Brenan is 6 weeks and 5 days already!. He weighs 12 pounds 14 ounces and is about 22 inches long. Just this week I've had to retire most of his 0-3 months clothes and break out the 3-6 month sizes.
Nursing is going much, much better now with the thrush gone and my sore nips healed. I have discovered that I cannot wear a nursing bra at night, no matter how cotton-y and soft, because my sensitive nips need that time to breath or else I'm sore again come morning. Still have low-supply days, but the less I fret about them the sooner my supply comes back up. He still wakes every 1.5-2 hours at night and I am reluctantly becoming a co-sleeping mama again (a matter of survival since a daytime nap is outside the realm of possibility).
I guess I'm in the minority here, but I really hate co-sleeping. I'm a sprawler and can easily utilize most of my king-sized bed, lol, and I love sleeping 'big', rolling over to some other 'big' position at will, it is my one selfish luxury. That's all out the window once you stick a baby next to me, I'm pretty much frozen in one position all night. So I get 'more' sleep, just not 'better' sleep, iykwim. His crib is at the foot end of my bed and I'm not giving up on getting him to sleep there just yet.
As a side note, I started him on 1/8 tsp Maxi Baby-dophilous (sp?) at night and his nighttime gushing (as opposed to spitting) has all but stopped! So this makes the co-sleeping somewhat more bearable - at least takes out the ick-factor. He still gushes frequently and spits almost constantly during the day, so I'm wondering if I should give him another 1/8 in the morning? The bottle calls for 1/4 tsp daily, so I think it would be okay. I haven't given him Zantac for 2 days now. I see no difference during the day from when he was on it.
I borrowed a Medela Lactina pump from the local WIC office, so I'm going to start pumping a stash of milk (hopefully) since I have to return to work in less than 6 weeks. [Can I just give a shout out to God for not only granting me 12 weeks of (unpaid) maternity leave, but also seeing us thru it financially thus far however much by the skin of our teeth it's been?] I am dreadfully nervous about pumping, which is why the pump has been sitting on my kitchen table, untouched, for two days now. I just now boiled the kit parts and have them air drying. Something about how utterly imperative it is that I do this makes it seem daunting. I've never in my life had to pump to feed my baby, maybe bust out the Isis for a gratuitous bottle now and then so I could do something crazy, like get my hair cut and highlighted. But this is different. This isn't a take it or leave it proposition. So I'm a little freaked out.
As far as life as a single mother of four, it is chaotic and busy all. the. time. I really, really enjoyed our Christmas break because that was the first time I got to stay home since Brenan was 4 days old! We also had a monster snow storm during this time and were snowed in solid for 5 days - glorious! Otherwise we leave the house a bare minimum of four times a day - take the big kids to school, come home, take 4 year old to headstart, come home, pick 4 year old up, come home, pick big kids up, come home. And their schools are all on the other side of town and not close together at all. AAACCCKKK. It makes me crazy. I HATE having B in his carseat so much, but there is no other way. He's a good sport about it at least.
My daughter is 15 and so very involved in school and homework and obsessed with her GPA and taking AP classes, lol, which is wonderful, but she is mostly in her own world. She is seriously my best friend, I love that girl more than words and I am so proud of her, so I let her do her thing and try not to ask much too much of her. People always assume that because I have older kids that I have all this help, but that's not usually the case, lol. My 9 year old son is very helpful with the baby, I always joke that if he could only lactate he would gladly take over the nursing business, he is really THAT in love with Brenan. So I do have help there, if I'm busy and can't hold/wear B atm, and he starts crying, Gavin is right there to console and cuddle him. Doesn't usually work, because B pretty much just wants to nurse, but Gavin gives it his best every time. At first he would have tears streaming down his face because he wanted so badly to be able to comfort his baby brother and couldn't, but now he just takes it in stride and goes on loving and cajoling him through B's angry howls. And Cohen, my special needs kiddo, who we were ALL worried SICK about how he would adapt to a baby in the house - even his psychiatrist was holding her breath - has amazed us all with how well he has taken to Brenan. No signs of malicious intent at all! He is very gentle with him, doesn't have the same interest that Gavin has in him, but he is very gentle when he does touch him, and speaks lovingly towards him. It is hard for him to deal if B starts crying when we are stuck driving, but who doesn't struggle in that situation? The first time it happened Cohen asked if he could 'put the lid' (blanket) back on the baby's head "'cuz he's too loud, it hurts my ears", lol. But he is getting used to it now and as well, Brenan doesn't cry much in the van, so it's good all the way around.
We have had to relegate our yellow edge GMD prefolds to burp cloths now, he is too wide in the trunk to Snappi them into diapers any longer. LOVE our MEOS very much. Kind of annoyed with our NuBunz pockets, can't seem to get a good fit no matter which way I snap (or leave unsnapped). I thought they might be a good overnight dipe, but they weren't, we had big leaks. So they are our 'out and about' diapers, just for having fewer 'pieces' to lug and possibly, lose. Our nighttime diaper is one I build out of a MEOS, one of the microfiber inserts from the NuBunz, and a strip of fleece over it with a size 2 Thirsties DUO Wrap. Not one single leak all night.
