I promise that I won't give an update every week but I feel the need to document these first few weeks of life. They change so much during this time and I know I'll love being able to look back and read about his newborn period (and maybe look back and say "wow, I don't remember that time AT ALL. Because yeah, it will probably be a blur.) Since I just posted his 1 month update last Thursday, not much has changed in terms of sleeping/eating so I'll just go over them quickly.
Sleeping - for the past few days this was all over the place. While he was still sleeping well at night (ahem, we had a 5 hour stretch last night! Way to go D!) the napping thing was shot. He'd fall asleep pretty easily in my arms but wake up within minutes after I laid him down. This went on from about 10 yesterday morning until 4 yesterday evening. I admit I shed a tear or two right along with him. Especially since Em and C were with my parents and I had had plans of really tackling this house, which has, you know, been abandoned over the past month. I eventually found this white noise video on youtube and I could seriously kiss whoever made it. It was a lifesaver and he passed out for a few hours after that. This video, however, is so freaking creepy that I'm halfway expecting the little girl from the Ring to come and kill me in about 7 days or so (well, 6 now ;) ). To be murdered brutally by a girl who needs to brush her hair is a small price to pay for a calm baby, though. Ha. Thankfully he seems to be back to normal on that front today. Knock on wood.
Eating - We went ahead and switched his formula to Gentlease. While I'm not sure if it will help some of the fussiness and gas he's had, that formula is my comfort zone. With Emma and her insane milk allergies she had, Gentlease was the last formula she was on before getting the go-ahead to reintroduce milk. With Connor, after I quit nursing him, I immediately went to that. I figured since it's partially broken down, it might be a bit more gentle on a belly that was used to breastmilk. He did wonderfully on it. When we started supplementing we just used the newborn formula since that's what they offered in the hospital. This weekend was the first time we had to buy formula due to a mix of not 100% bottlefeeding and from his doctor giving us free samples every time we had an appointment (fingers crossed that continues). Since we'd have to switch here in a few months anyway (Newborn is only used for newbies up to 3mo) I decided to just go with what I know. Best case scenario he gets a little more happy. Nursing wise, we're still on the same course. He nurses for naps and any time I just can't make him happy any other way. Since I haven't pumped in a few weeks I couldn't tell you how much I'm making but I do know he's getting something. I'm not sure I could label myself a nursing mother anymore, since "real" feedings are coming via bottle, but I'm content with all of our choices. He's definitely a growing boy. He eats 3-4oz every 3hrs or so, although he still likes to cluster feed, which is sort of funny. Old habits die hard, I guess. ;) I weighed him on the Wii fit this morning and he came in at a whopping 10.3lbs, which is roughly 10lbs 5oz or so. That means he's gained over 3lbs in 5 weeks since he got down to 7lbs even before leaving the hospital. :)
postpartum- I haven't really talked about how my recovery is going, especially physically. Emotionally, as you could probably tell from my earlier posts, has been an up-hill battle. I didn't have any sort of baby blues with Em was born. It was nothing but sunshine and rainbows and blah, blah, blah. With C it started out that way, but I noticed pretty quickly that something was "off" with me, emotionally. While everyone else gushed over this little perfect creature (and he was! Perfect, I mean. Not a creature ;) ) I would sort of sit there like a lump, dreading his next feeding. I think this deserves a post all it's own, but I sometimes think I have what is known as D-MER. Not all of the symptoms are/were there, but enough that Dr. Google kept pointing me in that direction time and time again. But anyway, within HOURS, I swear, of switching to a bottle I felt my depression start to lesson. It wasn't as severe this time, but I felt it coming on pretty quickly after we got home with Declan. I wouldn't let it get to the point it was with C, so that's when I started introducing bottles. I was so "it's all or nothing!" with Connor, so that was one of the things I knew I was going to change this time around. I was allowing myself to feel ok with combination feedings. I know I'm starting to ramble, so in conclusion, emotionally I have been progressively getting better. I still have my occasional freak outs, but life with 3 isn't looking so bad. I dare say, it's getting almost normal :)
Physically things are pretty much back to normal. TMI but I still have just enough bleeding to warrant a panty liner. Weight wise, I seemed to have hit an impasse. At 3 weeks postpartum I had lost 20lbs, which I was feeling so good about. Now at 5 weeks I have lost.....nothing. The exact same weight for 2 weeks. I was so hopeful this morning when I started up the Wii, but nothing. Obviously just trying to eat less isn't working anymore, so it might be time to dust off the treadmill (I kid. I'm sure it's nice and dust free since it's under about 300 piles of clean laundry.) Overall, I'm just a slightly bigger, flabbier version of my old self. ;) 10 more pounds to lose and I'll be back to pre-pregnancy weight.
In non-baby related news, Emma starts kindergarten in 15 days. 15 DAYS. Two weeks. Someone hold me. Last week I took her in for her kindergarten testing. Just as I expected, she rocked it. I'll never know exactly how they scored her, but I'd like to think they wrote "this child is brilliant". All in caps, too. Sometime this week we'll find out which teacher she has and then next Thursday is Open house. Em also has sqauredancing once a week right now and I just signed her up for a ballet/tap/hip hop combo dance class that starts in Sept. She's a busy, busy girl. Connor continues to amaze me with his speech and just how freaking hilarious he is. Right now he's decided on a knight birthday part AND wants to be a knight for Halloween. Stay tuned for all kinds of birthday planning excitement.
No comments:
Post a Comment