Archive for January, 2010

I’m sleepy. We’re having more of the nights where she fusses even though she’s fed and dry and warm. Usually I can calm her down by putting her in the vibrating chair and rocking it, but I can’t sleep while rocking the chair. Its weird because the morning after a rough night I’ll be tired, but it’s way worse the next day. Last night she didn’t want to go to bed when we did, but when she finally calmed down she slept for 3 hours, but waking up then was super hard for me, maybe actually getting some sleep made it worse, haha.

This morning we took Adam to work at 6am so he could get in some extra hours and leave early friday to come to the coast. Then we took the dogs to daycare. It was pretty funny because I didn’t want them to step on Hannah so dash rode in the front seat, and I put a laundry basket upside down over Hannah’s carseat and chloe rode in the back with her. I don’t think chloe would hjave stepped on her, but I didn’t want to risk it.

Yesterday we went to bible study, had lunch with Lorna, and took the dogs to the park. Then after work Adam and Jeff sawed the cabinet that surrounded the stove so we can put our new one in when it comes Friday. My friends from Forest Grove came and Hannah gave us some good smiles.

We’re starting our first full week of Adam working. Hannah and I are trying to figure out how to best spend each day. Today we took the dogs to the park and played fetch until they were worn out. Now we’re doing laundry. This afternoon we’re going to church for a class on marriage.

It’s a pretty full week, which is nice. Tomorrow I’ve got bible study in the morning and friends from Forest Grove coming in the evening. Wednesday Rachel is coming from Chicago and staying until Thursday. Then Friday we’re heading to Waldport and meeting Jacci, Katie and Rachel and my parents at the coast house.

Hannah will be 3 weeks on thursday, and our doctor said if we want to use bottles, it’s best to introduce them at 3-4 weeks while they’re still open to new things. I’m excited for Adam to get to feed her, and the beach seems like a good opportunity. That way I can leave for a few hours with the girls and Hannah can have some quality time with Adam and my parents.

Last night was a long one. She fussed from 10pm-4am. Adam was great and took her from 11:30-1 so I could have a nap. Then I rocked her in her vibrating chair, and fed her and changed her and burped her, over and over again until a little after 4 when she fell asleep. Then she woke up around 6:45 and ate and got clean pants. We went back to bed for a couple of hours which was nice. She’s been sleeping in her pouch since she ate at 10:30. Now she’s starting to rouse, must be almost eating time.

The rough nights are getting easier. I’m not worried that she’s fussing because of something I ate, and I do a lot better with her screaming if she’s in her vibrating chair and I can rock her with my foot so the screaming isn’t right by my face. She also really likes the rocking, so it works out.

She is doing a lot of smiling in her sleep which is the cutest thing ever. http://img131.yfrog.com/i/w1gi.jpg/

Hannah made the visit to the pediatrician’s office even more exciting by managing to get poop on Adam’s shirt as he was carrying her to the scale. I wonder if she pooped on him first because she likes him better, haha. She was nice enough to wait until after we’d taken Hannah to Adam’s work to meet his co-workers. She was very popular, and happy and calm as she got passed around. I think she could feel all the IT vibes and knew she was with Adam’s people. =)

She was 8 pound 5 ounces last time we went to the doc, today she was 8 15!!! Wahoo! We got permission from the doc to stop waking her at night, so we’re very excited about that. The doc did mention that the fussiness does tend to peak around 5 weeks, so we might just be seeing the beginning of that. She didn’t think what I was eating was affecting Hannah, which is good.

We had a good night last night, she slept pretty much the whole 2.5 hours between feedings, except one where she was pooping, and she fusses when she’s pooping. It takes her forever to poop, sometimes half hour, and we don’t want to change her mid poo, since that wastes a diaper. So last night I rocked her in her bassinet for half hour and she farted up a storm. Then after the change she went to sleep.

Tomorrow Adam heads back to work. The dogs are going to daycare and I’m going to my mom’s to hang out with Annette, and Henry and my mom. It’ll be a nice transition day.

I’ve got my epic novel of a birth story posted. It’s graphic, so I put it under the Hannah tab, so you actually have to purposefully look for it and can’t be accidentally offended. Enjoy. =)

Hannah has nicely allowed me to place her in her vibrating chair so I can have 2 hands and give an update on life in the Becker house. Though I think I heard some pooing a few minutes ago, and she is starting to fuss so we might be in a for a diaper change in a minute here.

Things have been going pretty smoothly since Hannah arrived. We brought her home Friday and enjoyed a quiet evening introducing her to the dogs and enjoying showing her around her new home. Then Saturday Adam’s mom came and met her. It was super nice since Hannah was so happy sleeping on her Grandma, Adam and I both got to take showers, and I even got a nap while Adam and Grandma did some laundry. Then we all went to my parents for dinner. Katie and Jacci came down from Corvallis to meet Hannah.

