We had another pedi visit today and Andy now weighs 9 lbs 10 oz. Yay!!! No more visits until he’s 2 months old. Next appt- Oct. 25th. My birthday- but this is a good thing since DH will come home early from work and we can do something fun.
Except for being tired and achy I am doing well. I breastfed while walking through the hospital today. I didn’t look at anybody I passed and no one said anything to me. I did feel quite foolish that even though no skin was showing, I *was* proudly displaying my maternity jeans’ belly panel. LOL… how embarrassing. Time to check and see how my regular pants fit!
AND… the best news of all…
I got on my scale this morning after DH commented that he had never seen my feet skinnier looking and I have lost 43.5 pounds! I swear to God I ate fried fish, gobs of tartar sauce, macaroni and cheese, veggies in butter sauce, a buttered roll plus shared a piece of chocolate cake AND chocolate pie last night for dinner. I am not dieting in the least. I lose all this weight and what looks skinny? My stinkin’ feet. Haha.
Looks like we are going to visit the in-laws next Wednesday for 6 days. Our truck needs an overhaul and it costs MUCH less up there.
Gotta run- it’s cluster feed time. lol

goes to Lilypadz! They rock my world!
I can sleep without leaking.
I can go braless without leaking.
I can nurse on one side and not have the other side drip incessantly.
I can wear them in my bra and not have “floating” breast pads!
And they are totally washable and reusable- and retain their stickiness!
They work great on my current rather freakishly large size but would work just as fine on small women!
Edited to add: Though I would have sworn I saw them at Target and BRU has never heard of them, you CAN get Lilypadz at Baby Depot for $19.99.

I had my staples removed and my baby admired at my OB’s office today. Incision is looking nice, I’m told. All good… especially the fact that I have officially LOST 1/2 A POUND since getting pregnant. WooHoo!!! Haha. I had gained 26 pounds according to their scale. I am curious to see what my scale says in the morning. Not too shabby for only 6 days and eating like a horse since I had him!
Next appointment is in four weeks.
Andy is wonderful. He loves to breastfeed and loves lights. Brendan is wonderful. He loves to kiss Andy all over and show him pictures that he has drawn. He and Mimi even made him a “Welcome Baby Brother” sign. 😀

If it weren’t for the nights I’d be floating but as it is, I’ll settle for days of bliss. Mmmmm… baby. I had so forgotten the joy.

*BEAM!* 😀
That’s what the pedi said as soon as he saw him. No jaundice worries and he didn’t look in his mouth at all so didn’t see the frenulum clipping scar. We debate whether that oversight was intentional or not, lol. 😛
We have to bring him back in a week because he is still below birthweight- he weighs 8-15 now, down from 9-9. Two days ago when we left the hospital he was only 1 ounce more, 9 pounds even, so we are rounding the bend nicely. Doctor is not worried, I am not worried. Just a formality.
The height discrepancy at birth was cleared up. He was 20 1/2 inches (not the 21 1/2 DH heard) because today he is 20 5/8 inches.
Brendan also got on the scale. We are initiating a family healthy eating plan because at almost 3 1/2 he weighs 41 1/2 pounds. 😯 I need to research some new yet kid friendly healthy meals and snacks- pronto. DH has gained a few sympathy pounds as well and I’m positive I’ve got a few to shed myself. Haha. I’ll make sure to do mine slowly though.
Brendan did not scream the entire visit this time either. I’d say just the opposite- he was fine and even said good-bye to the nurse- but he hid his face in the chair the entire time the actual doctor was in the room and after he left called him scary. Have no idea why he shies away from him.
Also, I had my first official public breastfeeding where someone was definitely going to see me… even if it was only the doctor. 😀

