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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

One month old today and pedi appt.

Yesterday was Sophia's follow-up u/s after wearing the harness for 3 weeks. In all, it went really well. We did the u/s and then the tech called the doctor to come take a look. Ortho was VERY happy with the results. There is still a bit more change needed so she'll still wear the harness, but it goes down from 20 hours to 16ish hours each day. We'll probably still keep it on her as much as possible, but take it off for trips out of the house. Plus, in this freezing STL weather, the harness doesn't fit well (if at all) over her warmer clothes.

To be selfish, I'm just excited that I'll get some non-harness snuggle time:) We go back in 2 months for a follow-up and hope to see the dysplasia completely gone.
In fun news, Sophie is 1 month old today!!! Hard to believe, but we're starting to see changes almost daily now. She smiles regularly, especially during that fun morning play/snuggle time. She's also started grasping things with her hands, including the collars of our shirts as we put her down lol. She's eating more, up to about 2.5 ounces from the 2 that she had previously been eating. She's starting to sleep overnight in slighly longer stretches, 3-4 hours from her 2-3 hours.

I did a make shift weigh in last week and at that point she was up to almost 9 pounds! Her cheeks and belly are definately starting to fill out, so it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. In preparation for going back to work, I'm working to eliminate overnight breastfeeding sessions. She typically eats twice over night, between 1-2 and 3-4. Those feedings are now replaced by bottles of breastmilk. I know me, and I know this is a smart move for going back to work. It's just much easier to pull a bottle out of fridge, then deal with the frustration of middle of the night breastfeeding. Plus, with the bottles, I can recruit Dan's help for those feedings.
The downfall of eliminating those bfing sessions is that I've been waking in the middle of the night feeling ready to just explode. It hurts. Yuck. Today/last night was much better so hopefully my body is getting used to it. I still pump as much as I can, esp in the morning when my supply seems better. I think I have 200+ oz frozen already. I don't know if that's good or not, but it's what I've got and our freezer space is getting limited:) I can usually freeze 12-20 oz per day, and that is WITH feeding her fresh milk so it seems ok.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of breastfeeding. I'm doing it for her, and that's about it. As such, I've gone back and forth several times about exclusively pumping and bottle feeding her. I need to research the pros and cons I guess. But everytime I think I've decided to go that route, we'll have a really good nursing session and then I'm all about bfing again. I'm so indecisive:)
Here are a few new pics. I'll try to post ones that aren't on FB so those that are my friends on there get new pics here!! I'm such a people pleaser:)
Good grief. I just realized the 3 pics I uploaded all have her pacifier. Really, we don't use it all the time I SWEAR!!

4 comments:

Stacy said...

Glad she is doing well! And hooray for more snuggle time without the harness.

I can't believe she is one month old already! Time flies.

You are doing awesome with the bf. I have always had to supplement and have nothing to store. So, I am impressed with your freezer full!

And hooray for her sleeping a little more. Can she come teach Sadie a thing or two? :-)

I love the new pics. She is such a cute girl!

Hippie Family... said...

Stick with the nursing as well as pumping for now. It changes so much in month two, your confidence raises, you really get a different feel for it. The first month is really almost....uncomfortable, physically for you. or at least it was for me. I do have a friend that hated to nurse and pumped for BOTH of her kids for OVER a year EACH! crazy! Amazing, awesome.
the back stock that you have is fantastic! keep up the good work!
The middle of the night feedings were so much better for me to do without prepping and or making a bottle. It was nice to be up, in her room, half asleep in the chair then done and back to bed.
The sleeping will get sooooooo oooo oooo much better this month too. It's when she hits her 3 month growth spurt that you may start to lose a little bit of it. But this is when you remember to mention that to your Dr about maybe starting a bit of cereal in to her evening feeding to keep her full (wish someone told me that)
She's so so so cute.
How are you about going back to work?

Sara said...

She's getting so big! I think you're doing an amazing job with the breastfeeding... and your storage is fabulous. I could never store anything and I had to supplement. Great job sweetie!!!

Anonymous said...

Your boobies will get used to no *relief* all night. Mine did and I'd have 8-12 oz in the morning. I gave up b/f at one monthish because I was going back to school and didnt want to make it harder on him. Pumped for 11 months, with some formula and cow's milk at the end. I say follow your instincts on b/f if you feel like using a bottle next time do it and pump. aside from bonding there arent really any benefits to baby so long as she's getting mommy's milk, but bottles help her bond with dady and you arent doing damage to her teeth/mouth/etc. i am jealous of your freezer - i never had that much, about 24 oz in 24 hrs. with fenugreek. lakshmi