Goodnight Moon

We went to Barnes and Noble on Sunday in search for the book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I've heard so many great things about this book. It's designed for parents who want to help their children develop better sleep habits without the baby having to cry it out. It has come to our attention that we need a better nighttime routine (and more sleep wouldn't hurt either!).

We obviously didn't have a baby so we could sleep hours on end with no interruptions. Every parent knows that you will have to sacrifice sleep for your baby. I never want to complain about the lack of sleep (whine...well, maybe a little) because Lilly is so wonderful and we are so blessed. I never want to complain about anything! It almost makes me feel guilty because i know how fortunate we are to have this healthy baby. But the truth of the matter is that we all need more sleep and Lilly needs a more consistent bedtime routine. There, I said it!

Around 3 months old, Lilly was going to sleep by 10:00 pm at the latest, waking for only 1 night feed between 3 and 4, and then sleeping until 6:30 or 7:00 am. I have always nursed Lilly to sleep since day 1. This was wonderful and we finally stopped feeling like zombies.

Around 4 months, Lilly was sleeping through the night! She was still going to bed around 9:30 or 10 but had cut out that 1 night feeding. We didn't know what to do with ourselves! I found myself putting my hand on her chest throughout the night just so I could feel it go up and down. I guess I thought that Lilly would continue to sleep through the night forever. This thought makes me laugh out loud.

Around 5 1/2 months, Lilly's sleep habits completely changed. She had started daycare and was adjusting to that schedule. She was outgrowing her rock and sleep cradle so we started to transition her to the crib. She was hitting that 6 month growth spurt. She had a nasty cold. And to top it all off, she was showing some signs of teething. Sleep went out the window.

This is when we started letting Lilly co-sleep. It was the only way I could get some descent sleep because I could nurse her back to sleep laying down. What started out as a quick fix has quickly become our nightly routine. Lilly wakes 3-4 times a night now to nurse. She starts out in her crib and then we bring her into our bed. I don't mind the co-sleeping and the night feedings. I enjoy that extra time I get to spend with her. What I need help with is getting Lilly to sleep at a descent time and helping her find ways to fall back asleep on her own if she wakes up more than once or twice. As of right now, it takes us about 2 hours to get Lilly to settle down and go to sleep.

I'm only half way through the book and I already love it. Leaving Lilly to cry in her crib all alone is just not for us. I can't wait to share our progress! Stay tuned!

My Breastfeeding Journey

Having a baby has been the greatest experience of my life so far. Being able to breastfeed Lilly has been such an amazing journey so far. I feel so blessed because breastfeeding doesn't always work out for everybody and some women don't get to experience it or have to stop before they are ready to. This is a blog about why it has worked for me so far and why I want to continue breastfeeding. If you are a mom to be, want to be a mom in the future, or would like to give breastfeeding a try with baby # 2, I hope you find this helpful! I am no expert. At ALL!!! Just sharing my own journey.

I have experienced a million different phases of breastfeeding over the past 6 months. Let's start from the beginning.

Phase one: Before Lilly was born Mike and I attended a breastfeeding class. I HIGHLY recommend this. It gave me a starting point and provided us with so much information. YouTube videos are helpful too. They show you tricks on how to get a good latch during those first few days. This is super important for you and your nipples!!

Phase two: Shortly after Lilly was born we had our first successful feed. You have to wait for the baby to open their mouth very wide to get a successful latch. Lilly did perfect. We fed on demand every 2 hours. This means that I fed Lilly every 2 hours or less depending on if she was acting hungry our not. So every 2 hours the nurse would come in and write down her feedings. At first you can be a little sore but breastfeeding is not suppose to hurt. I repeat, breastfeeding is NOT suppose to hurt. A bad latch will make you cringe so it's important to pull the baby off and relatch. You might have to do this 3 or 4 times until the baby is latched properly. Newborn babies tummies are so tiny that all they need is colostrum
(what you produce before your milk comes in) so formula is not needed as a supplement. Babies need to feed on demand to help up your milk supply. This does not mean that they are starving. It is just their way to help you produce milk. Aren't they smart!?

