Time Flies

Wow- time flies when you've got a newborn in the house. I can't believe Carrigan will be a month old next week. She's doing great so far. She's slow to gain weight, but Brady was exactly the same way & he's turned out to be quite the sturdy 2 year old so I'm not so worried. At her 1 week visit on 5/11 she weighed 7 lbs 14 ounces which was only 1 ounce gained from 4 days prior. However, right before her weigh in while I was stripped her down to her birthday suit she had quite the poopy. As I was taking her diaper off, I heard some tuties going on so I held off for a second until it sounded like she was done. However, once I'd removed the diaper, she proceeded to commence pooping which shot all over my right arm, up her leg, on her arm, and all over the exam table. Whew! I can't tell you the last time I laughed that hard. Rocky & my mom were there and got a good chuckle out of it too. So realistically, she may have peed & pooped out 3 ounces so her 4 day weight gain wasn't so bad. They still suggested I bring her back 3 days later for another weight check. The NP we saw that day is also a lactation consultant. She said it may be possible that Carrigan wasn't emptying my boobies enough so I could pump after a feed to see if she's leaving too much. I could also try pumping before a feed to remove some foremilk (watery milk for hydration) forcing Carrigan to get to the hindmilk (fattening milk) before she quits her feed, and this hindmilk will help her gain weight. I pumped after a feed later that day, and there was only .25 ounces total left so I think she usually empties them pretty well. What I do now is after a midday feed, I wait 2 hours and pump for about 10 minutes. This gives about another hour before her next feed and has allowed me to freeze milk for her to have once I go back to work to supplement what I pump at work if need be. Friday 5/14 she weighed 8 lbs even so she had gained 2 ounces in 3 days. The nurse practioner recommened another follow-up in 1 week, but I decided just to monitor her weight at home using our scale. She goes back for her 1 month check-up on June 3rd, so we''ll see what her official weight is then. Brady only gained 11 ounces the first month, and the pediatrician wasn't concerned and didn't suggest supplementing with formula so I'm thinking all will be well even if she's just over 9 lbs.
As far as nursing goes, she's definitely alot more laid back than Brady. He would nurse vigorously for about 45 minutes total every time he nursed at this age. Other than her first 2 feedings of the day which are more spaced out, she pretty much wants to only nurse about 5-10 minutes on each side before dosing off. I have to really keep her agitated to make sure she doesn't fall asleep before atleast 15 minutes on the first side. The longer she nurses the more hindmilk she gets which was another thing the NP/LC suggested. Her first 2 feedings of the day I try to get her to nurse 20 minutes per side. The other feedings of the day (about 5 more feedings most days), I try to get her to do atleast 15 minutes on the first side and atleast 10 minutes on the second side but of course she can nurse longer if she likes.
I think overall, Brady has always been a great sleeper. As a newborn, he just wouldn't nap well during the day. Once we were up for the day, we were up. Carrigan has managed to sleep better than him at this age so I'm much better rested as well. For example- her routine is roughly asleep at 10:30, up to nurse at 3:30, back to sleep from 4:30-8:00, nurse & back to sleep by 9:00, and asleep again until 11-12. Crazy I know! I get 8.5-10 hours of sleep each night in about 3 chunks which has been awesome. During the day, I try to make sure she doesn't sleep too much but I also don't want her to get overtired by not napping. I've been keeping a sleep log which helps me know if she's slept too much early in the day so I can try to keep her up more in the afternoon. She's usually up about 10 hours a day which apparently is still more than the average 6-8 hours I've read that most newborns are awake. She's not a fussy baby so I'm thinking she's sleeping as much as she needs. Who knows if she'll continue to be as good of a sleeper as Brady (he was sleeping 10-5 by 7 weeks), but I'm definitely feeling pretty well rested so I can't complain.
Brady continues to excel as being a big brother. He wants to touch her & kiss her and talk to her alot. The first time I brought Carrigan to his school, naturally the other children were curious. They approached her car seat and Brady had alot to say about that "No touching. She's my baby sister. You can't have her!" Wow! Protective big brother for sure. We talked about sharing and how they are interested in babies. 2 kids in his class have siblings on the way, so we talked about how they're excited to learn about babies to get ready for them. I feel that overall he's adjusted pretty well. I've taken him & Carrigan to Chick-fila the past 2 Tuesdays which was part of our routine while I was pregnant. I've also taken them both to Barnes & Noble a few times which Brady really enjoys. Rocky gets Brady ready for school on his own since I'm usually sleeping or feeding Carrigan, and he also takes care of him on the weekend mornings while I sleep. Bathtime for Brady is usually left to Rocky as well since I'm generally feeding baby girl then. Overall, I think Brady is doing great, and I can't wait to see them be able to play together once she gets older.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks. She's been able to meet Rocky's dad and stepmom and a few of my friends as well. I also included a picture of her first bath at home along with some cute pics of her & Brady. You can see how much he loves her & it was so sweet to see him "reading to her".