Baby Photo Shoot

 

 

I took all of these about a week and a half ago. Wanted to capture my beautiful girl at this time in her life, so we took to the outdoors with the Mombo and a white sheet and had at it. These are just some of the results, some of my favorites. I bought the outfit from Hugs N Stitches late in my pregnancy and had it personalized. Something that was only Saoirse's, that wouldn't get passed down to younger siblings, something I could give her later on. Something with her name on it, given that it is such an uncommon name here.

I also wanted to show off my cutie.

Thrush

I'm pretty sure I have it. Nursing on my right side hurts like heck. Burning and stinging horribly while she nurses. Pain and discomfort even when she's not latched on. She's been wonderfully gassy lately which apparently can sometimes be caused by yeast in her system. I tried removing dairy from my diet and it really did nothing to change that aspect. Her extreme fussiness she had a couple of nights seems to have just been a phase I would just rather never experience again. I'm sure I won't get that lucky. 

Fact is, my boob hurts. Nursing hurts. But we do it anyway. But as a result of all of this, I present these pictures. 

The purpleishness of her face is surprisingly unnoticeable in that last shot. But you can see the wonders of gentian violet in the first 2 (the first being last night after she ate for the first time after I applied the gentian violet. The second is this morning.)

I applied the gentian violet last night. I need to get some fresh as what we have lying around expired 2 years ago. Oops. I'm also applying monistat cream after pretty much every feeding. Hoping it helps. And sooner rather than later. 

Showers

Once Saoirse's umbilical cord fell off, we took to the bath tub. She had a sponge bath before then and was none too thrilled, but we held high hopes for her first "real" bath with me in the bath tub. 

It didn't go so well.

There was a lot of crying and general upset for whatever reason. Tried it again a few more times, same result. It wasn't soothing and only served to get her clean. 

For some reason, one night we had the idea to put her in the shower with Cheerio (my mom). She loved it. She kept a firm hold on her, and I assisted with soap and wash cloths. Ever since, our bath routine has consisted of a shower, sometimes with me, usually with Cheerio. She loves the sound of the water (hence the app on my phone and iPad that produces rain sounds) and the feel of it. She enjoys it, and it soothes her. She gets clean without all the drama and uproar. I'm so glad we thought to try a shower. 

In Case You'd Forgotten...

"In case you'd forgotten, you're beautiful."

I'm not sure how my husband knows what I need to hear. Even when I don't know. Because most days the last thing I think about is whether or not I'm beautiful. But in case I'd forgotten, somewhere in the midst of the stretch marks, the leaky boobs, the not-so-toned tummy, the perpetual presence of slobber or spit up, with one boob hanging out constantly it seems, where it is easy to find yourself just managing to tread water in the sea of parenting, he's there to remind me. He's there to remind me that beauty is more than whether or not my hair has seen something other than a lazy ponytail or if I ever managed to put on a "real" shirt on top of my nursing tank. He can somehow see it when I can't. 

And it can be hard to see when you're 22-going-on-23 and proud as heck to be a mom, but at the same time trying so hard to be a mom who has it together and at least looks like some thought might have gone into her appearance even if it didn't or barely crossed her mind. As I juggle a baby who only likes being snuggled and keeping up with laundry (both clothes and diapers) as well as managing to eat on a semi-regular basis. As I try to remind myself that being a mom and sitting down and feeding Saoirse is being productive and not me sitting on my butt and playing on my iPad for the 45 minutes it can take her. It can be really hard to even believe the adjective 'beautiful' could apply to my person at times like these. 

But I guess that's what I have an awesome guy like him for. A great husband and dad. 

A Visit To Mom's Alma Mater

Awkward cute picture of Saoirse sleeping for the win! And yes, that's a cloth diaper- a Fuzzibunz to be precise. 

Saoirse and I went to school with Daddy today(10/17) to do what we we dubbed "the baby tour." We stopped by the Writing Center, where Joseph and I met, and showed her off to some friends. Joseph was wearing Saoirse in the Baby K'tan so I'll be honest, they saw little more than the back of her fuzzy head. We then went to hunt down the head of the Writing Center at her class where she also got to see the back of Saoirse's head. She was quite content making it look like she was smothering herself and we were doing nothing about it. 

Don't worry, we kept a good check on her breathing ability, no matter how impossible it may have looked for her to get air. 

