We've moved

I know...you're waiting with bated breath for my next post right? (sure you are...)

Well you missed it, and I'm not going to smother you in generic baby posts anymore! We've moved to:

mamagigi.tumblr.com

Please join me over there!

Thanks,

Gigi

Sunshine!

Could there possibly be anything sweeter? That is my 2 month old sweetheart!

I can't believe how fast the last two months have flown by. I know I keep saying that time is flying past, and its such a cliche for a new mom to say that, but it is truly getting away from me! I went to Costco last week for work and got so jealous of the moms out with their babies! I wanted my little guy with me. Its like a delayed reaction from going back to work I guess, but its really got me down. I miss him so much during the day, its damned distracting!

Other than my distress at leaving my baby everyday, things are going pretty well! We are busy with social stuff every weekend and Carson does so well with meeting our friends and hanging out! He is gaining weight properly and pumping is going as well as I can hope. He is laughing and cooing and smiling, I absolutely love it! He is the light of my day!

Crazy 8!

How the heck did 8 weeks go by so fast? My sweet little boy is going to be 2 months old next week, and it seems like we just had him! I just can't believe it.

We are getting through the weight gain issues, and my supply is doing great, so Carson is doing great! He is getting a good 3-3.5 oz at each feeding and he is now 9 lbs 1 oz and 23 inches long! So breastfeeding is finally going well!

I went back to work this week as well, and Carson started with his sitter. So far so good, the first 3 days went well! We are really getting into a great schedule with him now and I love it! I hate leaving him at the sitters though, I just want to stay home and cuddle him and make him smile! But I stay so busy at work and with my pumping breaks the day goes by really fast! And he gets along great with our sitter, so that gives me some piece of mind.

We joined a gym this week! Here begins our journey to getting our bodies back! I am excited to get started, and excited to see some results. It rained all week though, so we didn't get to go, didn't want to get Carson out in the rain to go to the gym.

That's our life in a nutshell right now. Work, baby, sleep!

When you're smiling...

Oh when you're smilin'....keep on smilin'
The whole world smiles with you
Ah when you're laughin'....keep on laughin'
The sun comes shinin' through

-Louis Armstrong

Beautiful baby smiles :) = lovelovelove

On a positive note...

After that totally negative post...

This kid is sleeping through the night! We are getting a consistent 6-7 hours every night for the past week! Hell yes!

And here is a video of his adorable self having some fun:

One month photo:

(taken by me)

Newborn photo:

by: Megan Noonan Photography

Breastfeeding drama [my breast needs rest]

Well we are learning and learning on this breastfeeding thing. After our meeting with the lactation consultant, we felt very confident in our ability to feed our baby. Once we got home it was a different story. Its so much harder at home for some reason. And I honestly thought I had a really good grasp on what I needed to do. I think we are still latching incorrectly at times, and he only gets a full 3oz at my first morning feeding when he's gone 6-7 hours between feedings. At his other feedings he's getting 1.5 - 2 oz and we are having to supplement to make up the difference. The worst part of this supplementation is that we are supplementing with pumped milk....pumped milk that comes from each of these feedings. If I am pumping enough to finish the feeding, why isn't he able to pull it out on his own? It has to be something with my latch. He is only effectively sucking part of the time it seems.

I am pumping 15 minutes after every feeding and another 15 minutes in between feedings. I am also taking fenugreek and eating oatmeal 3 times a week or more, as well as trying to have a couple of dark beers during the week, all to try and get my supply up. Granted, it hasn't been a week yet, but it is frustrating all the same. I would like to be able to feed my baby w/o having to break out a bottle of breastmilk. At the rate we are going I don't know what I will do when I go back to work the first week because I won't have any extra milk pumped! Its honestly making it more stressful, so I am trying not to think about it since that will probably effect my supply too.

My one complaint about Potomac Hospital stems from this issue that we are having. They have little to no breastfeeding support available for new mothers. I feel like if we had had help with latching and technique from day one, I wouldn't be suffering the supply issues I am now.

This site has been particularly helpful to me in these struggles:

Breastfeeding Videos

as well as:

kellymom

Fabulous 5!

Well we are a little over 5 weeks post partum and I think we are getting the hang of things...at least I thought we were...

We took little C to the doctor on his one month birthday and discovered that he had still not gained his birth weight. Frustrated and concerned we headed home with the resolution to call a lactation consultant. We set up an appointment for the following Wednesday and began supplementing with formula in the meantime, hoping to get his weight up to an acceptable level, as well as upping his feedings from every 3-4 hours during the day to every 2 hours.

Got to the consultant today and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that he has gained his birth weight and then some. He went from 8lb 4oz to 8lb 12oz in a week! Finally! But the little guy is still long and skinny; I guess we aren't destined to have a super chubby baby! He just keeps getting longer and longer. I think he will be on the taller side like my side of the family...I am 5'9, my brothers are 6'2 and 6'3 (give or take a little).

So....good news! We are dealing with thrush again, but we will get through it! One day at a time! We are also starting to get longer periods of alertness and he is smiling and cooing a bit :) I am loving being a mommy; its such an adventure, and my little guy is such a sweetheart!

This mommy also made a trip to the doctor in the past week for our post partum checkup and got the all clear to exercise! Its good to know I am healing just fine and even better to know I can start working out and getting back into pre-baby shape. I even went for my first jog/walk yesterday and man am I out of shape!