Saturday, April 23, 2011

Week Two Update

Biggest Change this Week: Andrew is on a pretty strict and very consistent (self-created) schedule. He wakes up completely naturally every three hours and wants to eat, needs his diaper changed, and wants attention. After he eats, he wants to be cuddled for awhile and then he falls asleep again. Everyone keeps telling me that he'll have an "awake" time, but the only time he has gotten him off his lovely schedule is when he misses the cuddle time after eating--then, he stays awake and gets a bit cranky. Milestones this Week: Daddy went back to work, back to birth weight (Tuesday 4/19), visit at Arlington HS, first time to the hair salon, shopping trip with Grandma, babysat by Grandpa and Grandma, first Holiday card from Grandma T and Grandpa
Things he appears to really like: sucking on your finger, cuddling with mommy, sitting upright, sleeping on his side, bath time
Things he appears not to like: laying on his back, diaper changes, gas

Basic Life Needs:


  • Sleeping: Three hours at a time! Night time is pleasant with eating times at 9:15 pm, 12:15 am, 3:15 am, and 6:15 am.

  • Eating: I've started calling him piglet anytime it is eating time. You'd think I starved him based on his reaction to being deprived a bottle at eating time! He downs 3 ounces of formula in about 10 minutes.

  • Breastfeeding: We made a trip to the Lactation Consultant this week to get some help. The problem isn't that Drew doesn't latch or doesn't latch properly (he's a champ at that), or that my milk hasn't come in. It is "in" just in a very low supply. PCOS strikes again! I'm not sure how I missed that part of the side-effects of the disease when I did all my research, but it turns out that about 2/3 of women with PCOS have a difficult time BF because of extremely low milk production (it has to do with the excessive amounts of estrogen running through my body now and when my breasts were forming, causing a decrease in milk ducts and a increase in "fake" ducts that do not produce milk). I have been taking MoreMilkPlus supplement and drinking Mother's Milk Tea in hopes to boost it. Basically it comes down to the fact that I produce 1 oz of milk every 4-6 hours. Clearly, Drew needs triple that. I am not giving up, nor am I going to deprive him or me of the BF experience. He gets a bottle and the boob. (FYI--Although I can calmly type this without crying, I may cry if you bring it up in person--I'm not "over" the fact that I can't fully feed my baby breast milk).

  • Pooping: After last week when we didn't poop for four days (and called the doctor about it), we have been trying to make up for it. Needless to say, we poop and pee regularly. So far, in 12 days we have used three packages of newborn diapers--that is 108 diapers, in addition to the "free" hospital diapers (maybe 30 or so). Considering I thought we had way too many newborn size diapers, we now run the possibility of needing to go buy more!

How's Mommy? Sore. I decided to stop taking the motrin four times a day yesterday and see what was "really" happening, BAD IDEA. I hurt still. Today I'm back on the motrin, just in a smaller dose (400 mg vs. 600) and I'm better. I'm assuming that it is bruising that hurts...

3 comments:

  1. Jenn you are looking great and he is so very cute. Don't worry about the feeding thing - it is a lot more difficult than anyone ever tells you.He sounds like a really content baby which means you are doing everything right! xo wanda

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  2. that middle picture with his mouth open is sooooo cute! I can't believe you get to look at that precious face every day! how awesome! I'm so happy for you!

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  3. You can check out a website called lact-aid.com and see if that's a product you're interested in. I successfully BF my daughter for 8 months using that product and it was a life saver to my strong desire to BF. I've used it with all 3 of my babies now and am so blessed to have had the experience. Don't feel inadequate. Just know the joy of doing what is the very best for your babe, you are the way God made you. PS: I am a friend of Rachel Keys

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