Lennon's first 2 weeks earthside :)

So I promise I will get Lennon's birth story typed up soon , but since it's kind of a long story I'll have to wait until my sweet sunshine is in a milk coma so I can have enough time to type it up. :)

These past 2 weeks have flown by, and definitely had a bit of a rocky start. However, I think all of us are starting to get the hang of things. Monday night, after her birth, we didn't get much sleep despite being absolutely exhausted. Our midwives had told us to expect a 4-5 hour sleep from her this first night, and to enjoy it because it's the longest stretch of sleep she'll have for while. Well, that did not happen, she would not sleep unless being held. Luckily, Eric is amazing and took her for awhile between feedings so that I could get some sleep. It was like this for the first few days, but Becca let us know that it was normal, especially for babies that had long labors and difficult births to be "high maintenance" for awhile after birth. Then Tuesday evening, I noticed she had a twitch that to me did not look normal. her arm and eyes would twitch in rhythm , I dismissed it figuring I was just being paranoid, but later that night I noticed it again and started getting concerned. Rebecca was coming for a check up that morning, so I tried to relax. and not freak out until we talked to her about it. Well when we asked her about it, she had never seen it before, so we videoed it and emailed it to Becca, who then Skyped into the check-up. She went over a few things it could be the two most likely of which were "nothing/ normal newborn twitchyness" or low blood sugar. (or drug withdrawal,but that was ruled out quickly, lol) but , at the time we weren't noticing any other issues so we all dismissed it as 'nothing'. However, as the day progressed I realized that Lennon was not waking up to eat and despite my best efforts to wake her, she would only wake up for a few mins and barely eat. Knowing that something was wrong, I called Becca who suggested we see a pediatrician ASAP, just to get things checked out. She also told me to keep Lennon skin to skin all night to keep her stable and to wake her every two hours to eat. Which was a good plan in theory, but she would not wake up enough to eat!! Later that night our doula, Rachel, came by to see if she could help. She showed me how to hand express milk,to try to get Lennon interested in nursing, but no luck. We worked with her for a few hours with no luck and began to notice that the twitch was getting much worse. At this point Rachel expressed that she was a little concerned,and really thought that we needed to get SOMETHING in Lennon's stomach. After some discussion we decided to break open a sample can of formula that I was given and see if we could get her to eat something. We got her to eat a tiny bit, maybe 1/4 of an oz an that did the trick. She was still really sleepy for the rest if the night and into the next morning but she would actually eat some when I would wake her up to eat and by the afternoon she was waking up , on her own, about every 2 hours to eat.

Even though she started eating well,we still brought her to see the pediatrician  on Friday . She was down from 7lb8oz at birth to 6lb 15oz, which is in the normal range but the pedi still wanted to keep an eye on it. but everything checked out fine and she is a healthy baby! Ever since that Wednesday  nursing has been going pretty good! She doesn't have the best latch because of her tongue tie but she has figured out how to work around it, so to speak, and nurses like a champ!! We are looking into getting the tongue tie fixed soon though, mainly so we don't have to worry about it causing issues with speech down the road, but also to make nursing a little easier for her and less painful for me.

In other "crunchy mama" news, so far cloth diapers are working out for us. Right now we're only  using prefolds and covers because her legs are so skinny, nothing else fits her. Seeing how many
diapers she goes through each day, im so glad we are not just throwing that money in the trash!!
We've even made the switch to cloth wipes, the disposables irritated her and it was a pain to have to find a place to throw them away. Even Eric is liking the cloth diapers, he's getting the hang of changing them and does the diaper laundry for me everyday. He is still getting the hang of changing the diapers though. ;)

Nothing too interesting happened in week 2, This past Sunday brought her to church for the first time, i was so nervous about her crying through the service, but i kept her happy and cozy in the sling and she didn't make a peep!! We had checkups with the midwife and pediatrician. Both of us are doing great! Lennon is back up to her birth weigh, plus some. She weighed 7lb 9.5oz at her check-up, which means she put on roughly 10oz in 10 days!!Needless to say, this girl knows how to eat!! And in exciting, but unimportant news.. I'm back down to my pre-pregnancy weight!! The only other note worthy thing that happened this week would be that for 3 nights in a row she had a 4-4.5 hr stretch of sleep at night, so I got some sleep!! Other than that, we really just spent the week trying to figure things out and get into a "flow".

