* weighed 11 lbs 5 oz (50%), 21 1/2 inches long (50%) and has head circumference of 15 inches (50%) at her 2 month well child appointment on 6/15. YAY!! We finally have a baby that is in the "average" range in the early months! Both of the others have been in the very low percentiles at this age. We did have some weight gain concerns in the first few weeks but she recovered quickly. For comparison, Caleb weighed 9 lb 4 oz and Aubrey weighed 9 lb 11 oz at 2 months.
* wearing 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.
* eating 7 times a day (approximate times: 3:30am, 7:30am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6:30pm 9:30pm) These times are very approximate because it does vary from day to day.
* only nursing once in the morning (every day) and then some days, I will also nurse her after lunch (then offer her a bottle). All other feedings are bottle only. I guess it is just not meant to be for me to exclusively nurse my babies because we have had nursing/feeding issues with all three. After going through this a third time, I think I have finally come to the conclusion that I have slow milk flow. Sorry if that is TMI for you reading this, ha! Slow flow = long time to get what's needed = inefficient nursing. Obviously I do not know if that is THE reason behind our nursing issues, but I do believe it is part of the problem. There are just so many factors when it comes to nursing and I will never understand why it just doesn't completely work for us. It is disappointing, but it is what it is. SO, I have become one with my breast pump and she is getting mostly expressed breast milk. I pump 4 times a day (approximately 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9:30pm). I have actually been keeping up pretty well. There are some days that she will have all breast milk and no formula at all. Other days, she will have one formula bottle and at most, she has had 2 formula bottles in one day. It's not incredibly easy to do it this way, but I am determined to give her as much breast milk as I can. I really try not to let it take TOO much time away from Caleb and Aubrey if I can help it. The 9am pump is right after breakfast and they have always played with each other (w/o me) during that time so they don't really even notice that I'm out of pocket. The 1pm pump is at the beginning of Aubrey's nap time and this is Caleb's independent play time. I will set him up at the table with paints, colors or play doh, or he will go outside where I can watch him through the windows. The 5pm pump is right before dinner and this is usually when they are watching some TV. The 9:30pm pump is obviously after they've gone to bed. Rhett gives Reese her bed time bottle while I pump and we will watch a TV show together at this time. I've kinda gotten it down pat by now. I would LOVE for her to get mostly breast milk until 6 months and then after that we'll see. Actually, it's kinda a month to month thing right now, I think. We've made it 2 months and one week so I am happy about that! I will be ready to burn my pump before long, though!!!!!!!
* As far as sleeping goes, she does really well at night. She is only getting up once after her last feeding, so I think that is pretty good. I can handle once a night. She was getting up in the 1 o'clock hour and again in the 5 o'clock hour, so Rhett was doing the 5am feeding and then just getting up for work. Now that she's getting up around 3-4am and then sleeping until around 6:30am, there's really only one "night" feeding (5am is still night to me!!). Once she consistently was getting up only once, Rhett started taking that feeding on Friday and Saturday night so I can get some "full" nights of sleep. For naps, she is still sleeping after every feeding. However, she usually will only really nap (not being held) for like 30-45 minutes and then she won't go back to sleep unless you hold her. If you get her calmed down and back to sleep, she will wake within minutes of being put down. We think she is more "high maintenance" than the other two were. They didn't seem to require holding as much. Not that I don't like holding her because I do...but it gets rather tiring not being able to put her down and of course, lots of things around the house are not getting done because of this. Yes, I could let her cry but she'd be crying for half the day!! Plus, excessive crying is not helpful for her reflux or her hernia (more on that later).
* We are still swaddling her at night using the Halo sleepsack w/swaddle. The only thing is that she has to be completely out of it, otherwise she will fight the swaddle! She is outgrowing this size sleepsack, though, so I think we will soon move up to the next size that doesn't have the swaddling part attached. Hopefully she will do ok.
* She does well in the car/car seat. She mostly sleeps. Often times, if I stop at a red light or whatnot, she will start screaming, though. She does best when we are moving!
* We are still swaddling her at night using the Halo sleepsack w/swaddle. The only thing is that she has to be completely out of it, otherwise she will fight the swaddle! She is outgrowing this size sleepsack, though, so I think we will soon move up to the next size that doesn't have the swaddling part attached. Hopefully she will do ok.
* She does well in the car/car seat. She mostly sleeps. Often times, if I stop at a red light or whatnot, she will start screaming, though. She does best when we are moving!
* She started smiling at around 7 weeks. I've been getting some really good smiles from her this past week, but you gotta work for 'em!
* She HATES tummy time. She will last a few minutes and then start screaming. This makes it really hard to get some good tummy time in. She already has a flat spot on the back of her head and of course, I am already worrying about it! I've started sleeping her on her side during the day this week, so hopefully that will help the head round out!