I asked to be set up with a Medela Symphony pump while in the hospital. Niiiice. 😀 And I la la love how the parts also go together to make a manual pump!! I like it much better than the Avent Isis!
You’d never have guessed it but my prep work with my flat nipples has worked beautifully. I now posess superior nipplage. Haha. So superior that I actually pump better with the next size up pump flanges! 😯 I just rub up and down the standard ones. This is probably why I dislike the Avent I have… one day I need to check and see if they make a bigger flange as well.
As for breastfeeding… it’s going far better than I expected. But my gosh it doesn’t last very long!! I was up ALL NIGHT LONG last night. By the end I was miserably tired. I made DH get up and take him away for an hour. Gotta remedy that somehow but I am in for it tonight- Andy has slept all day just about. He is so hard to wake up to feed when he doesn’t want to. All that night eating has brought in my milk though… yee-ouch! I ache!
BTW, Andy got his frenulectomy today. His tongue-tie was worse than Brendan’s!! His little tongue was very heart shaped in front and when each nurse came on duty that was the first thing they said to me… you gotta get that taken care of! LOL. Anyway, it was very, very fast and done with in less than twenty seconds- with the actucal lasering lasting only 1 second. Just Zooop! Done! Looks so much better. Dana King, a dentist & orthodontist here, is fabulous. We even set up Bren with his first “happy visit”- a free of charge visit to allow him to get to know them before they attempt an appt with actual cleaning. What a great idea! And they say he can have as many happy appts as he needs before a real one. Amazing when you find such wonderful people in the world!
I can’t tell if nursing is better or not, he really hasn’t figured his new tongue abilities out quite yet. We were doing pretty well even though sometimes he thrusts his tongue into my nipples and when he pops off they are outta whack looking. LOL.
Our first pedi appt is tomorrow. I cringe thinking of when he sees we did another frenulectomy but oh, well. He surely can’t expect us to do it the first time and not the second!
Still figuring things out… We really only have the hang of the football hold and nursing in the car was interesting to figure out today. Heh. We left the house today and after a few minutes I kind of gave a start of surprise when I realized I was out with a baby without a bottle anywhere. Haha. We do pretty well nursing hidden once he is latched on but absolutely am NOT discreet in getting things situated and latching him on! LOL.
I am doing well but I am very exhausted. Gimme a few days for the birth story, okay?? The whole stay was, of course, full of ups and downs. We call this kid the “11th hour baby”. You’ll find out why soon!

Bren adores his baby brudder!!

Mommy adores him too!

DH again:
Here’s “snuggle” pic of Andy and Jen. 🙂
Things are going great. We’re hoping to be home tomorrow sometime, and Jen will post as soon as she can. I’m printing all your lovely comments to take to her at the horsepital.

DH here, posting for Jen, whose still in the hospital.
We had the baby yesterday at 4:30pm. She wants to tell all the details herself, but here are the stats: He was 9lbs 9oz (!) and 21.5 inches long. He seems to indeed be a champion sucker, so thank goodness for that! Mom and baby are happy and baby has the “10 and 10 and 1” that we were hoping for.
More later when she’s home. That might be Tuesday or Wednesday.

They’re 45 seconds to a bit over a minute, intense and every 2 or so minutes. I’m getting nothing done, lol.
My aunt Cathy is on her way to watch Brendan and the in-laws have been called.
The only thing impeding my joy is that I’m not feeling him move. I’m really scared about that. I didn’t want to go in early but this necessitates it.
Gonna call the dr as soon as my aunt arrives.
I woke Darrell up at 5:00 and he just sat there for a bit with a silly grin on his face… he’s cute. He keeps saying he should’ve laughed a bit less and paid attention a bit more to the labor class.

2:15- 3:15 am… things slowed down a bit…must’ve fallen asleep. Woke up to poo a bit.
3:45-4:05… the big “D”. OMG! Diarrhea wouldn’t have been too bad if it weren’t for the relentless contractions with it. They’re back with a vengence. I rocked on toilet mostly.
Whammo! When a contraction hits… I have to stand up and do a little squatty dance around the room. They hurt!!! And are frequent! And all centered where you get menstrual cramps.
4:16:55- 4:17:55 Dance, dance, dance…
4:19:11- 4:20:06 dance with chin up in air… weird.
4:21:10- ebb a little but no break, 4:22:58- 4:23:37
4:24:55- 4:26:00
Every 2 minutes or so. Is this really happening?!
4:40 now… I’ve been on the toilet again and leaning against the counter in a kind of squat for contractions. Gonna go shower now. I feel yucky.

It’s 1:45 am. I’ve been having contractions for 2 1/2 hours. Some pretty strongish, some not. The crazy thing is they are mostly 2 minutes apart but can be up to about 5 apart. My uterus does not completely relax between them and my back only has a small ache to it. I am feeling them way down low in front with the upper uterus pretty much remaining at least somewhat tight all the time.
The baby is very quiet. I got up 1/2 hour ago to drink some OJ in hopes he’ll start wiggling. I’m about to go back to bed and concentrate on that. If he’d move some I’d be doing the happy dance right now. I hope the contractions continue. It’s scary to be up in the wee hours alone and contracting! I don’t know what the h*ll I’m doing!!!
Oh, and no diarrhea yet. Hahaha.