How the Hell

How the hell do bloggers with newborns…blog?? I don’t know why I’m doing this instead of sleeping but I wanted to document some things before I forget.

So Minicorn is almost 4 weeks. I do not feel the least bit coherent so here are some random bullet points:

-She is extremely vocal and extremely alert for a newborn, everyone says. Smiles, cooing, “talking”, laughing in her sleep, making little Flipper noises or jungle-cat angry growls, holding her head up and looking around at everything, very focused eyes

-Breastfeeding. Jesus. I understand why so many women give up so early on but I’m here to tell you to PLEASE hang in there. It does get better. Her latch on the right side was off and my nipple was cracked and bleeding the first week or so. I pumped that side until it healed.

-THEN, nobody told me about gotdamn foremilk/hindmilk imbalance?! I had always read to only offer the baby the 2nd bewb if she finished the first one on her own. For a while she only took 1 bewb per feeding. Then she hit a growth spurt and got hungrier so I started offering her both bewbs. A few days ago she got REALLY gassy and screamed her head off, was nursing ALL THE TIME, like literally at least once an hour but often more, and started having frequent green poop explosions. I googled and discovered that she was likely getting too much foremilk (or the water/hydration part of breastmilk, it comes first when the baby feeds, full of sugar/lactose) and not enough hindmilk (or the entree part of breastmilk, the fat/calories that fill the baby up) so that’s why she was always hungry and gassy. I switched to block feeding yesterday where you only offer 1 bewb for a block of time (I did 4 hours) to make sure the baby is adequately draining the bewb and getting the hindmilk. Her poops instantly changed back to the breastfed yellow-brown, and the gassiness disappeared. She also slept longer because she was full. Crazy, isn’t it? Today I’m trying 1 bewb for 3 hours because 4 hours was stretching it as far as not much milk being left in the bewb. But amazing how that shit works. And I had NEVER heard of this issue. I’m glad I decided to google “green poop”, because.

-I had been afraid my diet would cause gassy issues with her because I eat a lot of stuff on the gassy/danger list like garlic, but she only has reacted badly to the one day I had broccoli. Woo lawd, never again! She SCREAMED like she was being murdered. No more broccoli 😦

-The hand specialist wants to do her surgery when she’s 9-10 months (to remove her unicorn horn/extra thumb). The surgery will last 1 1/2 hours and she’ll wear a cast for 6 weeks but everything should be fine.

-That feeling of pride when the pediatrician says you’re doing everything right and she’s gaining lots of weight from YOUR OWN MILK is awesome.

-Soothe and Glow seahorse and swaddling makes for blissful naps.

-I’ll let you guys know when I get her personal blog up and running.

-I can’t wait until she’s big enough for the cloth diapers!

-If you got me a gift, I have not forgotten your thank-you card. Just bear with me.

-I’m still in shock at how fast my labor went and how I had no complications. If you are pregnant for the first time, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I never had 1 single Braxton-Hicks contraction. My contractions never followed the 5-1-1 rule (5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for at least an hour). They went from 7-8 minutes apart to 2-3 minutes apart and pushing. So don’t let your OB or midwife make you feel like you shouldn’t call until they’re in the pattern THEY want. Fuck around and have an unintended home/car birth like I almost did.

That’s all I can think of for now. Bye.