Sleep and Naps at 10 Weeks

I've said it before and I'll say it again: as soon as I think I have my kid figured out, he goes and changes things.

I dont even like writing these posts, because I feel like as soon as I do, Noah changes what he's doing. But I want to remember what he was doing at each age, so here I go.

Noah has decided that napping is for babies, and that he's not one. Unless he's in his swing, or being held, or in the car, he won't nap for more than 15 minutes. It doesn't even matter if he's swaddled. He just doesn't like napping anymore. In the swing I can eek 45 minutes out of him. But even the swing doesn't always work (although it's working right now which is how I'm writing this post). At the very most he will nap 3 hours collectively throughout the 13-14 hours that he's up during the day. This makes for a very tired baby.

Bedtime has gotten a lot earlier since he has decided he doesn't nap. He used to go to bed between 8 and 9. Sometimes I would even wait until 8:00 to start his bedtime routine (bath, swaddle, feed, sleep). Now I often have to start it at 6:30, because he's so tired from not sleeping during the day that he's fussing. The only thing that'll soothe him then is eating or walking, and both of them make him fall asleep, so bathtime happens early. He still loves his bath, and calms down as soon as he's put on the towel on the floor. I could probably get him to bed by 6:30 if I wanted, but then his nighttime feeding and morning wake up would be even earlier, and I don't need that. There's no way I'm going to bed at 6:30 myself.

Interestingly, since he stopped napping during the day, he's stopped being able to go to sleep if he's in his crib drowsy but awake. Every night for the past week or more I've put him in his crib asleep, but he'll always wake up within a couple of minutes and cry. As soon as he's picked up he's fine, and he'll drift off to sleep within a minute. Usually this only happens once, but occasionally it happens more often. I think it happened 4 times last night.

Despite that little hiccup, Noah is a very good nighttime sleeper. Knock on wood. He's consistently sleeping about 8 hours straight at the beginning of the night, so his nighttime feeding is around 3:30-4:00, depending on what time he made it to bed. He's waking up around 6:30 these days.

We just bought room darkening curtains. He had blinds, which I thought would be enough, but his window is east facing and there is a giant field behind our house. Nothing to block out the sun. So we just went and bought heavy foam backed brown curtains. I thought this might cause him to sleep longer. It didn't. Joke's on me. But they do darken his room a lot, so it helps when we're putting him to bed 2 hours before it actually gets dark out!

Speaking of going to bed before it's dark, I've been heading to bed at about 8:30 each night. Justin finds it hilarious that he leaves our bedroom, which is very dark (because we also have room darkening curtains... I can't sleep in a bright room... or even a semi-lit room), walks into the rest of our house and is blinded by the dazzling sunlight. It's like it's lunchtime. We have huge windows on the east and west sides of our house, so sunlight streams into our house all evening. It must be very strange for your wife to go to bed when there's still a good hour of full daylight left.

The Intrusion

Well, my colonoscopy is done. It went okay. The prep wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although it was a good thing Justin cancelled his clients for the evening because Noah was waaaaay overtired from only sleeping 2 hours in the 13 hours he was awake yesterday (my son naps like CRAP) and would not have been okay with being put downa s I sat on the toilet.

The colonoscopy itself sucked, because I'm not so great with sedatives. When I was sedated for my laser eye surgery it just made me more anxious. The sedation worked for about 5 minutes and then I was in major pain. I just kept telling myself "It's not as bad as labour, it's not as bad as labour."

Then afterward the air that they put inside you was causing me incredible pain along the right side of my body all the way up to my shoulder. One nurse told me to stay on my left side, but I was crying with pain and could barely breathe because breathing hurt so much. Eventually a different nurse told me to roll over onto my right side, and almost immediatey the pain went away. I resent the nurse who told me to stay on my left side. Grrr.

While I was "recovering" (a.k.a. waiting for the stupid surgeon to come talk to me so I could go home since I was wide awake already), I heard Noah crying. It had been 2 hours since he was last fed, so I figured it was from hunger. It was killing me, but I had been told to pump once before nursing so I technically wasn't supposed to just give him my boob, even though that's all I wanted to do. The nurses told me my mom was trying to give him a bottle. But the crying continued. Eventually it stopped, and I figured that he had gotten used to the bottle.

What really happened:

Noah was perfectly happy, but seemed a bit hungry. I had given my mom instructions to give him the bottle at that time, since I was told I had to pump before breastfeeding again. I didn't want her to wait until he was crying because then I knew he wouldn't take the bottle.

So she tried to give it to him. Thinking it was his soother (it has the exact same nipple), he sucked on it a bit. But as soon as he realized my breastmilk was coming out of it he got so pissed off! He was like "Get lost! That's not supposed to come out of there! Do you think I'm retarded?!"

He absolutely refused to take a bottle. When I finally got home I pumped and then tried to feed him about half an hour later (kind of hard with empty breasts). He went 4 hours between feedings, which is 2 1/2 hours longer than normal because he REFUSED to take the bottle. And then the feeding he DID get was pitiful. He hasn't really had a decent feeding in 6 hours because of the bottle refusal and my boobs having a hard time filling up completely between feedings that are close together because my boobs aren't filled up completely. Confused? It's a vicious cycle.