* She is taking 1.25 mL of lansoprazole (compounded Prevacid) every morning for her reflux. We started her out on Zantac but that was not cutting it completely so we switched. The lansoprazole has really helped, praise the Lord!! She was choking/gurgling up a lot before and also grunting all the time (we think b/c of stuff coming back up and bothering her). Since the new meds kicked in, she has done so much better! The only thing is that it has to be given at a very specific time. Because of the way it works, you have to give it on an empty stomach (at least 2 hours after a meal) and 30 minutes before the first morning meal. So as I said, she eats in the 3 o'clock hour (am) then usually she wakes up around 6:30am ready to eat again. This is when I have to give her her meds and then hold her off for 30 minutes before she can be fed. So far, PRAISE THE LORD, there has really only been one morning where she screamed her head off for the 30 minute wait. Most (nearly all) mornings, as soon as I hear her stirring, I quickly go get her meds, and then move her to her bouncy seat with the vibration on (she is very soothed by this). I give her her meds (she is almost always still pretty out of it as long as I can catch her before she really wakes up screaming for food) and then she will sleep in the bouncer until it's time to eat. At first, I was giving her the meds a tiny bit at a time and then shoving the paci in her mouth in between to get her to suck the meds down. That was a pain and we would often lose some of the meds to her just spitting it out or letting it dribble out. Then, the pharmacist in me finally kicked in and I remembered the medicine dispensing pacifiers! I ordered on from Amazon and it has been a life saver!! So far she has not noticed anything different. The nipple is very similar to her Avent brand pacis so I think that helps. Now I just put the meds in the paci and pop it in her mouth and she sucks it down. So easy!
* She isn't too crazy about the activity mat or the toy bar on the bouncer. For "entertainment" she would rather you just look at her and talk to her! Hopefully that will change soon.
* She is sleeping in our living room, ha! We borrowed a little cradle from the Bercaws and put it in the living room, just outside our bedroom door. With the reflux, we have been sleeping her at an angle in the Boppy Newborn Lounger and that has been working well. Before long, she will be too big for it and I guess we'll try sleeping her flat then. She takes a lot of her naps in the bouncer and is very soothed by the vibration of it. The plan is to move her to her room upstairs once she starts sleeping all night! Right now, her room is a junk heap because we had nowhere to put anything. Rhett will soon finish up the closet organizer he built for that closet and then I can get the room organized. Aubrey is still in the crib. Rhett is going to start building bunk beds for her room soon and then we'll move her to that and put the crib in Reese's room. For now, we are ok because Reese is still a good size for the cradle.
* She usually (nearly every day) has a fussy time between like 7-9pm or so. Not a fun time! She HAS to be held and/or rocked and needs the paci. Once you kinda get her over the hump, so to speak, and get her to sleep, she is ok....but someone still has to hold her. Sometimes I throw her in the Boba wrap (like the Moby) and other times one of us just holds her. Once Rhett gets the kids down, he will usually hold her so I can clean the kitchen. It's not the most fun time of day!
* She LOVES her bath! I only bathe her every other day right now but always do it during that fussy time because it calms her down. She is calmed down as soon as we get into the bathroom. As soon as she is dressed and we are back down stairs, she let's loose again! It's a nice little break from the fussiness, though.
* She is not very content to be by herself during her awake time. She is getting better, though. At first, she would basically cry after just a few minutes if you put her down anywhere awake. I'm pretty sure she'd be fine with being held all day long!
* She got her first cold right before turning 2 months old. Luckily, it was very mild. We all had some congestion the week before and Caleb had even had croup. I noticed she was sounding a little congested on Friday, July 12th. It got a little worse on Saturday and Sunday but by Monday, she was better. She didn't really act like it bothered her too much. I was just praying she didn't end up with a fever (she didn't) because I didn't want a repeat of what happened with Aubrey at 7 weeks! Thankfully she was well enough at her well-child appointment on Monday, July 15th and they let us do her vaccines. She did cry, obviously, but other than that she was fine with the shots. No reactions.
Well, that is all I can think of at the moment. Hopefully I can come back and add pictures of her when I get my lap top back from the shop! I can't believe she's nearly 2 1/2 months old and I haven't put one picture of her on the blog yet!! Third child syndrome!! :-)
* She got her first cold right before turning 2 months old. Luckily, it was very mild. We all had some congestion the week before and Caleb had even had croup. I noticed she was sounding a little congested on Friday, July 12th. It got a little worse on Saturday and Sunday but by Monday, she was better. She didn't really act like it bothered her too much. I was just praying she didn't end up with a fever (she didn't) because I didn't want a repeat of what happened with Aubrey at 7 weeks! Thankfully she was well enough at her well-child appointment on Monday, July 15th and they let us do her vaccines. She did cry, obviously, but other than that she was fine with the shots. No reactions.
Well, that is all I can think of at the moment. Hopefully I can come back and add pictures of her when I get my lap top back from the shop! I can't believe she's nearly 2 1/2 months old and I haven't put one picture of her on the blog yet!! Third child syndrome!! :-)
