Weekly thread, May 30 - June 6

[jenfl]

Sprout is 2 months tomorrow! Wow! He's starting to try to work on arm and hand control -- which is amusing, because he mostly just smacks himself in the head. But you can tell he's trying!

[sew_crafty_girl]

Anna is 7wks. She's still pretty floppy but does lift her head a bit. She's starting to notice her hands and feet and will stare at them. Occasionally sucks on her hands. Lots of smiles and I think laughs are right around the corner. I love the little noises she makes.

Right now she's on my legs in bed having her morning poop

[smeisnotapirate]

In bed at 9:24?? Sew_crafty, I'm jealous. Please enjoy some bed time for me. My DS woke me up screaming to nurse and head-butting me in the face at 6.

Nomi is 5 weeks old today. She is still soooooo sweet and funny. Holding her head up a lot, though she's still pretty floppy. I'm just amazed by her temperament.

[sew_crafty_girl]

Ah, but its 6:43 here. PST!

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by sew_crafty_girl

Ah, but its 6:43 here. PST!

Oh man, the sleep deprivation is killing me - can you tell? I totally knew you were PST.

[rhiOrion]

7.5 weeks here. She's found her hands when she's in a carrier and some other times, and loves to suck on her fists. She finally scratched her poor face really badly yesterday in the carseat, so my mom bought her some lightweight organic mitten thingies to wear in the car.

I'm trying really hard to get her to sleep in either the snugglenest or the side-carred crib at least a little during the night. But it's not working. She wants to be on me. I don't even think she'd go for sleeping in the bed with us. The other night I was mostly in her crib with her, with my arm around her, basically just like how you might co-sleep in a bed. Her head MUST be on my body. I did get maybe 30 minutes in the snugglenest this morning.

I have no issue if she still needs to sleep on me some of the night. But we have this new very nice comfortable bed and I've pretty much never slept on it without her either in me or on me. I want to enjoy my bed! DH took her for about an hour or two yesterday morning while I slept in and it was HEAVEN.

We're starting to get social smiles from her while she's on the changing table (unless she's screaming...she does one or the other when she's being changed...smile or scream). And then this morning I was getting lots of smiles when she first woke up, but of course as soon as I got the camera she stopped and looked serious.

She's taking her morning nap in the swing, and I should be working on thank you notes, but instead I'm here.

[GreenTeaGinger61]

Well I got up at ten but in my defense, Rowena didn't go to sleep until 2 am (we up late unpacking and such) and woke up several times after that. She's going through a mega growth spurt so lots and lots of nursing. I'm really exhausted today...I think the moving has finally caught up with me, and we still have to go over to the old house to clean.

Rowena is just a little over six weeks now. I weighed her and she's up four pounds from her birth weight: 12. 12 oz! She lifts her head quite well, and it's not as wobbly as one would think for her age. She has been sucking on her hand for about a week now, and seems to be reach purposefully for me as well. Not a ton of smiles but we're getting them. We also have a bit of verbalization going on which is so cute. We're also at that stage were I'm just not sure what to do with her. She is awake a lot more and acts bored sometimes but how does one really keep a baby from being bored?:P I wear her in the sling a lot (which is killing my back) but she can't really see much in the baby hold. I'm thinking about a playmat that the kids could lay on with her. If I can find one use we'll try it.

[Unconventional1]

We are 3 weeks tomorrow! I agree about the bored baby- what do you do with them? So far I just change his view- like move him from the sling to the floor, or his chair, or go to a different room.

Asher crinkles up his eyes when he is happy- I can't wait until we get the full on smiles here though! Poor guy is bothered by something I eat- I think it might be tomatoes, or citrus or both I love both- and had to give them up with DD, I have only been eating them since December, and now I think I am going to have to forego them again.

Other than the tummy issues he is seriously the easiest going guy ever! He sleeps after I lay him down. He isn't overly sensitive to noise (thank god- his sister likes to scream). He really doesn't cry, and when he does he quiets really easily. We seriously feel blessed by his sweet little personality!

[loveneverfails]

Uh, HOLD ON. You had your baby on 5/10!?!?! I think that makes me the winner of the SILVER birth stool, not the bronze. We're 5/11!

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by loveneverfails

Uh, HOLD ON. You had your baby on 5/10!?!?! I think that makes me the winner of the SILVER birth stool, not the bronze. We're 5/11!

Better change your sig line!

[jenfl]

Jess -- How are things going?

I hit a low point on Saturday with regard to breastfeeding, when Sprout was screaming when it was time to nurse. I started to talk to DH about whether we were getting to the point where it made more sense to stop breastfeeding. We decided I'd push through the weekend and, if necessary, consult with the LC about stopping next week.

Thank goodness things started to turn around soon after that! I switched over to the cradle hold which, although it was a total fail up to this point, seems to be helping to keep him more relaxed. I also upped his Zantac from 1 mL to 1.5 mL and I have a generally happier baby again. There are still times when I have to get him drowsy in order to nurse effectively, but we're at least at a maintainable point.

I'm really holding out hope that 12 weeks will bring a significant improvement. That's my current goal.