So my child loves my breasts, and refuses a bottle. I knew he would, too. I'm okay with it. I didn't want to give him a bottle anyway, and there's not really a good reason for me to have to. My "good reasons" (being in my brother's wedding and having a colonoscopy done) have come and gone and we survived with no bottles. I don't care about getting out of the house baby free for longer than an hour and a half. I don't want to leave my baby with someone else for longer than that anyway. If I cared about being so tied down, I would have introduced a bottle sooner.

Oh right, the colonoscopy results. I have colitis. No surprise there. I knew that's what I had. I knew it wouldn't be Crohn's because my symptoms didn't fit (my blood was fresh, I didn't have cramping, and I wasn't getting sickly thin because of lack of nutrient absorption... plus I grew a healthy baby while my symptoms were at their worst). I knew it was colitis. But I did this mostly for my mom's sake, and to check to make sure I didn't have tumors or cancer.

We're all good. Well, I guess we're kind of not, because I do have colitis. But it's not the end of the world. I'll figure it out.

Dreading Tomorrow

Tomorrow I have to have a colonoscopy done. I'm so not happy. Frankly, I don't really care about the actual procedure. I recently pushed a baby out of my vagina, I'm sure I can handle a tiny camera being snaked through my colon.

What I'm NOT happy about is several other things:

1) The prep I have to do today and tonight. I'm not allowed to eat all day today and then I have to take the strongest laxatives ever and spend the entire evening on the toilet. I'm a little concerned about it because I'm nursing. I don't like that I'm not eating food for an entire day, because what will that do to my milk supply? Probably nothing after just one day, but still. Also, I'M NURSING. How can I run to the bathroom every few minutes when I'm NURSING. I'll have to force Noah off the boob.

2) I realize that some children eat every 2 to 3 hours, or even longer. My child does not. He eats every hour, hour and a half. I'm VERY lucky to make it to 2 hours. If it happens, it only happens about once a day. Well, during this colonoscopy I will be completely unavailable to nurse. I'll be more unavailable than I was during the wedding two weeks ago. It's not like I can hop off the table with the camera in my bum and go feed him! I'm hoping my mom will be able to hold him off for two hours because I reeeeally don't want to give him a bottle. He's never had one.

3) During the procedure I'm going to be sedated with a combination of demerol and fentanyl. Fentanyl I'm not worried about, because I took that during labour and Noah was totally fine and alert. Demerol isn't terrible, but it's not as good as Fentanyl with the breastmilk. Noah would only be exposed to it for like, one nursing session, and all it might do is make him a little sleepy. But I'm still not happy. However, I think I'd rather keep him on the boob than give him a bottle.

I don't know why I so badly don't want to give him a bottle. I just really don't want to. I think it's partially because when he's upset, sometimes the only thing that calms him is the boob. I'll try a bunch of things first: swaddling, bouncing, jiggling, a soother, white noise, etc, but he'll remain squirmy and fussy, and sometimes still crying. But if I put him on the boob, he's immediately calmed. And these aren't even always times that he's really starving. Sometimes he just needs his mom's boob. And I know my kid. A bottle full of milk is not going to calm him the way milk coming out of my nipple does.

My main concern for tomorrow is just getting him through the procedure (even though I'm the one having it) without needing to eat. I'm going to nurse him right before I go back. Then I'll nurse him as soon as I can afterward. In the meantime my mom will keep him busy and hopefully distract him from any hunger. I'll have a backup bottle of my breastmilk just in case, but I know my mom will do everything she can to keep him happy without giving him the bottle.

Hopefully it'll all work out. It always seems to.

Trickster

10 weeks

As soon as I think I've got Noah somewhat figured out, he changes things up on me.

He is so inconsistent with his sleep patterns. He's never been a huge sleeper. My mom has been commenting on that since he was born. Pretty much after those first 2 weeks were over he was awake. A lot. Frankly, since he was a newborn he's been awake a lot. My nephew basically slept and ate for the first 3 months of his life. Not Noah. During the day Noah spends much more time awake than he does asleep.

The only consistency in his pattern seems to be that about an hour after he wakes up in the morning he goes down for a nap. But his nap could be anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours (rarely is it 2 hours, but that does happen occasionally). And after that he's awake for an 1.5 to 2.5 hours at a time, and then has a half hour to 2 hour nap. Again, rarely two hours.

Yesterday from 6:45am to 3:30pm he only slept 2 hours. 2 HOURS! That's not much for a 10 week old. And that night he had only slept for a total of like, 9 hours. We finally put him in his swing and he had a 2 hour nap until 5:30. I kept him up after that, gave him an earlier bath than normal, and he was conked out for good by 8pm. He slept until about 4:10am (over 8 1/2 hours between feeds, over 8 hours of sleep), when I fed him. He might have put himself back to sleep at that point, but my right breast was engorged and hurting me, so as soon as he gave a little yell I went and got him. He was squirming and making little fussing noises, but his eyes were closed. So he might verywell have gone back to sleep for another hour or two. Oh well. I was lying awake anyway because of my sore boob.

He was back in bed by 4:30, and slept until a little before 7. So he got about 11 hours of sleep last night, but at 8:15 this morning he was asleep again.

I have no hope of scheduling him anytime soon. It seems like ever since he got his shots he's been all over the map with his sleeping and his moods. I'm glad he eats and sleeps on demand anyway, otherwise I'm sure I'd be going crazy. I really don't understand how some babies have such defined schedules. I guess Noah's consistency is INconsistency.

