I did pretty well my first week on my own. Luckily, she was still in her "angel baby" stage and I was able to get a shower most days and even took her out on errands to the grocery store, Target, etc. during the day. Ryan is able to come home for lunch which is a huge help - it is so nice to have the extra set of hands, even if just for 30 or 45 minutes so I can eat my lunch and have a break. We weighed Madison Claire last Tuesday when she was 3 weeks old and she was up to 9.5 pounds!!! I guess that means that she is eating well and my milk is helping her grow! We'll weigh her again tomorrow on her 4 week birthday - we think she might be at the 10 pound mark!
We also had a few other firsts. We gave her an actual bath in the baby tub. She was a little shocked at first but after about 30 seconds really liked it! I think she is going to like the water! We also introduced the bottle (with my breastmilk that I pumped) and she took it like a champ! She drinks so much when we give her the bottle...we have to pull it out of her mouth sometimes so she doesn't choke. It is nice for Ryan to be able to help feed her and it has also given us much more flexibility for when we leave the house. She also started to breakout with the baby acne that most babies get and it makes us so sad. She has about a million pimples all over her sweet little face! The early ones have already gone away but new ones pop up each day so I'm not sure how long it will last.
This week has been a lot harder. We have noticed a change in her disposition (hence my last post about who stole my angel baby) and are hoping it is a phase and not permanent! She is very unhappy when she is awake and will not go to sleep unless she is on your chest. The minute we put her down anywhere - the crib, moses basket, car seat, she wakes up and cries and cries. It's been pretty hard because we just can't help her!! Please pray with us that whatever is upsetting her goes away!!!
We are planning to follow the Babywise method and started to put her on this schedule last Thursday. The basic premise is that she will eat, then have her awaketime, and then sleep in that order so she doesn't become dependant on eating to fall asleep. You also put them to bed before they are fully asleep so they can learn to fall asleep on their own and self soothe. The first day was pretty rough - everytime I would lay her down she would start crying so I would go pick her up and then she would stop so I'd lay her back down and after 5 minutes she would cry again so you can see the cycle here. I must have gone in her room 7 times during one nap! But it paid off and by Friday and Saturday she was doing much better at naptime! We thought we had a breakthrough but then on Sunday she just had these crying spells and we were happy if we could just get her to sleep anywhere. I actually had her sleep in the bed with us (bad I know!) last night from 10pm - 1am because I could not get her to go down anywhere and I was *so* tired! I'll keep you posted on how this week goes - hopefully it will be okay!
We've also had a lot of great help. Cheryl came over last Wednesday for the day which allowed me to get some things done around the house and run some errands. Mom & my Aunt Debbie came up on Tuesday and spent the night. They actually kept Madison Claire upstairs and fed her a bottle so Ryan and I got to sleep all the way through the night - what a treat!! Ryan and I also had a treat this past weekend. We took Madison out to his parents house and they kept her while we went to dinner and a movie. We feel so blessed to have such great family to help us!
The next 2 weeks will be busy for us. I have my OBGYN appointment tomorrow so am hoping to get a good report. My boss, and great friend Kate, will be in town Thursday through Saturday and then Ash comes Monday through Thursday and then Lauren & Heidi come Friday through Monday. I am so looking forward to seeing all of them and for the extra set of hands. I hope that Madison Claire is on her best behavior for our visitors but for some reason I'm not feeling so lucky at the moment!!!
Oh - one more thing, our washing machine broke last night...right in the middle of a load of laundry! So, as I write this, I'm sitting at the Morrows house doing my laundry relishing a few minutes of quite time as Madison sleeps soundly (praise the Lord) in the car seat here next to me! I know I will look back at these days and miss them so am trying to keep that in perspective!!
Thanks for your love & prayers...we need them!
Lauren & Ryan
1 comment:
If Madison isn't on her best behavior call Nana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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