2 month check up

Our little girl now weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces and is 24 inches tall. She's right on track in everything. Her weight is in the 38th percentile and her height is in the 90th. There was a little worry at first about her head circumference because she had jumped from like the 30-something percentile to the 88th, which is not normal. However, when our doctor remeasured, he got an inch and a half less, which put us an a much more normal curve and out of any worry or danger.

She checked out very well and was really calm through the whole thing, until her shots. Her doctor commented on her great head control and we talked about her reflux. We talked about the fact that she doesn't really smile (only a handful of times, so far) or interact much yet. It was a good appointment. She was pretty grumpy most of the afternoon and evening, but still slept well.

The next day, she woke up and was smiling up a storm, so I think her doctor must have talked to her about it!

Two Months Old

Has it really been two months already? Has it really only been 2 months? I feel like I'm in a strange time warp. Sophia is wonderful. She's growing well and has her 2 month check up and shots (gulp) tomorrow. She has slept through the night for several days in a row, so we're hoping this trend continues. We definitely approve.

On the other end, though, she's been fussing/crying/screaming up a storm every evening. DH is already calling it colic and I guess that's probably what it is as there's no other explanation. It could be related to her reflux, but doesn't seem to be associated with her feedings. That's a whole different issue, but one we're still struggling with, too. Anyway, on Thursday, when DH was on call, she screamed and screamed. I ended up driving with her for an hour, which calmed her down, but as soon as we were back in the house, the screaming began again. Then, I gave her a bath, which calms her down, but as soon as she was out, the screaming began again. I really thought I was going to lose my mind. She finally went to sleep around 11pm. The next night was only a little better because DH had a migraine and couldn't really help, either. It was rough. Last night, though, we went out to DH's office Christmas party and she stayed with my mom. It was a nice break. When we came home, she was fussy, but went down relatively quickly.

Another consequence of sleeping through the night is my cycle is trying to start again. I've been through 3 rounds of PMS symptoms and spotting in the last few weeks as her feedings have spaced apart at night and she has one long stretch during the day, too. I haven't had a full period, but it's really aggravating. I mean, I was counting on not having a period for quite awhile since I was exclusively breastfeeding. We were hoping to use breastfeeding as our birth control for the first 6 months. But, alas, no! I'm not sure what we'll do now.

She's beautiful and wonderful and frustrating and time-consuming. I love her deeply and sometimes wish I could be a better mom for her. I mean, I'm doing my best, but she's so perfect, I can't help feeling bad when I get frustrated or upset or can't calm her when she's so obviously in some kind of pain. I hope this screaming phase passes soon, because it can sure wear a mommy down. It's a good thing she's so darn cute!

8 weeks and Reflux

Wow! Sophia is 8 weeks old today. She's grown and changed so much, it's hard to believe. She gets more beautiful every day, I think, if that's even possible.

A few weeks ago we started having difficulties feeding. She was fighting me and screaming a lot when I was trying to feed her and started spitting up a lot more. It's kind of handy to live with a pediatrician every now and then. He suggested that it could be reflux and got a prescription for Zantac. We started her on it and she got better, but I wasn't really convinced that it was reflux. I thought maybe she just had a few fussy days. We tried taking her off it a few days later and she got fussy again. Plus, I did some reading and it did sound like that's what she had, so we decided to keep her on the medication.

Then the last few days, we started having problems again. Generally, when she starts to squirm while I'm breastfeeding, it's because she has a gas bubble. I can burp her and she's good to go, but not now. She just got worse and worse. I must have forgotten everything that happened weeks earlier because I didn't even think about it being her reflux until DH suggested we up her dose of Zantac since she's gotten bigger. We decided we'd do that with her evening dose yesterday.

We never made it that far. One feeding in the afternoon took two hours because of all the screaming and misery. I felt so bad for her and I also felt bad for me. I was in tears because I just didn't know what to do to help her. She starts writhing and thrashing when she latches on and it's tearing apart my nipples. Finally, I text DH and he suggests giving her a little boost of Zantac. Praise be, it worked! She settled down and ate.

I was a mess when DH got home and I was supposed to go to a class at my church. I put on my shoes and DH looked at me and said, "why don't you just go to bed?" So I did. It was wonderful. She fed well, but woke up at 1am instead of 3, which is her normal time these days. Then, she was ready to party. After she ate, she was so glad to be feeling better that she was not interested in sleep, so I put her in her crib to party with with the animals in her mobile and sat down in the comfy chair to take a nap. She eventually got fussy and I was able to swaddle her and get her to sleep. And then she took a nice nap after her early morning feeding, so I napped, too.

She's been doing really well today, though still a little squirmy at the breast, so we'll see. Hopefully, the extra medication does the trick and I'll be back to my happy baby. She's not been napping much at all lately - just 20 to 30 minute catnaps, which makes it difficult to get anything accomplished. In retrospect, my husband thinks that might have also been because of the reflux. She's doing great today, so we'll see.

We have officially moved up a size in diapers. The newborn cloth and disposable diapers no longer contain her messes and we've moved on. They grow up so fast!

Seven Weeks

So, I've become an errant blogger, but Sophia keeps me so busy! If I could blog easily from my iPhone, I might keep things updated better.

She's doing beautifully and growing well. No day is like any other. She's had a few days where she slept 6-7 hours per night and then last night she was back to 3-4. But she sleeps well during those hours, so I don't feel like I can complain much.

Breastfeeding was really hard at the beginning, but has gotten much better. She eats about every 2 and a half hours during the day and it takes her 40 minutes to an hour to feed, so that's what I spend the majority of my day doing. I've had a couple of milk blisters (called "blebs" isn't that a great word?). They are extremely painful when she latches on, but are a pretty minor thing in the breastfeeding realm and don't affect her feeding much.

I was doing some things to increase my supply early on because she wasn't gaining weight well, but I stopped when things were looking better. I'm going to start again, because I think it's been a little low in the evenings. She just doesn't seem satisfied, and yesterday she was feeding almost two hours straight. She'd stop and I'd need to change her and then she'd want to eat again. My Lactation Consultant recommended fenugreek, mother's milk tea, and red wine. Oatmeal is also supposed to help. So, I've started back with the fenugreek now. We'll see if it helps. I pump after our first morning feeding to build up a freezer supply. I think I may start also pumping after an evening feeding, to increase my own milk supply. I hate pumping, though, so I'm not sure I'll follow through with that.

She's starting to have longer awake and happy times now. It's fun to interact with her a little more. We took her to weigh her on Monday and she weighs 9 pounds, 10 ounces. So, she's up about 2 pounds from her birth weight. I can definitely tell that she's heavier. She's getting much better head control and lifts up her head really well during tummy time.

Overall, I'm simply in love and so grateful that I get to be home with her. Some days are really difficult, but I can't imagine going back to teaching right now, as I'd have to go back next week. I was worried that I'd want to go back to work and was second guessing my decision to take the year off, but now there is no doubt that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

I feel like there's so much more to say, but this is long enough already. I'll just have to try to blog more often. If Sophia ever gets more consistent with her naps, that will be much easier!