Wow, this seems like a lot of work doesn't it!? Was I exhausted after the first night? Yes. But I knew this was what I wanted to do for Lilly. Sleep is overrated anyways. ;-)

Phase three: After leaving the hospital I quickly realized that I missed that nurse coming in every two hours to keep me on track. I had to start using my own brain. My milk came in the day we came home. This is when I downloaded the greatest app in the world. It's called ibreastfeed. You can time your feedings and document which side the baby fed off of last. It was a lifesaver. Don't try to remember all of this stuff on your own. Just download the app. Seriously, do it now! So, every time Lilly was ready to eat I had to have the boppy pillow, a huge glass of cold water, and my ibreastfeed app. Thank you hubby!

Phase four: Lilly was a pro at breastfeeding. I loved it. I didn't leave the house much but if I did it was only quick trips here and there. If we wanted to go out for dinner I had to plan it just right so Lilly wouldn't want to eat while we were out. I had messed around with the pump a little bit but it was hard to pump and breastfeed so I just stuck with breastfeeding. I had a small stash in the freezer. I remember feeling anxious if Lilly went longer than 2 hours between feedings.

Phase five: Ok, screw that! I was now more comfortable going out and about and not worrying about Lilly's schedule. If she got hungry I would feed her in the car or in a dressing room at the store. It was fine for her to go longer than 2 hours. She would let me know if she was hungry. I no longer needed the ibreastfeed app to survive.

Phase six: Around 4 months old Lilly really started to recognize the world around her. This made breastfeeding more of a challenge. She would latch on and off. She liked to take breaks and look around. If I needed her to nurse faster, a nice quiet room worked the best. Even now she has her moments where she is a lazy nurser. She likes to play with my hair. She likes to smile at her daddy. She likes to laugh and talk. And I like to watch her.

Phase seven: Lilly takes a bottle just fine. Then after a month of not having a bottle she decided she hated them (a week before daycare). Mommy has a heart attack. Mommy feels guilty for not letting her practice more over the summer. We try all different types of bottles. Lilly starts daycare and drinks her bottles. Mommy aged 10 years in 1 week.

Phase eight: Pumping at work. It sucks. But I do it for Lilly!

Phase nine: OUCH!!!! She bit me!!! She doesn't have any teeth thank the lord! I cried. I think it hurt my feelings more than it hurt me. I got over it.

Phase ten: NIP (nursing in public) has begun. One of my friends made me a nursing cover. My first NIP experience happened at Chili's. Lilly was hungry. I was hungry. I nursed her and ate my food. Nobody noticed.

Phase eleven: I now nurse Lilly anywhere and everywhere. I look back on all of the many phases we have been through in just 6 short months and think about all of the many phases to come. We have come so far! Nursing Lilly is my favorite part of the day. I can sooth her instantly just by nursing. This has come in handy when she doesn't feel well. It's a cure all!  

Baby Food!

After exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months, Lilly had her first taste of baby food tonight! Tonight's menu consisted of a tablespoon of organic baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk. We will practice with this for a few days and then start sweet potatoes next week.

We have just entered a whole new ball game. I guess crawling is next up to bat. How exciting! (and scary!) I hope that milestone doesn't come as quickly as the other ones have. But I know it will... So all we can do is enjoy every single second with our sweet Lilly Bug and hold and kiss her while she still let's us. Boy do we love our Lilly Grace!

Saturday's

Our weekends are oh so different now that we have sweet Lilly to enjoy them with. You really do wonder what you used to do with all that "free time". This is such a huge lifestyle change that I hardly remember life before Lilly. Sometimes I feel like she's been with us forever. This is how our Saturday went:

Lilly woke up with the sun at 6:30 am. After a diaper change and some nursing we sat her up in bed and played. This could easily be the best part of my day... But it gets better!

We get out of bed around 8:00. Lilly plays in her bouncer while I shower and Mike cooks up a good ol' breakfast. After some coffee I picked Lilly up only to discover a huge blowout that went up her back and all over her bouncer. BATH TIME!!!

During bath time Mike comes in to watch Lilly splash around. He tells me that I can put Lilly on the other side of her baby tub now that she can sit up pretty well. It was so much easier! I didn't even realize that her tub was designed like that and I give her a bath all of the time. You learn something new everyday! Good job daddy!

After bath time Lilly took a nice long nap in her swing. Mike went to the grocery store and I got ready for the day. Then we all hopped in the truck and drove to the pumpkin patch. Lilly wore her special Halloween outfit.

Lilly saw lots of cool stuff at the pumpkin patch! She really liked the animals. We took a few pictures and then picked out a pumpkin before going back home. (oh yeah, and a quick stop at DQ so I could get a pumpkin pie blizzard. Thank the lord they didn't have this when I was pregnant or I would have gained an extra 30 lbs).

