3 weeks [babywise]

3 weeks

Our little baby is 3 weeks old!  
I am so in love with this sweet babe and cannot imagine my life without him.  
Even on those evenings when his cries are heart wrenching.  
For the most part, he eats well and sleeps good.  
However, he's not one of those easy going babies who will sleep in a car seat wherever we go but neither was Solis so it's nothing new to us.

Memorial Day stars & stripes

Eating: Rogue has only been eating 7 times a day.  Sometimes 8.  Solis was eating 9-10 times at this age.  I would be worried but he's gaining more weight than recommended (He gained 12 oz in a week!).  He still falls asleep every time he nurses and I have to work at making sure he's getting a full feeding.  He gets an evening bottle with daddy and chugs it in less than 10 minutes-fully awake.  He loves those bottles and so do I!

Waketime: Still no waketime activities.  Eating/burping/diaper change takes 40-45 minutes and by that time, I get him swaddled, hold him for a few minutes, then put him down for a nap.  When he gets his bottle in the evening, we give him his bath or just sit with him in bed and talk to him b/c it's practically the only time all day we get to see him with his eyes open!

Naps: Naps were great this week.  We put him down wide awake for all of them (except the night feedings).  Sometimes he would fall asleep without crying.  Other times, he would cry 5-10 minutes and then fall asleep.  I had to wake him from most of his naps except on Thursday.  Oh boy, on Thursday, he woke screaming from all his naps and I got him up early.  Rough day.  I guessed he was going through a growth spurt.  His naps were a little shorter than usual and I fed him every 2.5 hours instead of 3.

Night Sleep: Rogue slept over 5 hours for 5 nights this week!  Solis didn't do her first 5 hours till she was 5 weeks.  Praying this continues b/c it's pretty.darn.awesome.

Schedule: We start our day around 8 and then feed every 3 hours from there.  (8, 11, 2, 5, 8, dream feed around 10:30, MOTN feeding).  Solis didn't have any type of consistent schedule like this until month 2.  We are very happy with Rogue's progress so far.  It definitely helps going through this once before.

Solis: She's still adjusting to life with a brother.  Solis doesn't like sharing me and it's something we talk and pray about daily.  Before Rogue, we had an activity everyday of the week so this kid has major cabin fever.  Thank goodness Shaun only has 2 more weeks of school left.  We signed her up for lots of activities this summer!

2 tired parents and 2 uncooperative kids on Memorial Day....good times! :)

2 weeks [babywise]

2 weeks

I'll probably say this every week but I can't believe Rogue is 2 weeks old already!

This week brought some really good days and some really frustrating days.
At his 2 week appt, he surpassed his birth weight and is 9 lbs now!

Eating: He's still a sleepy nurser but getting a little more awake each day.  Nursing takes anywhere from 25-35 minutes.  We started giving him one bottle a day....which is amazing b/c Solis NEVER took a bottle.  And this guy guzzles them down.  So when he gets his bottle from daddy, it only takes less than 10 minutes.  It also gives me freedom to do something with Solis.  So thankful Rogue takes a bottle.

Waketime: After a diaper change and nursing, he might only have 5 minutes of waketime.  I've had to reduce the waketime to around 40 minutes.  I found he goes to sleep easier if I put him right back down.  When he gets a bottle, he has more waketime so that's when we give him a bath and do tummy time.  So far he is doing great with tummy time.  

Naps: They were hit or miss this week.  He had great naps if I put him down "on time".  If I missed the window b/c Solis was demanding my attention, he cried and cried.  For those naps, I wore him in the Moby wrap so he would sleep.  I often reference Val's blog (click here) on babywise (she's had 4 kids and is the expert!) and she had this to say about newborn naps:

"My number one goal for newborns and sleep is that they sleep when it is time to sleep. I don't care what it takes for sleep so long as sleep is happening.  If a newborn gets overtired, she isn't going to sleep well, and that isn't going to do anyone any good. She won't be able to put herself to sleep in that state, which just perpetuates a non-sleep cycle. She also won't eat well if she is tired, which isn't healthy. Plus, sleep is important.  So the most important thing is that baby is sleeping when it is time to sleep."

