Colin has been doing very well with Claire. He likes to say Hi or Goodnight to her; he usually asks to hold her once a day or to "help" feed her a bottle (which involves gently touching the bottle for 5 seconds). He likes to give her kisses on her head, and the only thing he struggles with is when we can't immediately do what he wants us to (play at the train table, etc.) because we're feeding/changing Claire or making dinner. He HAS enjoyed the gifts that he has received though! He got some new cars on the weekend that we came home for behaving well at Target (that weekend was a disaster); my co-worker brought him a sticker book, which he spent a lot of time playing with Aunt Casie with; our neighbor gave him some new car-type toys as well. He has also enjoyed playing with Claire's kickmat.
We've had a lot of good points with Claire. I think Peter and I have both had an easier time because we knew what to expect this time. We knew we would be up repeatedly in the middle of the night. We knew there would be crying. We knew there would be moments when we didn't know what to do any longer. But we've adapted better this time (I also think not being up in labor all night, then ending up with a C-section, as well as having WAY fewer visitors last time may have contributed). I've healed significantly faster and can move much better. Last time was excruciating to get in and out of bed; this time, no problem. Last time, I didn't move from the couch all day; this time, well, I do still like to relax on the couch, but it doesn't hurt to get up/down. Claire sleeps a lot during the day. To help her with day/night, we wake her up to eat every 3 hours and make sure she has some awake time before going back to sleep. Sometimes it's all we can do to keep her awake for 15 minutes. At night, she usually sleeps 3.5-4 hours for her first shift, then it's 2.5-3 from there on, which is very manageable.
Now for the downs. If you don't want to read about breastfeeding, I suggest moving on to the cute pictures below, since I wanted to document some of our struggles here. By the end of Day 5, I was at the end of my pain tolerance rope with breastfeeding. We'd had her latch checked by several LCs in the hospital, who saw nothing wrong with it. We had started off with a shield, knowing it was helpful last time, but she was still causing a lot of damage. I couldn't heal fast enough; I would scab, then she would tear them open. Her spit-up was regularly pink from blood. When we went to the pediatrician on Monday, I knew we couldn't continue like that. She recommended something for my healing, and we were ready to head down the pumping path for a week or so. Peter was willing to get up to do middle of the night feedings so that I could pump. This worked great for 3 days. Thursday, I got mastitis. I got antibiotics and started them, but I was deep into the infection by then, and it took a while for them to touch it. I was up and down with fever and chills, and I was absolutely no help at all when I was physically shaking (thinking I was cold) under 6 layers and a hot pack. Or when I was running a 102 degree fever and sweating miserably. Peter took over and made things work with the kids, and I tried to sleep it off whenever I could. My supply tanked over the next several days. As of this morning, we're trying to nurse again. We had 2 successful sessions this morning, and we'll try again tonight. I am hoping we can make the turn without the problems we had in the beginning, but it's been a rough first 2 weeks.
Cute baby pictures (All from the iPhone this week):
Ways she will sleep #1
Ways she will sleep #2
Ways she will sleep #3
We're looking forward to some visitors (my girlfriends from high school and my best friend) next weekend. Then we get to see Peter's brother briefly, and his mom, sister, her husband, and their daughter will be visiting for several days, during which Claire will get baptized.
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