Quick Update

I know I haven't posted in quite awhile. We've been a little busy, as you can imagine. As I have a sleeping baby on my chest and she's due to wake up any moment for the next feeding, I'll just do a quick update on what's been going on.

First off, she passed her 2 week doctor's appointment with flying colors. She was 6 pounds, 12 ounces...5 ounces more than she was at birth so she's gaining just fine! All signs of jaundice are definitely gone (we had a high bilirubin count at the first doctor's visit)...the doctor says she's 'just perfect'!

Feeding has been interesting. To make a VERY long story short, we've had quite a few obstacles in the breastfeeding arena. The current position is that I am attempting to breastfeed at every feeding. Sometimes we're successful, sometimes we're not. Sometimes I have to use a nipple shield to aid the process, sometimes I don't. I'm pumping after most feedings and storing what I can to supplement for feedings. We have had to give her formula here and there, but I've just decided that it's OK. The whole process is frustrating, but we're doing what we can. She's getting what she needs which is the most important thing. I was a formula baby and I turned out OK!

Miss Zoe has her days and nights mixed up! Oh, how much fun that is. Basically for the last few weeks, she sleeps during the day and WILL NOT sleep at night. I'm not talking about sleeping THROUGH the night...I'm talking about sleeping AT ALL. She will sleep if you're holding her. That's it. So, last night we tried a few new tactics. Stephen went back to work today and we HAD to get some sleep. We're now changing her BEFORE feedings instead of after to keep her from waking up too much after eating. Also, I must admit, I used the formula to help out. Mom had mentioned that formula tends to help with sleep so we supplemented a little with each feeding. The biggest change is we put her to bed in her room instead of in the bassinet in our room. We wondered if being in our room was too distracting for her or maybe she just didn't really like the bassinet. Anyway, she DID sleep in her crib and did just fine. I still only got about 5 hours sleep broken into 3 parts, but I'll take it! Especially with Stephen back at work, I don't have someone there to watch her while I sleep (which is kind of what we've been doing the last 3 weeks). Anyway, we'll see how it goes the next few weeks...supposedly between 1-2 months they start differentiating between night and day more so hopefully we're moving in that direction!

She's becoming more alert for periods of time now! Very exciting! She's looking forward to meeting her paternal grandparents for the first time tomorrow:-)