9 Month Appointment

Evan just had his 9 month appointment today although at this point he's closer to 10 months old than 9! His doctor, Dr. S, is SOOOOO busy. He's definitely the busiest doctor at the office we visit. I kind of wish we had gone with another doctor from the beginning, but Dr. S is really nice and great with Evan, so we'll stick with him. We can always see him at well visits (just not always "on time") and thankfully Evan hasn't had many sick visits.

They didn't do any shots at this visit, but they did prick his finger and collect blood to test iron levels. Evan didn't flinch at all! I don't know if he couldn't feel it or what, but he stayed very still while the nurse collected the blood. Such a sweetie! Everything looks great, I have a perfectly healthy son at this point. :-)

Weight: 18 lbs, 15 oz (25%)

Height: 29 inches (75%)

Head cir: 18.5 inches (90%)

Dr. S confirmed that Evan can eat anything as long as Matt and I aren't allergic to it. That includes egg whites, which is good since I just scrambled eggs for Evan this morning and didn't separate the whites. ;-) Also my mom scrambled an entire egg for him a couple of weeks ago. My goal for myself and for Evan is to eat fish once a week. We ate a lot in New Orleans and since coming home we've done mahi mahi and tuna. I bought some sea perch today. Never had it, but I figure I'll buy whatever's on sale at the grocery store and we'll try some new things. Any suggestions on good fish or good ways to cook fish (especially perch, since that's what I have right now!)? I know i personally love tilapia with mango salsa -- yum!! I've never made it, but I'm planning on getting around to it one of these days.

Dr. S also talked about weaning Evan. He said anytime after 10 months I can just start giving him whole milk instead of nursing him. Crazy that I'm so close!! I'm planning on waiting until he's a year old, then I will start weaning. Hopefully I can get him to take milk in a sippy cup instead of bottle at that point. I think he'll wean really well. I know not all babies adjust so well, but Evan doesn't have a lot of interest in nursing. I actually think he prefers not to, but too bad. ;-) At this point I'm only giving him a bottle of breast milk in the afternoon or evening after he's nursed as a supplement.

Evan has been waking up in the middle of the night since coming home from New Orleans. He actually wakes up at about 5:30 - 6:30. I've been feeding him because I thought maybe he was hungry. But it's getting old and I don't think he's waking up hungry...I think it's just becoming a habit. I talked to the doctor and he thinks the same thing and said I probably shouldn't keep feeding him because it'll get to be a habit. So in the morning I am not going to feed him. I'll let him cry for 20 minutes then I'll go in and rock him and put him back down. Of course this is the night Matt is out of town, but I want to fix this ASAP. He's been such a great nighttime sleeper since he was 7 weeks old with the exception of growth spurts or traveling. I think being in NO for so long threw him off and that's why he started waking up.

Speaking of traveling, we're going to Asheville next week (over Father's Day weekend) along with my family to visit my brother. Then next month Evan and I will be flying out to San Diego, CA to meet Matt and have a little vacation!! It'll be Evan's first time flying and I'm nervous and excited that I'll be taking him on the plane by myself. Matt will be in San Diego all week for business and I'll meet up with him on a Thursday so we can spend the weekend there. I'm so excited!!

6 Month Appointment

Weight: 16 lbs, 13 oz (25-50%)
Height: 27.5 in (90%)
Head circumference: 17.5 inches (90%)

Evan's appointment went really well today! The nurse who measured his head said it was 18 1/4 inches which was over 95% on the chart. However, I asked Dr. S about it (wondering if that was a concern!) and he said it wasn't unless it grew a lot really fast. So he decided to see his growth progression and then he measured it again. He said the nurse measured it wrong and that it was actually 17.5 inches. It's all normal! Evan just has a big head. :-)

I didn't have many questions for the doctor today. The only concerns I had were some remaining cradle cap covering Evan's soft spot. I've been afraid to scrub at it but the doctor said no worries about rubbing the soft spot. I was also concerned about a rash that has come and gone on Evan's face and chest, but the doctor said since it doesn't last long and doesn't occur at the same time or after eating or being exposed to the same things that it's probably just his skin being irritated by something. It could be anything, but it's nothing to worry about.

I also asked if it's okay that Evan isn't sitting up on his own yet. That's also not a problem. Dr. S said that some babies like to stand more and prefer to either stand or lay down so they can wiggle and move and that they hate to be constricted by sitting. Sounds JUST like Evan! He said he may not sit by himself until he's up to 8 months old. Matt wondered if that would mean he'll crawl late and Dr. S said maybe, but that he could very well find other ways to get himself off the ground to crawl.

