Coming Home

So I read through the first few blog posts of when Lexi was born, and I definitely have to say the second time around was A LOT easier, emotionally & physically. My role is somewhat defined as a mother. I've been through the nursing woes once before and my body honestly understood how to recover fairly quickly. Dallin will be a week tomorrow and I went to the doctor with him on my own and picked up a lot around the house. Outside of standing for awhile, I feel pretty good. Oh wait, the exhaustion is the hardest to fight through, but amazingly enough, you can push through on very little sleep when you need to. I'm thinking Mr Smith and I both averaged about 4 hours a day this first week, but definitely not in a row. It has been nice having the support of Mr Smith and all those who have helped with Lexi and brought food. 

However, while my woes of the first pregnancy were lightened the second time around, we have experienced new difficulties, like mastitis, which apparently I got treated for early on (I'm not about to endure pain that I KNEW didn't have to exist). I couldn't remember how painful the engorgement phase was, but alarms started going off when the pressure never went away. Nipple pain is expected and now I'm tougher, but along with the chills and a fever? No. So 30 minutes before the urgent care closed, Mr Smith gave me a blessing and we then felt it was worth going in. It seemed super early, it was only Day 3, but they put me on antibiotics. 24 hours later, I felt SO much better. The pressure was finally gone.

We still weren't sure if Dallin was getting everything he needed though. When you can't express all the milk, you start to lose your supply so stress stepped into my life at the thought of not being able to nurse or that my child wasn't getting what he needed from me. And it all started with those dumb hospital glucose tests! He did pass his jaundice test on Day 4 but we knew he lost a little more weight. By Day 5, I knew my milk supply was there.

The next challenge was his choking habits, which for some reason didn't manifest itself until a few days into it. We couldn't figure out what the problem was, just noticed a lot of possible symptoms. Welcome to the life of babies! I knew he didn't have a great latch and that he was getting a lot of air. He handled the gas well, but not breathing for 5-10 seconds (blue lips) put us through the ringer. He did this almost every feed! And just like his sister, a lot of those feeds were every 1-1.5 hours. We went to the doctor today thinking his slight tongue tie was creating a bad latch. She clipped it a little in hopes of it helping, but seemed to lean more towards reflux as the culprit. It is common and hopefully goes away within a week or so. It also causes some major spit up too. Feeding him at night is challenging to say the least. Just like with Lexi, I will avoid the public for awhile. Now I'm beginning to think that issue existed with Lexi, just not as severe. She did have a slight tongue tie that she grew out of.

For now, I try to keep him elevated up, me elevated back & I just try to give him breaks while burping especially if I can tell he is getting air. Unfortunately, the slow flow bottles caused just as much an issue. I'm so excited for my milk to waterfall in *sarcasm* But being able to nurse is such a blessing.

And to know all is well, at his tongue tie appointment today, Day 6, he is only 2 ounces shy of his birth weight at 8lbs 12 oz. So he has gained back at least 7 ounces. He goes up and hopefully I stay going down. I was down 15lbs after delivery.

I found the energy to get out some of the photo stuff in order to get practicing. I remembered how taxing these photos can be. Especially when my exhaustion is void of creativity. More are to come in the next day or so if I can get Mr Smith to assist.

Besides all the feeding issues mentioned above, Mr Dallin is a perfect child. 

I catch his smiles all the time. I love his serious look too.

I can't stop kissing his soft cheeks. And neither can Lexi, which he tolerates.

Like Lexi, he too held his head up on Day 1 and is noticeably strong.

He loves to be swaddled, hasn't been phased by nipple confusion & really only uses the pacifier at times. Mostly I am still his pacifier.

Lexi has turned up testing any signs of authority. I think it is her way of coping with the lack of complete attention. However, she enjoys being a big helper, holding Dallin and laughing at all his noises. She doesn't even seem to be phased when he cries. Only during the jaundice test was she upset at her brother's pain. In her world, being a big sister is a big deal and I'm so grateful for the extra help even if it comes with "not too hard" and "only on the cheek" 20 times a day. 

Time will tell how I can handle two kids on my own without the TV. But baby steps.