Sunday, December 14, 2008

Pictures!

Eli's nursery*

A good loud cry

A little formula to keep him from losing too much weight

At home

I love my fingers*

And I can do fancy things with my fingers*

*Photos by: www.trishbadgerphotography.com

Monday, December 1, 2008

Two Weeks

It's pretty difficult for me to get any computer time these days, but thanks to a new corset-like item I purchased today at the New Moms Lactation Support Group, I can now pump breast milk "hands free" style. Oh yeah! Feel free NOT to get a mental picture of that.

Today was quite a day. We left the house at 9:30 am, and HK dropped me off at the breastfeeding support group, a free service offered by Women's Hospital of Texas, which is where we delivered. It was very informative and helpful. The best part was weighing Eli, feeding him, and then weighing him again to see how much he took in. About 1 ounce.

Afterwards, HK dropped off Eli and me at a local maternity store to try on slings while he picked up some lunch. We checked out a Sling.EZ for 10 days to see how we like it. Then, we headed over to the pediatrician for the big two-week check up! That's right, Elias is two weeks old! The best news from this visit is that Eli is exactly back up to his birth weight. [BIG sigh of relief] In short, the report from the doctor is: he's perfect, but he could be eating more. No surprises there. We were so glad to hear Eli is healthy and that all the little things we had concerns about are normal newborn things. Very thankful for good news. By the time we got home, it was after 3:00, and we all crashed for a nap.

Combining what we learned at the support group and the doctor, going forward this week we will increase the number of feedings in a day, in order to try to increase what Eli takes in and to up my milk production. Breastfeeding is much more difficult than I expected and is probably the most challenging part of this new-baby life we are living now. I am supremely blessed to have an amazing, supportive husband (who gets a nice chunk of family leave time), a mom who lives nearby and comes to help out almost daily, and lots of other supportive family and friends.

Time to stop writing and get a little catnap. Thank you to everyone who has sent congratulations. HK and I love you, and we are so happy to know Eli already has a community that loves him! More pictures soon...