Evan has more and more personality every day. I love it! And every day I have more and more fun. I know some people miss their babies being newborns, but I don't. I'm much more comfortable with Evan now than I was when he was small. I enjoy every stage he gets to more than the one before that. I think that's a good thing since he'll only keep growing! ;-)

Appointments

This is a record for me to keep of Evan's appointment stats.

Birth
Weight: 7 lbs, 2 oz
Height: 19.5 in

1 Month (1 month old)
Weight: 9 lbs, 6 oz (25-50%)
Height: 22 in (50%)
Head cir: 15 1/4 in (25-50%)

2 Month (2 months old)
Weight: 11 lbs, 12 oz (50%)
Height: 23.5 in (75%)

4 Month (4 months, 2 weeks old)
Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz (25-50%)
Height: 26.5 in (90-95%)
Head cir: 17 1/4 (75-90%)

6 Month (6 months, 2 weeks old)

Weight: 16 lbs, 13 oz (25-50%)

Height: 27.5 in (90%)

Head cir: 17.5 inches (90%)

9 Month (9 months, 2 weeks old)

Weight: 18 lbs, 15 oz (25%)

Height: 29 in (75%)

Head cir: 18.5 in (90%)

12 Month (1 year old)

Weight: 20 lbs, 6 oz (10-25%)

Height: 29.5 in (50%)

Head cir: 18.5 in (50-75%)

18 Month (18 months, 1 week)

Weight: 24.8 lbs (25-50%)

Height: 33 1/4 inches (75%)

Head cir: 19 in (50-75%)

4 month appointment

4 month stats:
Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz (25-50%)
Height: 26.5 inches (90-95%)

We have one tall baby!! Everything else is great with him. I was concerned about his back because his spine seems curved, but the doctor said it's the muscles and he'll outgrow it. If it's not better by his 6 month appointment he said he can do x-rays to make sure it isn't scoliosis, but he's pretty much positive it isn't at this point. That's a big relief to me because I was really worried that Evan had it, especially since I do. But infant scoliosis is very rare, only 1% of babies have it.

I'm not sure what I'm doing with my blog these days. Obviously I haven't been posting! I'm wondering if I should keep trying to post, if I should just quit but leave it up for others to see, or if I should completely take it offline. I don't know...

I enjoy blogging, but I don't have time anymore. I'm super super busy. I joined a playgroup back at the end of November and since then I've been meeting with them a couple of times a week. I've made some great friends through the group that I also get together with a couple of times a week. Then I have things like appointments, shopping, hanging out with our families, etc, that also take up my time. I can't remember the last time that I spent a day at home (I thought that I would on Wednesday, but then my mom called and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her, so I ended up going out for a couple of hours then too).

I mostly enjoy being so busy, but sometimes I wonder if I should slow down. My house is a wreck. When I come home in the evenings I have no energy to clean. If I have free time at home that's the last thing I want to do. I've noticed the past couple of weeks that I feel really down in the evenings once we're home. I wonder if I'm burned out and it doesn't set in until I'm at home. I don't know.... So part of me wonders if I should stop doing so much and then once I have more time at home I can blog regularly again.

Speaking of feeling "down," I realize I never really updated about my anxiety that I posted about in November HERE. It's a lot better now! I still have attacks every once in awhile, but not as often and they aren't as bad. I talked to my chiropractor about it and he wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. He didn't seem to get that I had this problem before pregnancy and childbirth. I told him that, but all he said is that I should make "me time" and relax and let someone else watch Evan while I go out shopping or read a book or something. I said that Matt does watch Evan most evenings and I get a break, but he said I need to completely get away a couple of times a week. haha. Anyway, not so helpful. My bad dreams have also declined, thank God. I still have them every once in awhile, but not every night like I was a couple of months ago.

We started Evan on rice cereal today! He was such a good baby! He did really well with eating it. Towards the end he started getting a little antsy like, "okay, let's get back to the real food," but he ate more than I expected. He also wasn't as messy as I thought. He only spit some out a couple of times and I think it's just because he had too much in his mouth. Anyway, this coming up Friday I'm going to start making baby food for him. I've decided to mostly use organic homemade food for him. I'll still use jarred food sometimes for when we're out or I don't have enough time to heat up the homemade food. I'm excited about it! I'll definitely write a post about that after we try it next week.

