Lauren's Life at Home

Lauren was born during a storm. Here is a rainbow from our kitchen window after another rain storm at 5 weeks of age:

Lauren lounges in her chair after breakfast at 6:45am. This gives mommy a chance to eat her breakfast.
Daddy is gaga over Lauren. Well, so is mommy.
My chubby, peaceful baby:
After a bath I put her in this outfit to warm her up:
Pink bear outfit... sitting in little lamb chair:
The milking station:

Aunt Jessee's Visit

Jessee is my twin sister and my best friend. She visited Lauren in early February. She loves Lauren just like I love her two boys, Tyler and Garrett. We all had a wonderful time together!

Valentine's day at Chez Nous in Touca Lake:
Valentine's Day with Aunt Jessee and Lauren:
An open eye!
Aunt Jessee... Lauren is so comfortable with her!

Week 5 --- Breastfeeding is hard, but I'm sticking with it

[Update: Met with Lactation consultant today (Roxy Sims from Glendale Memorial Hospital) and all is well. Lauren weighs over 10 pounds! Wow we were surprised by that. She ate 3 ounces during our lactation visit. Her latch is just fine. According to Roxy, she sucks in air due to excessive letdown at times... she pulls back a bit and then loses the latch momentarily. She's been doing better lately and I'm not as stressed about it, especially now that I've gotten the OK from Roxy... Lauren is doing just fine!]
Roxy Sims, lactation consultant from Glendale Memorial:




Look at those chubby cheeks!

This is where I feed her and a few of the pillows I use:
Lauren's giraffe toy and her little lamb chair. Happy and chubby.
Lauren loves her daddy so much:
One of her favorite positions:
Chubby cheeks:

Breastfeeding was easy at first... but has gotten harder the last week (week 4-5) mainly because I think Lauren has a shallow latch sometimes (especially during the middle of the night feedings) and she sucks in air sometimes and I can hear the air bubbles going into her tummy :(.

I started out the morning in tears for a few reasons:

1. I'm really tired
2. Lauren was fussy the night before due to gas... which I suspected she was getting from ME (not my foods, but from breastfeeding - is it an improper latch, a weak latch?)
3. Lauren was fussy in the morning and was sucking some air
4. I have 5 pillows, one "my brest friend" aide, and a love seat and I was frustrated trying to figure out how to best set up for feeding Lauren. Is this normal to have so many pillows and to feel awkward when getting set up and trying to get a good latch?

So today I spent some time on the internet looking for info and videos on breastfeeding. These videos helped (you tube) and I got a good latch this evening from one little tip (a slight rotation so the chin rotates away from the areola getting the "asymmetrical latch"). Asymmetrical latch means that the lower lip is farther away from the nipple and the upper lip is closer to the nipple. The lower lip massages the milk ducts and the baby gets the fatty hind milk if she can stay on for around 20 minutes. Lauren doesn't usually make it to 20 minutes unless I coax her and try to keep her awake and alert. Well, instead of me explaining all of the breastfeeding tips I found useful, I'm going to create a link list to my favorite helpful breastfeeding sites and videos. Breastfeeding is very rewarding and I am sticking to it. Tomorrow I have a lactation appointment (my last free appointment at Glendale Memorial Hospital) and then I'm going to become a regular at the GMH breastfeeding support circle which meets every Thursday from 1-3pm... it's free and I need the support right about now!

Also, I got a lot of great encouragement from friends including my friend Crystal L., mother of 3 little ones. One reason I love using facebook is all of the encouragement I've gotten from my mommy friends, including Crystal. Here is the facebook post from Crystal that really encouraged me:

"I made a mental note to self about a week and a half ago, that I would re-assure my daughters when they have children - that nursing takes time, and not to give up - it took Judah and I a good 2 1/2 months to get in sync - and often - you are more than likely doing just fine - and it doesn't SEEM like it. They are hardwired to nurse - and it does get easier - we PROMISE!" - Crystal

Love my friends for the encouragement. Also, my hubby bought some mylicon drops to help Lauren if she has swallowed air and needs some gas relief. We were going to get Gripe Water, but Target was out. Those were the two medicines friends recommended for gas relief.

Did I mention how tired I am? I'm not sleeping very soundly... to be honest, I'm having nightmares that Lauren is in my arms while I'm sleeping or that I'm squeezing my breast while she is nursing (in my sleep) or other anxiety/baby related topics my mind chooses to go to while sleeping! I need to pray about this and get rid of this anxiety before sleeping.

Off to feed Lauren!

Lauren is 4 Weeks Old and I'm Exhausted!

