If I knew then what I know now....

So.... I told myself that when I had a baby I would keep this blog up and running. I would always get so mad (read: frustrated that my bored self had nothing to do) when baby blogs I looked at stopped posting after the baby came. Didn't they know that their readers were still checking? Didn't they care? (Shouldn't I get a life?)

So I apologize for being absent the past week or two (I can't even remember when I posted last).

I still want to include Lierre's birth story on here one day, but that day is not today. It will be long and I will really have to think about what I want to include and what I don't want to include--there were some things that really upset me during my stay at the hospital....and there were some successes (e.g. My sweet little girl being born healthy!).

Anyways. I just wanted to give an update on how things are going here on the home front. As we speak, Lierre is taking a nap. Thank the Lord! She has been doing remarkably well on the eat/sleep front and has mostly been on a routine (that she pretty much set herself) of eating about every 3 hours and then sleeping for 3 hours, on and off all day long (a "day" is no longer when the sun is up. A day consists of a 24 hour period of time, chopped up into little 3 hour segments). That is.... until the last 2 days. Yesterday she decided against sleeping altogether. I mean it. She slept maybe 2-3 hours for the entire day and that was only because we were holding her and doing every trick in the book. Thank goodness Tim was home to help me because whenever I hold her, she thinks she should be eating and gets very worked up when this does not happen in .0002 seconds. However, this resulted in her sleeping like a champion last night, for which I was very, very, very thankful.

(If you are not a lady, skip over this next part)
Hey momma's to be: I'm sure you have heard that breastfeeding can be a little tricky in the beginning... maybe a little painful, but "as long as you have the correct latch it shouldn't hurt." Do. Not. Believe. This. Blasphemous. Lie. In the beginning it just flat out suckssss. I mean, yes a good latch is important and will go a long way to helping baby to eat well and to alleviate some pain. But. It will still hurt in the beginning. In fact, the first 2-3 days I was home, I just sat there on the couch and cried almost every time I had to feed Lierre. I would squeeze Tim's hand, or my mom's, grit my teeth waiting for the pain that was about to come, and let the tears roll. If I had to describe how it felt...hmm.... like someone jabbed pins into my nipples and the poured salt into the wound. For about 45 minutes. Every three hours. Just let that sink in a minute.

My advice? 1.) Invest in nipple shields... I think that's what they are called. They are like this half circle thing made of plastic that you put on in between feedings so that your shirt/bra/whatever will not rub against you. 2.) Buy some Lanolin nipple cream. Put it on after every feeding. Some people say that breast milk does the same thing, but it this was not the case for me. Apply liberally and thank your lucky stars that such a thing exists. It helps with the horribly raw feeling you will get and (in my case) made it not so unbearable when baby latches on. 3.) Make sure your partner & family are incredibly supportive because otherwise you may not make it to the other side. 4.) [this should have been number one because it should happen first, but oh well] Even if baby is hungry, ease into breast feeding. No, I am not saying don't feed your baby. I'm just saying that the person who told me at the hospital that letting Lierre try to nurse with an improper latch for two whole hours to the point I was bleeding should be shot in the head. Twice. One for every hour she steered me wrong. Start out with 10-15 minutes at most. Give them a 5 minute break and then try again.

Another thing I have learned.... (Thanks, Becky Muller for talking me down late one night and giving this advice).... A sane mommy is more important than an exclusively breast fed/back sleeping/perfect anything. Example: We finally gave in and started giving Lierre 1 bottle of formula at night. Why? Because she would NOT stop eating one day, I had nothing left, and was completely exhausted. I cried over this decision feeling like a big fat breastfeeding failure. What really happened? Lierre ate, went to sleep, I slept, and life kept going.

So since then we have continued with Tim giving her this one bottle every night, somewhere between 10:30 and 3:00 a.m. (depending on how the "schedule" went for the day). This ensures that I get some sleep at some point and Lierre is always full after.

Oh, there is so much to more to say and to catch everyone up on, but Lierre is waking up as we speak. Before we go I just want to say that Tim is doing an incredible job with Lierre. He never gets impatient with her, is willing to give up his sleep, talks me down every time I get worked up, and is just generally an awesome dad. I knew he would be, but it is so much cooler to experience it. I will try to include more as the days go by. Here are some pictures for ya to enjoy.

One of Lierre's 10 minute naps yesterday.

Asleep after Aunt Lindsey & Uncle Clayton visited

Lierre's "I refuse to sleep" face yesterday

I just think baby feet are cute.

Tim getting Lierre inside for her first outing at The Candle Factory

At the Candle Factory. It was too hot so we had to leave.