Nursing is going much, much better now with the thrush gone and my sore nips healed. I have discovered that I cannot wear a nursing bra at night, no matter how cotton-y and soft, because my sensitive nips need that time to breath or else I'm sore again come morning. Still have low-supply days, but the less I fret about them the sooner my supply comes back up. He still wakes every 1.5-2 hours at night and I am reluctantly becoming a co-sleeping mama again (a matter of survival since a daytime nap is outside the realm of possibility).
I guess I'm in the minority here, but I really hate co-sleeping. I'm a sprawler and can easily utilize most of my king-sized bed, lol, and I love sleeping 'big', rolling over to some other 'big' position at will, it is my one selfish luxury. That's all out the window once you stick a baby next to me, I'm pretty much frozen in one position all night. So I get 'more' sleep, just not 'better' sleep, iykwim. His crib is at the foot end of my bed and I'm not giving up on getting him to sleep there just yet.
As a side note, I started him on 1/8 tsp Maxi Baby-dophilous (sp?) at night and his nighttime gushing (as opposed to spitting) has all but stopped! So this makes the co-sleeping somewhat more bearable - at least takes out the ick-factor. He still gushes frequently and spits almost constantly during the day, so I'm wondering if I should give him another 1/8 in the morning? The bottle calls for 1/4 tsp daily, so I think it would be okay. I haven't given him Zantac for 2 days now. I see no difference during the day from when he was on it.
I borrowed a Medela Lactina pump from the local WIC office, so I'm going to start pumping a stash of milk (hopefully) since I have to return to work in less than 6 weeks. [Can I just give a shout out to God for not only granting me 12 weeks of (unpaid) maternity leave, but also seeing us thru it financially thus far however much by the skin of our teeth it's been?] I am dreadfully nervous about pumping, which is why the pump has been sitting on my kitchen table, untouched, for two days now. I just now boiled the kit parts and have them air drying. Something about how utterly imperative it is that I do this makes it seem daunting. I've never in my life had to pump to feed my baby, maybe bust out the Isis for a gratuitous bottle now and then so I could do something crazy, like get my hair cut and highlighted. But this is different. This isn't a take it or leave it proposition. So I'm a little freaked out.
As far as life as a single mother of four, it is chaotic and busy all. the. time. I really, really enjoyed our Christmas break because that was the first time I got to stay home since Brenan was 4 days old! We also had a monster snow storm during this time and were snowed in solid for 5 days - glorious! Otherwise we leave the house a bare minimum of four times a day - take the big kids to school, come home, take 4 year old to headstart, come home, pick 4 year old up, come home, pick big kids up, come home. And their schools are all on the other side of town and not close together at all. AAACCCKKK. It makes me crazy. I HATE having B in his carseat so much, but there is no other way. He's a good sport about it at least.
My daughter is 15 and so very involved in school and homework and obsessed with her GPA and taking AP classes, lol, which is wonderful, but she is mostly in her own world. She is seriously my best friend, I love that girl more than words and I am so proud of her, so I let her do her thing and try not to ask much too much of her. People always assume that because I have older kids that I have all this help, but that's not usually the case, lol. My 9 year old son is very helpful with the baby, I always joke that if he could only lactate he would gladly take over the nursing business, he is really THAT in love with Brenan. So I do have help there, if I'm busy and can't hold/wear B atm, and he starts crying, Gavin is right there to console and cuddle him. Doesn't usually work, because B pretty much just wants to nurse, but Gavin gives it his best every time. At first he would have tears streaming down his face because he wanted so badly to be able to comfort his baby brother and couldn't, but now he just takes it in stride and goes on loving and cajoling him through B's angry howls. And Cohen, my special needs kiddo, who we were ALL worried SICK about how he would adapt to a baby in the house - even his psychiatrist was holding her breath - has amazed us all with how well he has taken to Brenan. No signs of malicious intent at all! He is very gentle with him, doesn't have the same interest that Gavin has in him, but he is very gentle when he does touch him, and speaks lovingly towards him. It is hard for him to deal if B starts crying when we are stuck driving, but who doesn't struggle in that situation? The first time it happened Cohen asked if he could 'put the lid' (blanket) back on the baby's head "'cuz he's too loud, it hurts my ears", lol. But he is getting used to it now and as well, Brenan doesn't cry much in the van, so it's good all the way around.
We have had to relegate our yellow edge GMD prefolds to burp cloths now, he is too wide in the trunk to Snappi them into diapers any longer. LOVE our MEOS very much. Kind of annoyed with our NuBunz pockets, can't seem to get a good fit no matter which way I snap (or leave unsnapped). I thought they might be a good overnight dipe, but they weren't, we had big leaks. So they are our 'out and about' diapers, just for having fewer 'pieces' to lug and possibly, lose. Our nighttime diaper is one I build out of a MEOS, one of the microfiber inserts from the NuBunz, and a strip of fleece over it with a size 2 Thirsties DUO Wrap. Not one single leak all night.
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