Yesterday I put Noah's high chair together. Two nights ago when Justin and I were having dinner Noah was in the swing next to me. That swing is portable, so it's very close to the ground (about as close as a bouncy chair). He started to protest being in there, so I picked him up and sat him on my lap while I finished. I really didn't think that would work, but it totally did. He just wanted to be up there with us, looking around at what we were doing. He just wanted to feel included.

I took that as a sign and decided that it was time to take the high chair out of the box so that he can sit in it while we're in the kitchen.

Noah is growing up so fast.

First Date

Justin and I had our first date this past Sunday, when Noah was 9 1/2 weeks old. After church we went to my parents' house. I fed Noah as much as I could feed him, then we left him with my mom and went on a date. We had a nice lunch out on the patio looking at the water. Then we went and got icecream and went for a quick walk under the bridge (only people who are from here know what "under the bridge" means, but we live by some famous bridges that cross over into the U.S.).

We were gone about an hour and a half. I called my mom twice, and she called me once at the end of the date to let me know Noah was awake. He was awake and happy, but she knows me. She knows I'm not comfortable being out if he could possibly be upset because of hunger. So once he woke up, she let us know so we could come back. When we got back Noah was hungry, not smiley. Good thing we left when we did.

I didn't know if I would be able to enjoy myself on the date, but I did. It's hard to leave my baby with someone else - even my own mom - when he's exclusively breastfed and I don't give him a bottle - nor do I want to. I never know when he's going to be hungry.

On a similar note, on Saturday my friend and I had tea, SANS babies! It was great. This is the friend I was pregnant with who lives across the road. Our kids are 3 weeks apart, and we've started having "non tea" instead of "tea." We miss having our pregnant teas, because the babies are just so distracting. Especially her baby, because she's a crier.

So on Saturday I fed Noah, then left him with Justin and went across the road. Erin's husband was home so he took care of Aubrey and we actually had some consistent adult conversation. I was there for almost 2 hours! I told Justin to call as soon as Noah got hungry. When he did, I went home. It was great.

Back in the Saddle... TMI Warning

So DH and I are back in the saddle. The painful saddle, that is.

You'd think that after pushing a baby out of your vagina things would be a little looser down there.

Definitely not.

My episiotomy hasn't been feeling quite right. Sometimes when I'm sitting and I shift my weight a certain way things feel... wrong. So we haven't done it, even after the 6 week mark. Last night, at 9 1/2 weeks, I was finally in the mood, finally willing to brave the intrusion.

And an intrusion it was! I felt like a virgin again! I don't know if my OB gave me a few extra stitches when he was repairing me but man, it took some work. It felt like a closed vault to me. Ouch!

I will say this... my O (prior to the actual deed) was quite possibly the best one of my entire life. My mom had mentioned something a few weeks ago about how sex was better for her after she had a baby, but I didn't think there could be any way that would be true. At this point, the actual sex isn't, but I can live with O's like that!

Here's a little piece of insanity for you: I have a 9 week old baby, premature ovarian aging, I don't ovulate on my own probably two thirds of the time, I am breastfeeding exclusively and obviously don't have my period back (nor do I have any fertility signs whatsoever right now), and my husband has male factor infertility, BUT after having sex last night I was praying it would end in a baby.

Clearly that is impossible, and kind of insane to hope for when you have a 9 week old. It was in no way why I went for it last night. But I freely admit that I prayed for it afterward.

Am I ever going to stop wanting to get pregnant?

2 Month Doctor's Appointment

Noah had his 2 month doctor's appointment this afternoon. There's not a whole lot to tell, but here are the basics:

-He weighed 13 lbs 4 oz. That's about the 90th percentile for weight. And it was a 2 lb weight gain from 3 1/2 weeks ago. His weight gain is still incredibly rapid, but it's slowed down slightly (in the first 5 1/2 weeks of his life he gained 4 lbs). Overall he's gained 6 lbs in 9 weeks. That's a lot. I hope it continues to slow down.

-He measured 24 inches. That is also at the 90th percentile for height. (Side note: I hate how innaccurate my doctor's office can be. He was 23 inches when he was 4 weeks old. At his last appointment, at 5 1/2 weeks, he was 23.5 inches. He's now 9 weeks old and the nurse was measuring him and said "Looks like he's 23 inches." So apparently he's shrunk half an inch in the past 3 1/2 weeks? I don't think so! I was watching her measure him and the top of the tape measure was nowhere near the top of his head. Plus I very carefully measured him a week ago or so, multiple times, and he was 24 inches long then. I said "That can't be right. He measured 24 inches a week or two ago. I don't think the tape measure was at the top of his head." So she measured him again and he was very clearly 24 inches, but she was sooo reluctant to agree to it, since she was an entire inch off before. But both Justin and I were staring at the tape measure, and his heel was obviously at the 24 inch mark. Bah.)

-Even though he's at the 90th percentile for both height and weight, he's at the 50th percentile for "weight for height." That means that of the kids his height (of whatever age), 50% of them are fatter than him, and 50% of them are skinnier than him. I'm happy about this. Both Justin and I are tall, lean people. So it makes sense for Noah to be right in the middle. He's not scrawny anymore, but he's not chubby. He's just right.

