kim through
   the looking glass

To see this article on frequent nursing on kellymom. Gwen ate every 45 minutes. This guy basically never unlatches

Happy one week, little man! Today you weighed 7lbs even - a full 4 oz over your birth weight! You seem to be gaining about 6 oz every two days … which translates to a LOT of time nursing you. I don’t mind much, although your big sister is a little jealous.

Here are some random facts I’ve learned about you in the last week:

• You hate having your diaper changed just slightly more than you hate being unlatched from my breast
• You are a switch nurser - at each feed, I switch you from side to side multiple times … someday I hope you go down to only one or two breasts per feed!
• When you sneeze, you whack yourself in the head … it’s quite cute!
• You definitely recognize both your daddy’s and Gwen’s voices

Here follows the birth story of our son, Gil. If you don’t enjoy reading the more graphic details of birth, I’d suggest not reading it

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I thought I should check-in with everyone and give an update

Gil is nursing very well … in fact, he nurses all. day. long. And it’s not just comfort nursing, either. The little guy switches back and forth stimulating letdown after letdown. He burps occasionally and spits up every once in a while, but even when he does, it’s only a mouthful.

Gil weighed 6 lbs 4 oz on Monday morning and my midwife came bac to do the PKU test - aka the torturous heel-prick test - on Tuesday afternoon. She agreed to weigh him even though she didn’t think that over a day we’d see much measurable gain - he was 6 lbs 10 oz! Two ounces shy of his birth weight by day 4!

Gil was a bit slow in getting his gut started. He had great easy meconium poops, but after that, the frequency petered out big time! My midwife was a bit concerned about jaundice - he was a teeny bit yellow and not clearing his bowels - so set a goal for two poops by noon yesterday. If we didn’t get our poops, we were to take him in for a bilirubin level. He gave us three by 9AM - stinker!

As for me, I feel great! A little tired, but compared to last time, I feel like million dollars! I am completely healed up, there is no soreness anywhere, and I feel like being a mother is a tonne easier this time. So much more relaxed!!!

More pictures and a birth story to come very soon. I’d like to check some of my details against the birth notes when my midwife comes on Friday.

Gwen has decreased the amount she’s nursing dramatically over the past month or so. It began with her no longer wanting to nurse to sleep - she would nurse, on both sides, but then before she would fall asleep, she would pull off and want to snuggle with Brad to fall asleep. We decided to go with it and changed our bedtime routine from books-nurse-sleep to nurse-books-sleep. I nurse Gwen, get her pj’s and nighttime diaper on and brush her teeth then call Brad up to read her books and put her down. It’s somewhat a relief to know that when Love Bug arrives, there will be a pair of arms available to hold him/her while the other parent is doing their portion of the bedtime routine. Read the rest of this entry »

Of my baby and her doll.

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Sigh.

Over the weekend, I developped a reddened, sore lump on the back on my leg behind my knee. I called the thrombosis clinic that I went to a few weeks ago and they made me an appointment for the next day.

After a quick examination and a compression ultrasound, I was diagnosed with Superficial Thrombophlebitis, which is a clot in a superficial vein. No deep vein involvement, thankfully. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, Sesame Street is celebrating it’s 40th Anniversary! To celebrate with them, I thought I’d post my all-time favourite Sesame Street clip

And because it’s hilarious, here’s the Captain Vegetable video! Thanks to Citizen Kid for reminding me of this fantastic video!

As I’m making dinner, my daughter toddles into the kitchen and comes to me, holding up her little arms.

“Up?” I ask.

“Up!” She says emphatically in her perfect baby girl voice.

I pick her up and snuggle her to me. She pulls back, grinning, and signs “milk” enthusiastically with both hands. I look at the stove - not yet preheated.

“Okay. Let’s go have milk,” I agree.

I settle into a dining room chair and hold her close to me. She nurses, looking up at me. I gaze back at her. She pokes my nose, my eyes, my mouth. I look out the back door to the green trees that lies beyond. Love flows between us.

Such a simple act.

And yet the most powerful act of mothering I know.

I was on the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog today with tears glistening in my eyes. Go check out the beautiful guest post there entitled “the last num num“. What a beautiful baby-led weaning story … sounds like such a gentle, peaceful process. I hope it can be like that for Gwen and I, too.