Firefly hasn't been doing so well and last night we finally discovered the source (I won't go into details, it's kind of gross). Matt took her to the vet this morning and she has a UTI. She's on antibiotics. We also need to restrict her diet because the vet said she's overweight. She weighs 14 pounds, 6 ounces! More than Evan! Anyway, I'm hoping the medicine will work and that she'll be okay.

3 Months Old

Thanks for your encouraging comments on my last post. I was feeling awful and I thought that maybe writing about it would help. And it kind of did. Want to hear something weird? My chiropractor mentioned in passing that he treats some kids for anxiety. I asked how he did that and he said there's a certain adjustment of the mid back that helps anxiety and that he also recommends a special diet to help. I never even thought about natural treatments for anxiety, my doctor just suggested meds that you can't take while pregnant or breastfeeding. I didn't tell my chiro about my anxiety, but maybe I'll bring it up next time. The whole thing seems weird to me though. Thoughts?

Evan is 3 months old! It's amazing how fast time has gone by. I meant to write a special 3 month post on the 23rd, but obviously didn't do that. I also want to write a post about my L&D experience...like more about my thoughts and feelings about it. I've had a lot of time to think about it over the past 3 months and I want to record my thoughts. I also want to write a post on "what to do next time" and my suggestions to people wanting an all natural delivery.

New things with Evan....

• He weighs 13 pounds!
• He's starting to grab things on his own, without me holding them up to his hands.
• The other day he grabbed his rattle and put it in his mouth.
• He's "talking" and smiling all the time!
  
• He shows his recognition of me by smiling. :-) I love it when he smiles at me the first time I see him in the morning!
• He is still sleeping through the night and is doing an awesome job! He rarely wakes up before 8:00 and if he does he goes back to sleep on his own. Also, when he does wake up he'll lay in his bassinet and just coo or move around for a long time before he fusses (usually I get him up to eat before he even gets to that point).
• He's still sleeping in the bassinet, but I think tonight will be his first night in his room.
• He stayed with my mom for many hours on Friday night so I could go to the movies with Matt and a friend for my birthday. My mom gave him a bottle and he did really well all evening. It was the longest I was away from him and I missed him SO MUCH, especially since we ended up sitting next to a girl with a 4 month old boy in the movie. I watched him a lot and missed Evan even more.
  
• I'm starting to figure this child out! He only wants to be held a little while during his wake time, then he wants to be on a blanket on the floor. Then after about an hour to an hour and a half he has to take his nap. He'll usually fuss just a little to let me know it's time. At that point I have to cradle him and walk him around the house, jiggling him a little. Then he'll either calm down enough that I can put him in his bassinet and he'll go to sleep, or he falls asleep while I'm walking him around and then I can put him down.
• He's independent. Like I said, he doesn't like to be held much when he's awake. He likes me to be in the room with him, but not holding him. If I hold him too long while he's awake he'll start squirming and then he'll fuss, then he'll outright start to cry if I don't put him down. Kind of the opposite of a lot of babies.
• So far he doesn't mind strangers, he smiles for other people and doesn't mind them holding him (unless they hold him for too long while he's awake).
• He still doesn't like his naps very much. A lot of times he sleeps great for 30 minutes, then wakes up and either won't go back to sleep or will keep crying every time his pacifier falls out. Some days he hardly sleeps at all. Like yesterday when he only napped for about 45 minutes total the entire day. -- I know there are different opinions on this subject, but what do you do when a baby wakes early in his nap and isn't hungry, but is crying? Let him cry it out, put the pacifier back in, take him out and hold him until he falls asleep again, check him all out to make sure he's clean,etc?
  
• I think he's ready to start eating every 4 hours and only 4 times a day. The book I take guidelines from says there's no rush to do this (and not to do it before 15 weeks), but I think he's ready and I think I'll go ahead and start changing our schedule to fit that next week. It makes me kind of sad to think about nursing less often, but I seriously think he's ready (I often have to wake him to eat and sometimes it's really hard to wake him for the 10:00 feeding) and maybe, just maybe, this will help with the whole napping thing? Of course, that may be why I have to wake him so often, because he doesn't nap for as long as he should. Hmmm... what do you think? Maybe I better work on his nap situation before changing his schedule??

Oh well, that's all for now!

