The Munchkin is one week old today!

I can't believe it's already been a week....

I have been wanting to get on here and update things... but its been so crazy. I have been in a fog with everything going on... and sleep is but a distant memory. It's like I have been living in a hazy dream world, and I do not focus on much other then feeding the baby, changing the baby's diaper, soothing the baby and trying to sleep when she does. And when I can muster up enough energy, I try to take care of other things that need to be done as well, like clean the breast pump parts (which has to be done between every use), laundry (1-2 loads per day, used to be 1-2 loads per week for just me), eat some food, and if everything else is done... straighten up a little.

Breastfeeding has been going great, all things considered. We are new at it, so we are still getting the hang of it ofcourse. But it's been getting easier and easier. I know I said before she was here, I had no idea my boobs could get so big.... well that was nothing. I have what we are now calling "porn star boobs". The are out of control. She has been eating great though and gaining weight like a champ. I have alot of extra milk too, and have already stored up 13 bottles worth in the freezer, just from pumping when I am engorged. I am pretty happy about that.

Her diaper changes, along with their contents, are right where they should be as well. I had been logging everything in a notebook and keeping track of feeding times and other details about her diaper changes, but everything has been going so well, that I am now just using the itzbeen and keeping track of how long its been since her last feeding and last diaper change. It's so much easier this way. Trying to log it all in the middle of the night while breastfeeding was not an easy task. With the itzbeen, I simply hit a button and it keeps track for me. Nice.

The first couple of nights we had her home she was strapped to a biliblanket. This is something used to treat babies at home who have jaundice. Luckily her numbers were borderline and she almost didn't need it, but to be cautious the doc wanted her on it anyway. She had to have it on her all of the time, other then eating and diaper changes, for the first two nights. This made things so much harder, as we were confined to a very small area with her because it was attached to a big power box with a short, thick cord. We had everything set up in the living room near the couch with her vibrating chair. The chair was great for soothing her and helping her fall asleep. The real life saver was her swaddler. This allowed us to wrap her up tightly in the biliblanket, without it wiggling loose and it didn't seem to bother her too badly. We have been using her swaddlers nonstop and she really loves them. Probably one of my favorite baby products so far.

We took the munchkin to her first doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning and she did great. She has gained all of her weight back to her birth weight, plus another 4 oz, and her jaundice numbers are continuing to drop. She stayed pretty calm for the most part, but she did start to get really hungry before we left. We had to hold her over until we could get home. I don't have much as far as nursing clothes yet, other then tank tops and night gowns, so I wasn't ready to nurse outside of the house yet. Hopefully I can expand my wardrobe soon.

Last night we decided to start having her sleep in the bedroom with us. We strapped the Arm's Reach Mini Co-Sleeper to the side of the bed and brought in all of her supplies. Breastfeeding stuff, diapers, burp cloths, well anything we though we might need. I wanted to see how things would go and start getting her used to the night time before Joe went back to work next week. I assumed it wouldn't go well the first night and we even imagined Joe leaving to go sleep on the couch before morning arrived. But amazingly enough, it went great. She didn't even cry once the entire night! I didn't sleep very heavily ofcourse and everytime I heard her make more noise then the usual baby sleeping noises, I would look over at her. If she was starting to scrunch up her face alot I would check her diaper, if she was opening and closing her mouth alot and sticking out her tongue, I would feed her. Since I am still sore and can't turn and move very well in certain ways, some things were a strain, but it will get better. Tonight may be very different ofcourse, but it was great that I was able to actually get some sleep in between her feedings and Joe was able to pretty much sleep right through the night.

So today, I am feeling much more like my old self. I have some energy back and all of the soreness and pain from labor is subsiding considerably. I am starting to get to know the little munchkin better and am getting better at reading her signs and moods more every day. My house is starting to look more under control and I feel like I am more in the real world now.

Joe has been wonderful. More so then I could have ever imagined. He is so smitten with this little baby and has been such an amazing daddy to her. He is also at my becking call, going and getting everything I need, making me food, and running out to the store as soon as something comes up. Its crazy how I look at him now. It's new and different and very exciting. It's a new level of love and adoration that I didn't quite expect, but am very happy to find.

Here's Joe and the munchkin catching some zzzzzz's.

Joe giving her her first bath at home.


So today is her one week birthday. She already looks so different from the day she arrived. Here are some pics I took of her today.

As usual, she is wearing one of her swaddlers. She likes to wiggle around in it and it works its way up around her sometimes. So I have to re-adjust it every once in a while.

Trying to catch up on some emails.... I'm still all puffy and swollen from the IV during labor. That should wear off soon.

And a close-up.

I haven't been able to read anyone's blogs... so I hope everyone is doing great! I will try to get caught up at some point...