progress

we had a follow-up appointment with the lactation specialist today and it appears that the marathon feedings have paid off... deck gained 10 ounces since last week and is now above his birth weight! needless to say - we were all very happy! yay! after doing some celebrating - she observed me nursing and gave some pointers on how to hold him, how to make sure he's eating/swallowing, and how to keep him awake (he's still a very sleepy baby)... i was doing all of these things, but not in the most optimal way so i think they will help immensely... she also said we can stretch feedings to 3-hours and cut-back on the supplemental feedings (unless i feel he didn't nurse well or is not subdued by just his pacifier)... unfortunately - i still have to pump after each feeding and though i was under the impression that i should be producing a lot of milk by now, that is not the goal... it's more for stimulation and to keep my body in the mode of producing enough for him... we have another appt. on friday and if deck gains a bit more weight, we can stop the supplemental feeding and pumping... fingers crossed! :)

the rest of the day was spent getting our new routine down and then deck and i went for a 30-minute walk... it's supposed to be in the low 60s for the rest of the week so i want to take advantage of it as much as possible...

i have heard that a lot of moms like to use baby slings, so i did some research and ordered one from www.hugamonkey.com... the reviews were pretty good (as well as the price) so we'll see how it goes... a friend of mine said they were great for using around the house esp. when your baby likes to be held all the time - this may come in handy when i need to clean... :)

i haven't mentioned weightloss since having the baby - shocker! i was pretty bloated for about a week after delivering, and considering i completely forgot to weigh myself before we left for the hospital - i have no idea where i was... i do know i was around 206 the week before so it may be safe to say i was close to 210... i won't be able to exercise until my 6-week check-up, but here are my stats as of today:

pre-pregnancy: 170.8
pre-delivery: 210
11/9/10: 188.4
pounds lost: 21.6

well, it's almost time for another feeding... :)

happy tuesday...

where did october go?

it's a chilly and rainy day here in maryland - deck is sleeping and eric is out tinkering in the garage... think i'll stay in my jammies all day - not like i have anywhere to go really... we are on a newly, regimented feeding plan after meeting with the lactation specialist yesterday - she was VERY helpful and shed a lot of light on why he's not gaining weight... because he's not strong enough to feed at 100% right now, my body isn't producing enough milk and he's not getting enough nourishment... the new gameplan is 1) continue nursing on both sides but be more aggressive, 2) pump for 15-minutes to get things get more stimulated, and 3) feed him 1 ounce of formula after each feeding... we are not thrilled with the formula - he spits up more and doesn't smell as nice, BUT i know this is to help him grow and get stronger... she said i may not even produce milk at first and that it will take a few days for my body to respond, but to keep at it and eventually the DQ (dairy queen) will be open for business again... even though i felt a bit overwhelmed after leaving the office, and still do because of all the extra work we have to do - i know this is what's best for deckard... we go back on tuesday and she hopes he will have gained a few ounces and be back to his birth weight... if so, then we can scale back on everything and just concentrate on nursing again... i am SO looking forward to that... :)

our 1st halloween was pretty uneventful - i think we got about 10 trick o'treaters altogether... my sister found this cow costume and though it was a few sizes too large, i put it on deck anyway and tried to get a few pics... and notice how he has his hands/fingers in his mouth all the time - too funny! i liked the "i'm batty for daddy" onesie better... :)

happy thursday...