4 Weeks Old, Baby Blues, and Pumping

My little baby boy is 4 weeks old!! It feels like yesterday when I found out we were having a boy..

And now I get to wake up every hour to this precious face!!

It doesn't matter if you sleep 12 hours a day before your little one arrives... nothing can prepare you for the extreme sleep deprivation you go through. And to add to the raging hormones, or lack thereof, baby blues!

Around day 6 I developed some serious baby blues. Crying from 6pm, straight through the night, to 6am. This occurred daily. Erik thought I'd gone bonkers. How is it possible to be so excited and thrilled to finally have your baby here and hysterically cry nonstop!? 

My day usually went something like this:

5am: wake up, wipe away remaining tears and grab crying baby

5:15am-6am: feed baby

6am: change baby & chug extra large cup of coffee..wish it was spiked with rum

6:15am: shower 

6:30am-7:15am: feed baby

7:15am: change baby then rock/hold baby

7:30am-2pm: REPEAT feed baby, change baby, hold crying baby, baby naps for 30 mins

2pm: chug second extra large cup of coffee and day dream of sleep

2:15pm-6pm: REPEAT feed baby, change baby, hold crying baby, baby naps for 30 mins

6pm: bam. the tears start flowing.

6:15pm: have a discouraging conversation with Erik about non stop blubbering and fail to explain my lack of reason for crying

6:45pm: back to baby feedings, changing, holding & rocking

7:30pm: eye lids refuse to stay open and it's time to head to bed

8:00pm: in bed and it feels SO good

8:05pm: Boden is WIDE AWAKE and ready to party.

8:15pm-5am: Boden is reverse cycling and thinks I should too.

REPEAT.

I arrived at my 2 week appointment 2 weeks ago with dark circles under my eyes, no make-up, wearing my pajamas, a sleeping baby and a attitude to match. My doctor quickly instructed me that exclusively breast feeding wasn't probably mine or my babies thing. Time to break out the pump and hand the 2am feeding responsibility off to someone else. 

So the second I got home I opened my breast pump, boiled the parts and started pumping. Instant hatred. Who wants to sit with a plastic cone sucking milk out of your boob after you just had to sit and feed the baby! Ugh!

Needless to say, I pumped enough for that night. My husband stayed with Boden ALL night downstairs and fed him at all the feedings. I slept for 10 hours that night! And with that no more tears were shed. I've been pumping and sharing the night time feedings for about 2 weeks now and I have enjoyed motherhood more and more each day!

October Love

Why October is the best month...

\\ Cooler weather. Thank god that sticky, slimy, frizzy haired, sweaty, humid weather has passed! \\

\\ Holiday season has officially begun! Hell yes I am playing Christmas music in between watching Halloween, Beetlejuice, and Hocus Focus on rerun. \\

\\ LEAVES are changing and crunching under my feet! \\

\\ Soup season. It officially begins in October. Potato soup, broccoli soup, chicken noodle soup, chili, split pea soup, french onion soup, curry lentil soup....all on repeat. \\

\\ Walking Dead season premiere. Time to get my zombie fix. \\

\\ Pumpkins. Decorating the house, making pumpkin soup, making glass pumpkins, and occasionally rolled into the street by the neighborhood adolescents and run down with their car... \\

\\ And the best reason October is the best month...my husbands AND Boden's birthday!! \\

Breastfeeding...

Aaahhhh..breastfeeding. How breastfeeding can be the most amazing experience AND a lovely annoyance is still a clue to me. Sure everybody told me I was going to be a on call milk maid but no one warned me of all the little details that came along with it!!

Rock hard lumpy boobs...check.
Boobs converted to a slow leak faucet...check.
Nipples becoming extra sensitive to cold/hot/wind/touch/sight...check.
Approximately 2.5 mins for bathroom use without freaking out if the dogs have decided to make the baby their own personal lollipop...check.
Never sleeping longer then a 45 min time frame...check.
Being limited to wearing shirts that allow easy boob access (no cute Fall sweaters for me!)...check.
Cold Hot Luke warm showers to avoid nipple chaffing...check.
NO lotion/perfume/body spray/anything on upper half of body...check.
Sweat profusely due to raging hormones at night..check.
Being excited for the weekend because it's socially acceptable to lay in your yoga pants and do absolutely nothing all day...check.

Happy Breastfeeding!!