If the first three days hadn't been weekend with another adult here, I wouldn't have made it this far. I don't know how I am going to manage today, especially because he only slept for 3 hours. I can't 'sleep when the baby is sleeping' because I have to pump regardless of whether he's awake or asleep and there's only about 90 useful minutes between the end of a session and the beginning of another during the day. (Why am I typing here? Because I'm stuck in this spot for another 8 minutes.)
After we saw evidence of a huge improvement and healing gut (36 hours of exclusively feeding formula) I cheated and let him nurse once. I made it at a time where he wasn't going to get much due to the pumping schedule, but he did still have a reaction. Small, but it was there. I did the same thing about 24 hours later and got an even smaller reaction. We'll see about today. Unfortunately we can't settle for "oh it's just a small reaction" and stay there forever because it would be a long-term problem. But maybe the small reactions now are showing that my body is getting cleaner.
It's so hard to deal with the formula thing, just logistically. Once they start a bottle they have to finish it in a reasonable time (hour-ish) or you have to dump it. Sometimes he takes 4 ounces (that's a meal sized bottle) but sometimes he falls asleep and only eats 1 ounce. You wouldn't want to have to throw 3 out, so we try to anticipate based on when he last ate, time of day, pre/post nap or overnight, etc. Luckily you can mix some and leave it in the fridge for a day. We have been mixing several times a day and then pouring out of the mix into a bottle as we dole it out.
Except then he throws me a curve ball and sleeps for 3 hours instead of 6+. Then I have a screaming baby upstairs, a husband who has to get up for work 40 minutes later that I'm trying to let sleep, and no small bottle ready to give - if it's even hunger that is the problem! In nursing world, you try that, and whether his problem is hunger or something else, it usually worked. This whole bottle thing makes me feel like a beginner all over again!
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Yawn
Approximately 8 weeks ago to the minute, we were leaving for the hospital and I couldn't make words that people could understand. So really, even though I'm setting alarms to get up and pump, it could be worse. :)
Can we add another thing to our thankful list? Even though it takes a little longer to GET him to sleep, he has STAYED asleep both nights like he has generally been doing lately when he isn't feeling gross.
I still don't know how I will manage this when Mike isn't home for the weekend, since I can't be in two places at once!
Can we add another thing to our thankful list? Even though it takes a little longer to GET him to sleep, he has STAYED asleep both nights like he has generally been doing lately when he isn't feeling gross.
I still don't know how I will manage this when Mike isn't home for the weekend, since I can't be in two places at once!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday/Wednesday
Tuesday High: At dinner time we had a normal(ish) diaper for the first time in more than a week. We were so excited and it made the diet worth it!
Tuesday Low: A couple hours later, we had a bad one, as bad as last week before the diet started.
Then we had a re-do on the no sleep thing, the kind of no sleep that comes with an increase in tummy troubles.
Frustration doesn't begin to cover it.
I was so completely frustrated and drained and tired in the middle of the night that when the baby was crying (at a weird time, since it had only been an hour since we went to bed) that it didn't wake me up at all. It took Mike gently poking and then shaking me awake and then talking to me to get me to wake up to make me coherent.
Meanwhile, I was just having a dream with a baby crying in a crowd and getting bumped around, which I guess was Mike poking me. Now THAT is tired. :)
Wednesday High: A really good nap for the baby, which was so necessary!
Wednesday Low: We had friends drive 90 minutes to meet us for dinner. But the restaurant, one of our favorites, was less than responsive/helpful with being able to help with allergen free ordering even though I emailed them last weekend trying to avoid the waitress having to know the answers. So I had to eat at home at 9pm. On top of that, the diapers are not good again which makes it harder mentally, knowing that I am giving my poor kid something he can't tolerate, and we can't figure it out.
Tuesday Low: A couple hours later, we had a bad one, as bad as last week before the diet started.
Then we had a re-do on the no sleep thing, the kind of no sleep that comes with an increase in tummy troubles.
Frustration doesn't begin to cover it.
I was so completely frustrated and drained and tired in the middle of the night that when the baby was crying (at a weird time, since it had only been an hour since we went to bed) that it didn't wake me up at all. It took Mike gently poking and then shaking me awake and then talking to me to get me to wake up to make me coherent.
Meanwhile, I was just having a dream with a baby crying in a crowd and getting bumped around, which I guess was Mike poking me. Now THAT is tired. :)
Wednesday High: A really good nap for the baby, which was so necessary!
Wednesday Low: We had friends drive 90 minutes to meet us for dinner. But the restaurant, one of our favorites, was less than responsive/helpful with being able to help with allergen free ordering even though I emailed them last weekend trying to avoid the waitress having to know the answers. So I had to eat at home at 9pm. On top of that, the diapers are not good again which makes it harder mentally, knowing that I am giving my poor kid something he can't tolerate, and we can't figure it out.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
April 9 and 10
Yesterday:
Low: what had been a 5 hour night time stretch was only 3 and a half. Bummer.
High: The lack of night time sleep meant a good mid day nap!
Today:
Low: He was so tired today, but he couldn't take a nap. Such a weird phenomenon...to be so tired that you can't sleep! Once 4pm hit, he finally caved and got a pre dinner snooze in.
