The Human Pacifier

Last night it occurred to me that I have become a human pacifier. Not all day though. Just from two AM until about five in the morning. Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice? I don't know when it happened or how it happened but lately sleep around here has been hard to get. Following in his sister's footsteps, I am now in another sleepless stage. Not complaining. Just catching you up on where I'm at with BabyM.

I would like to attribute his night waking to his teeth. He's teething now and that could be causing him some discomfort. Sometimes I think that he could be looking for me during that time. More often than I would like to admit I fall asleep while nursing him during those hours. It's possible that he's grown accustom to being with me so he wakes up to call for me.

Either way.

It's time to actually sleep train before it get's worse. I haven't really had to sleep train him up till this point so I hope it goes okay. I can't keep going night after night without adequate rest. He needs his sleep too. Savannah didn't stop night waking until I stopped breastfeeding. I wonder if that will be the case this time?

He's not really waking up a lot but he's incredibly restless and in a wakeful sleep state from two to five. Every night. I've got to figure out something soon. I gave up Dr.Pepper so I don't even have caffeine to help push me through the day. What's a Mom to do? Anyone else go through this? How long did it take you to get your baby back on a good sleeping schedule?

Baby M Update: 4 Months

I feel like I just had Baby M like two seconds ago but he's already four months old. This morning we had his four month check up and shots. Things have been going pretty well. He's such a sweet baby. Steals my heart. I can see so much of my husband when I look at him. Sometimes it's frightening.

Baby M smiles, laughs and coos. My favorite thing to do is talk to him. He responds with all his coos and it's the best. He's a pretty good sleeper right now. In the morning he takes a nap for about an hour. Around lunch time he goes down for another two to three hours. At night he goes down at eight sharp (right after his sister) and sleeps until about three before waking up for a feeding. Not too bad, right?

I'm breastfeeding and I pretty much feed him on demand. I started Savannah on cereal and veggies when she was four months old. I plan to start him on solids by the end of the month. I ordered some more freezer trays with lids and they should be here by the end of the week. I'll share more about my baby food making process in another post. We'll more than likely start with peas or green beans. He's ready for food. He's started sitting on his own a little. He stares at us with pure jealousy when we eat and after nursing for a while he still wants more. I've started doing actual feedings and "snacks" via nursing. Cluster feedings I guess. It's time for him to have a little more of something else at least once a day. I'll still continue to breastfeed until he's at least twelve months.

During his appointment his Doctor was very impressed with his strength and how well he moves. She told me that it was time for him to start working out in an exersaucer or standing activity center. I'll be picking up one today. I plan to sell some of the baby gear we have here to a resale store. I can not believe we are already getting rid of baby things! 

I'm feeling so blessed and thankful that our little guy is hitting all of his milestones. When he was born early I was very nervous about how his development would possibly be delayed. Thank God for miracles big and small. Baby M is right where a four month old should be. I guess that means he'll be crawling and getting into everything very soon. Can't wait!

Baby Update: Four Weeks Old

Time is flying. I have always said if you want to pass time quickly have a baby. I can not believe my son will be four weeks old tomorrow. Whoa. I thought it would be nice to share how we're doing. I think I am adjusting like any other woman with a newborn. I'm tired and still riding on what little adrenaline I have left. Things have been going pretty smooth for the most part and I am very thankful for that.

Our sleep pattern has been pretty normal. He wakes up about every three hours to eat and be changed. He normally goes right back to sleep after being nursed. We have been doing a mix of co-sleeping and putting him in his crib. It just depends on how tired I am. Please spare me any lectures on co-sleeping. I am not interested in them. Baby M will eventually sleep in his crib every night. When he starts having longer stretches of sleep he'll make a permanent move to his room. He sleeps in his bed during the day for naps so I'm not too concerned about the move. I didn't co-sleep with Savannah but then again I wasn't as tired then as I am now.

Breastfeeding is still going well. Between nursing and pumping I'm a little milk machine. Love that. We've been able to go on a couple play dates and are slowly getting back into the swing of things. I am hoping to get better about taking both of them out by myself. I never knew how much goes in to taking two small children out for errands or an activity. It's been a learning experience. And I am still learning.

I'm going to start working exercise back in to my routine this weekend. I'll keep you posted on how that  goes. I don't own a scale so I'm not sure where I am in terms of weight since giving birth. I'm looking forward to getting in incredible shape. My plan was to be in amazing shape before my thirtieth birthday in February and I plan to accomplish that goal. Watch me work. We'll be talking a lot about fitness in the coming months. 

What was your first month like after baby? Is it all a big blur?

Baby Boy's Birth Story Part III

I feel like it's been forever since I've done a new post. It's been a very busy couple weeks. If you've had a baby you know what I'm talking about. Between the not sleeping, breastfeeding, pumping and trying to find a new rhythm it's been crazy. Luckily, my Mom was able to come spend a couple weeks with us and my husband was on paternity leave so it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly in the coming week. 