We then hiked over to the anthropology department, where I got my degree from. We opted to take the elevator instead of hiking up 4 flights of stairs or a ramp with 10 lbs of baby attached to Joseph's chest, a diaper bag, and Joseph's computer bag. We saw some of my old professors and some friends. I pulled Saoirse out of the K'Tan, so everyone got a better look than our prior stops had. We then stopped to nurse and chatted with our friends then decided to go crash my favorite professor's class. We got there between the lecture and lab, so we really weren't any kind of inconvenience. Everyone ooh'ed and aww'ed while the teaching assistant put out the bones for the forensics lab. Saoirse spent a lot of time in that room in utero, with that professor talking, as 3 out of my 4 classes in the spring were in that room. With that professor. 

Saoirse seemed comfortable there. And in honor of visiting my physical anthropology teacher, I dressed her in her horribly anatomically incorrect skeleton outfit. I love that thing. It could only be more awesome if it was anatomically correct. 

We sent Daddy off to his last classand saoirse and I made a quick run to Walgreens to get a refund on her birth announcements. They printed out way too dark and are going to have to be reprinted. Hopefully correctly this time. Of course all of this was after she screamed 3/4 of the way there. She really hates the car seat, no matter what we do. You have a better change at calm when moving, but there are no guarantees. 

We returned to campus to wait for Daddy in Mrs Jennifer's office. She's a great resource for breastfeeding and natural child rearing stuff and I really like talking to her. We got to hold Saoirse, and we lived through a blow out. One last vist to the Writing center then on to home. Baby had a big day, and I set foot on campus for the first time since summer. 

Saoirse later got to snuggle with Cheerio (my mom), during which timese a shooed a makeshift boob out of her own hand using Cheerio's boob as support. She slurped happily on that for a time before deciding the real thing was called for. 

We can definitely hook you up, kiddo. 

Sleep

That place where a normal person's sleep schedule has abandoned you? Yup, I'm there. In response to Saoirse's immense hatred for the time frame between 12-6 am, when she has recently decided that fussing and refusing to sleep sounds good, we've gotten into the habit of going to bed "for good" when she finally chills out between 5-6 am. And end up sleeping til 2-3 pm. Hence why I just stayed up through the 45-60 minute nap thing she just took. I got caught up reading while she was asleep on my lap and I was scared to move for fear of her waking up and screaming. But now she's awake and after a short bout of crying, nursing happily and half-unconscious. I think I'll attempt to go to bed now since I actually have an alarm set for tomorrow (today?).

In conclusion, I hate tummy bubbles, which are generally the cause of her upsets and were the reason we ended up on the couch tonight. Incredibly uncomfortable farts. 

Welcome to motherhood. 

I leave you with this picture from 3 am of Saoirse holding her head up. (Please ignore my stretch marks and focus on the cute baby.)

Baby K'Tan

Let me share with all of you one of the best baby products I have found thus far: the Baby K'Tan .

I adore this product. For a wrap, it has a surprisingly small learning curve considering the lack of buckles and the variety of positions available once your baby is bigger than Saoirse. I use this thing almost any time I will be in somewhere more than 10 minutes and/or need 2 hands. 

I swear a third arm should pop out when the baby does. Cause that would be helpful. 

Sitting around at the Revenue office to get car tags renewed

I use this thing for solo runs to Target and to make it to where runs such as that can last long enough. Because my arm strength sucks and 10 lbs gets really heavy 20+ minutes in. And having both hands at my disposal is AWESOME. 

First time. We've gotten the fit and all down better since then. 

I'd wear it around the house more, but until she falls asleep she isn't happy to be in it unless I'm moving. Once she's unconscious, I can stand still, but until then movement it is. And there's only so much that I need to do that doesn't require bending over, therefore once again reducing me to one hand, or that doesn't require standing in one place. And it is not enough to knock her out. So this is largely used for walks and shopping.

However it did make trying on jeans for the first time since giving birth pretty easy. I got new pants and Saoirse got to sleep on me. Win/Win. 

The only complaints I have are that my baby is very exothermic and this thing is kind of warm and it is sized. But I get warm with her on me anyway so it's kind of a warm with one or no hands or warm with two hands kind of deal. Two hands is superior. Also, it isn't one size fits all, unlike some other carriers. There's no adjusting it between users which is both awesome and inconvenient in some ways. That's not a deal breaker for me, though. I haven't tried it on my husband but we tend to wear the same size in shirts so maybe it will fit him too. Its non-adjustability is actually the only way to make one of my favorite traits about it possible- the fact I don't have to figure out how to wrap it around me and tie knots while attempting to hold a baby against gravity. It's never going to be too loose, as the two loops that comprise it don't change length. Sitting her in the first loop while I get the other one into position doesn't leave me scared to death that if I don't have a steel grip on her she will crash to the ground. I obviously keep a hand on her but there is some support under her aside from me. The two loop system also seems to make this easier to use and less daunting, at least it did to me. 

