What a Difference Two (and a half) Weeks Makes! Pics too!

All I have to say to the expectant ladies is hang in there when you have that newborn!  It DOES get better!  What a difference a few weeks makes!  Here is my recap of what has changed in the last few week in the areas my life revolves around: eating, sleeping, pooping, and self care for me (which is even more minimal, if that was possible!)

Eating:
Turns out,  I was overfeeding AJ at first.  I did it because he was eating forever before my milk came in.  And Charlie was a 20 min or so nurser.  So when AJ nursed for ten min and wouldn't switch sides, I worried and I persisted. :( He would spit up and I would think he was showing signs of reflux.  Duh!  Thanks to my notes on how long he fed, I realized he was a ten min nurser now and I switch sides at five minutes.  No overfeeding, he gets what he needs, and what a blessing to not be nursing almost an hour anymore!  And did I mention my nipples aren't on fire anymore?!  Wonderful feeling to not have that anymore.  And, knock on wood, no signs of mastitis yet (which I had five times with Charlie!).  It is so funny to me how when you first nurse you have to have the perfect latch, a ton of pillows to prop you up, etc and then two to three weeks later it is practically effortless.  He can put himself on and I don't have to turn on any light or anything to make sure he is on alright. I feel so much more comfortable about all of it!  Of course, that is just my experience, and I don't recall if it fell in the same timeline, but I had similar experience with Charlie.

Sleeping:
AJ has gone from eating every 2-3 hours to his first five hour stretches of sleeping at night (two nights in a row now).  Of course, now that I write this, he will probably quit :)  I think swaddling is huge, cluster feeding during the day is huge, a well put on diaper is huge, and elevation is huge (prop up if they need it-for reflux or congestion by putting a wedge in mattress or letting them sleeping in the carseat, bouncy seat, or swing).  We are getting into a nice pattern now of sleeping, waking up, eating, about 3 times a day he has a good hour of awake time (yes that is it!) and then he fusses and I know it is time to swaddle and rock him and put him in his bed. I am also starting to learn his little nuances, like his uncomfortableness that means he will spit up or have a bm soon, or when he is just tired etc.  Love it!

Pooping:
I have finally mastered the newborn diaper and I am telling you, I am sorry if you master it faster than me and buy too many newborn clothes based on my earlier recommendation.  For me it is a combo of pointing it down, making sure the leg elastic is not tucked in, making sure the back of the diaper is totally up, and making sure there is a nice tight seal across the tummy.  This is all a thousand times easier once the circumcision is healed, the navel is healed, and they are a little older and don't pull their legs up quite so much.  I think he has peed out only once this week (again, going to jinx myself!) but I will say that Charlie peed and pooped a lot the second I took the diaper off to change it and then it usually got on the clothes too.  AJ is not that way, no pee so far when changing (why do I keep saying these things out loud!) but he did shoot poo three feet across the room and hit the wall so far it covered a five foot vertical area-no lie!  So...I guess boys do crazy things with their poo too, TCIE! lol  Lesson learned, his bum is quite the fire hose and I am sure it would have gone further had that pesky wall not been in the way.

Finally, taking care of yourself:
Life is so much easier once you can drop the crazy routine the hospital has you do (esp if you have an episiotomy) every time you go to the bathroom.  And you pee often, ladies, because you drink a lot to produce the milk plus you have all that fluid and blood to lose and it is mostly during/post nursing b/c that is when your uterus contracts.  One not fun lesson I got to learn firsthand, if the bleeding stops and then comes back full force, that can be BAD!  It can be a blood clot (the blood clot blocks the blood and it builds up behind and then passes), which is somewhat typical in the first week or two post delivery.  Or it can be...leftover placenta.  Lovely.  So it happened to me the day I sent my hubby to enjoy a basketball game downtown (not close to our home!)  Word to the wise, a friend tells me she keeps hubby on hand for the first month. Probably smart.  I had so much blood I was told to go the ER.  They did an ultrasound and let me go, saying it was clots and if I didn't pass them in a few days I would need a D&C.  Instead...I got a call first thing the next day from my ob saying they should not have let me go, that I had 4.5 cm of retained placenta (very dangerous, you could bleed out, and did I mention I have factor V and that my mom almost died of something similar after a miscarriage?!)  Anyway, I had an immediate D&C that day (the day before Thanksgiving).  Healing has been alright, a few setbacks with pain and bleeding that I got meds for, etc, but every day gets better and the less I have to focus on me, the more I can focus on my family.  Praise God!  Did I mention how valuable meals are?  Huge, ladies!  So grateful for them!  Especially because my mom isn't as available as I would have hoped.  We actually lost my dad's mom last week and then my dad had to have a heart cath (80% blockage, huge stint put in) the same day as my surgery.  It's been a little nuts around here, but everyday is better than the one before and we are slowly but surely discovering our new normal. :)  I am sure prayers are part of how we survived all of this, so thank you everyone, especially my prayer buddy!
P.S. I was a little insane and scheduled a photo session yesterday. Here are some of the best ones.  Man, I had no idea my face was so round, lol.  Oh well, all in good time...!  Happy Advent!