Updates

Alyss is such a tiny, sweet baby. She eats a lot and sleeps almost all night long and during the day quite a bit, and occasionally has some colics which make her cry but go away when I give her Cocyntal herbal drops. She is very alert and happy. She likes to be held and cuddles next to me in her sleep. We breastfeed but because I don't make too much (about 3.5oz every 4 hours) we also use milk from a friend who has a 4 months old baby and is kind enough to share her milk with us.

I feel better too. The episiotomy's healed more and doesn't hurt as much. At the 6 weeks check-up I received an IUC (IUD without hormones) which I can keep in as long as 10 years but can take out any time we want to try for another baby. I love not having to worry about birth control. I was pretty scared before I went in but even though the doctor said that I might be feeling pinches or pressure I didn't feel a thing and I sure was happy about it.

Having my mom here is wonderful and a lot of help. She takes care of Alyss a lot so that I could spend time with Jane and take naps during the day. We have a great time going on walks, eating at Burger King and watching Romanian television on her laptop. :)

Jane's gotten a lot better about accepting Alyss. She gives her the binky and the bottle even when ALyss doesn't want them :) and calls Alyss by name. On occasion she still gets upset but doesn't cry uncontrollably or throws huge fits any more. I really hope that they'll be best friends when they grow up.

Too many chocolate eggs :)

Alyss' First Easter

Cutie pie

What is sleep?

Sleep's been a rarity for me since the third trimester of pregnancy on. When Jane was born she woke up to eat twice at night and slept quite a bit during the day but once she was about 2 months old she started sleeping less and less and now, at 8 months she takes a one hour nap during the day if I'm lucky and wakes up every couple of hours at night crying and wanting to take a few sips of formula. I don't know if she's hungry or just wants the comfort of that bottle but she wakes up and interrupts our sleep. We expected sleepless nights while having babies but not like this. I read about letting your baby cry-it-out - ask my neighbors if they'd like that - giving her the pacifier (that doesn't help, she still cries until she tastes the formula) or trying to ignore the cry for a few minutes, soothe her and then let her cry again for a bit. I'm willing to try this last one but having David work so much is pretty much not an option right now. He needs all the sleep he can get so I always try to give her the bottle as quickly as possible. This routine has really taken a toll on me and now that I'm pregnant again I find myself tired, irritated and even depressed at times. I need a good night's sleep. Jane sleeps with us right now because we didn't have a crib. We got a crib now but we're waiting to move before unpacking it. I hope that having the crib will help but I'm worried that I won't get to sleep at night even more then, not having her with me and knowing that she's ok. Plus, whenever she'll be crying I'd have to go all the way to another room to see what's wrong. I don't know what to do and how to treat this situation... I really need some rest.

Sleep baby, sleep...

Sleeping... What is that? Any new parent knows what I'm talking about. Here's our experience so far (Jane's 7 months old)
- First month - Jane would sleep most of the day and night but would nurse every 2.3 to 3 hours - not much sleep for me
- 2nd to 4th month - Jane would sleep a few good hours every day and night but nurse every 3.5 to 4 hours and cry because of colic sometimes until 3AM - still not much sleep for me and even for David sometimes
- 4th to 6th month - Jane would not go to sleep until 1AM would ask for a bottle at night every 4 or 4.5 hours. She would take a couple hour long naps during the day. Jane eats every 3 hours during the day - more sleep for me than before but I'd also be more exhausted from watching her during the day
- 7th month - Jane has a bedtime routine and goes to bed around 10PM. During the day she has one 2 hour nap and sometimes a short 30 mins nap. She still eats every 4 or 5 hours at night and every 3 hours during the day - I get more sleep now but still can't go to bed earlier that 1AM
- 8th month - when she doesn't fall asleep during the last feeding, Jane rolls all over the bed and cries really loud when I try to hold her still. She naps for about an hour during the day. She wakes up every couple of hours crying for a bottle at night. Sometimes she only takes a few sips and falls back to sleep. Pacifier only doesn't do the trick
Bedtime Routine
- we start around 9:30PM by dimming the lights in the bedroom, turning the Zen fountain on and sometimes playing lullabies
- I give her a bath - she loves her bath and playing with the rubber ducky :)
- David makes her a bottle while she's in the bath
- I get her dry, rub her with baby oil and get her into her pajamas - almost always she screams really bad during this part
- I give her the bottle, her sleepy-time blankie and her baby-doll Veronica
- David or I read her a bedtime book or story - sometimes she's already asleep before she finishes the bottle
- if she's still awake, I lay her in bed

Jane is One Month Old!

I can't believe it. Jane is one month old already. It's been a pretty easy first month. We spent much time together getting to know each other. I can pretty much tell every time what Jane wants. It's pretty neat and interesting how such a small baby can communicate exactly what she needs and wants even though she can't talk and doesn't even hold her head up all the time. Speaking of holding her head, the first time she lifted it up by herself was when she was 5 days old. I had her on her tummy, propped up on my leg and she pretty much lifted herself a couple of times. It was so cool. Ch also started smiling around 3 weeks and now, at 4 weeks she smiles even more. We can't get her to smile but she does it when she feels like it.

We had our two week appointment and found out that Jane weighted 10 lbs (90 percentile) at the time and was 21 1/4 in long (95 percentile). I'm sure she's grown more since then. She is also healthy and progresses well.

We had some trouble with breastfeeding. At first I breastfed her exclusively but I was making very little milk so the nurses advised me to supplement with formula. We started her on Similac and she didn't fuss from hunger anymore but started spitting up more. We tried Similac with soy but that one smelled bad and gave her a lot of gas then finally decided on Similac Sensitive which seems to sit a little better with her. As I was hurting pretty bad, I started pumping and feeding her breast milk in the mean time and my supply increased a little but not a lot. After not giving her the breast for a while she didn't seem happy when we started that again but we're working on getting used to it again. It's just a little uncomfortable for her when the milk lets down and a gush of it fills her mouth. She chokes every time and starts crying. Sleeping's been really good the first month. She'd sleep about 4 hours straight every night and then she'd wake up to eat and be changed and would fall asleep for a few hours more. That changed recently. She sleeps in the evenings and nothing seems to wake her up but then she wakes up around 10pm and doesn't fall asleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Then she sleeps for 2 to 4 hours after which she wakes up on and off all morning until around 2pm. We're trying to get her on a better schedule.

Her first bath (sponge bath) was pretty nice. She didn't cry much. She didn't cry when we gave her the first real bath either but taking her out of the water scared her, especially when she got cold, and that really made her cry. She doesn't mind the bath, just the after-bath experience.

My feelings had been a roller coaster this first month. In the beginning when I saw that I wasn't able to nurse her well I was really disappointed and felt like I wasn't a good enough mother for my little baby. When she didn't want to take the breast anymore after not eating that way for a couple of weeks I felt rejected and like I wasn't needed anymore. Those feelings went away as they came but it's interesting how many different feelings a new mom can experience. The feeling of being lonely and as if something was missing was something else I went through in the beginning as well. I realized that I missed my belly, feeling Jane inside me and having her with me all the time. I cried the first couple of times I left her with my mom or David at home. I knew that she was going to be ok but I had a really hard time leaving her. I still miss her a lot when I go somewhere without her and it feels so good when I come back and hold her and smell her. I love her sweet baby smell, I love staring at her tiny face and I could do it for hours, I love holding her small, light body in my arms, feeding her, playing with her, listening to her quiet sounds, kissing her chubby cheeks and her cute feet and I love it when she grabs me tight with her little hands or when she "kisses" me when she's hungry and looks for food everywhere. I just love Jane and am oh so happy to have her in my life.