Photos by Emma Harasick Photography (Emma goes to Grace Community Church and she came to our house to do a photo shoot):







Well, Lauren is on my chest right now in her Moby wrap. We were taking a nap and she woke up with a little cry and kept on crying... she needed a diaper change! And now she dozed back off. She's been staying awake for large portions of the day. Yesterday was a very hard day because she was pretty much awake from 3am until 5pm for some reason... I think it had to do with the famous "3 week growth spurt". During this time, babies are supposed to be more fussy at the breast, can go for marathon feedings, and are more fussy in general. I can expect the same thing at 6 weeks and there are a few more growth spurt times according to my lactation information packet. If I didn't know about the 3 week growth spurt, I might have been worried. OK, here are the growth spurt times in my lactation packet:

1 week
3-4 weeks
5-8 weeks
3 months
5-6 months

"Your baby will suddenly eat more frequently and become fussy at the breast. You may think this fussy behavior and frequency in feeding is due to an inadequate milk supply. Don't worry, this behavior and the frequent feeding increases milk production for the baby's growing needs. Growth spurts will last approximately 4-7 days."

I was breastfeeding the other day and trying to read from Dr. Sears Baby Book. I've always been a "book smart" type person and now I'm wanting to read all about babies so I can be on top of everything for Lauren. There is so much to know. So far the topics that have interested me are: breastfeeding, sleeping, diaper rash, nutrition, wearing your baby (sling... for me the moby wrap).

Last night after telling my hubby that I needed more help (due to the 3am-5pm marathon awake session), my hubby took care of her and stayed with her till around 1:30am and let me sleep except to feed her. I felt refreshed after sleeping all of the late afternoon and I took over for the night feedings feeling ready for it. I think Lauren needs more time being burped and more time being rocked to sleep so last night our feeding sessions went from 12am-1:20am, 3:50am-5:30am, 7am-7:50am. She is waking me up when she is hungry and usually eats for about 8 minutes and then poops... then we change her diaper, blow dry her butt, apply the diaper cream and if I'm lucky, she won't pee on herself after the diaper cream step. But she likes to pee when her diaper is off and she's clean. Then we go back to the living room for more eating. The lactation consultant told me that she needs to eat for about 20 minutes on one side in order to get the fatty hind milk that will satisfy her hunger for longer periods of time. I think she is getting plenty of hind milk because she poops almost every diaper and she probably weighs 9 pounds. The lactation consultant let me know that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby, so I'm not worried about that.

Everything is going great if I take into account that she is only 4 weeks old. Yes, I'm supposed to be tired and exhausted. No, I'm not supposed to have everything all together right now (my hubby reminded me of that yesterday). Yes, it's OK to leave the laundry for another day and to clean the bathrooms another day. I love being a mom. I love Lauren so much. Her little face and everything about her just melts my heart. She melts my hubby's heart too.

I hope for another night where we can have a stretch of sleep like we did last night from 1:20am until 3:50am. Wow, that was a good stretch.

Well, here we are in my moby wrap today:

Lauren is 3 Weeks Old!

We stopped at the tennis courts on a walk with Lauren. Mommy and daddy love tennis so we will definitely be teaching Lauren how to play.:

We saw this horse on our walk. We live in the rancho equestrian neighborhood so it isn't uncommon to see horses on a walk in our neighborhood:

Daddy and Lauren are so precious to mommy:

Lauren's first trip to Starbucks (we stayed outside while daddy ordered):
The swaddle and football hold:
Lauren's first walk in the neighborhood with mommy:
Lauren and tired mommy:

Tomorrow, Lauren turns 3 weeks old. I just finished feeding her and now I'm hoping she'll make it for her 3 hour stretch at night. During the day, I feed her and then count 2 hours from the end of her feeding until the beginning of her next feeding. At night, our lactation consultant (Roxy Sims at Glendale Memorial Hospital - we LOVE Roxy) said we could wait 3 hours from the end of her feeding until the beginning of her next feeding. This extra hour (usually turns into less than an hour) helps me get more rest. But last night little Lauren was up from 1am until around 3:30am... fussy and awake.

I need to hop into bed (I was going to twice, but when I set Lauren in her bassinet, she squirmed and complained), but I want to quickly jot down some thoughts on these first three weeks.

* I love our lactation consultant. She has really helped me with nursing properly and she has been an encouragement from day 1. I had 3 free consultation appointments after checking out of the hospital and I've gone to 2 appointments. One more left before Lauren turns 6 weeks. Roxy has helped me with the proper latch, weighing the baby before and after feeding to make sure she is getting enough milk (she is... 3 ounces the first apt and 2.7 ounces the second apt), understanding why they can be fussy at the breast (growth spurts), understanding diaper rash...

Lauren in her "milk coma" and mommy burping her:


* I'm really tired. Really, really tired at night, but very, very happy when morning comes and my husband is home and we can all hang out at home as a family. It's just more lonely in the middle of the night with a sometimes fussy newborn.

* My husband has been able to take a lot of days of and we absolutely love being home together just hanging out and watching sports - the Kings (hockey), the Lakers, and the Super Bowl. We are teaching Lauren about sports early. Watching sports is a relaxing past time for me and something I can share with my husband.

My baby is sleeping so I'm going to write more later!! I'm off to bed.

OK, I'm back and it's the next day at around 11am. Lauren eats again at 11:30am so I have a few minutes to write in. Lauren had a good night of sleeping last night (I was so happy about that). My thoughts are scattered so I'll stop writing and post some pictures and videos instead: