't really like that, and it made nursing a little more difficult, so I don't know if that caused any confusion for you or not. But we put it away for a while anyways. 

Sleeping

You sleep pretty good, but you like to sleep with us instead of in your crib. While we were in the hospital, you slept in your bassinet, but we were up so frequently to feed and you slept so often, that I don't think any baby has a problem sleeping in the hospital. Once we came home, you switched between sleeping on either me or Daddy's chest, or next to us in bed. You don't like the crib, but I'm sure you'll come around to it. Daddy and I manage on our sleep. We've fallen into a pattern, Mommy takes a nap during the day while someone is watching you, then once Daddy comes home and he eats and showers, he does the first "shift" usually until about 10:30 or so, and I wake up to feed you and let him go to sleep. And I get the rest of the night. It's so nice that Daddy's willing to help out so much, I don't know what I'd do without him! 

I've also loved sleeping on my belly again! Not that I was ever really a belly sleeper, but just having the option again is so nice! When you sleep on my chest, I usually go to the recliner and sleep, it's easier than sleeping in bed. 

Odds and Ends

We've had people in and out all week - your Grandma took off work Tuesday and Wednesday so that she could come over and help out. Since we live with Grammy and Pappy, there's not too much to get done, but she watched you while I napped, and did laundry for us. That was certainly appreciated! I'll be happy when I don't have to "entertain" and be on call for people to come over and meet you. I know I need to appreciate all the help I have now since I won't have it forever, but I'm sort of looking forward to just the two of us at home ourselves during the day. 

On Saturday morning before we left the hospital, they checked your bilirubin which was a little high, so they did a blood test and it was a little high - 8.4 - so they just wanted us to keep an eye on your skin and make sure it didn't get any worse. When the nurse came on Sunday to check you out, she assured me that you were doing very well and couldn't believe you were almost back up to your birth weight. It was really nice to have a nurse come and check up on you and answer any questions we had! 

Your stump already fell off! It fell off on Tuesday morning before we went to the doctor's. You still have the inner cord/scab, but I'm glad the main one fell off, I was so nervous about it! 

How's Mommy?

I want to include these, too, so I can remember what it was like postpartum. I would never change anything about labor or delivery, but no one talks about postpartum, and I kind of want to remember it. Let me tell you, it's something no one discusses, but it's tough! Not being able to get up out of bed is hard! Bathrooms were my worst enemy for a few days, and showering was a horrendous job. Each day it gets easier and easier, but it's hard! I've been taking some motrin when I needed it, as well as a stool softener (oh yeah, I went there!). I actually stepped on the scale Thursday morning and I'm down 20 lbs. from my pregnant weight - and I haven't watched what I was eating or been active at all! That's just from having you! I still have a loooong way to go before I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm so thankful for what my body has done, I don't mind the squishy belly with tons of stretch marks - because it gave me you! 

Emotionally, I have some issues - I get frustrated pretty easily, and I can tell my hormones are all over the place! Daddy knows when I'm super frustrated and helps out when he can. With the problem with nursing, I was very upset about that, and cried a good bit over it. I have moments where I'm so incredibly happy, and moments when I'm not as happy. I know it's normal, and I have family surrounding me to help out when I need it and I am so thankful for that! 

I thank God for you every day, and can't believe just how blessed I am to have you in my life. Love you to the moon and back little one!