Life with Lilly






And now, for the hard part...

Bring pregnant wasn't great, even though I had a smooth and uneventful pregnancy - no morning sickness, etc. The labor and delivery was obviously not a piece of cake, but it was over in a day. Now, we have this squirmy, squeaky baby that sucks the sleep out of us and she is here to stay. The first couple weeks was a challenge because we were doing a combo of pumping, nursing and bottle feeding, since she wasn't able to nurse well.

After seeing a lactation consultant in week 2, we held off on the frenectomy to see if it was my supply or her being 1.5 weeks early (weak suck muscles). After 2 more weeks of pumping and doing exercises with her on sucking strength, it was clear that my supply was there and still there was no improvement.  So, it was her. After a lot of research we went with the frenectomy to clip her tongue tie.  For all the fuss I made in my head, it was a 10 second procedure in the doc office and she recovered from it in 3 days. Her sucking strength was a world improved immediately (she nursed well for the first time ever, right after the procedure, in the exam room). Unfortunately, by then, I was already at the end of my rope with pumping and had gotten mastitis.  I was in bed with a fever for a day while Alex took care of Lilly, took my antibiotics, and am getting over that just in time for Lilly to start nursing. An upswing.

We're now in week 6 going on week 7. Alex and I finally have a grip on our sleep - we don't get any sleep (for me, 5-6 hours but in 2 hour chunks, sometimes 30 minute intervals), but at least we know how to function without it a lot better than before. Lilly sleeps as much as she is supposed to: 2-3 hours at a time, with waking for feedings. She is basically like clockwork. She cried very intentionally for the first 5 weeks and stopped once her need was fulfilled.  Suddenly now, we have a few spells of seemingly senseless crying - food, diaper, snuggles don't cut it.... Just need to wait it out.  Tonight, it took about an hour to get her settled enough for sleep. She was more than happy to take the bath, change into pajamas, nurse and hang out before bed, but she would not go down without more crying and wailing.

We are reading a lot about how to manage her needs, but at this point it seems like we just need to give her everything she wants when she wants it because she is un-trainable at the moment.  So, we are on-demand. I nurse and feed her during the night (9PM-6AM), Alex takes her while he is getting ready for work (6AM-10AM), and then I have her again all day. Next month, we might be able to see longer periods of sleep during the night. And by months 3 and 4, we can sleep train and get some of our routine back.

I have a long maternity leave but even if you only take the 12 FMLA weeks, it barely gives you time to figure out how to coexist with the baby.  I really think that would be tough for me to deal with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby List!

Baby List Gear Bassinet - Used a hand-me-down bassinet not sure the brand. Only used for 2 months because baby gets too big, moves around too much. Co-sleeper might be nice if breastfeeding, and might be able to be used by baby longer. In retrospect, we should have just used the bassinet on the pack-n-play instead of having a stand-alone bassinet.  Pack-n-play - didn't think we needed one but it's true that you just need places throughout the house to "put baby down" that is not the bed or couch (roll off) or the floor (cold/drafty/dirty). In the kitchen we used a  rock-n-play  (does not take up a ton of space/small footprint), 1st floor living room we used a moses basket on the floor, 2nd floor we used the crib and then the  bjorn bouncer  when she was a little bigger, 3rd floor we used the bassinet and now the pack'n play. We got the  4Moms Playard  with bassinet because it was low-profile, no bells and whistles, and collapses with one-pul...
Read more

Lots of Walking - An American in Tokyo

Image
January 8, 2008 There seems to be a lot of walking in Tokyo, and everyone does it very briskly and silently. Waves of people spill out onto the streets from the subway exits, and know exactly where they are going. Most people are wearing dark colored pants and shoes, and a nice wool coat, and carry a briefcase. The women are wearing heels and skirts, and make the walking look effortless. As I had been warned, I truly stand out in my jeans and sneakers. But, since the cobbler in South Center Mall in Seattle closed early and unannounced before I could pick up my re-heeled and re-soled boots, I'll be in sneakers until I hit some shopping in Roppongi. This morning I got up pretty early and went in search of an American-style breakfast - eggs sounded so good . I gathered all my maps and wandered North from the hotel. I crossed a few small rivers and ended up in an area full of business buildings. I had passed a lot of noodle houses, and was happy to see a Tully's Coffee wit...
Read more

Tiffany Weddings and Camels

April 15, 2008 My brother just got back from our cousin Grass's wedding - "a Tiffany wedding," he called it. My friend Al just called me this morning to announce her and her fiance's wedding date - October 2009. She wants it to be a Tiffany wedding. I had to Google it to find out who Tiffany is . I am disappointed at my ignorance because I've been reading (pretty exclusively) wedding magazines for the last two months. (I try to do this on the DL so that no one will wonder why I'm obsessed with wedding flowers, dresses, locations, and invitations, with no sign of one in sight. The answer is that sometimes I just get into a wedding mood and I'm not above unabashedly planning a non-event). Luckily, Al has chosen me as one of her bridesmaids, and now I have a great excuse to keep obsessing about minutiae leading up to an event that causes thousands, millions of women to become nauseous with worry, excitement, or -- in the case of Heather's cousin-in-l...
Read more