Mike went hunting this afternoon and Lilly and I played some more! I even painted my toenails while she sat up on her playmat. I painted my fingernails too but they got jacked up before they dried because, well you know, I have a baby!

Now I'm sitting in bed nursing a sleepy baby and getting some extra cuddles in. The weekends are just too short. This could also easily be my favorite part of the day. But the truth is, I love it all. Even the blow out diapers and the messed up nail polish. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

Informative Articles

I've been reading a lot of articles lately. Kelly Mom is one of my favorite websites! It has tons of useful and relevant information. I think it is so important to educate yourself. Keeping in touch with other mommies is also another great resource to use. I'm thankful for all of my mommy friends and the advice they have shared with me. Below are 2 articles that I have found helpful recently. One is about sleep patterns in babies. It's OK if your baby is not sleeping through the night. The other article is about starting solids and explains are decision to delay solids for the first 6 months. Check it out!

http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/sleep/

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

Memory Lane

Tomorrow is Lilly's half birthday... 6 months old! Whoever came up with the saying "babies don't keep" wasn't joking! I feel like she was just born. Let's take a trip down memory lane... Grab a snack and something to drink. This post will be long. This is my birth story.

Let me start out by saying there have been three moments in my life where time has stood still. Everything around me seemed to stop and all that mattered was what was happening in that exact moment.
1. When Mike asked me to marry him on August 16, 2008.
2. When I saw that positive pregnancy test the morning of August 5, 2011.
3. When I held my sweet baby girl for the first time on April 4, 2012.

Before I got pregnant I randomly watched this documentary on Netflix called The Business of Being Born. It was all about how more and more mothers are "scheduling" their births for when it is convenient for them and natural births are almost unheard of. It also talked about how an epidural can slow down the birth. If this happens they give you pitocin to speed it back up and then the baby can go into distress and can cause you to have an emergency c-section. FREAKED ME OUT! From that day on I decided I wanted to try and give birth the old fashion way... No meds. My mom birthed 3 kids that way! How bad could it be? The doctors told my petite little mom her body was just built to have babies. She had all of us super fast. I prayed that I would be the same.

Fast forward to the morning of August 5, 2011. I'm standing in the bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test. Mikes in the kitchen eating breakfast. The first thought I had after time started moving again was "oh crap, this baby has to come out of me in 9 months". I stored that thought in the back of my brain and ran into the kitchen to show Mike what we had done. We had made a baby!

After a few doctors appointments we decided to use the midwives at the doctors office. We felt so comfortable with them. I started to tell Mike how I wanted to try and have a natural birth. His response was always the same... "You can totally do that babe! You have such a high pain tolerance." The more he said this and the more I talked about it the more confident I became in myself. My body was designed to do this. So many women have done it. I can do it too.

After attending our birthing class around 32 weeks I was even more ready. I had all of the positions down. I knew how to breathe. I knew the process of labor. It will start out slow and then your contractions will gradually increase in frequency and intensity. You can use the different positions to help with pain. Sometimes your water breaks but most of the time that happens after you are already in labor at the hospital. I had Mike make me a labor playlist on the iPod. Music would help me get through it. I was ready!

Fast forward again to April 3rd 2012. I was 38 weeks pregnant. I had called my mom that morning on the way to work. I was having some cramps here and there but feeling pretty good. I remember my mom sounding excited about my cramps but I totally blew it off. I was so sure I would go over my due date because most first time moms do. I had a doctors appointment that afternoon. Mike and I ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and then we got some yogurt. We ended the night with a nice long "waddle" around the neighborhood. I called my parents around 9:00 to ask them something and the first thing my dad says is "Are you in labor?" Not yet dad!

I woke up and looked at the clock. 2:45 am. I had a bad cramp. I got up for yet another pee break. I got back in the bed and sat up straight. This cramp was really bothering me. Then all of a sudden a huge gush of water rushed out of me. I froze. Did I seriously just pee my pants at 3 in the morning!!? When I finally regain my senses I shook Mike awake and told him that I think my water just broke. In his groggy state he asked me if I was sure. The answer was definitely yes!!

