Saturday, December 2, 2017

Benjamin, Month 1

Milestones this Month: What a month to be born!  Ben started his life with so much excitement; Thanksgiving, celebrating Great Grandpa Ed's 90th Birthday, prep for Christmas, and so many visitors.  He's a very loved baby

Things he appears to really like: pacifiers, bath time, necks (like having his face snuggled up into it), being held tight, patted on his bottom (pretty hard at that), his swing

Things he appears not to like: being hungry, cold wipes, being bothered by brother when he's almost asleep

Sleeping: Ben has been a pretty consistent sleeper since the first week home from the hospital.  We had out first 5 hour stretch at night as a two week old (then we were instructed to wake him every 2 hours to eat so he could gain wait, we did that for a very long week) and it's pretty consistent every night.  His typical night sleep a 5-hour stretch, eat, and then sleep a 3 hour stretch before being up for the day.  During the day, he eats, is alert for about 30-45 minutes and then sleeps if you help him.  In order to sleep well, he needs to be swaddled just like big brother.

We're working on making that 5-hour stretch start when we're going to bed (instead of 6 pm which has happened a few time) and to make that "eat" in the middle of the night a bit quicker because being awake over a full hour is exhausting despite the fact that he's sleeping a pretty long stretch.

Eating/Breastfeeding:  The breastfeeding with Benjamin has been much easier than with Andrew because I knew what to expect; that said, it hasn't been "easy."  I was prepared for it not to work, but I has some intense hope that it would; I am not as devastated this time and just happy for the success that we are having right now.  That said, I still wish that I could be that mom that just whips out her boob in public to calm a screaming child (there is something unproductive of whipping out of the boob, the nipple shield, the SNS, the formula container, and tape to set it all up to nurse).

I still have a severe under supply and despite having and doing everything possible, it isn't increasing enough to feed him exclusive breast milk.  He is getting about 20-25% of his daily intake of breast milk and the rest formula via the SNS (supplementary nursing system, aka a little tube in his mouth that runs from a bottle).  I hate the pump with a passion which probably has to do with the fact that it confirms how little BM there is (like 0.5 oz from both boobs) but I still do it 3-4 times a day and he gets 2-3 oz of pumped BM in one of his SNS bottles of the day.

I didn't want to introduce the bottle because of the experience with Andrew so we waited until week four.  He still only has a bottle once, maybe twice a day.  So far it hasn't caused any problems with the BF latch or rejection as I feared.

Diapers: We ran out of newborn diapers so we've moved onto size 1 (which are HUGE on him, but not leaking).

Clothing: He is wearing newborn clothes and they fit perfectly with the exception of sleepers.  Most of the sleepers are already too short and pull at his neck. The 0-3 are huge, but he's in them.

How's Mommy? Great! A scheduled c-section was the way to go! The first week was brutal (but still better than Andrew's delivery) and I took Norco and Motrin pain meds around the clock.  I weaned off the Norco during week two and just used Motrin; by week three, I was off everything.  I love that I can go to the bathroom without pain, stand up, sit down, etc.  The only real limitation I seem to have is bending over which feels super tight on the incision. I have overdone it a few times, but nothing major.  I'm exhausted, but hey, that's normal.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Week 30, Baby #2

I LOOK: pregnant and round. With swollen feet and fingers this week, I'm getting looks from coworkers.
  • Total Weight Gain: according to my scale +11.1 
I FEEL: swollen.  With official work starting last week, and 12 hour days starting, I've been on the go consistently.  We did a 8 hour day at Disneyland on Tuesday and I felt great with some sitting built in.  I'm nervous to start my first day of students and high energy tomorrow.  
  • Baby Movements: kick counts still pretty pointless because he moves constantly (well, other than during our 3D/4D 
  • Weird Pregnancy Symptom/Event: I'm just a tad cranky these days.  My filter is diminished. 
I CRAVE: food in general, bean burritos in specific.  I

I THINK: its been a crazy two weeks and tomorrow it will get crazier.  We've demoed a kitchen, gone to Disneyland, bought a car, prepped for school to start... 

