Progress Report

Good lord, what a tremendous amount of time has passed! So much to write about, so little time.

--These days, baby sleeps well during the day and not well at night. It sucks! She also seems to have a hard time with her digestive system, so she's always sort of grunting. It makes me feel bad for her, but I suppose that's normal for some babies...

--It's hard to know what to call the pediatrician about and what not to. The grunting, for example. I'm assuming it's normal, but what if it isn't? Should I make an appointment?

--Mike's mom and stepdad were here for a week. They just left today. Their visit had its ups and downs, but one of the highlights was Friday night. I went to bed at about 9 pm, and Mike came to bed shortly thereafter, and his parents got up with the baby all night. They did all the feedings and all the diaper changes, and Mike and I got a lot of sleep!

--Michaela is up to 11 pounds, 6 ounces. What a proud moment for me! To think that all that weight gain is due to my breast milk! It makes me feel encouraged to keep going, even though I continue to have breastfeeding issues.

Actually, breastfeeding is going fine. We went to Disneyland last week and I nursed the baby twice while we were there. I'm trying switch nursing, since Michaela falls asleep quickly on the boob and doesn't drink enough to be full (or to empty my breast). It takes about an hour to nurse her fully, but I continue to try to do it once or twice a day.

I'm also pumping, and with Mike's family in town, we were out and about a lot. I didn't take my pump with me (except to Disneyland, and I did pump once), which means I haven't been building up a supply of milk in bottles. That's frustrating, because if I don't have milk in bottles, I have to do all the feedings myself. So I'm pumping like crazy, which may or may not result in increased production. We'll see, I guess...

--I think Michaela is going through a growth spurt. She's eating really frequently, and is eating 4-5 ounces each time. That's a lot of milk! Mike's stepdad calculated that I may be feeding her up to a half gallon a day. That sort of made me feel like a cow, but it's certainly interesting to think about.

--I'm getting really bummed about having to go back to work. Mike is going to take the baby to a baby sign language class, and to an outdoor education class. I wish I could do those things with them.

--We have about a 5 day break and then Mike's grandma comes to stay with us for a week. Having guests is nice, and everyone wants to see the baby, but it throws us off our routine.

We had established a good routine of a 10 p.m. bedtime. First I'd feed Michaela, then I'd change her, then I'd read her a book, then put her in her crib and turn on her little musical mobile thing. But the last week, I wasn't able to do any of that, and I wonder if that isn't contributing to Michaela's difficulty sleeping.

--Mike and I haven't been getting along very well. We're both tired all the time, which doesn't help. I'm not looking forward to the six week postpartum mark, because that's when I can have sex again and I know he'll be all over me(literally) about that. Oy.

--Michaela is now 5 weeks old. It's gone by very quickly.

--Lots of other things I'd like to write about, but I don't have time right now. Mike is holding the baby for a half hour and I have to take advantage of that while I can!