It does get better!

Appleseed is 5 weeks, 2 days old

Sorry for not posting for so long!  Things are going much smoother here in the CS household!  People kept telling me "it gets better" - and I was like "WHEN?" - but turns out, for us, that was about week 4.  :)

Appleseed and I are much better at figuring each other out - ok, maybe it is mostly me understanding her better, but it makes for a much easier day.  And I can now put her down for some naps - I hadn't been putting her down at all, which makes life harder.

And she is so cute.  And we love her so much.  Of course.  She made quite the splash her first time at Church two days ago!  :) 

We're mostly into a sleeping rhythm, we are slowly adding bedtime routine type stuff into the day.  Exciting for me - I've now caught quite a few of her pees in the potty.  (Infant pottying)  I hope to be a part-time infant potty-er eventually.

Quick pic (pic is maybe a week old?)

Sorry, it is really hard to find time at the computer.  I've been lurking on all your blogs, hard to comment from the tablet (due to me using various accounts).  The tablet has been a dream - I've been reading lots of e-books while I hold the baby and she sleeps or nurses.  :)

Oh, and my boobs are good now.  Phew!  That ALSO makes life way more easy!

State of the Union

Appleseed is 3 weeks old


Sorry I haven't posted since the birth - it's been sort of a wild ride!

Appleseed
Is doing great.  She's gaining weight, and seems to be filling out a little.  We're starting to figure her out more, so things are getting smoother.  I swear she gives us smiles now and then.  :)  But mostly sleeps.  In arms.  She looks NOTHING like me.  Hahha.  Its ok.  Well, her hair is brown instead of black, that's my contribution.  Otherwise it looks like I adopted an Asian baby.  :)

Boobs
Are finally on the mend.  Rightie had a SUPER painful nipple, so I was pumping that side to rest it.  But here let me be a cautionary tale for you - I was sort of lazy pumping, and didn't do it often enough.  Result - BAMN, Mastitis!  OUCH.  It was crazy.  Tuesday morning I was fine, by lunch I was a freezing shivering mess (due to fever).  Thankfully it was a day the midwife had planned to come over, and right away she was like "mastitis".  She said I was to stay in bed 24hrs, only to nurse the baby.  I have the best DH in the world, he was a HUGE help.  It was really about two days I was useless - the fever killed me.  Even though I went on antibiotics right away, it took until ~Sunday for things to really feel better.

I went off painkillers/fever reducers on Thursday - wham, the fever was back.  Finally by Sunday I think the last duct was no longer plugged, and it is just a bit sore.  The nipple on that side is still all chewed up.  I am hoping that Rightie will be as good as Leftie (who has no complaints, stopped hurting about 1.5 weeks ago, is a bf champ) in 3-4 days?

I knew breastfeeding could be hard, but hadn't quite planned on how hard.  I am mostly over the hump now (rightie hurts a lot for the first minute, then it settles down).  We thought about formula, but there are just SO many food allergies in my family I wanted to get through it without formula.

The Day your Milk Comes In
My midwife warned me I'd likely cry the day my milk came in (day 3 or 4, usually).  I thought this meant that silly crying, where you cry for no reason.  I think for some ladies that is the case.  But not for me.  I cried because I was really sad.  Crazy, right?  And I knew it was crazy, and that made me sadder.  Yikes.  It was a really bleak day.  Not at all what I was expecting.  The fog sort of lifted all at once, which felt great.  I felt like a normal person again - but what a scary experience.  Hormones are killer.  I was a bit sad on and off throughout the next week.

Gross Things
A day after the birth a friend of mine IM'd me to say congrats, and she hoped I was dealing with the Gross Things ok.  I didn't get it.  Cut to like a day later - I get it.  Gross Things happen after the birth, for like that whole first week.  Too Gross even for a mostly-anonymous blog.  Suffice to say, any place that leaks fluids on your body may surprise you.  I wasn't expecting any of that nonsense.

In Sum
It was all a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Somehow through my years of IF, I thought the second that baby came out the world would be full of unicorns, rainbows and talking kittens, but actually that first week was quite painful still, and tough emotionally.  And the second week I wanted my boobs to fall off, and still tough emotionally.  Third week I got mastitis.  I am hoping fourth week will be smoother.  We're starting to take visitors, and DH's mom has come by a few times now to hold the baby while I rest.  REALLY nice.  Especially when I was still slightly feverish, I just needed to doze a lot.

Oh, and a few days ago DH found out he's been laid off.  Hahha - never rains but pours, right?  But we'll be ok.  He's been expecting it for a year or two.  And he's excited that maybe this will lead to a better job.  And worst comes to worst, I could go back to work early from mat leave, we won't be out on the street or anything.  But yikes!  The kind of annoying part is that he still has to work ~2 months - I could use the help at home for the next week or so!  And his boss made him work the 3rd week even though I was sick (well, half days) - all to be laid off at the end of that week!  I REALLY could have used him with me full time through that!