Aysia is a little over 7 weeks old. I can't believe how quickly time has passed!
Update on the breastfeeding - basically, the issue is that she does not deplete the breast when she feeds. I can't pump each time, but I have gotten really good at early detection. As soon as I feel a clogged duct, I start massaging it, and now they go away before they become really painful. I've gotten 2-3 more since my last post, but it hasn't been as big of a deal. I guess it's something I'll just have to deal with.
Now I am trying to build up a supply of milk for when I return to work. I only have 4 more weeks at home. And the last week we are doing a dry run with the grandmas and daycare, where they come to watch her for the full days Mon-Wed and I bring her to daycare on Thurs and Fri. This will hopefully allow me to be comfortable with leaving her (especially with my MIL), but yet not be away for the full day. So ideally, I'll have my supply of frozen milk built up in 3 weeks. It's hard to pump a lot during the day, though. I really have to plan for it and be disciplined to do it. I should have been better these past two days - we've been snowbound and my DH has been home for the last 2 days. But I only pumped twice each day, and DH gives her a bottle of expressed milk each night, so that only nets one feeding per day. It's harder to pump when I'm alone because I have to wait for her to be asleep.
Aside from breastfeeding/pumping, it's been great to see her develop. She's starting to reach for things a little, and she can really follow you with her eyes. She's also making great progress in controlling her neck. It will be great once she has full control - many more things we can do with her then. Every time my mom comes over, she thinks Aysia has grown so much. I can't see it, since I see her every day, but I can definitely feel her getting heavier. I've ordered a scale so I can start weighing her! Seems silly, but a lot of the baby gear has various weight limits, and since I'm not going to the doctors every other day for weight checks anymore, I really don't know how much she weighs. I've done a rough estimation on our bathroom scale, but I want a more accurate weight!
As far as sleeping, we still don't get any more than 3-4 hours from her at night, and lately, it seems it's been less. 2-3 hour stretches throughout the night. I'm not happy with that, seeing as work is coming soon... Although, even with the little sleep I've been getting since she's been born, I don't feel an overwhelming sense of tired. I get tired by the evening, but I feel very sharp during the day.
I had my 6-week checkup last week and the doctor said everything looked good. I have the OK to exercise again, but I've only done it once in the past week. Not very good at all. The problem is that we moved the gym down to the basement, and it's too cold down there to bring her with me. It's a great temp for working out, but I'm afraid she would be too cold just sitting in a swing or bouncy seat. But I really need to get back into the habit so I can get myself back in good shape. I've lost the pregnancy weight, plus 5 of the IVF pounds, and I have 13 more pounds to go to be at my pre-IVF weight. But I've also lost most of my muscle tone, so I need to add muscle plus lose weight. I seem to have plateaued at my current weight. I've also started eating a lot of candy and sweets. Poor eating plus no exercise, definitely not a good combo...
In 2 weeks, Aysia has her 2-month doctor visit where they give the vaccinations. I'm not looking forward to that - I know how hard it was for me when they had to draw blood to check her jaundice, and she was screaming the whole time. This will be bad, too. But I did read that the study that originally linked autism to vaccinations has recently been completely rescinded - all the doctors involved in the original study have retracted their position and they find no link. I was planning on doing all the vaccinations anyway, but it's good to know this.
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As each of us will have to do, you're learning on the fly - about your milk production, pumping, figuring out how to refocus some of your energy on your own wellbeing - I think you're doing great. And Aysia is growing and gaining weight, so there's the proof! I'm sure the exercise/food thing will work itself out. You probably need a little comfort at the moment (that's what drives me to the sweets), which is okay. Ask the pediatrician ahead of time if it's okay to give her a little baby motrin prior to her appointment to help her with the shots.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son would go for his shots, this is the best way I found for it to work.
ReplyDeleteGo to appointment 1/2 hour before feeding time. Let them do his weight, head and measurements. Give him the dosage of tylenol, get the shot, have bottle waiting and ready to go. As soon as the shot was administered, I would start the feeding!! That seemed to work the best for us. I have found that the shots he got when he was an infant were much easier for ME to tolerate than the ones he gets now. Now, he knows what is coming, now the fear is there and the look in his eyes is heartbreaking!!!!
So glad to hear you have the all clear for working out again. With your dedication, I am sure you will be back full force in NO time.
Hope the snow is starting to melt--I am sure sick of it!!!
I'm so glad you don't have to worry about the vaccinations - and me, too! - but it can still be reasonable to ask if you can split the shots up. We did one per visit, and I think we had to bring our daughter in for just a nurse visit a few times to get caught up, but we never had that feverish crying thing that babies can get sometimes after vaccines. Although maybe she just wasn't the sort who would have had that anyway?
ReplyDeleteI do remember that in the beginning she wouldn't even cry much unless she was annoyed at having her leg held in a funny position. The DTaP was bad, though - a lot of inflammation, and it balls up under the skin like PIO shot, so massaging it right afterwards is a good idea. I would definitely ask about infant motrin or tylenol for that one!
Sounds like things are going well, especially since the duct problem is manageable. The sleep thing is just par for the course, though - and many babies I know got worse when their moms went back to work, since they would rather sleep all day with the caretaker and then stay up at night! Make sure your parents keep track of her sleeping habits so you can track whether or not this is a problem! (The day care should do that for you routinely.)
More pictures of that cutie would be nice!