Parenthood - the beginning

What a wild ride! My husband and I have been doing pretty good with Ruby since we've had her home and both been off work, and of course we've had help from both his parents and my mom being here - but boy am I nervous about doing it on my own! Let's start by saying she was almost back up to her birth weight at her first pedi appointment (6 days post birth) which made us feel good the breast feeding is going well (not to even START talking about the pain). We have both been pee'd on already, and I have to admit I didn't think little girls pee'd UP, but we've since learned otherwise. We've also learned to place a flat diaper on the changing table to soak up the pee and poo that she holds until she has her diaper off - little stinker. Even today she managed to shoot OUT of the packNplay changing table and half way across the living room. Le sigh. My husband was worried about getting poo in the washer from the cloth diapers, well, even without cloth diapers we still have poo in the washer. Guess that concern has since gone out the window!

Speaking of cloth diapers, we tried them a few times but since her cord stub is so low, the diapers are irritating the stump so we've decided to wait until it falls off to go back to them. Since we are washing burp rags and the soiled flats from the changing table daily, we'll be able to throw the cloth diapers in at the same time so I'm not expecting much of an increase in laundry once we do switch. I guess we'll have to wait an see. Meanwhile, I still have high hopes for them.

On to burp rags - man we go through a TON of these in a day. Ruby is a spitter for sure. As soon as we put her in a new outfit, she spits up. As soon as we lay her down, she spits up. With in a few minutes of stopping feeding, she spits up. Oye. Then yesterday happens - she threw up what seemed like an entire feeding in the morning - all over me of course. Fed her a few more times during the day which seemed fine, had LOTS of dirty dipes, and then yesterday even BAM! She threw up another entire feeding - so I of course lost it. My husband was out picking up my mom from the airport so I was alone with her, bawling, trying to leave a message for the after hours nurse. I was having an emotional day and this just made things worse. Our orders are to feed her for less time, but more often. She spit up more than normal first thing this morning, but not nearly as bad as yesterday - and so far today she is doing fine. So, we'll just keep watching her. Luckily, tomorrow is Monday which means the pedi office will be open if needed. Otherwise, her next appointment is Wednesday for her 2 week follow up. 2 weeks already, its hard to believe!

Now, the breast feeding saga - as much as I didn't want to believe it, it SUCKS at times. Seriously sucks. There have been several times where I've just cried because it hurt so freaking bad and wanted to just give up and use formula - but my husband has encouraged me because 1) he knows I WANT to breast feed, 2) it is healthier for her, and 3) our budget likes it more. But at 3am when you're exhausted, emotional, and feel like your nipple is being ripped off, quitting sounds like a GREAT plan. We haven't given in to that temptation yet, but its not even been 2 weeks so I'm cautious to say we're even close to being past the hard part. Luckily for me, I can feed on the right without much pain and she takes it just fine. At least we have that going for us. The left is much more of a struggle. It hurts and then leaks all over her and me while we try to get her to latch. It is quite comical but frustrating all at the same time. We're wondering if the flow is just too much for her on the left, so we got a pump today and if she continues to be fussy, we'll try things like pumping a little first before feeding and such. If we continue to have problems it might turn into feed her on the right and pump on the left. Hey - I'll need to pump when I return to work and I also want to have the little bit of additional freedom pumping / bottle feeding can offer, so this isn't a bad thing in my book. Soooooo - everyone says to at least try to stick with it for 4-6 weeks before giving up, and so far that's my plan. I'll let you know if things change, but since my husband is so supportive we just might be able to make it!

On to a few of those precious pictures I know you are ALL waiting for!

Ruby likes to nap with daddy, and unless we swaddle her, she LOVES to lay on her side. Can a sleeping baby BE any cuter?


Ruby sporting her future college wear, you can tell how proud mom is!

Ruby after her bath, we don't want her to go around smelling like sour milk and spit up do we?

Ruby and daddy on her first walk, she seemed to enjoy it - and so did we!

And don't worry, I am still planning to post my birth story once I get some more time, along with some of the things we learned as far as what was useful in the hospital and such. Hopefully with my own mom here I'll have a little time to post it soon. Until next time!