-He got his immunizations today. I did okay. I thought I would be way worse watching him get needles, considering I bawled like a baby watching the pediatrician examine him in the hospital, but I survived it unscathed. He didn't make a peep for his first needle, but he cried from the second needle. I scooped him up, held him close, and rocked and kissed him and he was completely quiet in about 30 seconds. Poor little dude. He's such a trooper.

Sleep at 9 Weeks

Ah! When I wrote 9 weeks I suddenly had a little freak out. Noah is 9 weeks old today!

Last night, in honour of his 9 week birthday, he slept 9 hours straight. 9 HOURS! He didn't get up to eat until 5:30. I had been up for good since 4:50 because my right boob, which is the only one I nurse from at night, was SO engorged. It was as bad as when my milk first came in. It killed just lying still on my back.

I decided to stop waiting for Noah to wake up and just get up and pump. Oh my gosh, moving was so painful. It felt like I had a bowling ball trying to break through my skin. At least it was just the right side though. When my milk came in it was BOTH sides like that.

I pumped 5 ounces in 2 minutes and then had to stop because I use the Avent bottles, which are only 4 ounce bottles so it was literally filled to the brim (I'm going to start pumping into the 9 ounce bottles instead). I went and emptied it into a bag and then pumped an ounce and a half from the left side, because it was pretty full too.

I am so happy that Noah is turning into a good sleeper all on his own. For the first few weeks he was up every hour or two to nurse. I remember being thrilled when he consistently went 2 hours. The first 3 hour chunk was amazing! Now we're all the way to 9 hours, and I didn't even do anything special to get us there. I have such a good baby.

Bedtime Routine

I don't know if our bedtime routine has anything to do with Noah sleeping so well. I can't remember exactly when I started doing it, so I don't know if it coincides with how he started to sleep longer and longer chunks.

Noah always goes to sleep between 8 and 9. And almost every evening, around 7:30, he gets whiney. Not a high pitched type whine, but more like a moan. If I haven't already gotten his bath stuff ready, I get it ready then.

You'd think if a baby is fussy, he would stay fussy through his bath. Not Noah. He stops fussing as soon as he even realizes he's going to get in the bath soon. If the bathroom isn't ready for him, I lay out his towel on the floor and lie him on there while I get everything ready. As soon as he lies on the towel, he knows it's bathtime and he just starts talking to himself instead of whining. He turns into a super happy baby. It's like his whining was "Mom, I'm tired, give me my bath so I can eat and go to sleep!"

We have such a nice bathtime together. We talk to each other, he tries to taste the water, he smiles at me, and he always opens his mouth wide when I'm washing his hands. He rarely fusses getting into or out of the water anymore. And he's happy as a clam lying there naked in his towel. But as soon as he realizes bathtime is over (either when I lotion him or he starts getting his sleeper on), the moaning starts again. We go to the bedroom where I swaddle him in a big receiving blanket, and he nurses until he falls off the boob with sleepiness.

Sometimes he's dead asleep when I put him down, other times he's adorably drowsy and wakes up a bit when I put him in his crib. He always puts himself to sleep if that happens.


I used to bath Noah every other day, and I always did it during the day so that his hair was nice and clean if we were going to go anywhere. 3 or 4 weeks ago I decided to start bathing him at nighttime with his Johnson and Johnson lavender bedtime bath stuff. I'm so glad I did. I don't know if the routine is helping him sleep longer, but I think we both like our little ritual. And I do think he accepts sleep easier when he's had his bath. Not that he had a hard time going to bed before; he really didn't. But now, he lets me know when he wants to go to bed soon, and as soon as his bath is done he's ready to conk out. It's great.

2 Months Old

At two months old, Noah:

-weighs a little over 13lbs, and is at around the 90th percentile for weight

-measures 24 inches. That is also at the 90th percentile for height.

-is at the 50th percentile for "weight for height." That means that of the kids his height (of whatever age), 50% of them are fatter than him, and 50% of them are skinnier than him.

-is transitioning into 3-6 month clothing (I base all my sizing on Carter's, who makes the longest, skinniest clothing out there and it fits Noah the best. Anything shorter than Carter's I don't consider to really be the same sizing, even if it says it).

-wears mostly Pampers Baby Dry size 1 diapers, occasionally a Swaddler or a Huggies.

-should probably be in size 2 Pamper's Baby Dry diapers because he's pooping up his back on a fairly regular basis, but I have about 400 size 1 diapers that I don't want to waste! The Swaddlers are a bit bigger though, and will fit him for longer.

-absolutely adores the mobile that came with his pack and play, even though it's only 3 boring beige bears that go around in a circle. He can smile up at them for over 20 minutes!

-is starting to enjoy his activity mat a little more, but it's kind of boring because it's small and nothing does anything (although right now he's smiling up at the dragonfly). He recently started to stare at the animals and smile and laugh.

-usually lets Mom and Dad enjoy dinner together by quietly swinging in one of his swings - usually the Fisher Price aquarium swing because it's portable so we have it in the kitchen.

-loves to have naps in his Fisher Price Nature's Touch cradle swing going side to side.

-is still swaddled at nighttime and occasionally during the daytime for a nap or a fussy period.

-has fewer and fewer fussy days.