2 Month Appointment

Evan had his 2 month doctor appointment yesterday. Everything is looking good! His weight gain is great. He's 11 lbs, 12 oz now!! I can't believe he's gained almost 5 pounds since he was born! Well, I actually can believe it when I'm holding him. That child is heavy! He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height...he's 23.5 inches. Tall baby. :-) I'm pleased with his growth. I sometimes worry if he's getting enough to eat, I wonder if I'd be able to tell if my milk production decreased. But he's obviously doing great in the eating department!

For those of you who exclusively breastfeed, do you give your baby vitamins? I was told to give Evan the vitamin drops, but had never heard of that before! Although I guess the only other infant I've had close contact with (my ex-best friend's son) was formula fed so didn't need the vitamins.

Evan also had his shots yesterday. :-( Poor baby! He's so good at the doctor. He just lays there on the table and lets them do whatever they need to do for them. Except at his very first appointment, he did cry then when we took his clothes off..... now i need to share the pathetic (and cute) picture of that!
Anyway, the nurse gave him the first of 3 shots and he didn't seem to notice. I was hoping he wouldn't cry at all, but it was just a delayed reaction! After a couple of seconds he started crying so loud. His face turned bright red. It was so sad!

I was told by a friend not to touch the baby while he is getting his shots, only afterward. That way he doesn't associate you with the pain. We told the nurse that we didn't want to hold him or touch him, but she said we had to hold his hands, it is a safety policy there. So Matt held his hands while he received the shots and then as soon as they were over I cradled him and Matt put his arms around both of us and we comforted him. He cried for about a minute and then settled down. He went to sleep pretty quickly and was fine the rest of the day.

Everything else is looking good with Evan. We had a couple of questions about a rash on his neck (caused by being too moist, we just have to put some baby powder on it sometimes to keep it dry) and about his fondness for having his head tilted back at a weird angle (which is fine since it isn't due to breathing problems).

Anyway, we're looking forward to Halloween coming up. Evan has a cute outfit that he's going to wear. I've already been having fun with his pumpkin bibs the past couple of weeks! Fall is a fun time. :-)

2 Months Old

My baby boy is 2 months old!

Highlights.... man, it's hard to keep track of developments and what I've already written about. Last week Evan went to see his first movie in the theater. My friend and I took him and he was really good! I fed him during the movie and surprisingly that went smoothly as well.

Places I've breastfed in public so far:
1. Grocery store parking lot (in the car).
2. Hotel lobby bathroom while a lady took a dump in the stall nearby for 5+ minutes...awkward!
3. Fast food restaurant parking lot (in the car).
4. Airport parking garage (in the car) all alone with people walking by every time a flight came in.
5. Movie theatre

Haha, there have been some interesting experiences already!!!

My in-laws came over earlier this week and brought us an infant scale! We weighed Evan and it showed him being 11 pounds 4 ounces. We aren't 100% sure it's completely accurate since it's used, but I have a feeling it is completely accurate or very close. Evan is so big and HEAVY! It's hard to hold him for long.

Speaking of which, I had very little back troubles while I was pregnant in spite of my scoliosis, but now it is killing me. My chiropractor says my scoliosis (the curve in my spine) is worse since I delivered Evan. That's caused all of the ribs on my right side to go out of place. OUCH. It hasn't improved much, so I'm going to start going to the chiropractor every week now.

I also have yet to start exercising. I think if I can get into a stretch and exercise routine that will help my back too. But when I have the time to exercise I'm too tired to do it. I need to start forcing myself to though. I feel like exercising helped A LOT during pregnancy, during delivery, and helped me get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and size. I want to tone up and get back into the shape I was in before I was pregnant, especially since our plan so far is to TTC #2 fairly soon.

We took Evan to the pumpkin patch the other day! It was beautiful weather here this week (mid to high 70s) and it was perfect for visiting the pumpkin patch. Evan would have preferred it to be cloudy because he hates the sun in his eyes, but I was happy to get out in the sunlight. He was so good and only started to fuss a couple of times and I couldn't really blame him, the pumpkins were cold and the ground was slightly damp and we kept leaning him against pumpkins and sitting him on the ground.

I'm starting to pump breast milk in the mornings to save up milk to start giving Evan bottles so I can avoid breastfeeding in public quite as much. I'm hoping that we can get enough for him to have a full feeding with 2 mornings worth of pumping. I was originally going to pump after every feeding and have enough for a lot of bottles, but for now I'm only going to do once a day and have a couple of bottles a week. Eventually I'll probably pump more because I want to save up breast milk since I'm contemplating weaning him around 6 months old if we do decide to TTC starting then. It would be nice if he could keep drinking breast milk from a bottle for as long as possible after that. We'll see if we can buy a small freezer for more storage room.

