Christmas Weekend

Happy Monday! Is it just me or does it seem as though xmas went by really fast? This holiday was like no other because we got to share it with our baby. When I was pregnant I wondered if he'd make his appearance before the holiday and he surely did. Donnie turned 1 month on Christmas Eve and I swear that month flew by so fast! Christmas was great for us this year we took Donnie over his Nana and Papa's house (my parents) for xmas dinner and to open presents. For someone who wasn't supposed to arrive until New Years Eve he made out really well with xmas gifts! Then Sunday was the hubs birthday. We kept it pretty simple and just ordered take out and chilled. It was really our first night by ourselves with just the baby so it was nice to bond with my husband taking care of our son. My hubs finally got to see the personality that I keep saying Donnie has, he was a hand full (but what new baby isn't?). It was nice when my husband said "I have so much respect for you and what you do" and he went on to say he doesn't know how a person could do this alone. It felt good for him to finally understand that taking care of a new baby isn't a easy task but I wouldn't have it any other way. I just wanted to pop in with a quick post! I hope your holiday was a great one! I leave you with a picture of Donnie in his Santa Suit that he wore on Christmas...it's it the cutest thing ever?

Wordless Wednesday

I've seen these on other blogs so I thought it would be nice to take part in it. I plan to post pictures of the baby every week because what mama doesn't love to show off her baby?! So besides this brief introduction, my blog posts on Wednesday will be of pictures and few (if any) words. Now to kick off the first week of "Wordless Wednesday" I want to share pictures of Donnie taken at the hospital when he was three days old. Enjoy!!

Update!

Apparently having a newborn consumes all of your time and energy and I haven't had the urge to blog. I'm sorry! I hope to get into some type of routine soon! First let me start off by telling you how breast feeding is going. I'm off the meds and Donnie is latching on! I haven't gave him formula since Saturday! We are taking it one day at a time. Yesterday we went to the breast feeding clinic and they answered so many of my questions. It felt good that things I thought I was doing right were confirmed (mommy intuition kicking in!). I'm also pumping to build a supply and giving him two breast milk bottles a day (from the advice of the pediatrician). Luckily he doesn't seem to have any nipple confusion and takes them both. I know all mom's feel this way but Donnie is one smart baby, especially since he's considered a preemie he does things a full term baby should do. For instance I was told that it may take until he was "term" (which would have been Dec 11th) or even until his due date before he may be able to latch and breast feed correctly. Well so far my son has had no problems! He's amazing and I think he knew how important it was for mama to have this bond with him. Again I want to say thanks to all my readers for encouraging me, giving awesome advice and the whole nine!

Pity Party

Yep I'm having one right now. I read all the comments from you ladies with awesome advice, along with speaking with some other ladies who were successful after delayed breastfeeding. So why am I upset? Well I brought the Breast Flow bottles hoping he would take to those, well so far it has been a total bust. I originally started with Playtex Drop Ins and I think he is used to that nipple. See Donovan is a lazy baby when it comes to eating, which is normal for preemies. I understand that they get tired fast. However he also is a greedy baby! He sucks so fast and hard like he's never eaten in his life! It's the funniest thing ever but since I've tried to introduce the Breast Flow bottle it has become a real task. He will take the bottle but only drink about 1 oz and he's over it.

According to his pediatrician he should be drinking 2-4 oz, (which he would do with the other bottle) so I can't help but think it's the bottle and the last thing I want is for him not to eat enough. So I'm lost! I don't know if I continue with the Breast Flow bottles, hoping it'll get better or do I just switch back to the Playtex ones which I know he likes (this is where I need help/advice). I guess seeing him not take to the Breast Flow bottle makes me think he'll never latch on to me. This causes me so much stress!

I've been crying all night because it seems like nothing is going right. I've been trying to take everything in stride and remain positive but my delivery was a difficult one, definitely nothing like I imagined. Yes I know things don't always go as plan, and I'm pretty good with rolling with the punches but it seems like I can't catch a break. I don't think anyone understands how important it is for me to breast feed. I always intended on breastfeeding that I never looked up information about formula feeding while pregnant. I "tried" to prepare myself that breastfeeding isn't always easy, so I took classes and tried to do as much research as I could. I'm not judging those who do but some don't even consider breastfeeding and to think that I want to and it's so difficult for me is just upsetting. I just emailed the lactation consultant who held my breast feeding class for advice. I plan on scheduling an appointment with the clinic as soon as I'm done with my medication. That's some good news I can share, I went to the O.B. yesterday and my blood pressure is coming down. One of the medications I'm on for seizures she said I can stop taking once I run out ( which will be in about four days). Then she plans on weaning me from blood pressure meds starting next Tuesday. I guess that's something to be happy about seeing as how I thought I'd be on those meds for about a month.

Again  I want to thank all my readers for commenting. I also want to give a special thanks to Alex and Mrs. W for giving me as much advice as possible. All of my readers ROCK! It's amazing how I was a total wreck at the beginning of the writing this post and now I feel relieved. I really needed to get that off my chest! Once again I do plan on sharing my birth story. I honestly think that I'm avoiding it because I don't like to think back on what happened, especially since the only part of it that went right (good, great, perfect) was delivering Donovan, which is the most important part of course. In due time I will share it all in full detail. For now I'm trying to get over this hurdle and get some type of normalcy back.

Back Home and Worried

First let me start off by saying we're home!!! Well kind of, let me explain. Since I'm on all these meds for my blood pressure and to prevent me from having a seizure we are staying at my parents house. Since the baby came so early hubs was only able to take a short time off. My doctor said I needed help during this time so we are staying with my parents for a few weeks until I get off these meds because hubs works long 12-16 hr shifts and I can't be at home by myself for that long. I never imagined any of this would happen, but I'm taking it in stride. As for these meds it's a task in itself. They make me sleepy and weak. I can't breast feed while on them so I've been pumping and dumping to keep my supply up for when I can.

Which brings me to my worrying, I'm scared that once I'm off the meds he won't latch on and I'll have to exclusively pump. I so want to have that connection of him latching on and plus it would be a lot less work. I hate that I have to supplement with formula, it makes me soo upset because I think the longer he's eating it the worse my chances are for him wanting my milk. I do plan on doing a recap of the events leading up to my delivery, but bare with me, I'm adjusting to being a new mommy, I'm having health complications that I'm trying to work out and I had a baby come 5 wks early so I'm trying to play catch up. I will say my support system has been awesome. If you have any advice/words of encouragement/ articles/ links or whatever concerning delayed breastfeeding that would be great. I also want to point out that my sentence structure, grammar and whatever else is probably funky lol due to the meds and lack of sleep.

However one thing is certain when I look at this face it's SOO worth it!!!