Our first couple weeks have been pretty great. Baby M is such a good baby. Like most newborns all he does is eat and sleep. We've been able to go on several family outings which has kept Savannah's life very normal. Baby M's newborn and two week check up both went very well. He's gained weight and is growing so fast. He looks so different now. It's amazing how fast they change and grow.

I know I mentioned on the blog before that I was a little nervous about breastfeeding this time around. My milk supply with Sav was never enough to feed and pump to build a stash for the freezer. This time around I have more than enough milk. I could probably feed my baby and a few others. My husband jokes that we should stop buying milk and the whole family should switch to breast milk to save a few bucks. He's funny. I don't know if I'd actually do that but at least Baby M has plenty of milk ready when he needs it. I'm just so happy that I'm having a better experience with my supply this time around. Praise God from whom all breast milk flows!

Sleeping has been a little tough. Due to all the cuddling he got while everyone was here I believe he's already figured out that he doesn't want to sleep in his own bed. Y'all already know how I feel about the sleeping situation. I will start sleep training as soon as my husband permanently goes back to work. I'm not too concerned about training him since he's still so new to the world. 

I haven't done an outing by myself with both kids yet but I'll be sure to let you all know how that works out for me. I'm sure it will be entertaining if nothing else. I haven't started doing any serious exercising yet. I'm waiting until I've been officially cleared by the doctor. My appointment is in August. Until then I plan to go for walks when I can and stay as active as possible. It's so important to keep moving after a C-Section. I hope everyone is enjoying their Independence Day! 

Baby Update & Breastfeeding

This past weekend flew by. I can't even remember what we did. I remember going to church and that's about it. I went in to see the doctor today and I am happy to share that everything is going well with the baby. My blood pressure is still high (it stayed high through out my entire pregnancy with Savannah), but I passed all the screenings for pre eclampsia so no worries there. :-) 

I have reached that point in my pregnancy where they start administering the "non-stress" tests. The "non-stress" test is a test they give to monitor the baby's heart rate and movement. I'll be going in twice a week for my tests until I deliver. They'll plug me up to a machine and I'll just lye there for about thirty minutes to an hour. I did the same thing with Savannah. This let's me know that the end is near. I can not believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. So crazy.

Which brings me back to thinking about breastfeeding preparation. I've been pulling out all of my old books and resources to give myself a refresher on how things go and best practices. Since I really want to try to increase my milk supply this time I've been focusing on learning more about how to achieve that. If it doesn't happen that's okay too. Savannah never had a supply of milk in the freezer but I would love to try to have a few bottles this time around so that my husband can help more. I was able to find a good one sheeter on increasing your milk supply on pinterest. 

Credit

Fenugreek never worked for me while I was pregnant with Sav. This time I am going to try the infamous Mother's Milk tea and Raspberry Leaf tea. Raspberry Leaf tea was actually recommended to me by a lady at church. I am hoping that the teas and a healthy diet will be the key for me. Anyone have suggestions for me that really worked for you? Anything that I can start doing now (other than drinking lots of water)?

Breastfeeding

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. A nice long weekend is always a treat. We had a blast at the couple's retreat and I'll be doing a recap post this week to share what we learned. Every day I try to do a little more around the house to prepare for the baby. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I've been trying to refresh myself on all things newborn. Today while I was browsing Facebook I came across a video that a friend of mine posted. It was about breastfeeding and how our country views this natural ability. Check out the video below. It may not be safe for work due to nudity.

As I have mentioned on this blog before I am an advocate for breastfeeding. I breastfed Savannah for thirteen months before transitioning her to organic milk. I plan to breastfeed again. There are several reasons as to why one should breastfeed. I made the decision to do it because I couldn't understand why I'd buy milk when I was already making it for free. (See. Swiper wasn't swiping back then either.) So yes. My reasons for breastfeeding started out because it seemed crazy to spend money on something that I could get for free. After doing more research and attending a breastfeeding class I learned that there were so many other incredible benefits for choosing breastfeeding. 

Just like most Moms out there I was met with my own set of challenges while breastfeeding. I didn't know if I was producing enough milk. I wondered if she was getting "enough". I was frustrated because it seemed like I couldn't nurse then pump like some Moms do. I never had a supply of milk in my freezer. These things frustrated me because I thought it was going to be easy to nurse and then pump to build a supply. I was wrong. My body just wouldn't do it. After speaking with friends and lactation consultants the one thing they all said was to not stop breastfeeding. They encouraged me to stay with it. I'm so glad I did. These are one of the many instances in life where you can actually see God working. It was an amazing thing. To know that my body was made for my baby, and that I would always be able to give her exactly what she needed. What a blessing.

I give breastfeeding all the credit for my daughter's health. She's hardly ever sick and she's never had a fever. I haven't had to take her to the doctor for anything other than her regular milestone check-ups and shots. Now. I know there will be bottle feeding Moms out there who will say the same thing. I'm not bottle bashing at all. I think you should do whatever works best for you and your family. Breastfeeding is an amazing thing and I encourage everyone to try it. Every little bit of breast milk helps your baby. What are your thoughts on the video and breastfeeding?