Week 1:

Weight at birth: 7lbs 8oz Length:21in

Weight at 4 day check up: 6lb  15.5oz

Likes:   *freaking out mommy & the midwives

            *snuggles with mommy or daddy

            *mommy milk

             *her hands by her face

Dislikes:  *being swaddled

              * having her hands covered

              *being put down

               *her feet being touched

               *cold wipes

Week 2:

Weight: 7lb 9.5oz Length: 21.5in

Likes: *eating.. all the time!!

         *snuggling on mommy's boob

          *car rides (sometimes)

           *being carried in the sling

Dislikes: *her co-sleeper

             *playing 'pass-the-baby'

             * having her clothes and diaper changed

Welp, that about covers it & my sunshine is starting to wake up.. which means it's going to be time to feed her.

Weeks 37-40.

Sorry for the lack of updating, I got so busy with birth sessions and getting ready for Lennon's arrival so blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. & Even though Lennon has arrived, I still want to document the last few weeks of my pregnancy so I don't forget a single detail of it.

The last few weeks of pregnancy went by so slowly.  When I was checked at my 37 week appointment.I was 2cm dilated and 25-30% effaced.I was hoping that meant Lennon would make her arrival soon, but week 38 came and no baby yet. Our home visit at week 38 and our 39 week check up went great. Lennon was growing right on schedule and everything with me was checking out perfectly. Then a few days before my due date, I was feeling a little "off" and panic-y so I took my blood pressure and was surprise when I got I high reading, I took it easy for the rest of the day and the next day I felt perfectly fine. However on Monday I started feeling  off again and was getting high blood pressure readings, so I called my midwife and after a few hours of my BP not coming down she wanted me to come out to see her that night, instead of waiting until my appointment the next day. I was so scared to go see her because I knew that depending on what the issue was we could have to transfer care, which has been one of my big fears through out the pregnancy. Once Eric got home from work we headed out to Lake Charles to see Becca, our doula ,Rachel, also came with us because Becca had mentioned that we  could possibly be discussing some induction methods, or transferring care and I wanted Rachel there to help us weigh the pros and cons of any decision we would have to make. Once we saw Becca, I felt a lot better, my blood pressure was elevated but  not high enough for her to have to transfer my care!  However she did put me on bed rest and started seeing me for check-ups every other day to keep an eye one things. That night she also checked me, and I was at 4cm and  swept my membranes to see if that would send me into labor (which it didn't)So for the next week I took it easy, and stayed in bed with the exception of bathing, using the bathroom, and going to see Becca. Oh and getting 2 awesome massages to help encourage labor. She watched me closely for signs of pre-eclampsia , but was certain that was not what we were dealing with since I was showing no other symptoms. No swelling, no protein in my urine, no vision changes, and my BP stayed in check as long as stayed in bed. So we continued to plan for a home birth, though I did type a  detailed hospital birth plan, just in case. Becca did try to sweep my membranes a few more times, with out success because Lennon was  too high in the pelvis, well except on time when Becca almost had it and then touched the top of Lennon's head and she shot back up!!  At my appointment on Saturday, the 12th we discussed ways of getting Lennon to engage in my pelvis, because Becca said that with me at a 4 as soon as Lennon engaged , labor should start. She suggested swimming, since it was a way of being upright and moving around with out raising my blood pressure. So after we got back in town from the check-up I went to my cousins house to go swimming. Later that night I started having some mild contractions but decided to take some benadryl and go to bed. I was sleeping well until 4am.... ad that is where this story will stop so Lennon's birth story can begin! ;)

How far along? 37-40
How big is baby? the size of a watermelon!! our guess was about 8lbs
How I'm feeling? anxious, nervous, scared about our birth plan changing
Weight Gain? At my last weigh in a few days before I had her I had gained a total of 22lbs.
Symptoms: Aches and pains from being on bed rest for my  high BP.

 Highlights from the past few weeks: Our frequent checkups with Becca really helped me to relax and be less nervous about Lennon's upcoming arrival. I swear she always knows what to say to make me feel better.