Night Sleep: The last few nights, Rogue gave us a 4-5 hour stretch!  What?!?!  I'm not naive to think that this is permanent but we will take these bonus nights when given to us :)

Schedule: I am striving for an 8am DWT (designated wake time).  This is our flexible feeding times (we are by no means on this strict schedule yet; I just loosely base our day around these times): 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 10:30pm, MOTN (middle of the night) feeding.  Sometimes if he wakes between 6-7am, I'll nurse him one side in bed and just let him doze off that way.  It pacifies him till our waketime at 8.  I don't really like the idea of only feeding a 2 week old 7 times a day but he's sleeping so well and gaining weight so I'm trying not to worry about it.

Solis: If Rogue has a fussy day, Solis gets extremely frustrated that she has to share me.  And I'll admit it, on those days, even I'm brought to tears.  But on his all star days when he naps on his own, Solis is a happy camper.....one day declaring, "I love mommy and Soly time!"  And my hormones brought me to tears again.

She really does love her baby brother.  Sometimes too much.

True life: most days we don't even get out of our pj's or see a brush.

Me: Physically I'm feeling great!  Feeling completely normal again.  I gained 28lbs during my pregnancy.  When I left the hospital, I only lost 10.  One week into nursing, I lost 10 more.  I'm not concerned about the extra pounds.....I hope to hit the gym again once Shaun is home for the summer.  So in the meantime, my snacks look like this.  Although on stressful days, my hand is in the chocolate chip bag.

Rogue's birth

Rogue's birth

Finally getting around to our baby boy's birth story.

100% different experience than Solis's.

She was a scheduled c-section b/c she was breeched.

No contractions.  No pre-birth pain.  Just a whole lotta post-birth pain.

This time around....the complete opposite.

And if I had to do it all over again, I would choose natural birth over c-section any day.

On Tuesday, May 6th,  I went for an appt (3 days overdue).  My midwife said I was closed-as in ZERO dilation.  She set an induction date for May 15th.  We went to Chipotle for dinner and played outside with Solis.  Felt like any other night.  Then around 10pm, I started getting pains in my stomach.  Pains that I never felt before.  I knew they had to be contractions b/c I didn't sleep a wink that night b/c they were that painful.  But they were only 7-10 minutes apart.  Shaun stayed home from work on Wednesday to take care of Solis b/c at that point, my contractions were 6-7 minutes apart.  I did 24 hours of this at home.  Completely miserable.  By 6 that night, we shipped Solis off to her grandma's.  By 9pm, we were leaving for the hospital.

After getting checked at the hospital, my contractions weren't any closer and I was only 1 cm.  Seriously??  Since I had been through 24 hours of this, the staff took pity on me and let me sleep there with pain meds and a sleeping aide.  But I didn't sleep well.  I woke up every time a contraction came and then passed out again.  After a long night, a long morning, and a long afternoon, FINALLY on Thursday around 3pm, my midwife announced: You are 5cm and can get an EPIDURAL!!!! 

I had sweet relief around 5pm and was able to finally sleep.  I got to 10cm sometime that night but they said baby wasn't near pushing stage yet.  I didn't mind.  That meant more sleep!  They woke me up around 3am and said it was time to start pushing.  That was a moment I will never forget.  9 months of carrying this baby.  The scare of losing my baby when I had my subchorionic hemorrhage.  The awful morning sickness.  The rib pain that hurt every time I sat down.  The 48 hours of contractions.  And it all comes down to this.  

