I never really understood how badly time gets away from you when you have baby. The last few weeks of my pregnancy went by SO slowly and I was so prepared- or so I thought. But once you have that little bundle of joy, there are things, small, simple things- calling someone back, mailing a letter or picking up a perscription- that you mean to get done one day, and before you know it, the day is over and you promise to do it the next day. Then you turn around and it's been a month. What?!
On Monday, Jesse will be 8 weeks old and from the outside it looks like I've been sitting around in the same Pj's, but a lot has happened with us. So let's grab that swiffer duster for my blog and see what happened these past weeks.
Eating: Those first few days when my milk hadn't come in seems so simple now looking back on it. I only had to just try and that was enough. Then my milk came in on day 3 or 4 and it seemed like I was in business. There was only one little problem. Jesse was tounge-tied. You know that little piece that attatches your tounge to the bottom of your mouth? Jesse's was so close to the tip of his tounge that he couldn't even stick his tounge out(something we found was genetic- thanks short tounge!). We were quickly sent to an ENT to fix the problem (an easy, quick procedure they said). Well quick and easy was an understatement. The doctor came in, noticed Jesse was asleep, opened up his mouth to take a peek and SNIP! It was done. Of corse Jesse woke up screaming and of corse I was horrified and on the verge of running to find him some pain meds. The doctor told us to try nursing (because when I get a serious mouth injury, the first thing I want to do is try to eat...) Jesse was a little upset so we didn't get much nursing done, but it was surprisingly quickly healed and now he sticks his tounge out all the time!
Lately, we've been doing well, fighting to keep my supply up enough for my growing boy, but I seem to be making just enough these days. There is that 5-10 seconds of latching before my milk lets down that are pillow gripingly painful, but then he's drinking and I'm so happy I can do this for him and all I have to do is sit there while he drinks, plus this is when I get my snuggles in. I notice little changes in his face, brush through his little hairs with my fingers, hold his soft little hand. (you can't cry if you're busy drinking, so it's also a nice break from the fussy sounds he seems to make a lot.)
Sleep: We thank our lucky stars at least once a day that we both have the winter off. We are constantly wondering how working parents function at all. And I seem to think we have a great sleeper! I can't imagine having a colicky, fussy baby all night and then getting up to work for 8 hours, 5 days a week. No thank you!
He usually wakes up around 7 or 8 to eat and likes to stay awake afterwords. Sitting up and looking around at our curtains with big stripes or big pictures on the walls. He might take a nap somewhere between 10 and 12. It's usually a shorter nap. The long two naps he takes are usually around 4 and 6 and last until we head to bed around 10, and then sleeps for a good 5 hour chunk after that. And usually he is really great at falling asleep with a full belly. Usually. Now there are nights (like last night, for instance) where he wakes up every 3 hours and cries for an hour... I'm blaming it on growth spurts.
Jesse is also really great with noises around him while he's sleeping. Everyone who comes over while he's asleep always starts off whispering and I'm like, we can talk normally, he doesn't even notice.
Our travles! Anyone who is facebook friends with me most likely followed us on our Meet Jesse! Holiday Tour 2011. We decided to spend 8 days traveling through 5 states and showing off our amazing little guy to our friends and family. We spent a few days in our hometown near Frederick, Maryland, a night in Cumberland, MD, a few nights in Cleaveland, OH (which is 13 hours from NC!). We spend a total of 22 hours on the road over the 8 days we were gone. Good thing Jesse is great in car rides- pretty much sleeps the whole time. Poor thing was probably so sick of his carseat by the time we got home. We really should have taken a picture, but we had SO much in our car. Matt, Jesse and I each had a suitcase, we had the diaper bag, a bag for my breastpump/nursing stuff, blankets and pillows, the stroller and of course we unexpectidly got presents everywhere we went, had presents we had to wrap and give people for Christmas, and a few bags of stuff we just went shopping for while we were out.
ME! So, my pregnancy was wonderful, my labor was pretty great as far as labors go, somewhere I had to get my payback right? Recovery. Something I rarely have ever had to deal with. The first week was the hardest, not being able to walk (my wonderful mother in law spent my whole 15 minutes of pushing jamming my leg into my hip- with perfectly good intentions of course!) I have almost needed a blood transfuion because my iron was so low, I could barely stand up without getting really dizzy and I'm still working on walking without a waddle. It's coming up on 8 weeks now and I'm just now starting to feel normal. I'm starting to wear jeans that button and zip, a bra with wire and wearing my hair down occasionally. I've lost 27 pounds since giving birth and just got the OK to start working out again! As my Midwife said, we are on the upswing. Finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of this crazy recovery process.
I'm shocked that I've actually had this much time to write this, but now it's time to feed Jesse again! I hope that brings us up to speed, and I'll try to post a liiiitle more often than every 2 months...
Picture post to come when Jesse takes his next nap (hopefully, it might not get done until tomorrow though....).
