Well, the first couple of days were pretty rough-not going to lie. As to be expected I guess. I am breast feeding so there is always a certain amount of frustration that comes with that (the tenderness, is she getting enough, why won't she latch, when is my milk going to come in? what if it doesn't!?). Elizabeth was also getting her days and nights confused which is common so during the day she would sleep and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to wake her up to feed. I would try every hour and she would keep falling asleep, barely getting anything to eat. I tried everything to wake her-changing her diaper, undressing her to only her diaper, tickling her, rubbing her head, etc. and no matter how mad she got, she would still fall asleep! Then when night came she would feed good but when it came time to put her back to bed it would take a whole extra hour to get her to stop fussing and fall asleep from all the gas pains she was in. Luckily, my mom was here to help with that so I could catch up on my sleep. Thank God for Grandma!
She had her first pediatrician's appointment on Thursday at which she weighed 1 lb less than her hospital weight (which I guess is somewhat normal). Any less than that, the Dr. would have been very concerned. I told the Dr. of my feeding frustrations so she set up a lactation consult for the following day since the weight loss was obviously attributed to that. She also hadn't had a stool since we left the hospital, which is also linked to lack of food and she had a touch of jaundice (which I learned breast fed babies tend to always have a yellowish tinge anyways) that they said eating and pooping will fix quickly. Going home knowing the health of my child depended on her feeding and then not being able to wake her up for feedings or if she was awake, she would be too fussy to take it...you can imagine my frustrations! Finally, my mom just happened to think of using a wet washcloth to wet "things" and sort of make things more enticing if you will because she was getting dehydrated and wa-lah!!! It worked! We had a breakthrough! She fed great that night and for our lactation consult, she did fabulous! The lactation specialist also recommended to use a wet wash cloth to wake her up (which works like a charm) and she could tell my milk was coming in and she was right, it came later that night! As far as the gas pains, she recommended I give up dairy which I knew was coming--for it is very common with breast fed babies to be sensitive to lactose. Friday was the first day I tried giving up dairy and the first day my milk was really in and Elizabeth is a whole new baby! I started feeding her every 2 hours during the day (to make up for lost time and get her to poop) and every 4 hours at night and she is now so alert during the day and so content during the night. Hallelujah! And I never thought I'd be praying for poop but I did and it finally came on Saturday! Twice! Woo hoo!
Amongst all of these newborn changes and frustrations, there is still the ever looming day that daddy will be leaving us (which we still don't know the exact day yet) so we have been trying to soak up every moment and even smile/laugh when our soundtrack for the last hour has been Elizabeth screaming. Ahh the sound of life! The important thing is that we have our family here and everyone is healthy :)
Speaking of family, we have had many relatives come down this week to meet Elizabeth for the first time and spend some quality time with John before he leaves. We are so thankful for their love and support (and for the food that they brought and cooked!) Here are some pics from the week!
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