Week 3

Week 3: My first week flying solo! (Thank God for the meal ministry at church!)

My progress: By the end of this week my sciatic nerve pain was completely gone! YEAH!!!! I was no longer taking any Motrin as well ... still on a stool softener though (I had anal fissers after Jackson was born, so I wanted to be cautious after this delivery).

HOWEVER, I made the mistake of carrying Jackson up the stairs (he was in a hurry to go potty and our only bathrooms are upstairs) and I wonder if that brought my bleeding back. That was SO discouraging!!!!!

My first day on my own we stayed home all day (Colin took the car to work) and things went much smoother than I expected. BUT day two was a challenge! Micah was having a hard time taking good naps (he'd fall asleep for 45 min AT THE MOST and then wake up crying and unable to put himself back to sleep). I'd go to rock Micah or give him a pacifier and Jackson would follow behind yelling "MOOOOMMMMYYYY?! WHERE ARE YOU!!??" waking Micah up even more! UGH!! I decided that I need to teach Jackson how to use an inside voice, but I'm not going to stop him from talking or playing while Micah is sleeping ... I'm hoping Micah will just learn to adapt. Anyway, that day was a "veg out" kind of day after Colin came home (I even volunteered to take the garbage to the dumpster just to get some time to myself). Luckily, both kids were napping at the same time and I could catch some sleep too, but one day I skipped my nap and BOY did I feel it that night at 3am when I was nursing (I could barely keep my body upright)!! I won't make that mistake again.

Micah: He had several nights where he went 4 hours between feedings. I discovered that it really pays to work on waking him up for a full feeding for his late night feeding (between 9pm and 10pm) and then he usually has a good night. It still takes him about an hour to nurse fully if you include 10 minutes on each breast, burping in between (which can take awhile sometimes ) and changing his diaper (sometimes two or even three times depending on if he poops AGAIN). So you can imagine on nights when Micah makes it only 2 hours between feedings, which means I'm only getting an hour of sleep in between, how exhausted I am the next day.

I've also discovered that I need to make sure I put Micah down for a nap the moment he seems tired, otherwise it seems near impossible to get him to sleep. If I can do that then he sleeps for longer periods of time and nurses MUCH better when he wakes up. So, I'd say on average that it takes about 45 minutes to feed, burp and change Micah, then he stays awake for about 45 minutes to an hour and then sleeps (off and on) for the rest of the 3 hour cycle. He still has not really put himself to sleep yet, but I haven't let him cry it out yet either ... not sure what I want to do about that.

Also, early this week he had yellow gook in his eye ... a clogged tear duct. Jackson had the same thing and the pediatrician told me to express breast milk into his eye and massage the duct. I didn't find that out until a week or so into Jackson's duct being clogged, so he had both eyes clogged for a week or so. However, I expressed milk into Micah's right away and his unclogged within a couple of days! WORKED LIKE A CHARM!

Also, Micah's ring from his circumcision fell of this week too. I'm not sure things are looking right there (part of his penis looks swollen), but it doesn't seem to be infected. I'm not sure if I should call the pediatrician or not. It might not hurt to call them early next week.

Jackson: His favorite phrase is "I'm taking care of you Mommy." He has had some needy moments this week, but who wouldn't. He has also had some moments of true grace towards Mommy and his brother. One day I was so tired when Micah was napping and I was playing with Jackson in his room, that I fell asleep while playing. Jackson just played around me and every once in awhile woke me up to ask me something or tell me something. He's been such a trouper.