We had some great visits yesterday. Allison came over and got to hold the Lils and hang out with us for a while. I miss my school/work friends so much. They are the only reason I would want to go back to work. :)
Well, that and the fact that I get to actually talk to grown ups about things other than dirty diapers and feeding times.
In the evening, Harry and Mary Hodge came to visit and brought all sorts of goodies for us! Yay for goodies! And some super yummy cookies!
And yay for great friends!
We went out to dinner and Lils was a little fussy, but in general, ok. Poor Mary though, she got slimed by Lil when we got back home. I think it is her way of accepting you into the fold if she slimes you.
Things seem to be going ok lately. She is sort of in somewhat of a routine, as I can say when she "normally" does things now days. She "normally" eats from this time to this time. She "normally" sleeps this many hours. She "normally" will do this when she is happy/hungry/tired. I am getting her more and more figured out, which is a good thing. Now, I will say that I don't have her TOTALLY figured out. OH NO. but it is getting better. Our only major hurdle is this breast feeding thing. It truly is sucking the life out of me and is so painful, I can't even explain. It shouldn't be painful after 6 weeks. So I went onto a forum, (kellymom.com) and posted a question about my issues. After much feedback...maybe too much feedback?...I realized that we very likely have a latching problem. We may or may not have a overabundance of milk issue, and we might just have the dreaded nipple confusion. I am hoping that the nipple confusion isn't the case, as she NEEDS to use a bottle when she goes to daycare in a month. OY.
So now, I pump and she eats from a bottle because things are just too painful any other way. Sad, but true.
The only issue now is the stress of producing enough milk in a day to keep her in supply. I was dumb enough, also to try to "beat her to the punch" as it were and try to pump before she got hungry. This has created a waking up every two hour habit for pumping/feeding at night time. Not good at all for me. NO it is not.
Thank goodness for naps during the day or I would be a crazy person. But we HAVE to get this fixed before I go back to work.
The forum people suggested I talk to a certified lactation consultant. (It seems that the ones at the hospital may not be certified?) and so I have an appointment for someone to come to the house and talk to me about it all on Thursday evening.
I am hoping that will really help. I can watch all the videos in the world, and read all the directions about latching/breast feeding, but it won't get solved until I have some real live help. So, let's hope that goes well. It certainly can't hurt, right?
So, that is the status of life in the Thompson household these days.
Thanks so much for checking in. I am so amazed/honored that so many people keep up with us via the blog.
:) Nikki
