Updates and Pictures

My baby girl is 9 days old today. Just amazing.

Mady seems to have her days and nights mixed up. She would sleep ALL DAY LONG if we let her. Through feedings, through anything. And then, 11 PM hits and she is AWAKE and screaming if we try to put her down to sleep. Sigh. We're adjusting by letting her sleep in her swing. She seems to like the coziness of it. We're also trying to up her bedtime and such in an effort to make things easier.

We've also stopped feeding from the breast. I exclusively pump, but Mady will only eat from a bottle. In the hospital she nearly lost a full pound because she just would not take to the breast. I had a lactation consultant in with us constantly and while sometimes we'd have success....nothing worked consistantly. We got home from the hospital and Mady would have NONE of feeding from the breast. Mady was making herself SO upset over latching that she would be hyseterical and then wouldn't eat at all. Brett and I made the decision that as long as she's getting the breast milk, it would be much less stressful for all of us if we just gave her bottles. We discussed it with her pediatrician and she completely agreed with us. As of Monday, Mady was 1 oz. shy of her birth weight and I fully attribute that to her eating from the bottle. I am immensely disappointed that we don't have the true breast feeding experience, but, we still bond through feedings. And she's still getting the milk, which is what's important. No formula, strictly breast milk, exclusively pumping. Works much better for everyone. I planned on pumping some anyway, to involve Brett in the feeding process, so, this isn't a heck of a lot different. Just more time consuming.

As for my husband, I am amazed at the Daddy that he is. He loves this little girl more than I ever though possible. The attention and love her gives Mady melts my heart. He loves holding her, is an immense help in feeding and changing clothes....he's been incredible. He even went shopping on his own for her the other day. This man HATES shopping. When he got back, he told me that he actually LIKES shopping for her. Wow. If he leaves the house, he checks on us several times....and he even gets up during the night to check on Mady. I'm so proud of him and love him even more now, which I didn't think was possible. Mady has made us even stronger of a couple. We talk about laugh about her, we have deep conversations about what we want for her. It's wonderful.

And now, what everyone really wants to see...more pictures of my beautiful little girl...

Coming home from the hospital:



"Mommy, Daddy's music is too loud!!"

Channeling Mommy's love for John Travolta: