A weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Allie's Grandma and Grandpa Durso and her Aunt Julie visited last weekend to meet their new granddaughter. It was great to see them as we haven't seen Doug's parents since Christmas, and its been even longer since we saw Julie.

Unfortunately, as shown in the pictures, Allie slept almost the entire time!

Here's Allie with Aunt Julie.

And Allie with Grandma and Grandpa.

Since we don't know if we'll be able to travel to see them for Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa brought Allie her Christmas presents early. She got a Christmas ornament, her first doll and some cute Christmas outfits.

While Grandma, Grandpa and Julie were here, we took Allie on her first non-doctor's office outings. It was fun even though she slept the whole time! We took a walk by Lake Monona on Saturday and we went to West Towne Mall and later to Biaggi's for dinner on Sunday. This picture is from our walk by the lake, also the first time we took the stroller out. It was so nice on Saturday and it felt good to get out and walk around. The stroller is pretty handy because even though we brought the stroller and car seat separately, the car seat carrier actually snaps into the stroller.

Unfortunately the weekend came to an end and Grandma, Grandpa and Julie had to go home. It stinks to live so far away from family. Hopefully we can come and visit you guys soon!

Crazy how fast time flies

I can't believe its already early Thursday morning! I keep meaning to post more pictures or even just write a quick update, but the time just gets away from me too fast. Our lives are starting to become more normal though. I cleaned the kitchen this afternoon and actually liked it.

Feeding Allie is getting better and better. We're seeing the lactation consultant again tomorrow and I'm really interested to find out Allie's weight. She's really started chunking out over the course of today. I'm interested too in finding out how much milk she's getting from me now. All of the sudden tonight she started breast feeding really well, looking like she's done it her whole life!

The swelling in my feet is finally going down. Thats been the worst part of this post partum time for me. They're still a little puffy but they look so skinny! My face is less swollen too and I'm hoping to start wearing my wedding ring again soon. I excited to report that I've now lost 19 pounds. Hopefully soon I can put on normal shoes again, and then I can start walking and working toward exercising and losing the rest of that weight.

Doug and I have a tentative plan for nighttime feedings once he goes back to work. We're trying it the rest of his vacation to see how well it works out.

Like I said before, the days just blow by. I really want to get working on Allie's baby book before too much time goes by. I also really want to post more pictures. Lots of people are asking for them... they're coming soon, I swear!

Getting settled

We had a rough couple of days with breast feeding, but it appears the tide really is turning now. We saw the lactation consultant yesterday and got some good advice and made a plan to make breast feeding work. So far everything is getting better every time we try!

Allie has continued gaining weight and was up to 8 pounds, 7 ounces at the doctor's office yesterday, from her low of 7 pounds, 15 ounces. We've finally graduated from daily pediatrician visits and don't need to go back until Friday for her two-week check up. Newborns usually are back up to their birth weight within two weeks and its starting to look like Allie will be there by that time too, even though she had a late start.

Allie has also started to wake up on her own for the occasional feeding, instead of us waking her up.

Life is starting to slow down a little for us now. We've really enjoyed some family bonding time since yesterday. Allie and I are doing some more skin-to-skin time, which I really like. I love the feeling of her breathing on my chest. And from how she sleeps there, she must like the feeling she gets from me too.

Mommy and daddy are doing well. We're just a little sleep deprived, and a little frazzled at times. But we're enjoying getting to know our little one.

I'm feeling pretty close to recovered, physically, except for some stuff that I'm told lasts awhile. My feet have been incredibly swollen, even more than in pregnancy. Its making some things, like wearing shoes, difficult. My fingers are still swollen too. But I'm able to get up and move again and I'm really enjoying sleeping on my back. The swelling in my feet is finally going down too. Once that goes down all the way and I can wear normal shoes again, I'm looking forward to getting out and walking more. The weather this week is supposed to stay really nice.

Grandma and Grandpa Durso and Aunt Julie were here this weekend and we had a lot of fun getting Allie out of the house for her first non-doctor's office outings, which were to Lake Monona, West Towne Mall and Biaggi's. I think she slept the whole time every time we went out. Anyway, we had a lot of fun during their visit and were sad to see them go.

I'm still taking plenty of pictures of Allie and I'm hoping to take some time to post some as well as writing Allie's birth story and work on Allie's baby book. We've also got a lot of house stuff that has been neglected the past few weeks. We're settling into a bit of a routine.

Maybe not

Friday I thought things were starting to turn around with breast feeding, but it turns out they haven't. So we're doing what we can this weekend and seeing a consultant on Monday. I've been assured there are still things we can do to get Allie to breast feed. I don't want to give up on this!