-absolutely loves being in the bath, even though he still occasionally fusses getting in or out. However, if he's fussy before the bath, being in the bath makes him happy.

-pooped IN the bath for the first time last night.

-has become incredibly smiley in the past week, even though he started smiling back at 3 weeks old. He is now very smiley, not just a few times a day.

-has started to laugh during this past week.

-loves to talk and coo.

-has recently discovered his tongue and pushes it around his mouth and lips a lot.

-loves to stand, and jump which he's been doing since 3 weeks.

-grunts while he pushes himself up. He's going to be a rocket in his jolly jumper when he gains enough neck control.

-has very blue eyes.

-has lots of hair growing in where it all fell out on the top of his head. It's hard to tell whether it's blond or brown; it all depends on the lighting.

-throws up a LOT.

-has decreased the frequency of his pees and poops during diaper changes

-can go to sleep on his own at nighttime when placed in his crib drowsy with a full tummy, but only occasionally falls asleep on his own during the day.

-generally sleeps for about 5 hours at the beginning of the night, and then 3-4 hours for the next stretch, although we have had a few 6 hours periods at the start of the night.

-has a record of sleeping 7.5 hours, from 8:15pm to 3:45am. This just happened last night!

-doesn't get his diaper changed at night so that he and mom both sleep better.

-is becoming better at entertaining himself when he's awake so Mom doesn't have to be permanently attached to him.

-nurses about every 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. We're very lucky to make it to 2 hours, though.

-almost always starts nursing on the right side, so that if he makes it over to the left side the letdown isn't as strong and won't choke him as easily.


I'll update this post on Thursday when he gets weighed and measured at the doctor's office.

Matt and Lynsey's Wedding

My little brother got married on Saturday. Justin and I were both in the wedding. It was insanity, to say the least. Try being in a wedding with a nursing 8 week old. Needless to say I was of absolutely no help as a bridesmaid. It was all I could do to look good and make sure my child was clean and fed. That is an amazing feat when your baby has just recently started pooping up his back.

Noah did amazingly well all day. Seriously, he couldn't have been more well behaved. He only cried once, but it wasn't his fault. We had him out in the freezing cold wind and he was so scared he was screaming. He has never screamed like that before. Ever. It was absolutely terrible. I was almost crying myself and I just wanted to scoop him up, hop in the van, and drive away from it all. I was even saying "I don't care about this picture! I want to go!"

Luckily the photographers both had babies just over a year old, and they're both still nursing. So they completely understood my near meltdown, and they were very accommodating with me feeding the baby during pictures.

So the day went like this:

We got up at 5:30 am and left the house at 7am to drive the hour to the city where Matt and Lynsey live. We got to the hair place at 8. Noah had last eaten at 6:30, and he rarely makes it 2 hours, so when I immediately got in the chair to get my hair done I was already thinking "Oh crap... I hope he's okay until I'm finished." The guy doing ym hair was very nice at first, but he misinterpreted what I wanted done and I ended up looking bald. He thought it looked fine, but it really didn't, so I made him change it. I was really nice about it, but he turned into a complete jerk.

During this time Noah pooped up the back of his sleeper, so Justin and my dad took him to the bathroom to change him. By now it's been over 2 hours since he last ate, and I'm already kind of freaking out inside. It's one thing to try and hold your baby off between feedings on your own. It's another thing when you are being KEPT from feeding him when you know he's hungry. That's terrible. And while Justin and Dad were changing him, he ended up screaming. Of course. It wasn't very loud because I was in the front and they were in the back bathroom with the door closed. But I know my baby's cry, and I could hear it and it was breaking my heart.

My hair was finally done at 9, and I was supposed to get my makeup done. I just mentioned to my stylist that I needed to go feed my baby and he was like "Well, I don't know if you can, we're on a schedule."

Are you kidding me man? Screw the schedule! My child is an hour past when he usually eats and he's hungry! I really don't care about your stupid schedule! I was so pissed. I did go feed Noah, but by then he was really tired, so even though he was hungry, the suckling made him start to fall asleep. Which made the feeding take longer, and I'm not convinced he actually ended up with enough to eat.

After I fed him I got my makeup done and he fell asleep in Justin's arms. At about 10 Noah and I left the hair and makeup place to go to Lynsey's house where we were going to get ready and take pictures starting at 11:30. Lynsey had a schedule all typed out, so I knew what time we were supposed to do what and I could try and feed Noah and stay on the schedule.

I started feeding Noah at 11, and was in my dress right around 11:30. Unfortunately, a bridesmaid was missing, and didn't show up until 12. So I was upset because we wasted picture taking time, which screwed up the feeding schedule.

My sister in law, Hilary, was with me during this time taking care of Noah. Her son, Elijah, was with my brothers and parents. Hilary got Noah to sleep, but by the time we left Lynsey's house for the church it had already been 2 hours since his feeding. But it was 1:00, the ceremony was at 2, and I wanted to feed him as close to the ceremony as possible so that he wouldn't cry during it.

Hilary and I left before the rest of the wedding party. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were supposed to travel in rented vans together, but obviously I couldn't be a part of that. We got to the church at 1:30 and I fed Noah. Again, it was 2 1/2 hours between feedings, which he never does during the day. I was feeling so bad that he was being underfed.

