Sunday, May 20, 2012

These first few weeks


Anu is already 3 weeks old! Where does the time go?   There is so much that I want to share about these last few weeks, I hardly know where to start. So I'll just thought-vomit:



-During my pregnancy I was so worried/nervous at the thought of breastfeeding because I felt so clueless about it. But so far we haven't had any major problems.  His latch is good, I haven't had any huge pain or discomfort (just a little soreness but nothing too bad), and my supply is good.  (He actually gained a whole pound and grew an inch as of his 2-week checkup!)  The only thing is that he sometimes puts up a little fight if my breasts are too full and he doesn't want to latch.  And sometimes my letdown is too fast.  But we're both getting better at finding better nursing positions and getting the latch more quickly.  Anu will "cluster feed" for a few hours in the morning and again in the early evening, then will sleep for a few hours between feedings.  Sometimes I do feel like a human pacifier though!

-Anu is pretty good at sleeping at night.  I always have a pretty good idea of when he will wake up to eat (and if he doesn't wake me up, then my BBs are waking me up!)  and he falls asleep again pretty quickly.  So far we have him sleep in his little "co-sleeper" that goes in the middle of our bed and he likes that.  (Actually, mommy & daddy like it so that we can keep checking on him through the night without having to get up and look in the bassinet).  He likes to sleep in his Swaddlepod, although lately we're finding more that he doesn't really like being swaddled.  He also rolls onto his side a lot when we lay him down.

-The whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing....yeah not so much.  I get maybe half an hour of nap time with him during the day.  Any other time he is sleeping I have other stuff to do: eat, shower, clean, etc!

-We are constantly going through diapers, as expected.  The first week was pretty frustrating though because it seemed like he would leak through his diaper every single time he went.  We kept trying different brands.  And I'm convinced the Pampers brand we got from the hospital are of the devil: they would keep leaving those little gel things all over when he would pee and it was so frustrating trying to clean those off.  Anyway, now it seems to be fine.  Maybe the newborn diapers were still a little big on his legs at first but now he has grown into them. We have a stash of cloth diapers when we're ready to give that a try, but he is still too small for them.  Plus I need to be a little more prepared to make the commitment of getting quarters and going down to the laundry room more often......

-Anu has earned a new nickname: "Mr. Poo-Poo Farty-Pants."  Poor little guy has been having some bad gas this past week and is grunting and tooting quite a bit.  It was pretty bad at first, but then I stopped eating dairy and that seemed to help a bit.  We've also been using gripe water, giving him massage, and "bicycling" his legs, which also seems to help settle his tummy a little.  He still does some awful grunting and straining in the morning though.  I read something that suggests my fast letdown could be contributing to his gassiness, so I try to burp him more frequently during feedings.  Sometimes though he just will NOT burp for me. *sigh*

-Despite all the minor inconveniences of parenting, I feel like DH and I could just stare at Anu all day and never get bored.  It it so interesting to see how much he changes already day by day, and seeing some personality emerge.  When he was first born, everyone said he looks just like DH.  But now I keep seeing more and more of myself in him.  And it's funny but sometimes I'll be holding him and just have this glimpse of what he'll be like as a toddler or even as a teenager! (Don't grow up that fast, Anu!)

-I'm over the blues I talked about in my last post.  I think I just needed to get past the "due date" to get over that "I'm still supposed to be pregnant" feeling.  I'm still wearing maternity pants (whenever I do get dressed!) but I folded and put away my maternity tops, with no tears.  I'm actually kind of excited about finding clothes that haven't seen the light of day in forever, and hoping to wear them again soon.

-I never realized it would feel like such an accomplishment just to get out of the bedroom during the day.  Some days I feel like I live in one room and everywhere else is an alternate universe.  Anu and I do make it to our other nursing nooks in the house though.  And we've been on a few short outings.  But each time we go out I almost feel like having a panic attack, thinking worst-case scenarios and what am I going to do. I get nervous thinking about nursing in public, even though I have a nursing cover. I probably over-think things and get too self-conscious.  So far, Anu has been just fine on each outing.

Ok, baby is waking up!

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