Despite the problems, we are making progress every day. Allie woke up on her own twice last night to feed! And she stayed up a little longer before bed too. Its amazing to see the changes, both big and small, that she's showing each day. Time is flying so quickly and I don't want it to because soon she will be big!

Its already been a week!

I can't believe we've already had our Allie for a whole week!!

Allie and I have had some issues getting set up with breast feeding, but they are really improving now. Problem is she wasn't sucking well enough to stimulate my production. So as a result we've been into the pediatrician's office all week for weight checks and to figure out how to fix it. But it appears we have!

I've had to use the breast pump, which is not my favorite activity at all. At the same time we've been supplementing Allie with some formula as well as pumped breast milk. But it seems like both have worked. Allie has finally pooped, which is a sign that she's getting enough to eat. But now that she's pooped, we're going to miss the time when she didn't! The other big progress is that it seems my milk supply might finally be in and getting close to meeting her needs.

So now Allie is back up to 8 pounds 3 ounces from a low of 7 pounds 15 ounces. She's still sleeping a lot, but thats totally expected. We have to go back to the pediatrician's office for one more weight check on Monday, but we're expecting everything to keep working well. In fact, depending on how the weekend goes, we may be able to decrease the amount of supplement we give her. I think I might also be able to decrease the frequency of pumping as well.

Today we're having a lazy family day at home until Doug's parents and sister get here to visit for the weekend. It will be nice to try and rest and get some stuff done too, now that we're pretty well settled in.

Daddy is awesome

I wrote a lot about Allie and me in my last post. But I really need to send some love Daddy's way too! I don't know how we could do any of this without him.

He's been such a champ and cheerleader. He's cleaned up the entire house and taken over the laundry duty. He's gone to Target for one thing or another almost every day. He's working really hard to clean the carpets from when Monk was alone in the house for two days!

Everytime one of us is frustrated, the other is able to keep a level head and we can work through it. We had a hard time getting Allie to bed last night. I worked about an hour and a half and she wouldn't sleep. Daddy took her downstairs for awhile to let me sleep. We finally decided to put Allie in the bouncy chair next to the bed and she slept and we did. Thats just the first of many challenges ahead!

We're both suffering the lack of sleep, but Daddy still gets up with us in the middle of the night. He's great with getting Allie to burp too. And, as evidenced above, he gives lots of kisses and has a great chest for sleeping on.

What would we do without Daddy? I have no idea.

We're doing great

Life is pretty awesome now. We're all doing great in the 24 hours since we've been home. Allie is still sleeping a lot and Doug and I have slept so much better at home than we did in the hospital.

Allie saw the pediatrician for the first time today. It was so weird writing her name on all the forms! She's lost almost a pound off her birth weight, which is normal. We'll be going in again tomorrow for a weight check. I guess its normal for babies to lose about 10 percent of their birth weight before mom's milk comes in and they really start eating. She lost the weight as she's gotten rid of all the mucous and yucky stuff that was left in her body after she was born. If her weight goes down too much more, we may have to supplement with a little formula until she really starts eating.

Breastfeeding has been a little tough for me, but its getting better everytime we've tried. A big problem is just trying to keep Allie awake to eat! Its kinda crazy because they said the reason she's so sleepy is because she's not getting a ton of nourishment just yet, which is normal. But she can't seem to stay awake to eat and get that nourishment! We saw a lactation consultant while we were at the doctor and she really helped give me some good tips to improve the feeding. She did also give us a little formula to give Allie this evening just to get a little energy boost and see if that will get her to stay more awake for feedings.

I am feeling really good. I must be recovering well because I had several people at the doctor's office tell me today that I looked great and they wouldn't know I gave birth three days ago! I'm sure my exercising made all the difference. It didn't keep the weight off, but I'd say I'm definitely reaping the benefits now.

Even though I'm feeling good, I still need to try not to do too much. I am still plenty tired and sore. I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym and wearing non-maternity clothes again, but I know that could be awhile. I'm making myself wait at least one week before trying on any non-maternity pants. Its kinda funny though because while I still have a bit of the belly, my pants are falling down now!

My bed is so comfortable. Its been such a long time since I was comfortable in bed, and especially after spending two days in the uncomfortable hospital bed, my bed was heavenly last night. Throughout the night I slowly removed pillows from the fortress and now the only pillows remaining are the ones for my head.

Things are definitely still busy here. It takes a long time to get things done sometimes. I took some time to write down the details of Allie's birth while I was still in the hospital before I could forget anything. Hopefully soon I can write her birth story and get it posted here soon. I will also post some more pictures. But it can't be done on my schedule anymore!