Oh yeah, the day after my last post about Evan he started cooing while I was in front of him! He "talks" quite a bit now and is smiling more often as well. :-)

One Month Checkup

Evan had his one month doctor appointment on Monday the 28th. He weighed 9 lbs, 5.6 oz. Big baby!! The pediatrician was very pleased with his weight gain. He gained over 2 pounds in just 3 and a half weeks! He's 22 inches long, 2 inches longer than he was at his last appointment. Everything looks good with his development, no heart or lung problems or misshapen head. ;-)

I talked to the doctor about his spitting up and while he did assure me that spitting up is normal, he also said that if it looks like Evan is in pain (arching his back, screwing up his face, crying, etc) while eating, then there could be a problem with acid reflux. Well, that pretty much completely describes how Evan was acting during nursing times. So the doctor prescribed him some medicine to take that will hopefully help. He's been taking it for 3 days and already seems to be doing better.

For a couple of days we had a lot of problems with Evan being very fussy in the evenings and early nighttime. Not fun! We've been so used to a good baby that it was hard to listen to him fussing and crying. The other night he also had gas pains in the middle of the night and started screaming. I've never heard him cry like that before. :-( Needless to say, that was rough, but last night he was MUCH better and I only hope he'll go back to normal now. I don't know if it was gas problems or a growth spurt that caused all of the fussiness, I just know that the one middle of the night screaming episode was gas because after he passed gas he immediately stopped crying and went to sleep. Whew!

He has officially grown out of his newborn clothes and is in 0-3 month clothes. It makes me feel kind of sad that he's growing so fast. Part of me is excited, but part is melancholy to think of my baby growing up and getting bigger. At the doctor's office the other day I saw some very new newborns. I was like "Wait! MY baby is supposed to be a NEWborn too!" But it's obvious now from looking at him that he has grown out of that teeny tiny stage.

We're getting more and more comfortable with each other. I don't feel like I'm going to hurt him or do something terribly wrong all the time. I don't constantly worry and wonder if he's too hot or too cold or uncomfortable, I just know.

As for me...I went shopping the other day for some clothes. I'm actually officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fitting into my pre-pregnancy pants. But I still wanted to buy bigger size pants (one size bigger) and larger shirts. It's fun to have new clothes! I also had my hair cut today. I'm still trying to grow it out (remember my boy haircut?), but it needs to be trimmed to make it look less ragged as it grows. Now it has more of a style and I'm pleased with it although I can't wait to have long hair again!

Infection

I have pretty bad mastitis. Yesterday I visited the midwife and as soon as she looked at my breast she said, "That's definitely major mastitis." Ugg!! I'm allergic to the antibiotics that are normally prescribed to treat it, so the midwife had to prescribe a less effective antibiotic. She's afraid it may not work. If I don't see improvement in 24-48 hours I will have to go to the emergency room right away since it's the weekend and their office isn't open, so I wouldn't be able to go there first to be checked.

So far I haven't seen any improvement, but it's only been 21 hours since I started the antibiotics. Please, please pray that this will get better - quick! I really don't want to spend tomorrow in the emergency room, especially with a newborn. Plus, this is painful! My breast feels like it's on fire.

That being said, Evan is nursing much quicker, now our nursing sessions take about 20-25 minutes. He went through a growth spurt and for half of a day was nursing about 25 minutes total instead of 10-15. He had another appointment with the pediatrician yesterday and he's gained even more! He's now 7 pounds and half an ounce, almost back to birth weight. The doctor is pleased and we don't have another appointment for him until he's a month old.

All last night he woke up every 3 hours, when he was sleeping 4-5 hours at a time. I don't know what's up with that, but I think it might be a blessing in disguise because I'm supposed to keep "emptying" my infected breast. Not that he eats out of either for very long, only 6 minutes at the longest, so that's why I'm thinking it's good that he's eating every 3 hours even during the night.

He also had a clogged tear duct the other day, which was stressful to me (especially at first before I knew what it was!), but it's a harmless condition. I just had to keep wiping his eye throughout the day. It's still a little messed up, but not nearly so bad. Of course I called the nurse to ask her about it, but she said it's common in newborns and that there's nothing to do except wipe his eye with a warm washcloth.