High: I got to eat a hot dinner with two hands! (which is good, because it was taco night and that's a hard one handed meal) ;)
Low: what had been a 5 hour night time stretch was only 3 and a half. Bummer.
High: The lack of night time sleep meant a good mid day nap!
Today:
Low: He was so tired today, but he couldn't take a nap. Such a weird phenomenon...to be so tired that you can't sleep! Once 4pm hit, he finally caved and got a pre dinner snooze in.
High: I got to eat a hot dinner with two hands! (which is good, because it was taco night and that's a hard one handed meal) ;)
Saturday, March 30, 2013
End of March
We waited SO LONG for it to be March and for him to get here, and now March is 30 hours from being over. I can't believe it. My mom said that she remembers this time when we were babies as "the days being so long, but the years being so short." I guess that's how it is going to be, because almost every night when I'm up every couple hours feeding and feeling sick from exhaustion and frustrated when he won't sleep, I want to cry and quit. But the fact that it feels like yesterday that he got here blows my mind too.
People talk about how hard it is, but it's indescribable until you're living through it. And I had more help than most people have. I married a guy who is willing to be totally hands on and have a mom that was willing to come and give up sleep for a month to do our cooking, laundry, and dishes and rock the baby to sleep after a 2am feeding so that I could get an extra 20 minutes of sleep before the next feeding. I don't know how people do it on their own.
Mike went back to work last week, so I try to be respectful and help him get as much sleep as possible since I don't have to drive to work and be human all day. Those 4 work nights were hard, and my mom stayed to bridge the transition. Now that she's gone, I will be on my own. Thankfully, the nights have gotten a little easier with a 4 hour stretch of sleep. (He'd sleep forever if I let him, but he wasn't gaining weight at the right speed at one point, so we make sure he wakes up to eat now.)
Without attempting to create them, I am starting to notice small patterns in our day. We pretty much get up in the 7 to 8 range and after he eats, he's pretty perky. He loves tummy time and back time in his rainforest gym in the square of family room sun. Then he eats again around 10 either at the breastfeeding group at the hospital that we visit on Tues/Thurs or during Kelly & Michael on the other days. (This is my new favorite daytime show because they're not annoying like everyone else. It's the only one I can stand!) Then he chills (sometimes awake, sometimes asleep) until the lunchtime feeding and I shower. (This is going to be a new logistic to figure out, because my mom or Mike hung out with him while I showered and he has an uncanny knack for crying when I go to shower. I will have to bring a chair upstairs or something.) After his lunchtime feeding, I eat and he usually sleeps more solidly. Then he eats again around GH time. After that though it's anybody's guess. Sometimes in the afternoon/evening he wants to eat ALL THE TIME. Sometimes he doesn't. That means a lot of dinner times he's in someone's lap. At some point he goes to sleep upstairs (in the crib! Yay!) and sleeps til the middle of the night when he gets up to eat again, then sleeps til 6 or 7 when we eat again and start all over.
People talk about how hard it is, but it's indescribable until you're living through it. And I had more help than most people have. I married a guy who is willing to be totally hands on and have a mom that was willing to come and give up sleep for a month to do our cooking, laundry, and dishes and rock the baby to sleep after a 2am feeding so that I could get an extra 20 minutes of sleep before the next feeding. I don't know how people do it on their own.
Mike went back to work last week, so I try to be respectful and help him get as much sleep as possible since I don't have to drive to work and be human all day. Those 4 work nights were hard, and my mom stayed to bridge the transition. Now that she's gone, I will be on my own. Thankfully, the nights have gotten a little easier with a 4 hour stretch of sleep. (He'd sleep forever if I let him, but he wasn't gaining weight at the right speed at one point, so we make sure he wakes up to eat now.)
Without attempting to create them, I am starting to notice small patterns in our day. We pretty much get up in the 7 to 8 range and after he eats, he's pretty perky. He loves tummy time and back time in his rainforest gym in the square of family room sun. Then he eats again around 10 either at the breastfeeding group at the hospital that we visit on Tues/Thurs or during Kelly & Michael on the other days. (This is my new favorite daytime show because they're not annoying like everyone else. It's the only one I can stand!) Then he chills (sometimes awake, sometimes asleep) until the lunchtime feeding and I shower. (This is going to be a new logistic to figure out, because my mom or Mike hung out with him while I showered and he has an uncanny knack for crying when I go to shower. I will have to bring a chair upstairs or something.) After his lunchtime feeding, I eat and he usually sleeps more solidly. Then he eats again around GH time. After that though it's anybody's guess. Sometimes in the afternoon/evening he wants to eat ALL THE TIME. Sometimes he doesn't. That means a lot of dinner times he's in someone's lap. At some point he goes to sleep upstairs (in the crib! Yay!) and sleeps til the middle of the night when he gets up to eat again, then sleeps til 6 or 7 when we eat again and start all over.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day 20
See this??? It's when my alarm is set for tomorrow!! That's 30 minutes AFTER I usually GET to work! I have to be in essex in the morning, so I get to sleep in. We celebrated by staying up til 10. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
