2 weeks

Back to weekly updates... or at least bi-weekly for now. I am not really sure yet what I want these updates to look like, but as it is nearing evening time and we will have some visitors here soon I thought that I would go ahead and get something down.

Our little one is 2 weeks old today! She is perfect and we love her dearly and we feel so blessed to have spent this many days with her already. You have seen plenty of pictures of her in the past few posts, so I think that I will fill this post mostly with words.

Her stats: I am sure that I will not have the updated version of these every two weeks, but we have them this week! Lydia was 7 lbs 5 oz when she was born and 19 inches long. We took her into the pediatrician when she was 4 days old and she weight 6 lbs 13 oz, then on that following Thursday she has shot up to 7 lbs 3 oz. Yay for my milk coming in :) Yesterday we took her in for her two week checkup and she weighs 7 lbs, 6 oz and is 20 1/4 inches long. She measures 50th percentile in everything, even her head size. The doctor says that she looks great and she has no concerns about anything. Oh, and today her umbilical cord fell off. It is so nice to not have that to worry about any more, and it is nice to finally see her belly button!

Eating: I think that the biggest thing that has been different than what I thought so far is breast feeding. I was so excited to share this time with my baby, I love the idea of providing her with what she needs, and I think that the way that my body is able to support her perfectly in this way is truly amazing. However, nursing was hard, really hard, for the first few days. Until Lydia was 48 hours old she showed zero interest in eating. All she wanted to do was sleep. The nurses and lactation consultants weren't too concerned at first, but as her second day came to a close I think that we all became a little worried. From the beginning it has been physically painful for me and with her not interested at first the whole experience was very frustrating.

Once we got home and I relaxed a little bit more things got somewhat better. However, when we took her in for her first doctor's appointment and realized that she wasn't gaining weight very well I began to get nervous again. My milk had started to come in the Monday following her birth and the appointment was on Tuesday, so I think that a lot of it had to do with some unfortunate timing. But David and I left our first appointment feeling kind of paranoid and that night we woke our newborn baby up (I think this is probably always a mistake!) every 3 hours to try to get her to eat. It was awful. She wasn't hungry, I was sore and bleeding and we were both just so tired. That night was definitely the hardest by far. The next day I talked to my mom who wisely informed me to just relax, that our little one would eat when she was hungry and that we should just trust her a little bit more. The next night she slept for 6 hours straight! And then ate for an hour and a half straight.

Ever since then we have let her sleep when she wants to sleep, especially at night, and I have learned to be really patient with her while she eats. Unlike a lot of newborns she eats every 3-4 1/2 hours (sometimes she goes 5!) but when she eats she does it for long periods... anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.  She is now gaining weight and dirtying diapers like a pro and things are becoming a lot less painful for me. I am enjoying the time that I get to spend with her so much more and I think that soon breastfeeding will feel like the beautiful thing that I know it is.

Sleeping: Can you spoil a 2 week old?? If so, I think we might have done it. We had so many visitors, especially in the first week. that Lydia rarely slept without someone holding her. Now this seems to be a daytime pattern for her. I am very, very thankful that she sleeps well at night! However, the day time is more challenging as she doesn't want to be set down... not in her boppy pillow, a swing or a bouncer seat. David and I just kind of take turns trying to put her to sleep after she nurses and we try to set her down as much as we can. She seems to have a few fussy times during the day when she needs to be held the entire time. Other than that we can usually hold her for 30 to 90 minutes after she is fed and then we can set her down to sleep until she is hungry again.

She rarely falls asleep while nursing which I know is a good thing for the future. But this means that after she eats she is a little bit fussy. She fights sleep a bit, but luckily she takes a pacifier, so usually after a feeding she is awake for a few minutes and is happy, then once she starts to cry we give her a pacifier, wrap her up and spend at least 30 minutes putting her to sleep. This process just takes a lot of patience, but it is pretty awesome to hold a sleeping baby in your arms so we aren't really complaining.


What she loves: She loves to sleep in your arms!!

What she hates: Diaper changes, getting dressed and undressed, bath time. Pretty much anything which makes her cold. She screams and screams during these times, but as soon as we pick her up afterward she is fine. I hope that this dramatic personality doesn't continue as she gets older :)

Cute things! Her sneezes and hiccups are absolutely adorable. She also flashes some pretty good open mouth smiles every now and then which melt my heart every time. Hopefully I can try to get a picture of it soon! Also, she is strikingly beautiful when she opens her eyes. Of course, this is mommy's biased opinion.

Postpartum Me: I am not going to lie... when I stood up for the first time after giving birth I was convinced that my body would never, ever be the same. It was scary how much everything hurt and how different everything looked. But even within 24 hours my body began to recover amazingly quickly. Now at 2 weeks postpartum I feel great!! There is definitely still pain (I take 6 ibuprofen a day) and breastfeeding presents my body with a whole new list of things to get used to. However, I can't tell you how good it feels to not have a ginormous belly, not have back and side pain, not be carrying an extra 30 pounds around. I get to sleep on my back, wear my wedding ring again and go for walks without worry about swollen feet! I feel better and better each day and it really is amazing how quickly I feel that I have bounced back. I know I am still recovering and I continue to take it easy for the majority of each day, but I already feel so much more like myself.

Also, nursing gives you a HUGE appetite. I love, love, love to eat again and it is so crazy to not feel nauseous anymore! I don't think I realized how nauseous I felt every single day that I was pregnant until I wasn't anymore. I love having an appetite, being able to eat anything that I want and not having to take a drug so that my food will stay down each day. As amazing as pregnancy is I can't say that I miss it one bit.

Well, I think that is all for now. If you have any suggestions about things I should include in the bi-weekly updates please leave a comment! What do you want to know about? What do you not want to hear about??

More pictures up soon. Now it is time to feed my baby, then it is time for some yummy lasagna!