I hope all of you are doing well, I feel bad that I'm not commenting on your blogs as much. I'm trying to read as many as I can during my free time, but I don't always have time to say anything. I'll keep y'all updated

1 Week Old

I can't believe it's been a week already! The time has flown by. At the end of the day I wonder how it went by so fast...and then wonder WHY it went by so fast. It doesn't seem like I do much. Of course, I live 3 hours at a time. That's how often I nurse Evan and each feeding takes at least 45 minutes. Most of that 45 minutes is spent trying to wake him up to eat more. The past few days most of his actual eating times have been 13 minutes. And yet it still takes 45 minutes to complete that process.

Breastfeeding has been incredibly rough. I don't mind waking up during the night, I don't mind spending all of my time with him, I don't mind my life being consumed by motherhood and nothing else. But breastfeeding has made motherhood hard for me. He wasn't latching properly for a couple of days. I was bleeding and sore and dreaded nursing times. I was SO close to giving up. He was also nursing every 2 hours at that point, probably because he wasn't getting enough due to the latch. On Wednesday I ended up driving myself to the midwife's office to get checked because the lactation consultant I talked to on the phone said I should because I might have an infection (which I didn't, he just wasn't latching properly). I got a last minute appt and we didn't have enough time to get Evan ready, I walked straight out the door. After getting in the car and driving a little ways down the road I realized that I really shouldn't be driving. I drove so carefully all the way though. Later I actually read my discharge instructions that said not to drive until approved by the midwife. lol

Things have been CRAZY. This is only the second day that I've been home the whole time. It's also only the second day that I've taken a nap. Just last night I realized that I am drained and healing is actually going to take longer if I keep going like I have been. So today I was determined to relax. We still had visitors (my family), but I've made a point of laying back on the couch and not doing any bending, squatting, sitting cross legged, etc. Needless to say, last night I was very sore down there, I think I was doing too much moving around.

Evan has had 2 doctors appointments so far. One on Thursday. He had gained .4 oz, not enough for them to be sure he's really gaining. So we had to go back yesterday to make sure. He gained an ounce! When we were discharged from the hospital he weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz. Now he's 6 lbs, 11 oz. That's good news and his pediatrician (who I really like!) said that he's obviously doing fine with his feeding, even though he doesn't spend long actually eating. He said to go ahead and just let him eat for 5 minutes on one breast and then as long as he will go on the other. He's still having A LOT of bowel movements and he's peeing A LOT too! lol So I guess it's all good, although it worries me that sometimes he only eats less than 10 minutes total.

Nights are actually going really well. We don't wake him up every 3 hours between 9 pm and 8 am, we wait until he cries to feed him. So sometimes he'll go about 4 to 4 and a half hours between feedings. This child almost never cries. The most he cries is sometimes when we're changing him (cold wipes!). He doesn't even cry when he's ready to eat, he just makes fussy noises. It's actually kind of hard to read him. The doctor said to wait until he screams at night to feed him, but I don't think he ever will scream. I just wait until he actually cries. And usually he'll only cry for a couple of seconds and then stop and whimper or make fussy noises. I go ahead and feed him though because I just don't think he is a screamer or much of a crier. I'm SO BLESSED, I know! My mom is miffed, she said that after all the trouble I gave her when I was a baby, I should have a difficult child too. ;-)

Nursing is still hard, but I think I can make it. I'm starting to accept the fact that he just doesn't eat for long, so I think that will make things easier. I can stop spending 30 minutes plus trying to wake him up. I have to pump about every other feeding time to keep my breasts from becoming too full. Sometimes he won't eat unless I do that first. That's a bummer because it just takes up more time, but I'm hoping I won't always have to do that. We still have a lot to learn about feeding and things are only getting better, so maybe someday we'll both get the hang of it.

I feel very weak a lot of the time. I'm not all that tired, because I've been getting quite a bit of sleep at night (more than most mothers of newborns!), but I'm just weak. I'm going to try to relax more the next few days, but the nurse I talked to the other day said that if I don't feel stronger in a few days that I should make an appointment, I might be anemic. Matt has been a HUGE help, he changes most of the diapers, helps wake Evan up during feedings, swaddles him (I'm going to have to learn to do that better before Matt goes back to work!), cleans, does the laundry, cooks, etc, etc, etc. Plus he's just encouraging, especially about the breastfeeding. He's very involved in every aspect. He'd be the perfect stay-at-home dad. I only wish we could both stay at home all day with Evan! Matt is going back to work on Wednesday, he'll be out of vacation days by then. :-(

Okay, I promise I'm going to end this huge post! It's feeding time. :-)