Showing posts with label handsome hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handsome hair. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Handsome hair
This post is brought to you by the post-bath handsome hair.
The camera really really does not do it justice.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Baby's First Camping Trip
On Friday, Andrew had his two month doctor's visit. He's 62%ile for weight, 51%ile for height, and 54%ile for head circumference. He's grown two whole inches since birth! I'm so impressed. He also got his first round of vaccinations, which made his leg very sore all afternoon/evening. The poor guy - we put on his diapers really loose and let him sleep on our chests while he recovered.
Bonus Photo! Today's post-bath handsome hair:
Battle scars
Also of note around Pine Hill -- all the birdies are hatching their babies! A finch couple made a nest in the hanging flower basket that Travis and Andrew got me for Mother's Day, and a few days ago, we started to hear the cheep-cheep of little beaks. It's hard to get a good shot of them without disturbing them - the nest is tucked down in the (impressively flourishing) flowers, but here's a good attempt from Travis. You can see the little fluff balls and one little beak. There are four chicks in there.
Flower basket location
The bluebirds who nest in our little birdhouse also have chicks - we can hear them peeping. But they are too hard to see.
The main event for this weekend was that Andrew had his first camping trip! We went up to Pike National Forest just east of the Lost Creek Wilderness. All of the established campgrounds were full and very very crowded, so we ended up freedom camping at an established site up on a ridge at Stoney Pass. Andrew enjoyed all of the sights and sounds of the outdoors, and we had a nice hike up the 4wd road in the BOB stroller. He even slept really well at night!
We had made the assumption that there is a dichotomy paradox for tents similar to the way there is a dichotomy paradox for duffel bags. That is - no matter how much stuff you've got in there, you can always get one more thing in. We have an REI Half Dome 2+ tent, which is a two-man tent. We figured, well hey, Andrew's just a little bit more person, we should all be able to cuddle up in there, right? Yeah not so much. Andrew may have slept well, but mommy and daddy had a fairly rough night all contorted up to make room. So, uh, next on the list is a three man tent of some sort. To accommodate our little man.
Other than that, it was really super fantastic to be in the mountains again, and we can't wait to get back out there again... with a little more elbow room.
Nursing in the great outdoors.
The view
4... er... 3wd stroller
Super action video of off-road stroller
Happy Andrew
Summit photo!! ...as much as this ridge had a summit...
Napping with daddy after a tough hike.
Getting ready for bed.
Sleepy parents. Awake baby.
Outdoor diaper change
Bonus Photo! Today's post-bath handsome hair:
Thursday, May 5, 2011
a day of big adventures
The birth story will come in time, but unless I record things as we go, I'm going to fall mercilessly behind.
The umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday (less than a week - welcome to dry Colorado), so yesterday we started using the zoogie BumGenius cloth diapers.
Today was Andrew's 1 week birthday, and it was a big one. The first order of business was to have our first bath. Andrew did not like it at all.
It wasn't so bad once he got out...
But he has extra handsome hair now, which I told him would impress the ladies.
So then we had places to go and people to see.
We've been having breastfeeding issues. I've been meaning to post about this, and now that it's going here it's a little weird, because this is sort of a funny, light post, and these struggles have been super emotional for me, and challenging for all of us. I know there are resources that talk about common issues with breastfeeding - I've read a lot - but I feel like no one comes out and says that it's really common to have those issues. Breastfeedng seems like something that should come naturally, but a lot of times, it just doesn't. And because no one really talks about it, it makes you feel sort of broken and helpless and alone.
After Andrew was born, I was so excited to nurse him, and we dove right in. More than any other early parenting choice, breastfeeding was the thing I most wanted to work out. It did hurt, even though they say it's not supposed to, but I convinced myself that it didn't hurt "that bad." We went in for our two day checkup at the birth center and Andrew was down to 7lb5oz - 10% below his birth weight. All babies lose weight after birth (they come out super-hydrated and "juicy"), but they like to see that bounded to 5-7%. 10% is a lot. Concerning. Midwife Sarah said it was probably just that my milk was coming in, suggested I contact a lactation consultant just to be sure, and told me not to panic. But I was panicking -- I knew it wasn't supposed to hurt, and even though I thought I had signs that nursing was going well, I knew something wasn't right.
Still, nursing went well that evening (I thought), and so I put off calling the LC. The next morning, things were rapidly going downhill - he only wanted to nurse for 5 minutes at a time, and I was starting to crack and bleed. He spit up a bit of milk with blood in it -- it was mine. Plus my breasts were now full and becoming engorged -- so full they were aching. I called the LC, crying, and she set up an appointment for the next day. So I sort of suffered through Sunday, begging my baby to take more milk, gain weight.
