Our first week with our little girl has been so wonderful, and so exhausting! We are completely in love with her. Here's how it's been:I didn't include this in my last post- because it wasn't about her birth specifically- but after being in my hospital room with me for awhile, Lauren spent about 24 hours in the NICU with hypoglycemia. We tried so hard to keep her blood sugar up with formula since my milk wasn't in yet, but she just didn't have the fat stores to maintain her blood sugar on her own. So my little baby had to have an IV and get poked in the feet over and over and over again. Seriously could have killed me. She's totally fine now, but it did cause one issue that we're still trying to get over... because she was introduced to a bottle so soon, not to mention a tiny feeding tube we tried to use in combination with breastfeeding and a syringe we tried to use with breastfeeding... breastfeeding is such a struggle.
Breastfeeding is a lot more work for her than a bottle, and a whole lot more work than opening her mouth while I squirt a syringe of colostrum into it, so we're still working on it. Our feeding routine is much improved over the past 48 hours... but it's still such a long, frustrating process for her and for me. We do a breasfeeding attempt, then the bottle, then I have to pump, and then clean everything. By the time I'm done, it's not long before we're starting over. It's tiring for both of us, but I am so determined to stick it out. Seriously though... labor was easy compared to breastfeeding. We'll get it though :)
I absolutely love everything about her and about being her mom. She is everything. Getting to know her day by day is so much fun! Here's what we've learned about our girl this week:
Lauren loves: Falling asleep on Mommy, eating with Daddy, skin-to-skin cuddling, being naked, being naked and swaddled, breastmilk in a bottle, having her hair washed, her hands
Lauren's first bath at home- see that look of pure contentment while getting her hair washed? Makes me just melt
Lauren does not love: Mommy's boobies (although it's getting better), bathtime
As for me, I am feeling really good. I'm still sore, but nothing that ibuprofen can't handle. Oh ibuprofen... how I missed you.
Here are some more pictures from our girl's first week!
Going home from the hospital- her outfit was waaaay too big for her 5 lb 4 oz little self
Big stretch! Seriously loves to be naked!
Oh my gosh I'm so in love.
4 comments:
Hang in there! It does get better. I've wanted to quit so many times. But I just had a good cry and kept on trucking...it gets better everyday. You're doing a great job!
Ashley, Lauren is so BEAUTIFUL! I'm glad to hear that both of you are doing better. I realized that breastfeeding is a lot easier the second time around. With Jocelyn, we struggled to get her latch on right, so I was sore for weeks and some times it made me cry when she was eating. She eventually learned how to latch on right. Hang in there, it will all come together. Remember how Nicole told us about the cabbage leaves and we all thought it was silly, it really works!
Good luck with the breast feeding. I had such a difficult time as well! Liam didn't like opening his mouth wide. So I used a nipple shield, but weening off that was not fun either. I was so sore and got mastitis the second week. That was awful. It's something you don't realize will be such a challenge. It really gets better with time though.
Lauren is so cute! Happy to hear she is home and healthy. It goes by so fast. Soon she will be double her weight!
She is beautiful Ashlee. I am so happy for you guys. Breastfeeding is the part that I am most nervous about as well. Hopefully in a few weeks you will have it mastered and can tell me all about it.
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