Two Week Check-In

Baby Eli is 2 weeks old today! So much has happened and changed in his two weeks on Earth. 

His first 3 days were traumatic. From rude nurses, nursing strikes and everything in between. Although he's EBF, he was force fed a bottle and syringe fed. After a day or so at home and lots of screaming at my boob, he finally started to respond to a nipple shield. Nursing has been amazing ever since. At his first well baby appointment at 5 days old he weighed 6lbs 9oz, not too shabby for being born at 7lbs 1oz. But the doctor that saw him......the lady is a quack. Even my husband agreed. She told me to pump my over supply (which is a HORRIBLE idea if you are exclusively nursing and have no need for a "stash"-I can link an article for anyone interested). She also was unsure what was safe for his bili score to be. That isn't scary or anything. Well today she went so far as to tell me to let my precious 2 week old cry it out. Are you kidding me?! Crying is his only form of communication. If he's crying, something is wrong. That something could be as simple as wanting mom, and that's okay! It makes me sad to know that she has children of her own and would allow one this young to CIO. How awful. Luckily, I have the ability to change his pediatrician with ease. We will NOT be seeing her again. 

Also in his two weeks on Earth, he's visited the ER. My mommy instincts told me that the diaper was just getting too small and rubbing his little man parts and that's why they were irritated and all would be okay if I just put him in bigger diapers and applied some cream to the irritation. Well my mother-in-law just haaaaaad to involve herself in this and freak the fuck out and have me take him to the ER (there were no same day appointments available) and GUESS WHAT. Mommy was right. It was just a contact rash from the diaper that got so irritated so quickly it bled the tiniest bit, and what I was doing differently to fix it was exactly what the ER ped told me to do. So of course I was angry as hell I had introduced my 10 day old to the effing ER where a little girl positive for strep was out in the same room as us. Fucking awesome, right? 

Then over this passed weekend someone just couldn't tell their parents 'no' to meeting up at one of the most popular malls in the state of Tennessee.....on a Saturday. I had hardly any sleep and had to take my newborn into gigantic crows of people and worry about how I was going to be able to nurse him. Fabulous. Lets add to it that we sat in the car in traffic for 2 hours to get there. Here I had planned to try and nap through the day to catch up on the sleep I wasn't getting because god knows I'm the only one that ever wakes up. The only positive in that was that I purchased some shorts that actually fit and had to nurse in a restaurant twice. Well it isn't positive that I had to nurse in there twice, but that I succeeded in doing it...with help from my husband. 

You could say the frustration is real. It's not even frustration with my tiny little baby that needs me 24/7, its frustration with other people. Does no one think of the mom when they have bright ideas that put her in uncomfortable situations? Does no one care to trust her instincts with her child? Of course not. They've done the whole mom thing before, so I must be wrong. 

Good news to report is that Eli is now 7lbs 11oz! He nurses about every hour and a half during the day (8am to 9pm) and about every two and a half hours at night. He cluster feeds about twice a day for a 2 hour period and is usually wide awake from midnight to 1am and 5-6am. It's not the most fun schedule, but its sort of a schedule lol I've incorporated one pumping session a day into our daily routine. This is so my husband can feed him when he feels like it, since he's expressed such interest in doing so. Also just in case I have to leave him with someone, or something crazy happens. 

I believe we will be investing in the Kinnde Twist System. If we do, I'll be sure to write all about it.

You can imagine that I've been taking millions of pictures of this little stinker! Ironically though, they are all on my phone. This photographer has not been able to even think about doing the cutesy newborn pictures. I'm either too tired or too busy. 

We gave Eli his first real bath last night.....and he hated it lol poor kid. 

We also finally took our first family picture- also only the second picture I have with my child. Funny how that works huh? Mom carries and births baby and then everyone forgets about her. Well except to tell her she needs to do this and that and do it this way not that way. 

Let's hope my placenta pills and help get this anger at outsiders under control before I have a total come-apart. I am genuinely so so so happy to be home with baby and alone now. I feel so much more in control. I can actually get things done because I'm not siting around waiting to see if my husband is going to do anything or not. I will say this morning trying to get ready for the doctors was stressful, but anything that has time constraints will be. 

Now time to eat something and wooooosaaaaaaa.

Btw, baby sneezes are THE cutest thing in the entire world and you will never ever feel anything softer than the furry skin of a newborn ♥ 

Can you tell he's not a big fan of picture time? lol