Sunday we went to the pediatrician to have her bilirubin levels checked again, but the doc took one look at her and said she was fine, so we avoided a needle poke, which was super nice. Hannah was born weighing 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and was down to 8.4 when we left the hospital, but Sunday morning she was already back to 8.5. It was nice to know she was getting some food. We went by walmart on the way home, we needed to get more lanolin since Chloe had eaten my tube of it. ew. She had some seriously smelly gas for a couple of days.

We vegged a bit, then headed to my parents who graciously fed us again. It was really fun to hang out at my parents with Max and Annette and Henry, enough grandbabies to go around, and nice for Adam and I to get to relax knowing Hannah was being well loved.

Monday we hung out at home. Lorna came over and kept Hannah and I company while Adam went to costco to get a few things, and brought home pizza.

Tuesday was my mom’s birthday. She came over early and held Hannah for a couple hours before she headed to bible study, I got to go back to bed. Both my parents have done this several times since Hannah came home and it’s been such a blessing. Those extra couple hours of sleep have helped me get through the day. Mom came back after bible study and we went to lunch at BJs. Hannah was still very happily sleeping in her carseat when we got home so we put her in her stroller and went for a walk to the park down the street.

Tuesday night started the 9 nights in a row that friends from our homegroup brought us dinner. It has been such a blessing! It’s also been really fun to have our friends meet Hannah. Our freezer is full to the point of overflowing.

We’ve had 2 rough nights so far, Saturday night, and last night. I did get a fair amount of sleep sunday night though. We’re not sure if it’s something I’m eating that making her so fussy, we’re going to ask at the pediatrician tomorrow to see if she has any ideas. Our pediatrician says we need to feed her every 3 hours, and that’s from the start of a feeding to the start of the next feeding, so if it takes and hour to feed her and get her settled down and sleeping, then I get a couple hours sleep before the alarm goes off and I need to wake her to eat. Usually I get 1 or 2 of these 2 hour stretches in a night. Sometimes I’m really lucky and get 2.5 hours cause she eats fast and goes back to sleep fast.

The lactation consultant from my OBs office was really helpful in suggesting that I not do anything to rile her during the late night feedings, no burping, or trying to get her to eat tons, if she just wants a little snack and then falls back to sleep, that’s fine. We learned that on the Monday after she was born and the nights after that had more sleep.

last night she sleep between feedings until her midnight feeding. I usually go to bed for a few hours after she eats after dinner, Adam is up working or gaming so he hangs out with her. Last night I was feeling well rested so I stayed up till her midnight feeding, but she never went back to sleep after that. I tried everything, feeding, burping, diaper changes, over and over again. Finally by 4am I was crying too and woke up Adam. He had her quiet within 5 minutes. Took several more minutes to calm me down. =) She slept on his chest for a few hours.

Now I know to wake him sooner when she’s freaking out, before I have the chance to really freak out.She has slept between most of her feedings today, so hopefully that means she’s done with the last fussy spurt and will sleep tonight.

She was just crying, but Adam came out and took her out of her chair and now they’re cuddling on the couch. Okay, she’s back to crying again, time to feed.

We’re enjoying getting to know Hannah. During the day she goes the full 3 hours between feedings either sleeping or quietly looking around, just fussing if she’s hungry or wet. At night she’s been eating closer to every hour and not wanting to go back to sleep in between. Though she does like sleeping on us, just not a good habit to set. Yesterday I talked to the lactation consultant at my docs and she had some good tips. Last night I got 2, 2 hour stretches of sleep, and I only let her sleep on my arm for one of them, so that’s progress. =) The other stretch we let her fall asleep with a pacifier, which made me nervous so I watched her fall asleep and took the pacifier once she did. I’m really excited for her to get a bit bigger tummy so she can hold more food and rest better between feedings. Then we don’t have to wake her up to eat, we can let her decide, that should be in the next week or so.

Adam and I just hung out here yesterday, we got a bunch of stuff done around the house. Put away the christmas tree, picked up. Adam worn Hannah in his front carrier and she was so happy! He even hung some pictures and she didn’t mind the hammering a bit. Last night he wore her while I went to bed at 8 and they played computer games. She likes him so much, it’s really sweet. If she’s awake and he talks she turns her head to look at him. She’ll even stop eating so she can hear him and try and look at him. Good thing I like him so much, otherwise I’d be jealous, but instead I’m thrilled.

I’m also going to write me version of the birth story and post it, it’ll be fun to see how Adam’s and I’s versions differ, though his will for sure be the more realistic, as being in labor did skew my reality a bit. =)