On Monday, we first had an appointment with the pediatrician. I was horrified to hear that Andrew's weight had dropped again, down to 7lb3.5 oz. The doctor suggested that I nurse and then we weigh him again, to see how much milk he was taking. He didn't seem that interested, but he fed for about 10 minutes on each side... and the scale didn't budge. It appeared that he was getting no milk. I was devastated, feeling like I was failing at womanhood. I had looked at Andrew's tongue and suspected a tongue tie - that the frenulum, the bit of skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, is too big and too far forward to use properly. I had let him suckle my finger, and instead of his tongue, I got gums - hard, unforgiving gums. I asked the doc about it, but after looking at the tongue, he didn't think it was an issue. He encouraged me to see Susan though (they have a great working relationship), and to supplement any feedings with pumped breastmilk to get him to gain weight. I was hysterical, but as with any challenge, I applied myself diligently to the plan to solve it.
Luckily, Susan and her LC-in-training, Anna, came late that afternoon. I mentioned that doc said no tongue tie. As soon as Anna looked in his mouth, she said, "That may not be the classic tongue tie that a doctor would look for, but that's definitely tied." They gave me a nipple shield to ease the pain and start the healing, and recommended that we go to the birth center the next day to have a frenectomy, get the frenulum clipped.
They helped Andrew latch on with some new protection for me, and then massaged me to relieve the engorgement. I was much happier with a clearer plan, though still very worried about my baby's lack of growth.
The next day, midwife Aubre performed the frenectomy. It's actually a very simple procedure with only a few drops of blood. He seemed more bothered by his diaper change than having his tongue snipped. He was weighed again, and the reading was the same -- 7lb,3.5oz -- but at least it didn't go down any. We hopefully returned home for more shielded nursing, pumping, and supplementation.
That night, Andrew was getting really frustrated trying to latch on with the shield in place. After struggling and listening to my boy cry, I put it aside. I would take the pain - I just wanted him to eat. He latched on and... there was no pain. I felt his tongue! I pulled him off and gave him my finger - and there was his tongue - no more hard gums! He ate a lot, and then when it was time to eat again, he was NOT happy with being hungry. It was like he finally knew what a full belly felt like, and finally realized that he'd been hungry all this time.
We nursed happily and diligently all day Wednesday, with lots of hard naps interspersed with these newly demanding feedings. He now rooted all the time while awake. He gulped down whatever milk he could get, and drank himself into a milk coma at every feeding.
Today (because that's what this post is really about) was the moment of truth. We went to a breastfeeding support group at Sweet Beginnings, Susan and Anna's boutique and clinic, and we weighed in for the first time since the frenectomy on Tuesday.
The verdict? 7lb, 6 oz. A 2.5oz increase in 48 hours. This put us ahead of the doc's preferred curve of an ounce a day. We did it!! We also weighed in again after nursing, and although he was too sleepy to take the second side, and he had gotten another 1.3 oz, right then and there!
The support group was awesome as well. There were a dozen or so women with nurslings of various ages. Most of them either had struggled or are currently struggling with some nursing issue: reflux, bad latch, tandem nursing twins, going back to work soon, and of course, tongue tie. There were helpful suggestions from LC's, but there was also a lot of comfort in feeling not-alone. We need to talk about this more, ladies. It happens to more of us than you would think. Stay tuned for more weight gain updates, but I do believe we may be in the clear for the time being.
After the support group, we ran errands at the post office and the bank - our first outings! We then returned home and our birth doula, Jessica, came over for her post-partum visit. We basically just talked through the birth, post-processing what had happened. Doulas provide the emotional, rather than the technical, support for birth, and I found our chat to be incredibly restorative and empowering. I will gush about her services in more detail when I post my birth story, but let me plug her website now as well: http://www.birthbeblessed.com/ If you are birthing in the Denver area, give her a call.
That was our day. Our week, actually. We are tired.
The umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday (less than a week - welcome to dry Colorado), so yesterday we started using the zoogie BumGenius cloth diapers.
It wasn't so bad once he got out...
But he has extra handsome hair now, which I told him would impress the ladies.
So then we had places to go and people to see.
We've been having breastfeeding issues. I've been meaning to post about this, and now that it's going here it's a little weird, because this is sort of a funny, light post, and these struggles have been super emotional for me, and challenging for all of us. I know there are resources that talk about common issues with breastfeeding - I've read a lot - but I feel like no one comes out and says that it's really common to have those issues. Breastfeedng seems like something that should come naturally, but a lot of times, it just doesn't. And because no one really talks about it, it makes you feel sort of broken and helpless and alone.
