Eden Amelia is One Month Old!

Can you believe it?  It's been a whole month since Eden was born!  I can honestly say this has been the most challenging month of my entire life but it is getting better and all the hard work certainly has its rewards.  Eden is such a delightful baby.  She has some issues with gas pains and therefore has to be held a lot but otherwise, she's a really good baby (and obviously the gas is not her fault).  She would rather sleep than eat which is really nice when I want to sleep at night but is not so good for my milk supply.  It doesn't seem to be affecting her weight gain, though, since she gained 11 ounces in one week (the goal is 1/2 to 1 ounce a day).  We had some lost time to make up for & with the help of formula supplementation, she is packing on the ounces!  Here is Eden's one month pic and some stats.  I am also sharing lots of pictures I've taken over the past week or so...enjoy!

One Month Old Today!

Weight:  8 lbs. 10 oz. (as of 3/20/14)

Length: 20 3/4 in.

Head Circumference:  14 1/2 in.

Loves to sleep, cuddle, & make funny faces.  

Gets hiccups all the time.  

Completely healthy with the exception of some gastrointestinal issues.

Uncle Patchy came to visit!

Snoozing on Poppy's belly.

Cuddling with Nanny.

Meeting her Great-Great Aunt Marjorie.

Sporting her baby legs...I really wish we had more of these!

 

Eden's First Bath

It's been three weeks since Eden was born...three really long weeks that have also somehow flown by.  You got an update on the first week.  By the end of the second week, I was so utterly exhausted and feeling like a failure (as a food source for my baby) that there was no way I could muster up the energy or motivation to write a blog post about it.  It is now the end of the third week and I am doing quite a bit better though still struggling immensely with breastfeeding.  I am not going to go into all the details about that here because it is just too much currently...  perhaps another time.

It was a whole week ago but Eden got her first tub bath last weekend and we snapped a few photos to document the occasion.  She was not a huge fan as I did not figure she would be.  I gave her another bath the other day and she seems to be coming around to the idea. 

Eden Amelia is 1 Week Old

I can't believe it's been a whole week since this little munchkin was born!  This week has been such a whirlwind so I want to document the highlights so I won't forget them.  I apologize that I have to just type this out in diary-type format just to run through the events as they happened...

After getting very little sleep the night Eden was born & we came home from the birth center (arriving back home between 12:30 and 1 am), I woke up and tried to nurse her again.  She was having a difficult time latching on but thankfully she did for a little while that morning.  I wasn't too concerned as newborn babies often do not nurse much in the first few hours after birth and it was also apparent that she did not have low blood sugar or anything.  My lactation consultant was also coming that day and I knew she would be immensely helpful.  Anyhow, other than her visit, Monday was pretty much a blur of almost constant nursing. My Dad came to meet Eden and Jeff's Mom came over to meet Eden, as well.

I didn't get much sleep that night, either, of course.  I was nursing about every 2 hours and Eden was doing great.  Tuesday morning, I took a shower (which felt soooo good) and my midwife and doula came to our house around 10 am for my & Eden's post-partum visit.  That took an entire 2 hours!  They pricked Eden's heel for her newborn metabolic screening and she was pitiful at first.  It broke my heart.  It's so much different when it's your own child in pain!  My lactation consultant came by again that afternoon.  Once again, the majority of my time was spent breastfeeding.  Otherwise, I ate and went to the bathroom!  That evening, Jeff's sister Jessica came and brought us Chinese food for dinner from Jeff's Mom.  This was her first time meeting Eden.  Then, Jeff's other sister, Robin and her husband, Josh, came over to meet Miss Eden.  Robin brought me little containers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream! :)

Wednesday was thankfully pretty low key.  We washed Eden's hair for the second time since she was born & gave her a little sponge bath.  I honestly don't remember much else about that day except that my friend Matina brought us a yummy home-cooked meal, beautiful pink tulips, and an adorable stuffed lamb for Eden.

Thursday was Eden's first doctor's appointment.  It was at 11:30 am and surprisingly, we made it there just a few minutes late.  This was my first time meeting this Pediatrician.  I had heard great things about her but I was still slightly nervous that I wouldn't like her.  I love her!  The whole appointment went really well.  Eden's weight dropped to 7 lbs., 4 oz. which is totally normal for a 3 or 4 day old newborn.  I fed Eden before we left.  Then, we headed over to one of the home birth midwives' house for her to cut Eden's cord clamp off.  (Long story short, my midwife forgot to cut it off at our home visit on Tuesday & she was hoping we could have it done at Eden's doctor's appointment but they didn't have the right tool so I texted this midwife with whom I've been in contact & she had us come on over to her house & we cut it right off).  After we left there, we took the opportunity get out of the house a little more & ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  Eden slept in her carrier the whole time and it was a thoroughly enjoyable lunch just Jeff & I.  The rest of that afternoon was nice and relaxing.

Thursday night was ROUGH!  I woke up at 3 am with a low-grade fever, chills and other symptoms of what I assumed was mastitis.  So, for the next few hours, I breastfed Eden, pumped and then fed her from a bottle and then did it all over again.  I was so exhausted but it really seemed to help.  That day went a lot better than I feared.  Thankfully, I was able to rest and nap on and off throughout the day. 

Friday night, Eden had a lot of gas pains and was fussy and crying for a large portion of the night.  Jeff is getting quite adept at consoling little Miss Eden.  Thankfully, we were able to sleep in on Saturday and make up for the sleep lost in the earlier part of the night.  Once again, Saturday was pretty low key and we just tried to get as much rest as possible.  A generous person from our church whom I don't even know signed up to bring us a meal on our meal train and she had pizza delivered that evening.  It was super yummy. 

Finally, on Eden's 1 week birthday, she met her Aunt Rachel and two of her cousins, Karly & Mallory.  Rachel got a lot of really cute pictures!

Sunday evening, a friend of ours from college, Mary Koontz, brought us dinner.  It was super yummy and so nice to get to catch up with her a little. 

So, that's Eden's first week!  We're still struggling a bit with the mastitis and overall exhaustion but by God's grace, we are getting through it and trying to enjoy all the special moments with our newborn baby girl.