THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

I feel like I should be bathing Rosie more - she has had only 4 baths in her 6 weeks of life- one in the baby sized bathtub and 3 in the big tub with me and Joe - where she was born

As for diapers, we are still using huggies newborn sposies, which she is just growing out of, and cloth newborn prefolds, plus kissaluvs size 0 and sugarplum babies newborn sized fitteds with bummies and other various covers- they seem to be working well - we ordered some small bumkins aio’s that are still too big, and the seventh generation unbleached newborn sposies are just now fitting her… we have a pretty good system going where we use cloth during the day at home and sposies when we go out and sometimes at night too…

I dont have ppd, but 6 weeks pp still having some weepy moments, mostly when I look at her napping in my lap and I just can’t believe how much I love her…also when she is having a super fussy time at night and I can’t console her - it breaks my heart to hear her cry… I am not having hot flashes, but I am super sweaty and stinky all the time, even right after I get out of the shower, and put on deodorant, I am sweaty and stinky about an hour later - ugh!

Rosie is still going through a fussy phase, some days are better than others, last night was rough, she slept from 11-12 and then was up and fussy from 12-2am - she still was fussy this morning - pulling away while nursing and crying and fussing - I just put her in her swing and she is finally calm and sleeping…. - so mommy can go make lunch now - I am starving! Have still only lost the 20 lbs right after birth - still 20 to go - eating ice cream and double stuff oreos probably doesn’t help - huh? Starting the healthy foods and yoga today!

Rosie has been having explosive poos - usually while i am changing her - right now we are using both cloth diapers and sposies and I found the trick with huggies, they have this blue inner elastic barrier that you have to pull up and out before putting the diapers on (otherwise it stays stuck to the bottom lining and doesnt contain the mess…my kissaluvs fitteds are the best for poo containing though….

She was still really fussy and unhappy all day yesterday - basically nursed or had to be on me non-stop - only napped a few times and only for 15-30 min each time- she probably slept a total of 3 hours during the day yesterday - then had a super fussy loud crying time from 11pm to midnight - but once she was asleep - she slept soundly for 2-3 hour chunks (only waking a few times to nurse and diaper change) through the night until 10am! yay! not sure if it was from the lack of sleep during the day, or the hyland’s colic tablet I gave her around 11:30pm - or maybe a result from the glass of wine I had around 9pm - whatever it was it worked!

I got the wonder weeks book - it has some great info on when to expect fussy times and what we can do to comfort them - according to the book she is right on schedule at 5 weeks - the world of changing sensations - so hopefully this fussiness will end soon and we will have a fussy-free time after that.

I have been thinking of introducing a bottle soon - I don’t really need to - but want to have that option for if/when I need to work or just get out on my own for a pedicure or massage or something - or for Joe and I to go out on a date or something - I pumped a little the other day and got a couple ounces - but I tried hand expressing too and I think that is easier and more comfortable for me… i got that breast bottle that is supposed to be closest thing to the breast - so maybe we will give it a try later this week…

Rosie has been so fussy the last few nights, crying and kicking her legs and nothing I try seems to work for more than 5-10 min, so we switch off between nursing, walking and bouncing, massaging tummy, bicycling legs, sleeping for 10 min and then repeating the whole cycle again… she finally went to bed around 3am and slept solidly until 6ish - thank god! - she is still fussy and acting uncomfortable today - she hasnt pooped since about midnight last night - so I am hoping she poops soon and that will help her tummy ache…
It breaks my heart to hear her cry

We are still having issues with nursing - her latch on the right side is hard to get exactly right - due to the fact that my nipple points out to the side - so she tends to clamp down hard and suck even harder on that side in order to keep the nipple in her mouth correctly (I think this is what is happening) and sometimes she gets lazy and slips down so she is just sucking on the tip of my nipple - so it gets really painful and she sometimes makes my nipple feel really bruised and sore - some days we nurse pain free on that side and other days it is so sore it brings tears to my eyes - hoping she will get the hang of it soon so it is not such a struggle.

I am feeling pretty cool about my nip skills - joe and I walked around the mall last night with me nursing her in my moby wrap the entire time - we got a lot of weird looks - especially from the other moms pushing strollers - one saleslady came up to peek at her and said - “oh - she’s sleeping?” and I said “no, she’s eating” - the look on her face was priceless!

Rosie is 5 weeks tomorrow and we are doing pretty well with bf, she still has some latch issues, mostly when she is tired and too lazy to latch on properly, but our big issue lately has been the amount of air she is swallowing with each nursing session. I thought that bf babies didnt have the problem with swallowing air and burping that bottle fed babies had. I can hear her swallowing air while she sucks - it is like she just lets the latch and suction go enough to let a tiny stream of air in - it sounds like a slow leak. It makes her really gassy and fussy and she pulls off the breast crying every few minutes and I have to burp her 5-6 times with every feeding…

so here we are! she is 2 1/2 weeks old now and nursing like a champ! we had little blood blisters on the tips of my nipples for the first few days, but that healed and she is pretty good at latching on now - except sometimes she gets lazy and just latches on to the tip of my nipple and then slurps the rest of the nipple and areola into her mouth - ouch!

for the first week and a half, she was doing too much sleeping and not enough eating during the day, which left her awake and hungry all night, then i realized that i was letting her fall asleep at the breast during the day - so now i try to keep her awake and nursing by rubbing her back or feet, and if she falls asleep, i change her diaper, and that wakes her up and we switch sides and continue nursing - now she sleeps much better at night and she is finally gaining some good weight too (she was just barely back to her birthweight at her 2 week checkup)…

i feel bad cuz i am still using sposies, havent broken into my cloth diaper stash yet, mostly cuz i dont know really what i have, i was accumulating everything slowly and she was 3 weeks early, so i was soooo not prepared - i plan on going through everything this week, i think i have enough cpf’s but i need more covers…
other than that, it has been hard to find the time for me to eat, or shower, or do anything besides nurse and change diapers…

she keeps covering her mouth with her hands while trying to nurse - sooo frustrating - also, she scratches her face and then gets all surprised and upset because she doesnt understand what is happening!

and my hips are still killing me! sooo achy, and my legs and ankles are achy too…
my belly looks almost back to normal, but my hips and thighs are still way bigger than pre pregnancy and i have a ton of back fat now - ugh!
my sister Emily is getting married in a little over a month (sept 9) and i am matron of honor - and i just got my dress yesterday - i ordered a size 14 (usually an and thought that would be plenty big for my post prego body - uh oh - i am about 3 inches shy of getting it zipped!!!! hopefully my body will continue to shrink over the next month and whatever nature doesnt take care of, my awesome seamstress can fix!