Pictures

40 weeks (and yes, I was in active labor when I took this picture).

Going home! Outfit courtesy of Cousin Heather and my talented friend Heather

Hello world! 5 days old. 

At 5 Days Old

Aaron is back up to his birth weight of 8lb, 5oz (he was 7lb, 14oz when he left the hospital). Is eating and sleeping really well.

Emma is stepping up to her role as big sister. She's good at stroking his hair, patting his back and bringing him a paci when she thinks he needs one. :) She's also gotten to feed him once, which she thought was really neat.

I hope to add some new pictures later on this evening!

Breastfeeding Continued

I love all the help, by the way!

So we did better today... nursing is still stuck at about 10 minutes before she wears out and sleeps, but she also suckles much better once we get her latched. If she keeps falling asleep while we're trying to latch, I'm giving up, letting her rest for a little while and then waking her back up.

Today so far... let's see....

9:15 am -- boob for 15 minutes
9:35 am -- pee
11:15 -- pee
11:17 -- boob for 20 minutes (best latch ever!), did another 5 minutes later
11:35 or so -- pee
1:30 -- attempted feeding, no waking up
2:20 -- boob for 15 minutes
4:20 -- boob for 10 min
5:00 -- VERY fussy... Mommy was sleeping and Daddy had her
6:30 -- boob for 10 minutes, changed pee before
6:45 -- big pee, some farting with a little bit of poo in it (but nothing big)

So far, that's not too bad.... still would like to see some longer feedings, but now that I'm getting a handle on the engorgement, it might help her suckle longer. When she gets a good latch, she is getting a lot of deep sucks.

Hopefully Mommy can get a little nap in between all the BF tonight!

We have POOP!

Sometime around 3am, we had a BIG poop. She's past the meconium stage, and last night it was more of a honey-brown color, consistency was soft and gooey, not sticky. *whew* Mommy felt so much better. She was very gassy yesterday, so I think that's the rest of the formula coming out of her system. We are officially 30 hours past when she last had any formula (and NO MORE! I'm still upset with that nurse).

We had one successful breast feeding last night, and one this morning. I woke her up with what I thought were the first signs of hunger (likely in the middle however) and it took us about 20 minutes for her to calm down after stripping down to her diaper for her to relax enough to latch. We had a fair latch -- not great, but she was getting lots of milk.

Going to call LLL today, and the LC at Riverside, as well as having Emily come over and give me a hand. Right now the issues as I see them are...

1) She "hates" naked time. When she is undressed for any reason -- changing diapers or BF -- she gets very angry and it takes a long time to calm her.

2) Shallow latch. She gets latched, but then will de-latch very frequently. I think she de-latched and I re-latched her about 10-12 times this morning.

3) Falling asleep quickly. Once we get a good latch, she'll get going and then after about 10 minutes she'll fall asleep and even with all the techniques, it's difficult to rouse her.

And speaking of my little angel and BF, she's starting to rouse (eye fluttering, some rooting) so I'm going to give this another try. Em -- I'll call you in a little while!