In other news, my parents took DD "camping" today (an overnight at Fort Wilderness at Disney World in their RV doesn't really count as camping in the traditional sense). So Sprout and I had a whole afternoon and evening to ourselves, and it was a great baby day for him! He got to look at plants at Lowes (until he fell asleep, at least), have naked time, sit on the lanai, sleep in his pouch through Target, walk outside, and get a nice warm bath. Could a 2 month old ask for anything more?

[rhiOrion]

Jen- how heavy is sprout? Because L is only getting .5 ml of Zantac per day. Maybe she needs more!

[jenfl]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

Jen- how heavy is sprout? Because L is only getting .5 ml of Zantac per day. Maybe she needs more!

Only .5mL? Wow. That does seem low!

We started at 1 mL when Sprout was ... 11 pounds, I think? The doc said that dosing of Zantac was really flexible, and we could go up to 1.25 mL and then 1.5 mL if the 1 mL didn't seem to be cutting it.

[rhiOrion]

I did just realize that I said per day. She gets .5 twice per day. Is yours getting it once, or twice?

[jenfl]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

I did just realize that I said per day. She gets .5 twice per day. Is yours getting it once, or twice?

Twice. We do 7am and 7pm.

[silverspook]

We are 13 days over here DS is holding his head up for 3-5 seconds at a time already! He is calm and alert for about an hour each in the moring, afternoon and evening. Other than that, he's sleeping. He had been sleeping 3-4 hr stretches at night only waking to nurse on 1 side before dozing again, but the last 2 nights have been more like 1-2 hrs with more awake & fussy time. He also developed a rash on his chest this weekend. I'm thinking something I ate caused the fussiness & rash, the problem is I have NO IDEA what might have caused it! He's been asleep for a while now and the rash looks better so maybe we are on the downhill of it.

Carried over from last week's thread: DH let the WoW trial expire without complaint, and has been much more affectionate since.

Also, my mom told me today that she was called back to do a second mammogram and it showed precancerous cells, so she is having a biopsy done in a couple of weeks. Praying mamas, please lift her up.

[sanguine_speed]

[sanguine_speed]

[smeisnotapirate]

silverspook, to your mom. She'll be in our prayers.

sanguine, my DD has the same onesie. What an awesome smile.

AFM, I just totally lost it trying to sing Billy Joel's "Lullaby" to DD. She is such a gift. I'm the luckiest mom ever to have two awesome kids (even though I threaten to sell DS on eBay all the time).

(For the record, my DS turns 2 this week, so I'll be particularly sappy, I think. I apologize ahead of time. )

[jsh7809]

Jenfl, I'm so sorry you're still having so much trouble with the BFing! My BFing "woes" are just the very normal frustrations, so I can't imagine what you're going through. I am impressed that you're still at it, and I hope you get lots of support to continue it as long as you want/ can.

Rhi, have you seen any difference in ms. screamo post 6 weeks? I'm hoping for your sake that she starts chillin a little bit as her digestive system comes online more and all of that. I am so glad you're her mom and can appreciate and love and cuddle her even when she's needy, you are awesome!

AFM - doing quite a bit better but trying to just take it one day at a time. I have been getting some decent rest (you know, for the mom of an infant) and getting so much help from my parents that I have more room to love and appreciate the little one and not just feel the demands all of the time. This weekend I had my first post baby wedding photo shoot and it was a bitch but I had a great second shooter/ friend for help, so we could just laugh at all of the running around ridiculousness that we ended up in.
The hardest part - and part of what led to what felt like my mini nervous breakdown last week - was that DH is super, super ill with either strep or a nasty flu. He rarely gets sick at all but had a high fever for days and was just down for the count. So not only could he not care for DD on Saturday while I worked (which was going to be a big deal for all 3 of us, my first day away from her!) but he could barely function. Whenever we were home I felt so anxious trying to care for babe on my own, prep for work, keep DD and myself healthy and away from his germs, do my best to help get him some soup and call the doctor, etc, and keep my sanity. Crash course in motherhood! DD and I ended up staying 3 nights at my parents' house and it was AMAZING. AFter all of those years I was dying to leave there, we "moved" back in to my childhood room and had help with everything. I was sort of sad to go, but was really missing DH and although we are still keeping a bit of distance, it's important that DD see as much of him as she can so we can get back to their bonding.
Phew!
I wish I was better at keeping these shorter. I am trying to stay optimistic and not go the med route - which seems easy with some of these challenges behind us and beautiful summer weather in front - but I am being watchful. This weekend gave me some new perspective (that, yes, what I was feeling was more than normal postpartum overwhelm - and that i needed to get room to enjoy my baby more) and ideas about getting out of the house more, keeping physically busier, and even possibly staying another night here or there at my parents' when I need extra rest.
So that's my update! It's far from perfect here but much, much better.

Now a wacky situation - I've been struggling with a heavy letdown and oversupply for weeks, and now that she's hitting a 6 week growth spurt where she finally empties at least one breast (if not both!! ), I'm getting a little nervous about not having enOUGH milk. Is this the thing where they often need a few days of being angry that the milk's not as easily on demand and then the supply catches up?
I was shocked that she ate almost all of the pumped milk I left yesterday - I think about 15 ounces or more in 11 hours! And now I have nothing on hand so I need to figure out how to pump some more extra, right as my supply is finally slowing down enough to become manageable... maybe pumping in the morning when she doesn't empty them out?

What a crazy learning curve. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! I barely know what day/ time it is. Does motherhood ever stop seeming like one long day?