Week 2

Note to Readers: I've changed some things in week one and I'm sure I'll have to go back and change a few things for this week when I'm writing week three, but I'm trying to keep on top of the weeks so I have to do that less and less.

Week 2: Colin's parents came and helped.

My progress: I was STILL having sciatica pain although it would come and go. I decided to look on the Internet to see if there was anything I could do besides take 600mg of Motrin every 6 hours. I did find some helpful videos on YouTube that showed me how to stretch the muscle around the sciatic nerve and that seemed to help a little. I also started icing that muscle once or twice a day for about an hour while I napped and also took several warm baths during this week. The pain would come and go and I even had to opt out of going to Oso Flaco with the family because I had a really bad day physically (that was another baby blue day).

I was still bleeding and cramping while nursing, but by the end of this week I had a whole day of not bleeding. I lost a lot of my prego belly this week, but my regular clothes were still too small and my maternity clothes were too big.

My engorgement was pretty much gone (there were a couple of nights that I didn't try and stop the milk from leaking and I think that helped too ... it made a mess, but it helped). However, there was one time when Micah was not nursing well (the day of his circumcision) that I pumped one bottles worth.

Micah: The big thing for this week was getting Micah to have sleep, eat and awake cycles established. We did okay. I found that if he gets over stimulated it's hard for him to go to sleep and babies at this age need A LOT of sleep. Getting the cycle established was somewhat successful, but I left a lot of room for grace this week. He was now making it about three hours between feedings during the day and at night, but still only nursing on one side and snacking on the other.

We also started going through diapers like crazy! I made the mistake of putting him in generic diapers and using generic wipes though and he got a terrible rash (it even bled a little), but once we switched to sensitive wipes and name brand diapers (pampers swaddlers) and used diaper cream (Balmex is the best) on a regular basis his rash cleared up (for the most part). Part of the reason for the rash is that Micah doesn't poop much, but he poops often. We'd change his diaper and one minute later he'd poop again ... it didn't matter how long we waited between diaper changes (you know, just to make sure he was done) he'd still poop right after we changed him. Oh well!

Micah's umbilical cord fell off this week and he also got his circumcision done. YIKES!!! He weighed in at a healthy 8lbs 12oz at this appointment (I was proud). I watched the surgery (they used the string and ring method instead of the "bell method" that Jackson had)and Micah did GREAT during the surgery (of course Daddy was feeding him sugar water to help him keep his mind off of things), but afterwards he was a WRECK! He would not nurse at all ... I've never seen him scream like that since. We gave him infant Tylenol every 4 hours that day and the rest of the day was a very sleepy day for him and that night was CRAZINESS! He wanted to nurse almost every hour, but then would fall asleep in the middle of nursing. He bounced back pretty quickly the next day though.

Up to this point Micah had not yet put himself to sleep. He either had a pacifier, was in the swing, or being held. I decided that was an adventure for after the grandparents left (I didn't want to gyp them of their precious time with their grandson).

Jackson: Had a great week largely due to the fact that Grandma and Papa were there to entertain (he even got to go to Chuckee Cheese for the first time ever). He was wonderful at letting me take naps when I needed too, but every once in awhile he'd say things like, "I want Momma."