Weighing In

Breastfeeding is harder than I thought! I think I have spent hundreds of dollars on breastfeeding acessories, hours in the lactation consultant's office, hours at home pumping and cleaning pump acessories, and countless weary hours sending up prayers over the last few weeks in desperate attempts to increase my milk supply. I can say that it all seems to be paying off because my supply is increasing slowly and Logan is gaining weight!

At his 1 week appointment Logan had only gained 2 ounces since leaving the hospital (he was 6lbs 7 ounces from 6lbs 5 ounces at the hospital) and this was considered low gain. The lactation consultant put us on a feeding plan (breastfeed, pump, supplement with pumped milk and formula) to try to increase my supply and help Logan gain weight.

We went in for our weight-check appointment today and Logan was 7 lbs 3 ounces!!! He has gained almost a pound in a week!! I was so relieved and now I can focus on getting him eating enough without the supplemental formula.

It is amazing all that I will do to make sure my little LoganBerry can get the healthiest food possible. Luckily for us he is seeming to start to be on a schedule (eat, wake, sleep during the day and eat, sleep 5ish hours, eat, sleep 5ish hours during the night) which really helps me get all of the pumping and stuff done and still have a little bit of time to not have my breasts exposed! Wahoo!

Logan at 1 week (on the left) and Logan today on the way to his weigh-in (2 weeks and 3 days). Can you tell a difference?

I'm too sexy for my diaper

LoganBerry is my little model, but we need to work on his 'tude' so that it doesn't go to his head!  We were scheduled to have newborn photos taken at The Picture People on Satuday at 2pm.  Trying to be the good mama, I planned when I was going to feed him so that he would be sleepy and content for the appointment.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans....Logan was so fussy and hungry and in all of my planning for this first outing I did not bring my shield to feed him.  He was not having any of it and as soon as we would get him to calm down for a second you would think that the lady would be ready to snap a picture, but instead she would come over and move his hand or tell me to move him.  I understand that she was just trying to get the best picture, but I would have settled for any picture at that point.  I got pretty overwhelmed with his screams and so we just decided that we would reschedule to later that night. 

We went back at 8pm and I brought every baby item I could think of that might possibly comfort my little man.  Things went much smoother and they were very patient with us as we tried to settle him between poses.  Take a look at the end results....here is the beginning of my little model's portfolio:

*The rest of these were taken the morning we left the hospital*

"When Are You Due?"

So I have to share a funny story with you....(It is at my husband's expense, but I asked him if I could share).   As a preface to the story I need to explain that Ronnie has a phobia of that awkward situation where you ask someone when they are due and they reply that they are not pregnant.  I am not sure where this phobia stems from, but he has created a rule for himself to not ask, even if the woman is obviously pregnant.  I know about this rule and find it kind of cute, because he really fears hurting someone's feelings. 

Ok, so on Wednesday we were at our "2-day" checkup at the postpardem care center at the hospital and we are sitting in the waiting room waiting for our appointment.  A very nice woman with a quite large belly asks me where I got our diaper bag because she has been looking for one.  We chat for a few minutes and Ronnie chimes in with the words that I never thought I would hear leave his lips:  "when are you due?" 

"Oh, I've actually already had my baby" she politely responds.  I don't think I've ever seen Ronnie's face turn more red!    "Yeah," I say "she has a baby in the NICU".   (I had overheard her talking to the lady at the counter).  To be fair, the lady did still have a significant-sized baby belly and she did not have her baby with her. 

As soon as she left Ronnie turns to me and gives me this 'how could you just let me say that?' look and I burst into hysterical laughs.  He can laugh at it now, but you can bet that he will stick to his rule even tighter from here on. 

"Doh!"

Faster (and more painful) Than a Speeding Bullet

My little superman decided to make his entrance into the world in record fashion on Sunday morning (9/5).   I could never have prepared myself for the birthing experience that I had and I really hope that the amnesia that everyone talks about sets in sometime before I plan to have baby #2.   Ok, so here is the 'quick and dirty' (literally) version of the story of LoganBerry's birthday.

Friday night (9/3)-got to play the novice pregnant lady by going to the hospital for false contractions.  They were regular (coming every 3-4 minutes) and painful (so I thought...to be proven very wrong the next night) but the triage nurses said that I was dehydrated and that can cause contractions that don't do anything.  So, we went home and they gave me some medicine that allowed me to sleep and also made the contractions stop. 

Saturday (9/4)-We walked and walked to try to start the contractions again but nothing worked.  I was convinced it just wasn't going to happen this weekend.  We went to bed at about 8pm because we had been up all night the night before.  I woke up at 9pm to go to the bathroom and my water broke as soon as I was standing.  Contractions started 3-4 minutes apart and INTENSE pretty much right away.  We drove to the hospital and in triage they did some tests which came back negative for my water breaking (but blood could have skewed the results so I still think that my water did break) and I was only at about 3cm so they wouldn't admit me.  The doctor said to send me home, but my contractions were coming every 1 minute and they were super painful so the nurse said to go walking for an hour and come back to get checked (11:30pm).  One hour to me seemed like an eternity and I was in the worst pain of my life.  I would stop every 30 seconds or so for a contraction and tear Ronnie's shirt practically off of his body.  About 30 minutes later (12:00am) I walked back into triage and begged to be checked.  The nurse saw that I was having serious trouble with the contractions and so she agreed to check me.....4 cm!!  Ok, I can be admitted and get my epidural....I can do this!  The nurse tells me that the anesthesiolgist is going to be going to an emergency c-section and he will come over as soon as he can but that in the mean time they are going to start my iv and get me admitted and transferred to my room.  Contractions are killer and I really want the epidural...they give me some meds that make me a little out of it so I don't recall a lot about what was going on during the next bit of time.  I get wheeled into my room at 12:30am and they check me again.....6 cm.  Contractions were still super painful and I was pushing with each one.  The nurses were telling me that I couldn't push yet because it would hurt the cervix, but I really couldn't control it.  I was pleading with them to get the anesthesiologist, but they just kept telling me that he was coming.  At 1:30 they checked me again and I was 8cm and still pushing with the contractions.  Not good!  I am BEGGING for the epidural because I am so afraid that I won't get one in time.  "He's coming" was the only response that everyone would give.   2:00am the anesthesiologist finally walks into the room and is able to give me the epidural and this man is my hero because it kicked in 5 minutes later (which I guess is not normal).   Mom and Ronnie went out to the car to get our stuff because we hadn't had a chance to since everything was moving so quickly.  The doctor came in while they were gone and checked me again...10 cm!  She literally held Logan in and asked how long Ronnie and Mom were going to be gone.  They walked in 5 minutes later (2:15am) and the doctor told them to grab a leg! 

Pushed for 15 minutes and LoganBerry was here (2:31am)!

From start of contractions to Birth=5.5 hours!

                  Welcome Logan James Yeager!   6 lbs 11oz  and 20 inches long