We're still alive!

[judecorp]

Don't worry, we're all still here. I promise. :)

Things are busy. I thought the biggest challenge would be those "every two hour" feedings but honestly the toughest thing has been the constant monitoring. We've had to go to the pediatrician every day since Wednesday for weight checks (that's six visits in a row... and six copays), the hospital lab twice for bilirubin checks, and back to the birth center today to sign our birth certificate. Oh, and I got a thyroid check today too just in case it's contributing to the milk issues.

We've gotten a couple of really sweet presents in the mail, which always makes everything fun. Thank you so much to hopemcg and meglett for finding us a copy of Todd Parr's baby book (YAY!!), to skatured for the adorable monkey blanket, books, and washcloth, to rockymtnhigh and bec4joy for the onesie, sunglasses, sun hat, and info on postpartum sex life, to thatpatti for this really cool rainbow-colored nursing necklace that is just the neatest thing ever, and artemis44 for coming by to say hello and bringing totally cute shirts and a bunch of milk-enhancing pharmaceuticals. And we've had a couple of visitors: Jen's coworker Jesi who brought goodies, Eryn and Amy who brought eggplant parm and spaghetti (yum!), and my aunt and grandparents.

Mostly we've just been really busy. And hot. It's hot right now.

Sometimes I just can't believe that the hospital gave us a baby. What were they thinking??!?!?

Comments

about that onesie...

[rockymtnhigh.livejournal.com]

I am generally anti-pink-for-girls/blue-for-boys, but we thought the words on it outweighed any color/gender expectations. Hope you thought so too!

Lots of hugs!

[drainbead.livejournal.com]

When you get a second (HA!) drop me an e-mail with your address so I can send you a present. I'm at drainbead@gmail.com.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Done. I totally saw your other comment the other day, too... I just, umm... yeah. You know.

xo!

Re: about that onesie...

[drainbead.livejournal.com]

Oops, totally didn't mean to reply to the comment instead of the post. ;-)

Re: about that onesie...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's funny... I'm pretty gender-neutral with my own clothes (though I do own a couple of shirts in the pink/purple family) but when it comes to the baby, we were given quite a few pink outfits. And while I was a little overwhelmed by them at first, now that there's a baby to put in them let me just say she looks SO DAMNED CUTE in those pink outfits!

So no worries. The sentiment is the best part for sure. We love it! :)

[(Anonymous)]

yay! You are alive! Still waiting for a birth story... I even have a blog devoted judt to you guys on my site... Good to hear you haven't gone mad (well, that is up for debate I guess)!

-Lynn

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I started writing it last night. It's kind of like a novel. Hopefully I will finish it tonight. Of course I should be sleeping, but I won't tell if you don't!!

[meglett.livejournal.com]

oh, good--i'm glad you all are surviving! [i hope the email didn't come across as 'come on, whhhyyyy aren't you posting on LJ?']

how is august doing weight-wise? is it possible to go to your LC's place for the weigh-ins? i can't believe the ped charges you for weight checks--that's highway robbery!

weight gain: who knows what pattern august will take, but she's had a similar beginning to quinn. and quinn was a slow-but-steady gainer (still is at about 19 lbs). it seems like i remember reading/hearing that newborns "should" gain at least 8 oz. a week?? sometimes she did...sometimes not quite that much....

and yes, putting quinn in her carseat for the first time, and the ride home from the hospital when all 3 of us were in the car was sooooooo surreal. i was a little scared, a little nervous, a lot tired, and a lot happy. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sending the e-mail. We've actually gotten a couple of "Are you out there?" e-mails (so it's not just you!) and it's really very sweet. Somehow I seem to find time to READ lj but I never get around to POSTING on lj - I think part of it is that I am totally in over my head with comments and figure if I don't write, I won't get more!

I'm also working on our birth story and it is becoming quite a novel.

As for her weight, it is creeping up. She got down to 5lb13 at the lowest, then went up to 6lb for two days, now she has been at 6lb3 for two days. We may be going to a breastfeeding support group tomorrow night and we can check again - if not, we're in for another weight check on Wednesday. (A day off? SHOCKING!) When she was at 6lb for two days, the weekend cover pedi read us the riot act about her not gaining... but today when she was at 6lb3 for the second day, the cool pedi was totally unconcerned since she'd had a big jump the day before. It is all so confusing.

