Today my little angel is 4 weeks and 6 days old.....Its hard to believe we have already surpassed the one month mark! I have already started weeding out newborn jammies that she is too long for and onesies that are busting at the seems...how is that even possible? It feels like I just brought her home yesterday!!
Mia had her 4 week check up yesterday. She is doing just swimmingly...not that we expected anything less :) She weighs in at a whopping 10lbs 3.5 oz and is 21 3/4 in long. This child has increased her weight by almost 50% since she was born! wow....just wow. Every day she is becoming more alert and just this morning I got her to smile....like LEGIT smile....AT ME....SEVERAL times! This is a huge milestone. If I were organized or had a free second other than what I have at this very moment, I would immediately go update her babybook. Instead, I'm just making notes here and I'll eventually get around to the official update ;-) As of the last 2 weeks, Mia is becoming more routined. She is eating about every 3 hours (sometimes 2 1/2) during the day and about every 4-5 hours at night. During the day, she naps pretty consistenly(*she types hesitantly, knowing immediately what this means for the future of this day....*) during the day which allows me time to get things done at home and occasionally shower (although this task is completely overrated if you ask me). At night, she eats around 10:30-11 for her last feeding then we get up around 3 and then MOST of the time, she goes back to sleep until around 7-8. Now, the last couple days have completely blown my schedule out of the water, but I kind of feel like by writing it down, I am putting it on some sort of wish list, hoping it will come back soon.....I really kind of enjoy getting 8 hours (even if its split into two 4 hour increments) of sleep at night!
As for me, I am really understanding what a huge learning process this is. I feel blessed that Mia is such a good baby 90% of the time, during that 90%, I feel like mother of the year and question why people ever say this whole child rearing thing is so hard....and the other 10% I feel completely inadequate...a total mess. Its that 10% that I wonder how they ever let me leave the hospital with her, I'm clearly not cut out for this! But I digress.....lets get to the real meat and potatoes of this post: breastfeeding.
I feel like I should start by going through a typical day in my life. We get up around 7 and I change her diaper and nurse her for about an hour. Typically she is asleep, or on the verge when i'm done so I put her either in the boppy or the swing and she sleeps for an hour or so. During that time, I get some coffee, let the dog out make the bed (if Dan hasn't already) and shower (if I plan on exiting my humble abode). Mia wakes up....she's ready to eat again. I change her diaper, and nurse her for about an hour. If I plan to leave the house, after this feeding is when I do that, so after she eats, I get her dressed and load up. I have about 2 1/2 hours before she will eat again, so I have mastered fitting what I can into that time period. When I get back home, I let the dog out, change Mia's diaper, and nurse her for about an hour. Then she sleeps.....she wakes up, I change her, nurse her, repeat....I think you get the idea. I say all that to let those who weren't already aware (which is not many) the huge amount of time I spend nursing. You would think that, knowing how many hours you spend with your nipple in your kids mouth when they are this age, God would make it feel less like medieval torture, and more like a walk in the park!
Now, please remember that this blog is about MY experiences, and only that. I'm sure some women take to breastfeeding like its no big deal. In fact, MOST women solely breastfeed until their kids are AT LEAST Mia's age and then sometimes they will start pumping. As you all know, that is not the case with me. I was reading an article the other day about what kind of "latcher" your baby was. I found Mia....she's a baracuda! She latches on like her mouth is the only thing keeping her on this earth and if she were to let go, she'd fall into a black hole never to be seen again. Possibly melodramatic, but very true. And don't get me started on unlatching, she pulls that head away from my chest at 90 mph with those lips still tight until my nipple is forced out of her mouth by sheer distance and springs back and hits me in the chest....by this point, i could probably breast feed her from across the room given that my nipple stretch capacity has far exceeded what i ever thought possible. This child never had a problem latching on. She never had a problem getting nutrients....she ALWAYS wanted to eat in the beginning! That's a blessing....I am aware that its a blessing. But nothing in this world could have prepared me for how much pain I would be in to give her those nutrients. I struggled with it from day one. And by struggle, I mean physically AND mentally. I talked to my girlfriends and relatives, they all shared the opinion that it was an unpleasant experience and assured me that the pain was temporary and that one day in the near future, it would just stop hurting, but I somehow gathered that I was A) more of a wuss and/or B) in more pain, because ALL of these women kept at it....even through the pain and never took a break by giving their babies a bottle. Well which ever it was, if it weren't for that bottle, I would not have made it. Every morning I would wake up and just say to myself, "we'll just give it one more day, if it doesn't get better, I'll just pump and give her a bottle....." and by the end of the day, I felt completely defeated, and would swear that it just wasn't for me. But, I would still get up every morning and try it just one more time. Well, THANK THE LORD, I've made it! My kid is almost 5 weeks old, but by George, I don't hate breastfeeding anymore! I can now see past the split nipples and the pain...I don't grit my teeth when she latches, then unlatches by yanking her head back as though to remove my nipple with her gums, then relatches.....my prayers have been answered! Either that, or I have completely lost feeling of my boob tips. Either way, I am so thankful. Yes, thankful. That is quite possibly what I am MOST thankful for this year, that is, aside from my healthy baby and wonderful family. Yep, numb nipples is number 3 on my list ;-)
Well, I know its been over a week since I posted and I just wrote a small novel about my sore nipples....but that is kind of my life at the moment. Sore nipples and sending texts to my husband and friends about my baby's bowel movements. Oh Lordy, don't even get me started on poop! I'll just say that today was the first day that I threw up in my mouth a little while changing her diaper....and also the first time I have had to clean poop out of anyone's belly button..... Glamorous, I know ;-) Regardless, there is still no other place I would rather be. Mia is the light of my life, and even when she's fussy and poops in her own belly button, she still makes me smile.
These last two weeks I have learned:
Mia is capable of being awake for 12 hrs straight...and it doesn't make her happy.
No matter how strongly I ask "What is it you want?", Mia will probably not be able to answer me for several years.
No matter how tired I am or what time it is in the morning, when I look down at my baby nursing and see her staring up at me lovingly, I fall in love all over again, and it always makes me smile :)
Side note: The Jones family is going to attempt our first Turkey Trot this year!! We're so excited :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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