This is the part of the story where I start acting like a crazy person. I was excited and terrified. How could this be happening!? I have 2 weeks to go! I am supposed to clean up this house over spring break which is a week away. Mike has an assignment due tomorrow for grad school. This is not the perfect time!!!! Well, it might have not been the perfect time but it was Lilly's time. This baby was ready to come out!

I called the midwife. She told me to try and get some rest, eat a light breakfast and then come to the hospital around 7am. Rest?? Eat?? My water just broke! How am I supposed to rest and eat? I needed to shave my legs. I needed to pack my bag. Thank the Lord Lilly's bag was packed and ready to go. I laid back down in the bed and tried to rest and time these mild contractions. This is when the you know what hit the fan. This is when we had to throw all of those birthing and labor notes out the window. This is when you realize what they mean when they say that your birthing plan won't always go as planned.

My contractions went from 0 to 60 just like that. They tell you to go to the hospital when the contractions are 5 min. apart. By 3:30 am I was having a stop you dead in your tracks contraction every 2 min. We were running around the house trying to pack and every 2 min. Mike had to come and help me breathe. It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I didn't cry but I sure did whine. I wanted to shred the birthing notes into a million little pieces. They infuriated me. How was this supposed to help me!? Nothing could help me! At one point I told Mike that I didn't want to do this. He told me that I didn't have a choice and that Lilly was ready to come and that everything would be ok. He was right. I didn't have a choice. And Lilly was definitely ready to meet us.

We got to the hospital at 5am. I'm pretty sure we got there in record time. In between contractions I told Mike I was scared. What if I was only 2 cm dilated and it already hurt this bad? How could I do this without pain medicine? Even though we had pre registered they somehow lost my paperwork so we had to sit up front and sign some forms before being put in a room. By this point I was in so much pain that I would double over and moan. The only words I could say were Mike and owwww. My poor husband.

We were finally in a room. The nurse came in and checked to see how dilated I was. She said I was 9 cm and we were going to meet our little Lilly in about an hour or so. My jaw fell to the floor. Just 3 short hours ago I was sleeping peacefully in my bed and now I'm about to have a baby. And then a HUGE wave of calmness fell over me. I got in the zone. I was going to have a baby. And all of a sudden the pain was not that bad. My breathing was more focused. I was ready.

I pushed for 3 hours. Mikes job was to give me water. He was good at his job. Between pushes I would stop and tell him it wasn't that bad. And the truth was it really wasn't! I didn't scream. I didn't cry out in pain. Everything was very calm. I was so focused. One more big push and Michelle (our midwife) told me to reach down and grab my baby. I pulled Lilly up to my chest. And once again time stood still.

I didn't get a trophy for having a natural childbirth. What I did get was a healthy 6 lbs 11 ounce perfect baby girl. What more could I ask for?

Sleepyhead

Crib- 0

Lilly- 3

The transition from the rocker to the crib has been fun! (yes, this is sarcasm). We recently moved Lilly's crib into our room. If you've read my previous blogs you know that our bedroom is downstairs and there is no way Miss Lilly can be that far away from us. She slept like a little angle in her fisher price rocker right beside me. Sometimes I would even hold her little hand while we slept. Now that she is sleeping in her crib she is waking up a lot more during the night. Last night she went to sleep around 9:00, woke up and nursed at 12, went back in crib, and woke up at 2:00. This is when the crib loses big time and we put Lilly in the bed. I can nurse laying down and everybody can sleep. I never thought I would do this but as long as you are super safe about cosleeping and have done your homework it can be great! Lilly sleeps so great after that 2 am feed. We ALL sleep good after that. I know eventually Lilly will adjust to her crib but I must say I love that extra cuddle time with her. There is also some growth spurts that happen around the 6 month mark that will interrupt sleep. The good news is that I am pumping 3 extra ounces a day after all of these extra night feedings!

Babies also wake more frequently during the night when they are hitting another milestone and in Lilly's case this involves sitting up on her own! I repeat... LILLY IS SITTING UP ON HER OWN! She literally learned how to do this overnight! We have been practicing this with pillows and whatnot. I walk into her classroom today and there she is sitting up on the mat in front of her good friend Emma trying to grab her socks. I couldn't believe my eyes. She was doing so great!! We practiced more when we got home. It is absolutely amazing what babies learn to do that first year. Every milestone has been fun but this one just seems different. This one seems so "grown up". What happened to my 6 lbs little girl? I really need to learn how to stop time. I'll put that on my never ending todo list :-)