My mother in law came to the nursery about 10 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start and got Noah from me to take care of him during the ceremony. I quickly finished getting ready. It went great. After the ceremony suddenly we were taking family pictures, which wasn't what we were supposed to do. Noah was already crying from the wind, so I fed him in the van. But it was very uncomfortable. I had to take down my entire dress, cover it was blankets, protect Noah's outfit... there were so many layers of fabric that it was hard for him to reach my boob! It was kind of a fussy feed, but he was okay. Meanwhile they're waiting for us so we can take our family pictures. As soon as we got outside Noah started to cry because of the wind. It only escalated. I tried blankets and a soother, but I didn't anticipate this problem and didn't have a blanket that was warm enough. So the screaming continued.

As soon as we got him back in the warm van he calmed down. Hilary sat on the seat rocking him back and forth while we continued to get some pictures taken for a few minutes. Then we popped him in his carseat and drove to the university to get bridal party pictures taken. Hilary took Elijah to their hotel to have a nap, and my mom and dad came with us to take care of Noah.

Once we arrived at the university Noah errupted. He had one of his volcano vomits, where it goes EVERYWHERE. It ended up even pooling under his bum in the carseat. It was not awesome. He was fine, but it was a huge cleanup, and he was onto his fourth outfit of the day.

My mom changed him while we got some pictures taken. When I got back to the van my parents were beside each other talking to Noah as he smiled like crazy up at them. They looked just like Justin and I look with him when he's doing his constant smiley stuff:) So cute.

I nursed him again during pictures sometime around 4, then went to the country club to wait for the reception to start. We were late getting introduced, so by the time we got in and seated at the head table I had to immediately leave to nurse Noah (while the MC was talking... I probably looked so rude).

The evening was a blur. If I wasn't nursing or changing him I was shoving dinner into my mouth quickly. I don't know where time went, but I missed out on so much. I did my speech with my sister, but I feel like I wasn't really present for anything. I wasn't present for my baby, I wasn't present for the reception... I couldn't give anything my full attention.

I feel sad that I wasn't able to involve myself in my brother's day the way I would have liked to. He is the second nicest and sweetest guy I know (the first being my husband), and his siblings are so important to him. I wish I could have been there, mentally. I hardly even talked to anyone! There was just no time. However, my child survived the day, even though he was underfed and overtired. He was a model baby; everyone was so impressed by him. And he slept really well that night and napped for 2 really long naps the next day. One was 2 full hours, and the next one was over 3 hours and then I woke him up. That was the longest nap of his entire life.

Here are a couple of pictures of Noah and I at the end of the night (Noah was already in his 5th outfit... a pair of jammies for the ride home). We didn't get any pictures of the 3 of us. These are the only ones we got.

Almost 2 Months

Tomorrow Noah will be 2 months old. I needed room in his dresser for more 3-6 month clothes, since he's almost out of his 0-3 month stuff (so so sad). Last time he was measured he was 24 inches long, so technically I probably should just completely give up the 0-3 month stuff. I just have a hard time doing that. Yesterday I figured I might be okay to finally put away his newborn clothing, whihc he hasn't worn since he was 3 or 4 weeks old.

I wasn't.

I bawled. Like crazy. I was so so sad to see it go away. I miss my scrawny chicken-legged newborn baby. Why is that phase finished so incredibly quickly? I love this new smiling and laughing phase so much, but I really miss the tiny phase.

I'll be posting more tomorrow when Noah is actually two months old.

Pictures From Noah's Second Month

Yesterday Noah turned 8 weeks old, which means it's been 4 weeks since I posted any pictures of my little Bambino. Shame on me! Here are some pictures from the last month:

1 Month Old:

5 Weeks Old:

6 weeks old:

8 Weeks Old:

Mother's Day 2010

I distinctly remember last Mother's Day... I started spotting after an IUI cycle, so I knew I wasn't pregnant, and I cried while sitting in church. It was not a nice day.

I was so thrilled and thankful to be able to celebrate my first Mother's Day yesterday.

Justin bought me a lovely card that had a message from him, and a message from Noah in it. The message from Noah was so cute:

Mom,


Thank you for putting up with me when I am fussy.


Thank you for keeping the rash out of my bum.


Thank you for bathing me, and making me feel good and clean.


Thank you for feeding me such excellent milk, and helping me grow big and strong like Dad.


Thank you for loving me.


You're the best mom ever!


Noah "Bambino"


P.S. Sorry for peeing on you.


Noah amazingly slept until 8am, rather than getting up for good at 6. We got ready and got to church on time. I was in and out of the service to nurse, change a poopy diaper, and walk with a slightly fussy baby (who turned out to just be hungry). There's not a lot of sense in me attending church, but hey, at least we try.

After church we went to my parents' house for a visit, and then to Justin's parents' for a visit. Both visits were very enjoyable. We didn't get home until after 8, but I got Noah bathed and fed and in bed around 9. He went to bed awake and put himself to sleep!:) I love my kid.

He slept until 2:30 this morning, nursed, then went down until 5:45, nursed, then went down until 7:45. Unfortunately, I've been awake since 2:30am. I wasn't able to fall back asleep. (Sometimes I really hate myself.) But luckily Noah has given me a really great day again today. It's 2:30 and he's on his third nap right now. The first one was about an hour and 15 minutes, the second one was about 2 hours, and now he's napping again, but my friend was here and I was distracted so I don't actully know what time he went down. I think he might be going on 45 minutes now. He's acting more like a normal 7.5 week old again and actually sleeping. Saturday was horrible. He barely slept all day.

