Well, turns out I am really bad at updating this! One would think being home all day I could find 5 minutes a day to report Allie's latest progress, but that is not the case!
Here goes - she turned 4 weeks two days ago and it quite the little lady already! She is starting to smile - not quite there all the way yet, but she smiles and sometimes laughs in her sleep and is really working hard at smiling at her Mom and Dad...and whoever else is making funny faces at her! She is beginning to make noises apart from her usual grunts, cries and other loud noises. We are beginning to understand some of her cues which helps - as long as we "guess" right! Allie-Rae is sleeping quite well! I don't want to jinx anything, but as of now she fusses from about 6pm to either 7 or 11pm. If just until 7, that means that she had a busy day and she fell asleep and then most likely woke up around 11 or so to eat again. If 11, then we fussed until then...and ate again and then probably fell asleep finally! After that she has been getting up only once around 2-3 and then not again until 6 or 7! We have our struggles to get to sleep, but once she's out...it lasts for a while! She naps for an hour or so after she gets up and has a short feed, then eats again (story of my life!) and (knock on wood) usually goes out for about 3-4 hours over the lunch hour timeframe.
I still battle with feeding her, but have kept up with pumping as much as time will allow for the day. I do feed her overnight because those feeds are short and early this morning even fed her without the shield!!! ...and didn't have too bad of pain afterwards I should add. I don't want to give up. I really don't, but she has gotten a good period of breast milk and as long as I can pump and/or feed (God willing I don't break down or give up) I will. I am not pumping enough to stock for more than 2-3 feedings at one time so it's a good thing that I didn't stock up on the milk freezer bags! For now, we will keep up with what we've been doing and the outlook is good for encouragement and coaching to keep things going.
I started a Mommy and Me class called "New Mama" class at Amma Maternity this past week and absolutely love it. It is at the same place where we did our childbirth classes. We received the homework assignment to get together as a group and we were successful! All but one of the eight mama's got together at one of the girls' house with all our babies and just talked. The class is led by the center's owner and she is a nurse as well as a lactation specialist so I plan to reap many benefits from it...to be continued!
Allison Rae has had a revolving door of visitors as well as some new travels including the chiropractor, some store visits and for visitors we have had all sorts of Aunties and Uncles come over to play and...drumroll - my Dad got to snuggle his new little granddaughter! Big Al's a big softy when it comes to her - see pictures in the next post.
I have gotten a few outings myself with Jason watching Allie - perks of her being on a bottle for during the day. Her Auntie Donna and cousin Albert even stayed with her as I made a quick run to Walgreens for diapers! I went to Target, the bank and the post office all alone today - and enjoyed it, although I can't say there are more than a few things in this world than coming home and seeing my husband snuggling our little girl- and they did just fine while I was out! Not that I would expect any less.
Pics and more updates to come...sooner than later I hope!
oh, and Mamie and Noah are coming to visit in a week and a half!!!!!
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