Chunky Monkey!

We had Reese's two month check up today. She is 12 pounds 10 ounces and 22 inches long, she's in the 85th percentile for her weight/height ratio. Yay for boob milk lol. They weight adjusted her Zantac dose. She also got one oral vaccine and three shots, poor baby. She only cried for 10 seconds though haha. They want to see her again in one month because her head is measuring on the higher end. But it's kind of silly if you ask me because she has been following the same growth curve since birth (regarding her head circumference). I guess they just want to make sure it doesn't jump up quickly. I mean for god sakes I'm a NICU nurse I hope I would recognize if my child had extra fluid, and she doesn't. Her fontanels are nice and flat, she just has a big noggin' (which means lots of brain for my smarty lol). Anyway, Reese earned her first dose of Tylenol since she has a low grade fever from her shots. Poor baby is so grumpy/sleepy. 

Well, until next time, here are some pictures my sister took of Reese for her 2 month mark.

I never thought...

I never thought…. I would miss being pregnant so much. As I sit here starring at my beautiful sleeping baby, I miss feeling her from the inside. I find myself watching videos of her kicks/flips. I miss my belly. I also miss the excuse for being "fat" lol. I am already thinking about baby number two! I must be crazy considering I had a fairly complicated pregnancy!! But before that I have to lose at least 50lbs!

Speaking of second pregnancy…. I called California Cryobank to see if our donor had vials available to store. And he doesn't, which stinks. but for now we are on the list to be called if vials become available (via the buy back). Our plan is to try again once Reese is out of diapers. If there are no vials available by then we will explore the option to have CCB contact him to come back. Which is $1,750! And that's not including the cost of sperm, storage, or shipping etc. But I do feel it's important for Reese to share a donor with her future sibling. For many reasons… medically and emotionally. But at the same time I know that it's not that HUGE of a deal if they can't. I do not share the same father as either of my brothers and I look at them as full siblings.

On to another subject… returning to work. UGH I do NOT want to! Slowly but surely we are figuring out babysitting plans for Reese, and I will not lie, I am very nervous to leave her. I haven't left her for more than 6 hours this far. I am hoping between my mom, sister, roommate and potentially a hired sitter we can have everything covered. I go back February 24th, and I am also nervous about going back after such a long time out. I have been out since I was 36 weeks pregnant. I so wish I could go part time! I don't think I would want to be a stay at home mom, I would go stir crazy but I would love to go part time!

For now I am enjoying the time I have with my baby girl. Even though I am terribly sleep deprived lol. She has regressed a bit these past few nights (not sleeping much at all)! ANY TIPS AND TRICKS FOR GETTING A BABY TO SLEEP WOULD BE APPRECIATED! I am not even looking for "through the night," I'll take 3 - 4 hours at a time. But she barely gives me that. I have tried increasing her night feed and adding organic oatmeal to help with her GERD (on top of her Zantac). She sleeps on her belly when she does sleep (she won't sleep any other way). I know that's not the best but thankfully I have an apnea/video monitor. She hates to be swaddled, so that's out. UGH, I don't know what else to do. Momma's out there, HELP!

2 months already!

It's crazy how times flies! I realized that our bloc is now a year old, as of December 31st it was! I missed the blogiversary because I've been so busy with the little one lol. Our little Reesie cup is now 8 weeks old (2 months on the 30th)! Things are going well. Our battle for sleep is continuing! She is slowly but surely getting slightly better with the whole sleeping at night thing. The Zantac had helped her GERD a lot, thank goodness! I have started somewhat of a night routine. During the day I kind of just let her do what she wants until around 6pm.

I always time her last two feeds to be between 6:00 - 6:30pm and 9:00 - 9:30pm. She does not nap after 6pm. I will bathe her around 8:45 - 9:00pm and then give her the last feed of the night. She will figh her sleep until 10:30pm usually. And she won't go to sleep unless I rock her, which I am hoping to do away when at 3 months. But once she is down, she will sometimes sleep until 3:00am which is great for her. One night she even went until 4:00am! After her midnight feeding she will go back down for maybe another 3 hours after being awake for 45 minutes. Then she is pretty much up for the day. Every night is slightly different but I am going to keep going with this routine, in hopes that she will eventually sleep through the night. I basically always have the night shift (my wife is spoiled). But I did tell her if Reese doesn't start sleeping through the night soon that she better practice for when I am working (I work night shift). So, here is to HOPING!

Her 2 month check up is on Thursday so I am not sure what her stats are but I will update again with them. She is surely a little chunky monkey though! Breastfeeding/pumping is still going very well! I rented a hospital grade breast pump in order to alleviate the time consuming stress of pumping with the pump I have. I can now pump in 15 minutes and get the same amount of milk as I would in 30 minutes with my other pump. It's money well spent in my eyes! Plus it was my birthday gift from my family lol. I don't think $175 for three months is bad at all and I would have done it from the beginning had I known! I am taking fenugreek to help maintain my supply and I even made some lactation brownies (I have the recipe if anyone is interested)!

Reesie Mouse :)

At her first playdate/bday party

Cutie patootie in her tutuu

C and Reese, she loves her Mama!

Post Hawaii update, Reese is 6 weeks!

Well we survived the travel to Hawaii with a newborn. It was SO beautiful there. We had a blast and did not want to come home to the freezing weather! But we are now home and settled back in (as settled as you can be with a baby in the house). We discovered that Reese has developed bad GERD and is now on Zantac twice a day, which has helped. When she has break through reflux I give her Maalox or Gripe water, which also helps. We went doctors this past Monday for a "sick" visit because of the reflux and she weighs 11 pounds 4 ounces now! She is a little chunk! Breastfeeding is still going well. I am continuing to pump as well. I've figured out she takes about 28 - 30 ounces a day and I produce around 48 - 50 ounces a day. So, I think I will be fine to go back to work as far as milk goes.

On to another subject, SLEEP (or lack of I should say). I have never been so exhausted in my life. When she was struggling with the reflux really bad, I was literally pulling all nighters with a screaming baby! I felt terrible because I could console her. Now she is sleeping a little better but won't fall asleep until an hour after I feed her. So with her eating every 3 hours, that really on gives me a max of 2 hours of sleep at a time. UGH I hope it gets better, she is so worth it though. 

I feel like there is so much more to write about but she is awake and wanting to eat now, so until next time my friends! I will leave you with a few of her newborn photos and her 1 month shot.