Rosie Update @ 12 weeks

I'm typing with one hand, chicken-pecking with my left index finger on my iPhone. Baby is asleep at my breast. Her warm body snug against mine. I'm so darn happy. Tears come to my eyes just typing this. 

Here's my quick update in bullets

• Rosie is twelve weeks old. Hard to believe. She's a different baby now. No longer a new born. She's awesome. Only cries only when she's tired or startled. Last night I knocked over a lamp in her room while she was sleeping and she freaked. 
• She weighs 14 pounds now. Gaining weight like a champ. 
• Breast feeding is going well. Only trouble is that my let-down is too strong. She gasps and sputters. Oh and she won't take a bottle anymore. 
• I'm freaked about going back to work in September. 
• Looking for child care is confusing and makes me want to cry
• Mr Jem is an amazing father. Except when he's tired and or sick. 
• I've lost all but 5 lbs of my pregnancy weight. I still have 20 lbs of infertility treatment weight to lose. 
• I shower (almost) every day. Today Mr Jem watching Rosie meant that I even put on makeup. 
• We had a party last Saturday to introduce Rosie to friends and family. We also had a Jewish baby-naming ceremony in the back yard. Gave Rosie her Hebrew name. 
• Being a mom is more amazingly wonderful than I foresaw. 

 Sorry for being off-line for so long. Forgive typos. iPhone format difficult. 

~ Jem

First cold

Poor Rosie woke in the middle of the night coughing and sputtering, totally congested. Been keeping her fed and comfortable all day. I'm exhausted. I promise to post about thrush another time. ~Jem

Thrush update

Thrush update: I saw the Physician's Assistant at my OB yesterday and she prescribed fluco.nazole. So I'm cleansing my breasts after (almost) every nursing with diluted vinegar (1 tbs / cup water) and use lanolin cream after nursing. After 2 weeks of suffering with painful breasts/nipples, the relief was almost instantaneous, or at least over night. After 1 day on the drug I'm not 100% better,  but 80%. So much easier (and more pleasurable) to actually breastfeed now that my nipples and areolae aren't bright red, chapped and painful.

Essential purchase recommendation: One thing they don't tell you is that you have to write down the time and length of every feeding (which side did I nurse on first?), wet and/or dirty diaper. I have been using printouts from the internet up until now, which worked great since I was home. The pages lived in a three-ring binder, in blue, which we affectionately called "The Blue Book" and then "The Blue Book." 

Now that we are going out on the town, I need something more portable. I recently found this wonderful book that allows you to mark down all those details, plus sleeping patterns, and other notes. My friend uses it and I just ordered one for myself. Cute and useful.

Okay, baby is sleeping, so I better do the same.

~Jem

Body Snatcher

Dear readers,

Please, please forgive my absence from the cyberworld. I've been busy being a mom. I'm lucky if I get a shower, get fully dressed and/or fed myself. I can usually do one or two things outside the home per day. Last week we actually took Rosie out for a walk in the stroller. I started the "Mommy and Me" group Tuesday. It was great to meet with other new moms, share stories. I took a walk and had lunch with one of the other moms. Delish.

My spirits are good. I am loving being a mother, changing diapers, nursing on demand, sleeping when I can. 

My body is slowly shrinking back to pre-pregnancy weight. I've lost over 30 pounds in the last 5 weeks. I'm eating very healthfully, and have started walking more with Rosie. It feels good to get out, see more friends, etc. 

Oh, and other good thing: our cat Sharky is slowly adapting to Rosie's presence. Don't worry, he's never alone with her!

Only bummer: Thrush. Rosie doesn't have any symptoms, but I sure do. It feels like there are needles being inserted down my nipples. I have to treat them after each feeding, and usually do, except in the middle of the night when we both fall asleep after nursing. I'm rinsing with diluted vinegar and then using a topical antifungal and then wiping them down with a wet paper towel before nursing again. Rinse and repeat. I change out my towel daily, wash my hands often and I'm trying to cut down on sugar.

I would love any advice on Thrush / yeast. Internets?

~Jem

Babymoon

I can't believe Rosie has been in my life for almost 4 weeks. I've been in this blissful, timeless place where there are just the two of us, oh, and Mr. Jem, of course. My mother was here for 3 weeks, which was wonderful, super useful, especially with me healing from my c-section.

Oh, I'd like to write more, but Rosie needs to nurse.

~Jem

My First Mother's Day (updated picture)

Truly the best mothers day ever. My parents are here visiting. I couldn't ask for more help and support. And I totally need it. I live in a strange twilight world, feeding her, changing her, gazing at her tiny features, drinking her very presence up every moment. I have no time for anything else. My life before included work (commute, intellectual and adult conversation, challenges), blogging, commenting on your blogs, reading books, enjoying a slew of favorite TV shows, cuddling my cat, sleep.

No more. 

My world now: lack of sleep, deep gratitude, abject terror that something horrible will happen to little Rosie. At her two week Pediatric checkup last Thursday she still wasn't back up to her birth weight (she'd lost 13% of her weight), so I've been pumping 4 times a day (during the day - can't face those fiendish, always hungry cones at night) to supplement her sleepy breastfeeding. What do I mean, sleepy? Instead of nursing for 20 minutes, she lingers for around an hour, lazily nursing and just enjoying herself. Let's just say that if you have to nurse every two or three hours and one hour of that time is the nursing, plus another 10 for burping and changing, then 15 for pumping and 10 for cleanup, going pee, that doesn't leave much time for "just sleep when baby does." I'm exhausted, folks. Grateful, happy, terrified with a twinge of bored thrown in. Please don't judge me. It's just that this cycle goes on and on and on.

The good news is that I have this wonderful gift. Rosie.

(This is from 10 days ago, but gives you an idea of her cuteness)

Okay, better get back to it. Birth story to follow, eventually.

~Jem.

Rosie has arrived

Born April 27 @ 1:44 pm via c section after 19 hours of labor, 5 pushing. I'm recovering still and just getting used to this whole motherhood thing. Pics and more details when I can.