After Andrew was born, I was so excited to nurse him, and we dove right in. More than any other early parenting choice, breastfeeding was the thing I most wanted to work out. It did hurt, even though they say it's not supposed to, but I convinced myself that it didn't hurt "that bad." We went in for our two day checkup at the birth center and Andrew was down to 7lb5oz - 10% below his birth weight. All babies lose weight after birth (they come out super-hydrated and "juicy"), but they like to see that bounded to 5-7%. 10% is a lot. Concerning. Midwife Sarah said it was probably just that my milk was coming in, suggested I contact a lactation consultant just to be sure, and told me not to panic. But I was panicking -- I knew it wasn't supposed to hurt, and even though I thought I had signs that nursing was going well, I knew something wasn't right.
Still, nursing went well that evening (I thought), and so I put off calling the LC. The next morning, things were rapidly going downhill - he only wanted to nurse for 5 minutes at a time, and I was starting to crack and bleed. He spit up a bit of milk with blood in it -- it was mine. Plus my breasts were now full and becoming engorged -- so full they were aching. I called the LC, crying, and she set up an appointment for the next day. So I sort of suffered through Sunday, begging my baby to take more milk, gain weight.
On Monday, we first had an appointment with the pediatrician. I was horrified to hear that Andrew's weight had dropped again, down to 7lb3.5 oz. The doctor suggested that I nurse and then we weigh him again, to see how much milk he was taking. He didn't seem that interested, but he fed for about 10 minutes on each side... and the scale didn't budge. It appeared that he was getting no milk. I was devastated, feeling like I was failing at womanhood. I had looked at Andrew's tongue and suspected a tongue tie - that the frenulum, the bit of skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, is too big and too far forward to use properly. I had let him suckle my finger, and instead of his tongue, I got gums - hard, unforgiving gums. I asked the doc about it, but after looking at the tongue, he didn't think it was an issue. He encouraged me to see Susan though (they have a great working relationship), and to supplement any feedings with pumped breastmilk to get him to gain weight. I was hysterical, but as with any challenge, I applied myself diligently to the plan to solve it.
Luckily, Susan and her LC-in-training, Anna, came late that afternoon. I mentioned that doc said no tongue tie. As soon as Anna looked in his mouth, she said, "That may not be the classic tongue tie that a doctor would look for, but that's definitely tied." They gave me a nipple shield to ease the pain and start the healing, and recommended that we go to the birth center the next day to have a frenectomy, get the frenulum clipped.
They helped Andrew latch on with some new protection for me, and then massaged me to relieve the engorgement. I was much happier with a clearer plan, though still very worried about my baby's lack of growth.
The next day, midwife Aubre performed the frenectomy. It's actually a very simple procedure with only a few drops of blood. He seemed more bothered by his diaper change than having his tongue snipped. He was weighed again, and the reading was the same -- 7lb,3.5oz -- but at least it didn't go down any. We hopefully returned home for more shielded nursing, pumping, and supplementation.
That night, Andrew was getting really frustrated trying to latch on with the shield in place. After struggling and listening to my boy cry, I put it aside. I would take the pain - I just wanted him to eat. He latched on and... there was no pain. I felt his tongue! I pulled him off and gave him my finger - and there was his tongue - no more hard gums! He ate a lot, and then when it was time to eat again, he was NOT happy with being hungry. It was like he finally knew what a full belly felt like, and finally realized that he'd been hungry all this time.
We nursed happily and diligently all day Wednesday, with lots of hard naps interspersed with these newly demanding feedings. He now rooted all the time while awake. He gulped down whatever milk he could get, and drank himself into a milk coma at every feeding.
Today (because that's what this post is really about) was the moment of truth. We went to a breastfeeding support group at Sweet Beginnings, Susan and Anna's boutique and clinic, and we weighed in for the first time since the frenectomy on Tuesday.
The verdict? 7lb, 6 oz. A 2.5oz increase in 48 hours. This put us ahead of the doc's preferred curve of an ounce a day. We did it!! We also weighed in again after nursing, and although he was too sleepy to take the second side, and he had gotten another 1.3 oz, right then and there!
The support group was awesome as well. There were a dozen or so women with nurslings of various ages. Most of them either had struggled or are currently struggling with some nursing issue: reflux, bad latch, tandem nursing twins, going back to work soon, and of course, tongue tie. There were helpful suggestions from LC's, but there was also a lot of comfort in feeling not-alone. We need to talk about this more, ladies. It happens to more of us than you would think. Stay tuned for more weight gain updates, but I do believe we may be in the clear for the time being.
After the support group, we ran errands at the post office and the bank - our first outings! We then returned home and our birth doula, Jessica, came over for her post-partum visit. We basically just talked through the birth, post-processing what had happened. Doulas provide the emotional, rather than the technical, support for birth, and I found our chat to be incredibly restorative and empowering. I will gush about her services in more detail when I post my birth story, but let me plug her website now as well: http://www.birthbeblessed.com/ If you are birthing in the Denver area, give her a call.
Jessica with Andrew
Fussy Andrew, happy mama and doula
That was our day. Our week, actually. We are tired.
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