Can’t keep up…
Oh my God! My daughter is a week old and I am still not even unpacked from the hospital. Every day I think “I have to blog this!” and then it’s 1 am and I fall in to bed crying from exhaustion. Sorry for the crappy blogging but here’s the best I can do for an update for now…in no particular order because my brain is not yet capable of order.
-We had our 1 week well visit today and the girl has surpassed her birth weight by 3 full oz. Apparently I make breastcream. She’s 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and 95th percentile for height. Another child with the BG’s body type. Lucky kid.
-My left nipple is scabbed over and hurts like a mofo. She has latched well from the beginning and I think I got over confident in latching her in the dark. The BG bought me a nipple shield (which the boy has now lost…) and she wouldn’t go near it. How are they supposed to work? Today I pumped once to give that side a break and will again in the evening. Also using lanolin and air drying whenever I can. Any other tips? She sucks her bottom lip in and doesn’t fish lip like she should but I don’t know how to fix that. Help? The right side latch looks the same but doesn’t hurt.
-I am a postpartum hormonal mess occasionally (read: “Overwhelmed Psycho Bitch From Hell”) and my good old bubbly self the rest of the time. I forgot about that part. I cry at the drop of a hat over nothing but feel normal 95% of the time so it’s all good, right?
-I went the the mall two days post-cesarean because the girl? She has no clothes! There are lots coming but she needed a few outfits to get her over the next few weeks. Apparently I love pink, purple & yellow just as much as I love blue, orange & lime green. God, my kids are fun to shop for. It’s a good thing it hurts to walk or I’d shop all day long!
-We have another baby group going (started as a pregnant group actually when we all went on leave again) and there was a baby girl born 3 weeks before the girl, a baby boy born 2 days before the girl, a baby boy born 3 days after the girl and there are several more on the way. I hosted the first post-birth group yesterday and it was fantastic to have a houseful of moms, toddlers and babies. Thank God the BG was still on holidays to help with the boy, though. And another friend brought her husband too. It was great to feel surrounded by people. I’m SO not a recover alone in silence kind of girl. I HATE when people say “I won’t come over because you need to rest.” Just come, already. I need people around all the time and get lonely easily so I’m really glad we have that group once a week because it can make up for the other days.
-I hope to do a post all about the boy’s reaction to the girl coming home. It’s adorable. And sometimes scary. But mostly? It’s adorable and deserves a space all it’s own.
-The BG has 2 more weeks off to help me…thank God for him…and then I’m on my own. He had actually taken 6 weeks but 3 were gone before the girl made her appearance so it’s been cut in half. I’m kind of scared to take both kids out alone because the boy is still in the “hold me or I’ll run away and get hit by a car” phase and she, obviously, needs to be held. How do I do that exactly? We got a stand & ride stroller but it doesn’t accept our carseat so we can’t use it until she’s old enough to sit upright in the front so he can sit in back. So, do I have to stay home until August?
-I’ll leave you with the product of a photo shoot I did when the girl was 4 days old. God, I love my new lens! Please excuse the crappy watermark. Photoshop isn’t working on my laptop and I couldn’t get downstairs so I just used Paint to plaster something on. I’ve been finding my pictures on various other blogs so plan to start watermarking most of my images.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Which stand n ride did ya get? If you got the Fisher Price one there’s a way to rig it so that it accepts any carseat in the back and the boy can sit in the front (I’ll email ya a pic).
As for getting in the car. Put the boy in first, and take him out last. The infant carrier/carseat thingy can stay with you, but toddlers don’t.
January 19th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Great photo shoot, I love the little footise peeping out from under the blanket. Babies curl up so sweet like.
Oooh girl shopping the BG is going to cringe when you get done hmmm? My DH certainly has over the years
P.S. Wow a week already, time flies!
January 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Such a sweet birth announcement photo collage!
If you want to bring out your girl’s lower lip after she’s latched on, try using your pinkie on the hand that’s supporting your breast (or a finger on your other hand) to gently “rub” the lip outward. A lactation consultant showed me to do that because Fly was basically gumming me to death. Yowch!
It’s amazing BG has so much time off! Wow!
January 19th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Try to tilt her chin down as she comes to nurse, E was the same way at first. Man it hurts. Also try the football hold on that side.
Sling baby, toddler in the stroller. E still lives in sling, but B will walk with me and he can be in the stroller.
Hugs and the emotions and the fear of being on your own. It takes time to find your groove, but once you do you cannot imagine it any other way.
January 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
So, so sweet!!! Ah, I’m envious of that little being!!!
January 19th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Awwww she’s so precious! I can’t wait to figure out her name!! How cute! She definitely looks like Ry-guy! She’s precious!! Congrats!!
January 19th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
My little guy did that too, and I’d try and reposition him.
Sorry to hear about people stealing your images–I’m having the same trouble. It’s so damn frustrating.
She is so precious! I love the pictures. :o)
January 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am
I had a sit and stand too that accepted a ton of car seats…it used like a belt thing to strap them it. Although now thinking about it, it probably wasn’t the safest thing…
I too loved having people around…made me feel sane!
January 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
She is so beautiful - I had no idea you had such great photography skillz too!
I agree with chelle. Sling the baby, stroller the toddler. That’s what I did.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I have survived grocery shopping by carrying Nadia in the Ergo carrier and letting Lily push her toy shopping cart beside my shopping cart. So far so good. You’ll find your own tricks, like food - always have snacks to distract the boy with and he’ll just have to learn that you can’t pick him up as much anymore. It’s hard at first but they do settle onto the new rules and life become happy again.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
what precious pictures!
Could you kind of hold her bottom lip down while she latches on so she’s not sucking it in? Not sure if I’m explaining it too well! Is there a lactation consultant in your area you could call for advice on how to get her to stop sucking in her bottom lip?