bad tasting breastmilk

Time since birth: 10 weeks
Weight loss this week: forgot to weigh myself before eating this morning….

One of the bonuses of breastfeeding is that you don’t get your period. I went to the bathroom one morning and to my horror, found that i had started my period. WTF?!?! Of course i immediately googled the matter and found that some women get their monthly when their baby starts sleeping 6 or more hours per night consistently (because you then don’t breastfed during that time and have less of the period suppressing hormones). It can be lighter then normal, and shorter, and not every month. Bubba didn’t like it either. the hormones can affect the taste of your milk. She would take a couple sips, scream, try again, scream, and so on, until after about 20 minutes she decided that was as good as it was going to get and just ate it anyway. This happened every feed for three days. On the plus side, she has been sleeping 8 hours straight at night time. Last night she slept for 9.5 hours straight. She has been refusing to sleep during the day though (unless I take her for a walk, then she sleeps in the pram for the duration of the walk, but wakes up as soon as we set foot in the house. How does she know???).

I forgot to write about our guinea pig last week (or maybe I was just blocking it out). I went to feed them the week before last and found Speedy dead in the corner of the cage. I think motherhood has made me a bit soft as I did shed a few tears. We wanted to bury her, but we have no garden tools, so Aaron wrapped her up in newspaper and threw her in the bin. At least she had a good long life. She was about 4 and a half years old (guinea pigs usually have a life span of 3-5 years). She was our first little baby and will be missed. We still have Stinky and Smarty, both are doing well despite the loss of their friend.

Maybe it’s because I’m American, but I think toilet humour is quite funny. Hannah does too. I make farting noises to her and she smiles. Once she even giggled. She also finds it quite funny while she’s sitting on you to lift her little bubba butt, fart, put it back down, and then giving you a cheeky little grin. Of course the funniest thing in the world of Bubba is when she projectile poops on Mommy (which happens when her nappy is off and she coughs).

We went to one of the antenatal girls houses this week for our catch up. We were able to line up all the babies (in birth order) and take a some photos. I look forward to our catch up each week. Some times you just need to get out of the house and talk to people who are going through the same thing as you, and compare notes (“is your baby sleeping more then 30 minutes at a time during the day, because mine isn’t. How often does your baby poo?” stuff like that. You probably wouldn’t want to hear our conversations right after the births!). Hannah seems to have a little boyfriend too. She and another baby always look at eachother every time they meet. Sometimes the even smile at eachother. All of our babies are within 6 weeks of eachother, with Hannah the second oldest.

Aaron went to visit some friends in the Penrith area on Saturday night, and didn’t get home until 11pm or so. He still woke up at his usual 6pm, so he was quite tired on Sunday. We were sitting on the couch, and I could see him drifting off to sleep out of the corner of my eye. It was that eyes close, head goes down, wake suddenly to pick up head kind of sleep. He got past the head falling down stage and nearly face planted from the couch to the floor! He only just startled awake in time to catch himself before possibly needing a trip to the emergency room for a broken nose.

My jaundiced baby

Time since birth: 2 weeks 1 day
Total weight loss: 7kg (15.4lbs)
Weight loss this week: 100g (.22lbs but I weighed myself after eating and fully clothed so this is not too accurate)

Last Monday (a week ago today) a nurse from the early childhood centre came to do a home visit. She checked Hannah’s jaundice (which is now gone), weighed her (she had gained over 200g since that Thursday, which is really good), pushed on my tummy to see how my uterus is going, and asked any questions that I have. She said we were doing really well and that I seemed really calm for a new mom. I find it very odd that after getting stitches when Hannah was born, not one person has checked the stitches since then. I had a total of 4 home visits (3 from midwives, 1 from the nurse), and some checks in hospital, but no stitch check. This seems very odd to me. What if they are infected or not healing right or something. I wouldn’t know, I don’t know what vajayjay stitches are supposed to look like (nor can I see down there anyway…). I’m sure they are fine, but I still find it odd. I would think that would be something that needs checking.