I HOPE/I'm EXCITED: He has a name!  Baby Benjamin is officially named!  We're still working on his middle name, but he has a first name :)  He'll be a Ben.  It was also awesome to see him on the 3D/4D ultrasound on Sunday with the family.  Benjamin looks a lot like Andrew did at 3o weeks, same scowl and lips, but Benjamin has a different shaped nose and bigger cheeks.  

DOCs SAY: My appointment a week and a half ago was stressful.  I saw the OB instead of midwife and she rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning (remember the lack of filter?).   Anyway, I was measuring four weeks larger than the 29 weeks I was supposed to be, so we did an ultrasound last Wednesday (8/23) to check on his growth.  The tech isn't allowed to tell us anything, but we did get to see Benjamin moving all around.  I'm waiting for some response from the OB.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Baby Pfeffer #2, Week 28

The blogging world has pretty much moved on, but as I approach the end of this pregnancy, I find myself a bit sad that I don't have the same type of documentation as I did with Andrew.  I also have found myself looking back at what I wrote for each step of the way more and more.  So for my sake more than any other, I'm going to start blogging again.

So welcome to Growing a Family, Part II

Today I'm 28 weeks pregnant with our second bundle of joy.

28 weeks with Baby Pfeffer 2
I LOOK: pregnant and round.  
  • Total Weight Gain: +10.8; this time around I have been super careful and consistent with my Weight Watchers tracking online so that this number stays reasonable.  My midwife's overall goal was ten pounds for the entire pregnancy; while I won't make that, I'm hoping that my consistency will pay off with less than a 20 pound overall gain.
  • 28 weeks with Andrew
    Maternity Clothes: This time around, I pulled out all of the clothes I had from Andrew and haven't bought much.  I started this pregnancy at the same place I ended (size wise), so most of the pants were too small. I have purchased two pairs of shorts, a few pairs of stretchy shorts for under dresses, and a few tunic shirts.  Mostly I am wearing my LuLaRoe dresses and leggings and feeling great that no other part of my body is getting bigger.  It's been nice to spend most of the awkward second trimester on summer break.
I FEEL: Pregnant.  I can copy the words I wrote almost seven years ago almost exactly (I was thinking it was worse, but it isn't; perspective is great).  Week 28 with Andrew: "On a day-to-day basis when at work, I can forget that I'm pregnant; basically I'm just a bit sore all over, a bit more hungry, a bit less patient, a pee factory."  The only thing different (really just sooner this time), is acid reflex.  I despise it and have been counteracting it with Zantax and a bit of ice cream at night.
  • Baby Movements: This baby is a mover; he doesn't have a pattern that I notice, but seems to move consistently all day long.  I'll be interested to see if my teaching lulls him to sleep like it did with Andrew :)
  • Weird Pregnancy Symptom/Event: the discharge is horrid and I'm an emotional mess.  
I CRAVE: nothing much.  I've been trying to eat so well that I haven't allowed myself to give into much food.  So far for the entire pregnancy, I've craved bean burritos (but stuck with the 13 point Del Taco ones instead of the 23 point Baker's one like with Andrew) and chocolate milk.

I THINK: We're a bit nuts to start demo on our kitchen this week (Saturday to be exact), but I'm so excited to have this final piece of the house puzzle finished.  I didn't realize that we were finishing HUGE projects at this stage of the game with Andrew too.  With the kitchen demo comes Andrew moving into the room that was the office and getting his own big boy room.  The baby will be in the same nursery as Andrew, with the same decor.

I HOPE/I'm EXCITED: to be in third trimester already; this pregnancy has flown by so far!  I will be returning to work in the next two weeks for a new school year and I hope that my body can physically handle the transition (I am a bit concerned with my stamina).  I'm also excited to finalize his name (we're almost there)!

DOCs SAY: Next appointment is on Wednesday.  I love my midwife this time (Candace), her sass is awesome, and she's been super supportive of both the weight loss/gain, and with my fears of another delivery like Andrew's.  I'm going to ask for a growth ultrasound this week and I'm hoping she agrees.