Hey folks! Thanks for checking out my
new series! I'd like to think I'll have regular updates on a specific
day each week or every other week, but as most of you know, life with
kids is unpredictable...And, as I'm writing this, my husband just
went back to work today, so I'm sure things are about to get extra
interesting around here!
These first almost two weeks have been
about 50/50 as far as smoothness of the day goes. I had a rough night
or two when we first got home from the hospital. Unlike Myka, Ripley
seems to be a snuggler and didn't/doesn't want to be put down at
night. I ended up sleeping on the couch for about an hour with her
the night we came home. Then, since we had turned the heaters down
some while we were gone (we never turned our gas on when we moved
in), I was freezing my ass off so I went back to bed still holding
her for awhile. To be honest, I was so tired I can't remember if I
dozed off with her for awhile or not. Pretty sure I did...which
should say something about how tired I was because I am so not into
the co-sleeping thing.
My little snuggle monster
After the first couple of nights, she
did good sleeping and eating at fairly regular intervals during the
night for about a week...Then she evidently slept too much during the
day and didn't go to sleep for good until 4 o'clock in the morning.
-_- The last couple of nights haven't been too much better because
she's been waking up every time I try to put her in bed. It's
literally been taking me like 3 hours or more to get her to finally
go to sleep. I'm usually not much of a crier, but I've had several
breakdowns in the past few weeks at night out of sheer sleep
deprivation or plain frustration.
Myka has been doing a lot better with
her than I expected. So far, the jealousy level has been at a
minimum. She likes baby sister so long as she's not crying. She's
“too woud” when she cries and Myka usually goes running into
another room. Lol
Like I said, today is my first full
day alone with both of them. It has been going surprisingly well.
This morning I was worried it was “the calm before the storm”
because things were going WAY too smoothly, but it is almost 4
o'clock now and all is still well. I attribute it mostly to the fact
that Myka and I woke up before Ripley, so I was able to get Myka all
situated with breakfast, using the potty, and whatnot before the
little milk maid woke up. In fact, Myka has been acting a lot better
today than she has the past few days my husband has been home.
Whatever. I'll take it!
Myka has also been getting better
about keeping herself entertained...at least she has been today!
However, I was glad I had the chance to do some stuff with just her
so she doesn't feel left out. I actually had time to repaint her
nails this morning, we went on a short walk (with baby sister. I'm
trying out a wrap for review, so stay tuned for that in a few
weeks!), and I let her take another bath this afternoon...even though
daddy gave her one last night. Lol Ripley wasn't very happy about us
being in the bathroom instead of being held, but her crying a little
bit didn't kill her. ;) (In my defense, I fed her right beforehand
and changed her diaper, so I thought she would be ok. Ha! Oh. And the
fact that I had her in the wrap for almost two hours.)
Nursing has been going pretty well for
the most part. It's been kind of a learning experience because I
didn't have much luck with Myka for several reasons. I don't know if
it's normal or not, but the one thing that irritates me a little is
that Ripley has a habit of just licking my nipple a bunch before
latching on unless she's REALLY hungry, so I end up leaking all over
the place. Plus it has the opposite effect of what I'm assuming she
does it for: to get my nipple to stick out more. I don't know. My
body is bass akwards like that, I guess.
I don't know WHAT was going on the
other night that she stayed up until almost 4 in the morning, but she
was on my boobs almost non-stop for 6 hours. No joke. I had finally
gotten to where both breasts felt empty after her feeding too, go
figure, especially my left one, so guess what. Now they both feel
semi-engorged again. * sigh *
However,
even with the shenanigans, nursing is totally worth all of the weight
I have lost already. I knew you lost weight quicker if you breastfed,
but I had no idea HOW quickly! I've already lost about 29 pounds from
my pregnancy weight and 13ish from my pre-pregnancy weight...And it's
only been 13 days. I wasn't worried about losing weight right away,
of course, but I am totally ok with this!
I'm
sure there are lots of other things I could go on about, but I'll
save some for the next post so this one doesn't turn into a book. ;)
(You know. Like my birth story, if you happened to read it!) Until
next time, happy parenting!
P.s.
If you nursed your children, what struggles did you have, if any?
Leave your comments below! I think it's important for moms,
especially first time ones, to know that breastfeeding isn't as easy
as everyone makes it out to be!
