My oh my! Life is good!

We are bonding well as a family, getting to know our newest member. He is sleeping a lot, though it does not seem that way at night! He has been waking up every 1 1/2 – 2 hours to nurse. Now I know that is healthy and all, but I am pretty hopeful that we extend the sleep sessions a little and squeeze a 3-4 hour stint in there sometime. I am not tired during the day, but I feel tired at night, ironically. I think my regular sleep patterns are just so disrupted. I don’t get to wake up on my own without my son fussing, or for that matter get much deep sleep beyond a little bit of REM action. But, he is nursing well. I have been a little sore, but thanks to the Internet I learned that we just needed to improve our latching. I have been working on having him open his mouth really WIDE before starting to suck and it has really helped. Already I am noticing a difference, I am healing and the pain is almost entirely gone. Thank goodness.

We have the most helpful big sister ever, I think. She is as head over heels in love with Jude as I am. Guinevere is in the middle of everything that happens in Jude’s life. Diaper change? Check. Nursing? Check. Changing clothes? Check. Need something? She is willing to go get it. Naturally things take a little longer, but that is okay. As long as she is feeling like an integral part of the family, we will take all the time we need. What is amazing to me is that she does not complain about having so much asked of her. I am continually asking her to go and grab things for me and she just goes and does it. No complaints. And she is incredibly understanding that Mama has to spend a lot of extra time with Jude (usually nursing) and can’t always play, get up, or help her out when she wants Mama to do it, not Dad. That is not saying that we haven’t had our moments, but on the whole, I am pleased as punch with our girl. She loves her brother too. She wants to hold, kiss and carry him all the time. She is wonderful!

Our welcoming party was really nice. Lots of friends and family showed up to greet our new little one. He was pleasant and sleepy the whole time, perfect for cuddling. It was really nice to see people who I really don’t see so often (and those who I see all the time) and visit. The food was amazing and tokens of love for Jude plentiful. A very nice day. The best part came at the end though. Jude’s belly button had been getting more and more fetid by the hour. He was stinky and oozy, no matter what we did to clean it up! The night before the party it was hanging outside of the naval zone, all brown, oozy and gross. It kept catching on his diaper and we noticed blood so we kind of taped it down with a band aid. The next morning we tried to mask the smell with baby lotion. That worked for about an hour and then the belly button funk took over and we took him to the party. The poor kid and guests. They all though he had a messy diaper because of the odor. Finally, at the very end of the party, I took a peek under the band aid to see what was going on. The smell was overpowering and when I took off the band aid there was brown goop all over and the belly button was hanging by a very small scrap of flesh, like as big as a thread. Bradley got scissors and cut it off. Immediately the air cleared and we were so happy to have our sweet smelling son back! Yuck!

Yesterday we had an experience that we don’t want to repeat. Guinevere had to get a few shots, which is scary and tough. But then they wanted to give her the chicken pox shot. We had decided to forgo the pox shot and were going to let nature run its course. Last spring we think she had the chicken pox too, so we feel pretty safe that we don’t need to worry about anything. The Dr. office, however, asked that we confirm that she had the pox by getting a blood draw. Blood draws are pretty scary for little ones, so naturally Gigi was not looking forward to getting another ’poke’. Bradley took her in, had the procedure done, and we were about to leave the lot when a nurse came running out. We think they messed up and used Gigi’s blood for another kid, but they said they didn’t draw enough blood and had to draw a second time! Talk about a tearful child! Two shots and two blood draws all within an hour! She was pretty upset, so of course we HAD to go to Toys R Us to choose a new toy. Poor kid!

I also had a Dr. appointment yesterday. Dr. Banfield said I am healing beautifully, and I have to say that my incision looks SO much better than the first one I had. That one gaped open and paranoid me. This one is a thin tight line that almost has entirely lost its scab. It is quite amazing. My pain has diminished significantly too. I still have pain now and then on the left hand side of my abdomen, but it is not constant and I can rely on myself to move, get up, get in and out of the bath, all that good stuff. I am satisfied, and when it gets tough, I have pain killers to deal with the ouch factor and a loving husband to help me move. But I am on the mend.

I think that’s about it. Sorry this is late, but better late than never…
Tamara


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