Swaddle

Fun Day!

March 10, 2009 by Jessica

Today was a really great day . . . aside from the fact that Micah woke up at 4:00 am and wanted to nurse. I think he got himself a bit worked up with the swaddle, and I sent Elliot in to take care of it. Somehow, the visit with Elliot got Micah riled up instead of soothed, and he ended up very awake and upset. I went in and nursed him, and he fell back asleep until 8:00 am. I got up, fed and dressed Micah, then spent the rest of the morning (until 12:30) doing work (with one more break to nurse Micah at 10:00).

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but for the past few Tuesdays, I have been taking Micah over to the library. One of the librarians runs a story and song hour, and we’ve been having fun singing “Peek-a-Boo” and “The Grand Old Duke of York” and “Bouncing Baby.” Since I was caught up doing work and on a conference call, Elliot decided to take Micah over to the public library around 10:30 so he could still enjoy story hour.

Here was the only “blip” in our day. Elliot was supposed to come back immediately after the story hour so I had time to nurse Micah again and get our stuff together for our first OnesiesDC session (a 6-week program we are starting). Through OnesiesDC, we will attend 6 different kid-friendly locations, classes and activities in the area to “sample” the available options in our area. Our first session was a Singalong with Karen class. Karen offers a regular 8 week sing-along class for babies 3 months old and up. Needless to say, Elliot got a bit distracted on the way home, and decided to detour to the bank and the grocery store. It was after 12:30 when he got back, and I had to immediately grab Micah, jump in the car, and go so I could make it to class on time. Naturally, Micah was hungry, so he shrieked and screamed the ENTIRE way to class. I was pretty upset, and felt terrible that he was so hungry because Elliot didn’t get him home in enough time to nurse.

We finally got to class, and I grabbed Micah and raced inside. As I put my hand on his cute little bottom . . . I realized that Micah had poop EVERYWHERE. He was shrieking and screaming, and he was a mess. I made it inside, and before I could feed him, I needed to change him . . . from head to toe. Luckily, I had a spare outfit in the diaper bag (of course, it was a newborn size, and Micah is now wearing 0-3 months, so it was a bit small). After finally getting him changed, I nursed him during the beginning of class. Once he was clean and fed, he calmed down and was all smiles! We enjoyed the class, and we are thinking of signing up for the next session of Singalong with Karen (a few of our new friends are already attending).

After class, we headed home. I fed Micah again and he took a nice long nap while I did some cleaning. I also changed over Micah’s closets/dressers – I took all of the newborn/preemie clothing out, and I pulled all of the 0-3 month stuff out and hung it up. Elliot had to head out to a meeting, so I bathed Micah, fed him, and put him to bed. Micah had a little trouble staying asleep – he slept about 40 minutes and woke up again – I nursed him a bit more, and he seems to be out for the night.

So, all-in-all, a productive day. Tomorrow, I have more conference calls in the morning (and some work I need to finish tonight) and then I hope to head out to the breastfeeding support group in the afternoon with Micah. Hopefully, each day I’ll be able to find a bit more time to get my work done.

Next week, we are off and traveling again (for my work). We are flying out to LA for another conference (and sneaking in a quick visit with Rayna & Stuart, and perhaps my law school friend Leila, and some of Elliot’s friends). Elliot may have to fly up to Seattle for the day while we are there. Then we come back home on Friday, and on Sunday I turn around and leave for Atlanta until Tuesday night. I’ll be bringing my mom to Atlanta to help out with Micah. Wish us luck! I’m a bit nervous all of this traveling is totally going to disrupt Micah’s wonderful sleep schedule.

My day off . . . .

March 8, 2009 by Jessica

Today was my first “day off” since having Micah. I was SOOO excited to have a day for me, but I was also feeling a little guilty for being so excited at the same time.

Naturally, Micah had a horrible night Friday night. We are struggling with the swaddle . . . he is big enough and strong enough now that he has a tendency to break out of his swaddle and wake himself up . . . but if we don’t swaddle him, he can’t fall asleep or stay asleep. It’s quite a dilemma! Friday night, we tried to leave him unswaddled, but he couldn’t fall into a deep sleep. After about 2 hours of running up every 10-20 minutes to adjust him and put in his paci, we decided to swaddle him. Off he went to sleep . . . until about 4:00 am (right as I was trying to fall asleep). Once again, he slid down the incline sleeper, so we had to go in and raise him back up. Of course, once we readjusted him, he was restless and tried to break out of his swaddle. We had another one or two trips in to re-swaddle him and re-insert the paci, but by 4:30, Elliot was unconscious. At 5:00 in the morning, I was ready to tear my hair out because I still had not had the opportunity to doze off yet and Micah was apparently wide awake. I decided to grab the incline sleeper and try and bring him into bed with us. I left his arms free, and tried to go to sleep.

