One Month Update

I can't believe my little one is one month old already....  It makes me kind of sad that things are moving so quickly, I want her to be a sweet little baby as long as she can.  She is a sweet little thing too, we're so very lucky.  She only has the occasional fussy period but most of the time she's so good.  She loves to hang out in her swing and watch the mobile twirl above her (she's doing that right now).  She also likes to walk around with us bouncing her in our arms.  She started smiling within the last week and it just melts our hearts, we really want to capture it in a picture but she's not that cooperative yet.

Before I get into some of the details I promised last time I'll update you on Lily's progress.  We had our one month checkup on Friday and she's up to 7 lbs 7 oz now.  She still in the 10th percentile for weight but she's growing and the doctor is very happy with her progress.  She's also still 10th percentile in head size and still 75th in length.  I'm not sure where the long and skinny came from.  She's also right on target with her milestones like smiling and staring at faces, etc.  All in all it was a good checkup and she's doing as well as we could ask for so no complaints there.  Next month she starts her immunizations, not looking forward to that!

We've improved a lot in the breastfeeding department, she's quite the champ now!  I won't lie though, it did not start out well....  Her mouth is too small to latch well so we have to use a nipple shield, which isn't ideal but it's what works for us so we're going with it.  I had bleeding blisters on both nipples while in the hospital so it's much better that going through that again.  We got convinced by the nurses in the hospital to supplement with formula at first but I'm honestly not sure it was really necessary.  We had a really bad lactation consultant the first time, she was not helpful at all and we ended up being really frustrated so we gave in and gave her some formula.  The morning we left the hospital we had a different LC and she was so great.  She was the one who gave us the nipple shield and was much more helpful.  As hubby put it, the first LC was wishy-washy and timid which is not what someone like me needs - that just pisses me off and frustrates me (especially when I'm already hormonal and feeling bad about how things were going).  The second LC was to the point and very helpful and we responded much better to that.  I am so thankful there are so many of you who have shared your challenges with breastfeeding or I would have felt so alone and like such a failure and I would have given up in the first few days or during her three week growth spurt.  So thank you to everyone who was honest and told us how hard this is, that you also had to supplement or that it just didn't work out the way you had hoped.  You're my mentors and have helped us through our struggles so far! 

The dogs have responded better than we could have hoped.  Big loves to look at the baby and she actually wags her tail when she's around the baby (yes, I do realize how weird it is that a lab doesn't wag her tail normally...).  Little is pretty calm around her which is great, we were a little worried about that since she's so 'enthusiastic' normally.  When the baby starts crying she just looks at us like - are you going to shut that thing up?  It's pretty funny!

Hubby and I had our first night out alone since Lily was born.  We went out to dinner while Hubs' dad and step-mom watched her.  They have tons of very recent experience with babies since they've spent so much time with the twins and with our nephew (who is nine days older than Lily) so I really didn't worry about her while we were out, but I was still ready to go home and see her after dinner....

Hubs has been working from home the last two weeks but leaves tomorrow to start traveling again so it will just be Lily and me until he gets home around midnight Thursday/Friday.  Wish us luck on our first night without daddy around.  He's already recruited my parents to come in town and 'drop by' on Wednesday.  At first I was kind of pissed at him for making the arrangements but I know he was just trying to help and now I'll be able to get some grocery shopping done this week....  I'm not looking forward to having the Hubs gone but it's something I have to get used to since it's his job.  I haven't really had any baby blues yet, very lucky about that too, but I'm kind of worried this might trigger it.  I LOVE spending so much time with the baby but I'm really going to miss having him here, especially since I'm so used to it since he's been home since Christmas. 

Okay, someone's got her fussy pants on so I'll just leave you with a picture of our sweetness!