And yeah, I heard that an ounce a day is what they look for. She gained 6oz last week in two spurts, so I guess she's not doing too badly. Then again, what do I know?

[evewasframed.livejournal.com]

I know you're super busy, but I am also really looking forward to your birth story! My little package is coming fairly soon and I'm starting to really get interested in people's birth experiences.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I have been working on it! The problem is that I write too much, so it is taking FOR-EV-ER.

Hopefully I will finish tonight or tomorrow at the latest!

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I know things are hectic now, but I hear they do slow down...eventually :-)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it will happen. Actually, things are moving pretty quickly but I haven't found it bad at all. The constant run to the pediatrician has been tedious, but our life at home has just sort of flown by fairly seamlessly. It's just amazing how much time we spend changing baby clothes, cleaning baby, feeding baby, and passing the baby around. It's a serious full time job. I don't know what I'll do when Jen goes back to work next week. :(

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

did your milk ever come in??

[chibi-jeni.livejournal.com]

I feel ya on the every 2 hour feedings. My nipples are FALLING OFF! And we're having to go in for weekly weigh-ins right now. Hopefully both of our babies will be at weight soon. :D

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would KILL for a weekly weigh-in. Seriously... when I realized today was Day 6, I was about to cry! Where is all of that postpartum resting I'm supposed to be doing??!?!

We've still got 8oz to go before she's back up to her birth weight. Hopefully she is on her way! Good luck getting your little guy up there also.

[chibi-jeni.livejournal.com]

We've got 5 oz to go, but she's only a week old.

I swear. I read the breastfeeding websites telling me to try to "force" her to feed more and when I do, all she does is get the hiccups and spit it ALL back up. UUUGH...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

We were forced to add formula to the end of every feeding. Sometimes she doesn't take much, and then I'm part scared that she's not getting enough and part hopeful that she is getting more breastmilk. Who knows, really? We'll find out tomorrow at ANOTHER weigh in.

We're theoretically supposed to pump after every feeding to try to build up supply, but it's so dang tedious (and painful when you're not getting any milk). We're thinking of starting to do the supplement in a bottle (instead of a supplemental nurser which takes forever) and if so, maybe I can get Jen to do it while I pump. I hope I can get things going around here.

[chibi-jeni.livejournal.com]

I hope you can too.

My daughter is such a nervous wreck right now that she doesn't want to feed AS much (her daddy just had to go away with the Army for a month today) and I'm engorged and hurting bigtime. I've been having to express in a cup just so she can get a latch on a nipple.

I've been hearing around that oatmeal is supposed to help. Also drinking a crapload of water.

Tomorrow is another weigh-in for us too. Good luck!!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Hang in there - I hope that month flies by. Yowch.

We still have really low supply and have switched to bottles for her formula, but we make sure she nurses first, and sometimes she'll nurse for a few minutes in between as a "snack." I should be pumping to boost supply but we're still getting into a routine and getting our "sea legs," so I took a couple of days not to stress about it.

I hope things go well for you. Our kid hit birth weight again, yay!

[chibi-jeni.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that she hit birth weight!! :D

Our weigh-in went great yesterday. Nikki gained 13 oz this week, so we're in the clear out here.

I'm going to look into a pump here soon. My husband is in the National Guard and is probably getting deployed again before the year is out and wants to be able to feed her and bond with her like that (even though I told him to take his shirt off and live in MY world for a while - but there would be shaving involved first)...

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

nothing from me yet?

maybe it's with the maternity clothes. :\

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

please, please tell me i don't just have the wrong address or some craziness...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

No! You totally have it right!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

OH NO! I knew I forgot one but I couldn't for the life of me think of what it was. THANK YOU SO MUCH, Patti, I really really REALLY love it. Seriously, it is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!

I will edit the post. Dumb dumb dumb! Sorry.
xoxo

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

oh GOOD! no worries about forgetting - i always do that. i'm glad you like it!! :)

[mermil.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're hanging in there...stay strong, sister! or, do what I will probably do in a couple of weeks: cry a lot for no apparent reason. Works for me. :)

[carina-s.livejournal.com]

What can I send you three? I've had this card here, waiting to send, and I can't decide what might be most useful to you. Is there anything you need?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Umm... we still have registry stuff up at babies r us and target. I'm really bad at asking for stuff. Sorry!! xoxoxo You don't have to send anything!