The thing is that he's not sleeping as completely and soundly as he used to during the day. So the trick is when he wakes up, I don't pick him up unless it's very clear that he's not going back to sleep. I just pat his bum and bounce the mattress and he usually goes back to sleep. It's gets him to nap for longer.

Sleep and Nursing at 7 Weeks

Noah turned 7 weeks old yesterday, but decided to give ME a couple of birthday presents.

To start with, even though he didn't get much sleep yesterday he was a very good baby. He seems to be a bit more content lately. Yesterday I was able to fold a load of laundry and unload the dishwasher all while he was awake. He was just lying there entertaining himself! I did have to switch his surroundings a couple of times to stop some minor fussing, but he was great! He loves the mobile that goes with his pack and play. I didn't think he would, because it's really kind of boring. It's just 3 beige bears that go around in a circle to the song Rock-a-Bye Baby, but he just lies there and smiles at it. He can go a good 10 minutes doing that now! I wish I hadn't returned the mobile that goes with his crib bedding. I didn't think it would be of any use to us. But I guess this one is good enough. When he's bored of that one he probably wouldn't want to stare at the other one anyway.

The second present he gave me was sleeping through the night (STTN)!! In the technical form, anyway. He nursed at 8pm and was asleep by about 8:30. He didn't wake up for his next feeding until 2:40am!! It was incredible! I always wake up at least 8 times a night, and last night was no exception, but when I woke up and saw that it was 2:38 and he hadn't nursed yet I bolted out of bed! I went to the bathroom quickly and then Noah cried a bit so I got him out of bed to nurse him. He was back in his crib within half an hour, so I was back to sleep until 6am, when he woke up to nurse again. 6am is when Justin gets up for work, and when Noah always decides to wake up. So even though that's really early, it was fine. I was thrilled! We skipped a whole nursing session last night! He slept for 6 hours!!! And I think I got a little over 7 hours of sleep total, so I'm feeling amazing, mentally.

It seems a bit strange to me that sleeping 5 hours straight is considered sleeping through the night. I mean, waking up at 2:30am to feed doesn't really seem as if that's sleeping through the night. Maybe if he made it to 4 or 5 I'd think of it more along those lines. But regardless, I'm so happy that he slept for as long as he did, even if in my mind it's not sleeping through the night.

Oh, and with the one less nursing session, his diaper wasn't nearly as bad this morning as it usually is. That's a bonus! I stopped doing that one change at his second nursing session, because it seemed that those times that he slept past 6 after I changed his bum were just flukes. Every other time I've tried changing his bum at the second nursing session he just wakes up more, takes longer to go back to sleep, and still wakes up between 6 and 6:30. So what's the point?

Okay, onto the nursing. I am so sick of my left breast. It acts like it's on speed. I have started to always start nursing on my right side, which is far more manageable, and only give Noah my left side if he's still hungry after the right side. I think my right side is starting to catch up with it's milk supply, but now that I'm always nursing that side and he's always draining it, he does tend to nurse on both breasts at most sessions now, eve if the second breast only gets 5 minutes.

It's not that I want my left side to dry up. I still want it to produce. But Noah seriously can't handle going on that side first. My letdown is so ferocious. When I pump I can see what's happening in his mouth, and I feel so bad for him. I have 7 holes that milk sprays out of with such force... it's like child abuse. When he goes on that side second, I've already had 2 or 3 letdowns, so the letdown isn't as strong once he gets on that side. He's much more likely to be able to handle it. But if he goes on that side first he's constantly choking and unable to breathe. It really scares him. I feel terrible.

This morning at 6am I tried putting him on the ferocious left side first because it had been 10 hours since that side had let anything off and it was pretty full. After 2 minutes I decided to just put him on the right side because he was being tortured. After I was done nursing him I wanted to just let a little bit off the left side, so I pumped. I just have a manual pump, not some super duper electric pump. But no word of a lie, I pumped for not even 2 minutes and I got 2.75oz. I stopped then because while I don't want that side to dry up, I do want it to stay calmed down. I don't want to have to carry a pump with me for the rest of my life! Ok, that's dramatic. Obviously it won't be for the rest of my life. But it could be for the next year!

It really is amazing how quickly our breasts adjust to our kids. It was only 4 or 5 nights ago that Noah started going 5 hours at the beginning of the night. The first night he did that by 1am my breasts were so engorged that I couldn't sleep. By the time 4am rolled around when Noah got up for the second time, my left side was unbearable (he only took my right side at 1am). The next night I wasn't engorged, I was just really full. And then last night he went all the way until 2:30am and my breasts were, again, just full. Not overly so, though. And even though at 6am it had been 10 hours since my left side had been nursed on, it still wasn't engorged. It was just really full.

Our bodies are really amazing things. I can't get over it.

During the day Noah is starting to go a bit longer between feeds. He used to eat every hour, maybe hour and a half. Now he goes an hour and a half or an hour and 45 minutes more often. Occasionally he'll make it to 2 hours, but only maybe once a day.