No such luck – Micah was decidedly awake and unhappy. I thought that perhaps he realized he was hungry once he woke up, so I nursed him. About 5 minutes later, he was sound asleep. It took me another 15-20 mins, but I moved him to the sleeper, and off to sleep I went. Right on cue at 6:00 am (about 10 minutes after I’d FINALLY fallen asleep), Micah woke up again. Since he was in bed with us, I had no luck just popping the pacifier back in and hoping he’d fall back to sleep. So, I nursed him again, this time a full feeding. Unfortunately, after he ate, Micah wanted to play. He was happy and smiling, as long as I was up and talking to him. I, of course, was exhausted – that is my sleepiest time of day, and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Over the next hour, Micah managed to dirty 2 diapers and keep me grudgingly awake. I woke Elliot up to take care of one of the diapers, but he could barely function. I finally got Micah back to sleep around 7, dozed off myself around 7:30, and Micah woke up at 7:45, ready to eat again! I tried putting him off for 15 minutes, but finally gave up and nursed him again just before 8:00. It was clear Micah was wide awake, so I brought him to his bedroom, changed ANOTHER dirty diaper, got him dressed, and brought him downstairs. We played and sang and cuddled (and changed another 2 dirty diapers), and around 9:00 he started to get sleepy. I placed him in the swing, and off to sleep he went for about 30 minutes.

In that time, I took my meds, made breakfast, and got together all of the supplies Elliot needed for the day and walked the dog. At 9:30, I took Micah, played with him, and woke Elliot to get ready. Elliot made it downstairs just after 10, and off they went to services. I had just enough time to get myself ready and head out for my day.

I ran up to the framing store to get Elliot’s autograped Peter Max re-framed (a belated Chanukah gift for him). I then went to my condo to meet the contractor to discuss the work we are having done there. Then, I came running back here to meet my friend to go out to celebrate her birthday! We went to the local crepe shop, and we shared strawberry and chocolate crepes . . . YUM! It is a little tradition we have shared for many, many years. After the crepes, I took a brief pumping break, and then we went to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was a wonderful movie! It was the first time I’ve been able to enjoy a movie since before Micah was born (with all the contractions and UTIs, I couldn’t sit still at a movie). After the movie, I headed back home, pumped again, and then got some cuddle time with my Micah. All-in-all, it was a great day, and definitely gave me a bit of freedom.

The pumping didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped – Micah ate 11.5 ounces while I was out, and I only managed to pump 7.5 ounces. I have heard that pumping takes time . . . my body might respond better if I developed a consistent pumping schedule for a few weeks, but I guess I’m not ready to risk that. Perhaps when I am ready to give up breastfeeding, I could try that out. In the meantime, I am trying to sneak in an extra pumping session tonight to make up for the “lost” 4 ounces – I’m so afraid of my supply crashing! Tomorrow, Elliot & I are going to see a performance of Mask & Whig group he used to perform with back when he was in college. My mom is kind enough to babysit for us! I’ll have to pump again in there, and I hope that I don’t cause supply problems doing all of this. I wish I was more of a “fountain” and could pump a ton every time I sat down. I may need to try renting the hospital grade pump again to see if that helps. In the meantime, I think getting away for a bit was an important step. Micah was so happy to see me when I came home, DH got to have some great bonding time with him, and I had a chance to miss him terribly while I was out recharging and paying attention to me.

Goal for next week – get a manicure and a pedicure. . . . and maybe a massage. And perhaps I should pick one or two days every week when I pump and hand Micah off to someone else.

Helpful Tips

February 24, 2009 by Jessica

I learned something new and useful this weekend, and felt like an idiot that I did not have a clue earlier. Some of the swaddles have some very useful features. For example, the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe has a slit on the rump. I never understood the purpose of this slit (it isn’t particularly useful for checking diapers since they usually wear clothing under the swaddle). Well, my cousin Trenna informed me that the slit in the back is to allow for travel in the car seat while they sleep! The buckle for between the legs fits through the slit in the back, and you buckle them in and swaddle around the seatbelt arms! Another person informed me that the reason the SwaddleMe has a detachable bottom is so you can change the diaper without completely undressing/undswaddling your little one!

While we are on the topic of helpful hints, I wish someone had told me not to bother with the mobile that matches the bed set. It is cute, and it plays nice music – for about 3 minutes. It is largely a useless piece of equipment. I’m much more fond of the sound machine we are using. We also just purchased a 2nd mobile – one that can play for 10-20 minutes and has a functioning remote control for use outside of the room. Now THAT makes more sense to me! I can barely put Micah in the crib before his current mobile stops turning and playing. He loves looking at it, but I just can’t stay on top of the demand.

I also just bought some lullaby CDs . . . did you know they have U2 and the Beatles as lullabies? I’ll have to let you know how they are. Now, just add Billy Joel, and I don’t see how Micah could possibly be UNHAPPY?