Thursday, January 14, 2010
Loose Ends
I haven't posted since June. My 7 month old baby is beautiful, well, and my sweet joy. There are so many things that I could post about, things I've thought about posting about, such as: postpartum depression (not full blown, but it was definitely something in the first couple of months), breastfeeding and lack of sleep in the first couple of months (and how this causes depression), acid reflux and trips to the hospital with a four week old baby, asthma, going back to work (the mixed feelings, the tears, the relief of having something to do each day), daycare (good day cares, bad day cares (really bad day cares), the trouble with finding a daycare), house guest after house guest, multiple long term visits from my mother-in-law, money woes, planning for #2, vacationing with a baby, solid foods, colds, sharing a room with the baby (and when it's time to stop), people's opinions (how they want to give them all of the time, and what they say when you don't agree), gallstone surgery & the stomach flu, the best Christmas of my life, trying to feed a very hungry six month old baby with a growing appetite and a depleting milk supply, decisions about shots, transitions to solids (the fun & joy, the new fears), the pressures of keeping up my milk supply while knowing I'm the only one that can, how wonderful baby smiles are, the beautiful sound of a baby laughing, who's the mom questions, the filthy state of our home, the lack of attention our dog gets, space issues with our tiny condo, a baby who probably won't crawl because she hates spending time on her tummy, how much fun it is now that she's aware and interactive and plays games and makes noises and expresses her opinion, how she looks at K and starts laughing right away (K's much funnier than I am), how she reaches for me (and me only) whenever she is upset and to put her back to sleep at night, how it's 7 months and she still wakes up 3 times a night to eat (and she's in the 75th percentile for height and weight), and many, many other things that we've experienced in the past 7 months. But sadly I don't think I will. I think my time with this blog has come to an end, which you probably guessed with my lack of posting. Thanks for being a part of my life for the past few years. Signing off.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Stuff
I'm not online typing with two hands often, but since I am today, here's a post with lots of stuff in it. D is three weeks and 1 day and sleeping soundly in the swing.
SLEEP: Sleep is very important for daily functioning. I'm not getting enough. Since K went back to work after two weeks and that means that I get night duty all by myself. Before she went to work, I fed the baby, she burped the baby. Now I do it all. She wakes up around 12am, 3am, 4am, 5am, 7am. I'm awake for about an hour each time. It's not enough sleep. The general rule is sleep when the baby sleeps, but I can't seem to sleep unless someone else is home. I try to nap during the day, but I can't let myself fall asleep. On the weekends when K is home I get great naps, but not during the week. On Wed I sobbed when K got home. Last night I cried as I was doing the final breastfeeding before going to sleep (10pm). I was thinking about the night ahead and crying because I knew I wouldn't get enough sleep. I need to figure out how to get more sleep - this is not sustainable. But thankfully weekend is here and that means K gets night duties and I get to nap during the day.
2ND PARENT ADOPTION: We had everything we could set up before giving birth. On June 8 we submitted the final paperwork to our lawyer (notification of live birth, pediatrician letter, family photos) and signed all documents. Everything was submitted. It's possible we will have our adoption by the end of June if there are openings, but if not, then by the end July (they only do adoptions once per month). Our baby will be adopted by K before her 2nd month is complete. We really do have the best lawyer ever, and luckily for us she's only 2 blocks from our home.
SWING: We were given a hand-me-down swing on Tuesday night by someone from our church who we don't even know. She has a 6 month old and has promised to give us stuff as he outgrows it. She also gave us clothes, a my breast friend pillow, an activity play mat, breast milk storage backs. But the thing that we are getting the most use out of is the swing. I put her in it and she falls fast asleep. I'm eating breakfast without having to hold a baby, and now I'm using the computer. It's amazing. We had another swing but she likes this one much better. It's the Fisher Price Aquarium Swing and it's awesome.
FATHER'S DAY: We are spending Sunday with L, D's godfather. He'll get to celebrate Father's Day from now on.
GALL BLADDER: I've scheduled my surgery for July 22, when D is 8 weeks old. The midwife said I should wait at least 8 weeks, preferably longer, but I needed to do it before I went back to work at 12 weeks. But the surgeon is going on vacation so I had to do it at 8 weeks.
SPITTING UP: D spits up constantly. We are all covered in it. Night time is hard because we have to sit up with her 15-30 minutes after each feeding so she doesn't throw up in her sleep and choke on it. The pediatrician thinks I make a lot of milk and she drinks too much of it and spits it up because her stomach is too full. It's probably not reflux because she is gaining lots of weight. This frustrates me more than anything else about parenting. I feel like I try and try and burp and burp and then she spits up.