I found a soother that he can keep in his mouth easier. I was using the Avent ones, but they really suck... or don't suck, however you look at it. Noah always tries to nurse on his soother instead of sucking on it, and the Avent soothers immediately fall out of his mouth when he does that.

I tried the Gerber Nuk soothers and they stay in his mouth better. If he's actually hungry and is tries to nurse on it it'll still pop out, but not as easily as the Avent ones. If he doesn't want it, he'll reject it (he'll gag on it, like a drama queen). But if he actually just wants to suck, he can keep it in. This is helpful for me, because before I found this soother a few days ago I was having to nurse everytime he wanted to suck, even if he wasn't hungry. This meant I was nursing every hour. I still sometimes nurse him every hour, but that's because Noah legitimately wants to nurse. But if he's not hungry, the soother soothes him:) (good thing, since it's called a "soother").

So that's where my kid is at. I wish I had brought him to the weigh in yesterday. I'm pretty confident he's at least 12lbs now, but it's nice to know for sure. Our 2 month appointment isn't for another 2 weeks, so maybe I'll take him to a weigh in next week.

Leaky Tap

I didn't jinx myself! Last night was really great for Noah again. He got out of the bath at around 7:30 and started to lazily eat off and on until about 8. He was very sleepy after that, so even though he hadn't gotten one good feed in, we put him to bed anyway, sometime around 8:15 or 8:30. I can't remember exactly.

He slept until 1:15am! It was about 5 hours between feeds! My breasts were incredibly full waiting for him to wake up. I put him on the right side, because that's the side that he nurses from better, so I always put him on that side for his first feed so that he gets nice and full and will sleep for longer. If I put him on the left side he always has to pop off because of my forceful letdown. Often he won't go back on because he's too tired, so he'll only get a couple of minutes of nursing in. I think he nursed on that side for about 18 minutes (way longer than he used to) and then went right back to bed.

As per usual, he never made it over to the left side. He has never taken both breasts at nighttime, and only occasionally does that during the day. Needless to say, when he woke up at 5:15 (4 hours between feeds!:) I'd been awake waiting for him to eat because my left breast was so painfully engorged. He couldn't really latch properly, which was fine because I was dripping like a tap before he even got on. He could have just sat there and done nothing and gotten a full meal.

I knew he'd be popping off quite a bit, because if my letdown on that side is normally equivalent to a garden hose turned on full blast, then when I'm engorged it's about equal to a fire hose. I woke Justin up to help me during the feed because anytime Noah popped off there'd be milk going everywhere. Way more than the burp cloths and receiving blankets could handle.

Justin brought me a cup so catch the milk in. I decided to actually freeze the milk this time, instead of wasting it by dumping it down the sink.

I dripped/sprayed almost 3 ounces! I didn't even pump or anything, I just leaked 3 ounces. Last time I did that I dripped 2 ounces, although I wasn't engorged that time. I should have kept that stuff too, but I wasn't using a clean cup.

My left boob is insane. Seriously. Who leaks that much milk without even trying?

Sleep at 6 Weeks

I'm worried I'm jinxing myself by writing this post, but here goes:

Noah has been doing a much better job with his sleeping at night. At the beginning of the night he consistently goes 3 to 4 hour stretches between feedings. It's getting so that it's more like a 3 1/2 to 4 hour stretch. However, after that second feeding, he always wants to eat within 2 hours. I wonder why he doesn't last 3 or 4 hours after the second feeding.

At the recommendation of a nurse, we had stopped changing his diaper at nighttime to lessen the interruptions for both him and me. The diaper changes really wake me up and I often can't fall asleep for hours afterward. Because of this, the nurse told me just to skip the diaper change unless we know he's pooped, and to even put him in a size 2 diaper if we need to so there's more absorbent area (we haven't done that).

For a little over a week we went change-less at nighttime. But now I'm trying to fit a change in at the second feeding. Noah always wakes up at 6 - 6:30am, even if he's just eaten at 5:30. I think it's a diaper thing. If his diaper is too full, he fusses a lot and won't go back to sleep.

It sucks changing him, because it wakes him up after he's all dead asleep from the nursing. And it wakes me up more because even though Justin does the diaper change most of the time, he doesn't know how to swaddle well enough so that it lasts, so I have to re-swaddle Noah after the diaper change. And then usually I have to nurse him again to make him sleepy, and to try and fill him up more to make him go longer between feedings... although that doesn't seem to be happening.

I think changing him at that second feeding is working. We did it the past 2 nights, and he slept until about 7:30-7:45 each time.

I know a lot of people whose baby is sleeping through the night at under 2 months old. I could name 4 right off the top of my head. And these are people I know in real life, not on blogs. All I think of when I hear that is my baby books and how they say that a baby this young should not be sleeping through the night, and you should mention it to your doctor if they are because it could be a concern.

Of course, I only think about that because I'm insanely jealous and wish that my baby would do that too! But I am happy with the way he is sleeping now. It's way better than the hour or two he was going between feedings overnight for the first month of his life. I remember being thrilled when he started to consistently go 2 hours. And the first 3 hour stretch was amazing. I feel very lucky that he's now making it through some 4 hour stretches. (But, if you can believe it, even though I go to the bathroom after every time I nurse him, I still have to wake up before he wakes up to go to the bathroom again. I've always been like that. I pee like 4 times a night. It drives me nuts).