I pushed for a long 40 minutes.  But it was fun (even though I had zero feeling down there so it was hard to get into a good rhythm at first).  I felt like it was a workout....hold your breath, push, hold your breath, push.  I held my own legs.  I felt strong and ready to push this baby out.  And when it was time, my midwife asked if I wanted to pull him out.  Heck yea!  When she told me to grab him, I did.  And immediately put him on my chest.  Best feeling in the world.  I dreamed of this moment since I had my c section.  I wanted so badly to have a vbac and prayed before I was pregnant and while I was pregnant that God would allow my body (and baby) to cooperate.  All the doubts I had about switching practices and hospitals to try a vbac were laid to rest.  This was my moment with my baby boy and it was absolutely perfect.

I still can't believe that Shaun and I produced an almost 9 lb baby!
(Solis was only 7 lbs, 1 oz)

Fresh out of the oven

Our sweet baby boy!!

1 day old and sucking fingers

I had Rogue Friday at 3:56am and we left the hospital Saturday afternoon.  Much different than Solis-we stayed 4 nights after she was born and there's no way I carried her car seat after my c-section!  Being able to walk out of there pain free was amazing.

Shaun's sweet gift to me.  My babies initials on a necklace.

We settled into life with Rogue for one night before Solis came back from Grandma's on Sunday.

She was ecstatic to meet her new baby brother.

It was the perfect mother's day.

1 week [babywise]

1 week

I cannot believe it's been one week since God brought Rogue into our lives.  This week went better than Solis's first week, mainly b/c we have some clue what we're doing now and he's slightly different than her.  But don't get me wrong, it was still exhausting and the baby blues had me tearing up at any time of the day!  I hope to write a labor post this weekend.  So going backwards here.  This is what our first week looked like:

Eating: Rogue latched on right away in the hospital and was a great nurser.  But once we got home, he became a sleepy newborn and fell asleep within a few minutes of nursing.  It was very hard to keep him awake to take a full feeding.  And that is one of the goals of babywise.  I'm hoping as the weeks roll by, he will wake up more and concentrate on his feedings.  I nurse 8-9 times a day.

Waketime: We wake Rogue up from his naps (or his piercing cry tells us he's up), change his diaper, and then I nurse him.  From start to finish, he might only be up 45-50 minutes.  So he really doesn't have waketime activities yet.  One mistake we made with Solis was trying to keep her up longer.  Didn't realize back then that babies need A LOT of sleep.

Naps: Rogue took pretty good naps this week.  He took most of his naps in a rock and play, swaddled with white noise.  By the end of his first week, I figured out that he needs to go down 45-50 minutes after he woke from his previous nap.  He would then sleep 1.5-2 hours.  Evening naps were tougher though.  He cried a lot and we were lucky if we got 45 min-1 hour naps.

Night Sleep:  On average, he would give us 2.5-3 hour stretches.  I'll take that for week one.  I nurse him around 10:30pm/2am/5am.  He sleeps in his crib at night, swaddled with white noise.  But he makes it into our bed after the 5am feeding and we sleep till Solis gets up around 8.

Schedule: There is no schedule right now, just a routine.  I feed him every 2.5-3 hours.  Then right down for a nap.  Repeat 8-9x a day!

Solis: She welcomed Rogue with such a happy heart.  Wanted to be by his side constantly.  Worried when he cried.  Always asked to hold him.  Told him the sweetest things: "I take care of you baby brother.....It's ok baby....I love you....I wipe your tears away baby brother.....He's SO LITTLE!!!"  But then day 3 hit.  And Solis had her first major meltdown.  We took a family trip to Target and on the way home she kept saying she didn't want to go home.  By the end of the 7 minute car trip, she was screaming it with tears rolling down her face.  Shaun took Rogue inside and I talked to her.  She told me she missed mommy.  She wanted daddy to feed Rogue with his boobies (it was hard not to laugh at that.)  I reassured her that she was still my favorite girl and my best friend.  Then she asked me, "What's that bird looking for?"  How quickly toddlers minds switch off.  I have to admit, after I put her to bed, I had my meltdown and missed my time with her so much.  So Shaun suggested I take her on a date and it was so much fun to be with just her again!

