Our 2 Week Adventure

Motherhood has been both hard and wonderful. I'm going to recap our last 2 weeks together. The woes and wonders are evident in the recap. :) Nursing started off really extremely well. I was shocked at the hospital and when I first came home at how easily Adia would nurse. It was uncomfortable for me, but I wasn't in extreme pain... yet. Shortly after I arrived home, my milk came in, and boy, did it come in. I became very engorged and developed mastitis. It was so painful that even just taking a shower about killed me. I was still nursing during all of that as well. Because of the engorgement, she had a very hard time latching on and I would spend about 25 very frustrating minutes just trying to get her to latch. We went through this for well over a week, every time I'd try to nurse her (8-12 times per day). It was so frustrating. She'd cry, then I'd cry. I finally went to a lactation consultant and she affirmed me that I wasn't doing anything wrong and introduced me to the shield. It has saved my life. Ever since I started using it, Adia has done wonderful and I am finally comfortable and enjoying this experience. (No more tears and pains and I can still nurse! Yay!) Sickness has been a huge issue. I got a horrible UTI, along with the mastitis, and the flu. Yuck. I was in a lot of pain in a lot of places while also trying to shake off a 101.6 fever. I had to have very limited contact with Adia. I cried my eyes out. I was so sad. I know people were praying for me, because I got over the flu so quickly that it was almost unreal. I had a fever for 1 day and never had ANY other flu symptoms- no runny nose, no sore throat, no congestion, nothing. It was a miracle that I got over that so soon. For those that prayed for me, thank you. I am also so thankful that Adia never got sick. The doctors said the antibodies from the breastmilk would help her to be immune to the flu. I sure am glad that I have such an incredible baby. She is the sweetest, most content, snuggliest little girl I've ever seen. The first couple of nights were kind of rough, but that's basically because I didn't know what I was doing. Ever since those first 2 nights, I have gotten into a feeding schedule with Adia where I feed her every 2.5-3.5 hours. At night, we go a little longer at times. I will feed her every 4-4.5 hours at night (and I sometimes have to wake her up in order to feed her.) At night, I feed her, attempt to burp her (she's not a good burper, but an incredible spitter-upper...), change her diaper, tight swaddle her, and then put her in her crib. She will sleep for about 3-5 hours at a time before we repeat the process again. It's wonderful. I have such a good baby. (I'm praying it stays that way!) Adia is a very good eater along with being a good sleeper. I do think the 2 work hand in hand. Here are some of my favorite things she does so far:

• Sneezing. Everytime she sneezes, it involves her entire body. She crosses her arms in front of her and sneezes 2-3 times in a row, then has the cutest little sigh at the end. It is absolutely adorable.
• Raising her eyebrows. When she is awake, she will look around the room and look at you and just raise her little eyebrows.
• Her many expressions. My favorite is her little crooked smile. When she does this, you can see a little dimple in her right cheek. It's so sweet. I have tried to get a picture, but she never does it for the camera! She also makes this little face that looks like she should be saying, "oooo!" She usually does this while she is raising her eyebrows. Her sad face is also incredibly adorable. I don't like for her to cry, but this face is so pitiful that it is just cute.
• Folding her arms. She will fold her little arms and lean on them right on top of your chest. I love this because it makes all of her little fat rolls and creases in her arms stand out. She has these little squishy shoulders. I love them.

The list could go on, but I have to stop some where! Next week, we will be going to Ashland for a few days for Christmas. Adia will get to meet my brother and his family for the first time. I can't wait to see our 2 babies together. So sweet.

I will do another post sometime this weekend with some new pictures of Adia. Right now, I have to go feed my baby!