Settling In

It's been about 3 weeks since Brayden's birth and I must say that I'm enjoying every moment I spend with him. Well except when he goes on feeding clusters every 1/2 hour to 45 minutes when I can't seem to keep up with his milk demands. ;-)

The first couple of weeks I swear I was running on some sort of adrenaline or something cause I didn't feel tired even when I didn't sleep much. Now that things are starting to settle in, my sleep deprivation is finally catching up with me.















I'm still trying to breastfeed him, but sometimes he doesn't latch so I end up pumping for about 20 minutes. Here's how the feedings happen about every 2-3 hours (unless he's cluster-feeding):

1. Attempt to breastfeed for about 15 minutes.
2. If he latches, great! If not, I warm up a bottle of pumped milk.
3. After he eats, I change his diaper.
4. Get him to be content or fall back to sleep.
5. Pump for about 20 minutes, store and clean bottles and pump accessories.
6. Then I go to my journal and document how much he ate and how much I pumped.

All of this takes approximately an hour.

When all is done, I go to bed and get ready to wake up in another couple of hours and do the same thing all over again. Of course it would be much easier if he latched all the time, but the reality is that he doesn't and I just do what I need to do to ensure he gets breast milk.

This past week, he's increased the amount of how much he eats. So much so that I couldn't keep up with him and have had to feed him half breast milk and half formula. Made me kinda sad, don't know why. He's grown significantly. In just 5 days, he gained 7 ounces!

Brayden's umbilical cord fell off when he was two weeks old. And no, I'm not keeping it; that's gross! But it made me realize that it was the last thing that connected him to me in the womb, and that time is passing! I gave him his first bath last week and it seemed like he enjoyed it. Except the part when he had to get out into the cold air and get dried off.





















One thing I'm enjoying is hearing Brayden make some really funny noises. When he's hungry, he oinks. When he's coming out of sleep, he makes Flipper noises (dolphin). And when I'm walking him on the bike path in the Bjorn he continuously grunts. Another thing I enjoy is when we lock eyes when I hold him and talk to him. He knows my voice.

Brayden has certainly traveled more than the average infant. When he was a week old, we went down to the Cape to visit Nathan's family from Ohio.














Then this past week, we went up to Maine for the 4th of July weekend to spend time with Pammy and Poppy. He even got to go on a boat ride and join us at the fire pit to make S'mores!

This upcoming weekend my sister and nieces will be visiting for the weekend and I can't wait! We're having a BBQ out back and spending some family time. I appreciate that my sister makes an effort to come and see us. I know it's not easy.

Many thanks to my friends Trisha, Esther, Yoshi, Ryan and Amy for stoppying by and bringing us food, Propel, stamps and anything else we've needed. My mom and Nathan's mom have also visited us and have brought dinner. It certainly helps to have friends and family nearby!