Our ice cream date :)

Shaun went back to work on Friday.  Sad day for us all but we survived!

Loving on her brother.

Our Babywise Story

Our Babywise Story

A week before Solis was born, I thought I better come up with a game plan on what to do with a newborn.  I sought out the advice of a friend and she told me about Babywise.  It turned out to be a huge lifesaver for us and I am forever indebted to her!  

Now before I go on, Babywise has a bad rap.  All you have to do is google it and find out why.  But we didn't follow the book 100%.  We followed it close enough to get the results we were looking for.  Solis started sleeping 5 hours at night at 5 weeks.  Then jumped up to 10 hours a night at 12 weeks.  When she turned 1, she took 2 solid naps a day and slept 12 hours at night.  Now at 2.5, she naps 1:30-4 daily and 8-8 at night.  Everyone says I'm lucky.  But it's not luck.  I worked my butt off that first year to get these results.  And I'm not saying non-babywise moms don't work their butts off too.  Since people say I was blessed with a good sleeper they just assume it came easily and I'm here to say it didn't!  Took a lot of work and sacrificing. 

There are so many opinions/books/websites on how to get your baby to sleep through the night but for Shaun and I, we felt Babywise fit our family best.  We are going to implement the same strategies for our son and hopefully he is a good sleeper too.  I don't judge people who don't use Babywise.  Every parent has to do what is best for their family and some moms just don't feel comfortable with the Babywise methods.  That's fine!  But I love it and if I can help one mom out there who is searching for sleep answers, then I did my job :)

The basic principals of the BabyWise Method include:  

• Eat, play, sleep schedule for baby.....which means not nursing to sleep except at bedtime/middle of the night
• Keeping baby awake during and after a feeding
• Striving for full feedings as opposed to snacks
• Putting baby to sleep without many props  
• And guess what?  If a baby cries, that doesn't mean they have to eat!  So glad I didn't follow that or I would have been nursing Solis all day long.

My goal is to post bi-weekly updates on my son's sleep/feeding routine.  So follow along for this crazy ride though our failures and hopefully successes! :)

Here's some throwback pictures of the first time Solis slept 11 straight hours.  I found her in the morning sucking her thumb.  Self soothing is an amazing thing!

40 weeks

40 weeks

May 3rd has come and gone and I am now OVERDUE.  This past week, I still managed 4 days at the gym but didn't even attempt to run.  Just the elliptical.  Still feeling pretty good physically.....mentally it's hard to keep going.  I want to meet and hold my baby so so bad!  They're going to give him one more week to come out on his own and then an induction will be planned.

The best day this week was our anniversary.  Shaun surprised me and took the day off school, which he never does.  He was able to come to a baby appointment and then we took Solis to Monkey Joes-an indoor inflatable jumping playground.  In the evening, my parents came over to babysit and we enjoyed one last dinner out.  Shaun even made a s'mores dessert for me, which was h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y.  I literally ate 1/3 of the pan right out of the oven.  This dessert is best consumed right away when it's warm and gooey.

Ingredients

Graham Crackers

Roll of Cookie Dough

3-4 Hershey Bars

1 bag mini marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Layer a 13x9 pan with graham crackers.

3. Roll out your cookie dough and place it on top of the graham crackers.

4. Bake these 2 layers for 8-10 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and cover with Hershey bars.

6. Finish with a layer of marshmallows.

7. Place back in the oven and broil until your likeness.

I made Shaun a homemade card for our anniversary.  After looking at it, I realized I should have made Solis's triangle bigger than Dairy Queen blizzards.  But seriously, after some long days at home with her, a blizzard is right up there ;)

 

So for now as we sit, pray, and wait, we are enjoying outdoor picnics as a family of 3, soaking up the sunshine, and sleeping as much as possible!!