GREEN POOP: A week or so ago she had some green poop. This could be a food allergy or a hind milk/fore milk imbalance. So I'm off dairy as a test, which is really hard. We eat a lot of cheese, and we've been given two quiches and a lasagna, which K now has to eat and I still have to make myself dinner. Also, I'm trying to get her to eat the same breast more often before switching, which makes the other breast painful. Hopefully it's the foremilk/hindmilk thing and I can get back on dairy.
ALERT: She's super alert. The pediatrician said today that she is more alert than most babies her age. Also she's smiling. I think it's because she was born late and thus more developed than other babies.
I hear stirring. Time to hold the baby again.
SLEEP: Sleep is very important for daily functioning. I'm not getting enough. Since K went back to work after two weeks and that means that I get night duty all by myself. Before she went to work, I fed the baby, she burped the baby. Now I do it all. She wakes up around 12am, 3am, 4am, 5am, 7am. I'm awake for about an hour each time. It's not enough sleep. The general rule is sleep when the baby sleeps, but I can't seem to sleep unless someone else is home. I try to nap during the day, but I can't let myself fall asleep. On the weekends when K is home I get great naps, but not during the week. On Wed I sobbed when K got home. Last night I cried as I was doing the final breastfeeding before going to sleep (10pm). I was thinking about the night ahead and crying because I knew I wouldn't get enough sleep. I need to figure out how to get more sleep - this is not sustainable. But thankfully weekend is here and that means K gets night duties and I get to nap during the day.
2ND PARENT ADOPTION: We had everything we could set up before giving birth. On June 8 we submitted the final paperwork to our lawyer (notification of live birth, pediatrician letter, family photos) and signed all documents. Everything was submitted. It's possible we will have our adoption by the end of June if there are openings, but if not, then by the end July (they only do adoptions once per month). Our baby will be adopted by K before her 2nd month is complete. We really do have the best lawyer ever, and luckily for us she's only 2 blocks from our home.
SWING: We were given a hand-me-down swing on Tuesday night by someone from our church who we don't even know. She has a 6 month old and has promised to give us stuff as he outgrows it. She also gave us clothes, a my breast friend pillow, an activity play mat, breast milk storage backs. But the thing that we are getting the most use out of is the swing. I put her in it and she falls fast asleep. I'm eating breakfast without having to hold a baby, and now I'm using the computer. It's amazing. We had another swing but she likes this one much better. It's the Fisher Price Aquarium Swing and it's awesome.
FATHER'S DAY: We are spending Sunday with L, D's godfather. He'll get to celebrate Father's Day from now on.
GALL BLADDER: I've scheduled my surgery for July 22, when D is 8 weeks old. The midwife said I should wait at least 8 weeks, preferably longer, but I needed to do it before I went back to work at 12 weeks. But the surgeon is going on vacation so I had to do it at 8 weeks.
SPITTING UP: D spits up constantly. We are all covered in it. Night time is hard because we have to sit up with her 15-30 minutes after each feeding so she doesn't throw up in her sleep and choke on it. The pediatrician thinks I make a lot of milk and she drinks too much of it and spits it up because her stomach is too full. It's probably not reflux because she is gaining lots of weight. This frustrates me more than anything else about parenting. I feel like I try and try and burp and burp and then she spits up.
GREEN POOP: A week or so ago she had some green poop. This could be a food allergy or a hind milk/fore milk imbalance. So I'm off dairy as a test, which is really hard. We eat a lot of cheese, and we've been given two quiches and a lasagna, which K now has to eat and I still have to make myself dinner. Also, I'm trying to get her to eat the same breast more often before switching, which makes the other breast painful. Hopefully it's the foremilk/hindmilk thing and I can get back on dairy.
ALERT: She's super alert. The pediatrician said today that she is more alert than most babies her age. Also she's smiling. I think it's because she was born late and thus more developed than other babies.
I hear stirring. Time to hold the baby again.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Awesome baby gift
My aunt made this awesome play mat. It arrived not long after the baby was born. It folds up and has handles and the toys are attached. It's definitely one of our favorite baby gifts.
One rule - Don't lick the baby!
We want our dog to like our baby, so we don't want to constantly keep them apart or yell at the dog all of the time. But we do have one rule - don't lick the baby. This is a constant struggle. Our dog is always executing sneak attacks. She particularly likes the feet.
Baby bracelet
On one of our many walks as we waited to go into labor, we went on a search for a baby bracelet, a tradition for all Indian babies. Excited after D was born, we tried to put it on her, but she's not quite ready for it yet...
Also shown - at our baby shower the kids decorated newborn onesies which have been really useful and fun though sadly she's outgrown them now.
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