We've only ever done the Kangaroo position since Saoirse is still small. While she pushes up against other things with her legs, she has yet to show an inclination towards doing so in the K'Tan. When she does, we'll definitely move to the Hug position, where she can't push her way out. That position doesn't look any more difficult to put her in. 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in babywearing. In fact, after using it, it may be a go-to baby shower present for friends who have any interest in wearing their baby. 

This is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to share. 

Typing With Two Hands!

DYou know you're a new mom with a very snuggly 6 week old when that is a moment of triumph. That is totally interwoven with the fact you managed to get said 6 week old to continue sleeping as you put her in her swing. And keep sleeping. For the moment anyway. This has a tendency to be very short-lived. Let's just be honest, the only real way to get anything done two-handed and not have a screaming infant in less than 10 minutes (usually more like 5) is to find someone else to snuggle her. And have her well fed. As the sole source of food, I am required for the food part. Speaking of which...

Breastfeeding.

I could ramble on about how it is best for your baby (it is), how it facilitates bonding (it does), how it can only be sanitary (when straight from the source anyway), etc etc. I won't. Google can tell you all of those things. I want to talk about the experience. And seeing as I can see Saoirse's eyes in that little swing, that may or may not happen in this post.

Let me be honest, that first week was incredibly rough. I can see how people give in and switch to pumping and bottle feeding. Or formula. I know that rough first week or so can be avoided with the perfect latch. But who the heck ever gets a perfect latch on a regular basis in those first few days? By the time I had a good latch going, my nipples had been abused by the sharp ridge on the backside of Saoirse's upper gum.

On second thought, razor blade might be a more accurate description. 

She had a tendency to try for a shallow, lazy latch. Which hurt like hell. There was a lot of breaking the latch and darn near shoving as much of my boob as possible into her mouth to where my nipples weren't being gnawed upon. Those lovely hydrogel things lived on me and I'm not sure we would've survived without them. Even so, there was a lot of gritting my teeth and reminding myself that in a minute or so the pain would subside. And hoping that once my boobs got used to it, the pain would go away. As a light at the end of the tunnel to anyone reading, it did. 6 weeks later, we're still going strong with breastfeeding. And it doesn't hurt. 

But at the time, holy cow. The cluster feeds and Saoirse endlessly being attached to my boob for 4 or so days until my milk came in was brutal. I took Motrin more for my nipple pain than for the damage done down south. However, I am glad we stuck to it and I would never discourage anyone not to do so. I would and do encourage hooking up with a lactation consultant in the hospital or as soon as possible after birth. Get a good latch as soon as possible. But the fact is, your boobs have never experienced this amount of attention. There will most likely be some initial discomfort. I also found life got better after my milk came in when she didn't have to nurse quite so vigorously or constantly to be full. 

But things are working now. Wonderfully. She gained back her birth weight in a week, and she's up to 10 lbs now. 

iPhone photo dump

Some cute pics from the last 6 weeks as I sit pinned by a nursing baby. If you want more regular updates, I'd go to Instagram and follow me (@mikadavidson). 

Friday with my fun new wig

Going for a walk- staying in the stroller didn't last long. She's a snuggle bug and doesn't like not being held. 

No more pictures, please!

We made her a centerpiece once. So I could eat with 2 hands. 

Sept 1- ready to go home from the hospital 

Little newborn 

These are in reverse sequential order of you cared. 

5 am

I would rather not see you, 5 am. Especially not after seeing 2. 3, and 4 am. 

Yes, we are having one of those nights from hell. The likes of which I haven't seen since the hospital. Saoirse has, largely, been a great sleeper and a good nurser as far as time out of bed for night feedings if staying in bed just wasn't cutting it. 30 minutes and we were back snuggled up going back to sleep. 

And then there's tonight. Someone has a tummy ache. 36-48 without a good bowel movement, then only one blowout makes a fussy baby. 

In case that wasn't obvious. 

Saoirse has a normal routine of 2-3 nearly subsequent good bowel movements every night. As in change one and minutes within the clean one being put on, regardless of how long you waited to see if she was "done", poop #2 happens. Sometimes this process gets repeated. However, for the last couple days, we've only been having small poops. This leads to discomfort. For both of us, as I am very tired right now.