I can’t remember if I mentioned it last week, but after you have a baby, your appetite goes out the window. I had to force myself to eat 3 meals per day for a week and a half. I could only get through small portions. The nurse said that is normal, and is due to hormones, etc. I’m happy to report that I now have my appetite back. Unfortunately I have not been drinking any milk as Hannah had lots of gas and I read online that sometimes this can be due to mom’s ingesting milk products. So, I’m giving up milk for a week to see if there is a change. It’s torture though, I LOVE milk!! I don’t think she has been as gassy though. Poor little Hannah gets quite distressed when she has too much wind. her poor little tummy hurts. Hopefully I can reintroduce milk slowly to my diet. I will have to ask the nurse about such things.

It’s funny how things change as soon as you have a baby. I never used to go out without at least a light dusting of my mineral makeup, but now, who cares, I just had a baby, I don’t have time for that! I’ve been living in sweats since I got home, and only shower every other day (except for washing my stitches which I do every day). I walk to the shops in my sweats and take Hannah for walks in my sweats. That is just what happens after you become a mom. I don’t want to be daggy for the rest of my life, but for now, while little Hannah is so young and in need of attention all the time, I just don’t have time to make myself look nice.

I am so thankful to our church and it’s members. They have been bringing us meals since we came home from hospital. I don’t know what we’d do without it. There just isn’t time (or energy) for cooking dinner at the moment. Hannah doesn’t really like to sleep during the day (she is sleeping now, but it’s the first time she has slept today, and it’s 4:40 in the afternoon), so that doesn’t really give me time to tend to any house duties or cooking. We are very grateful!

My coccyx is still sore, but getting better. I can now sit on the couch and breastfeeding chair (cushioned gliding rocking chair in Hannah’s room. Hannah and I love that chair) without a folded towel under each cheek. I still can’t drive as the seats in the car are quite hard and I have to sit really awkwardly in the car. If it was an automatic I might be able to drive it, but as it’s a manual, I’d have to sit properly to have both feet doing what they are supposed to, and that is painful still.

Hannah loves it when Mommy or Daddy holds her in a sitting position so she can stare at our faces. Sometimes she even smiles. She may not like to sleep during the day, but at night, Hannah is wonderful. She usually sleeps at about 10pm after a feed, and then sleeps for 5 hours. Another feed, diaper change, and settling (45min – 1 hour total), and she sleeps for another 2-4 hours. Another feed, etc, and she sleeps for another 2-4 hours. I get lots of sleep luckily (most nights, but we have had the odd bad night). She is just so cute.

Hannah was really unsettled yesterday. She didn’t sleep all day. We went to church last night, but she cried so much that Aaron had to take her out to the car and just sit with her the whole time while she bawled her eyes out. I wish I knew how to make her feel better when she is so unsettled. We check her nappy, feed her, make sure she is not too hot or cold, give her cuddles, etc, but still, she cries. I guess it’s just because she is a baby. She looks tired (yawning, and other tired signs), wakes up about 5 min after putting her to bed. I suppose she will grow out of it though. Better to be like that during the day then all night though! She does sleep when I take her for a walk in her pram. She will be bawling her eyes out all the way to the top of the driveway, then, as soon as we hit the sidewalk, she is out. She will be out the whole walk time, until we get right outside our driveway, then she is up and screaming again. I don’t know how she knows we’re home, but somehow, she always does. She is too smart for her own good I think.

I find getting out for a walk does wonders for me too. I like to get some fresh air, and it really puts me in a good mood. I might be really stressed or upset from trying to settle Hannah all day, but as soon as we go for a walk, I’m refreshed. Good old vitamin D (the happy vitamin) I suppose. I guess that is why all the baby books tell you to get out everyday no matter what, even if it’s just to the mailbox and back. Good advice, I second that. I like going for pram walks so much that I emailed all the girls from my antenatal class (we all keep in touch and meet up sometimes) and suggested we all meet up fairly regularly after everyone has their babies (one popped yesterday, and another today, a couple more to go) and go for pram walks. I’ve gotten favourable responses so far.

Anyway, Hannah might wake up soon, so I’m going to go now. ToOdLeS!