More pictures

Thought I'd share more of these pictures for those who want to see more of our sweet little girl.  :)

Here is a tired mommy and Ashlan.  I love her face in this one if you can see it!  

Big, bulky diaper!!!



I love these next ones!

Haha- she looks startled here!

Ashlan's first Christmas and 2nd week appointment

Ashlan had her two week checkup on Wednesday, the 22nd, and she had gained a pound since we brought her home! A whole pound! Geesh! She was up to 8 lbs 9 oz on Wednesday, when she was only 7 lbs 10 oz two days after we left the hospital (down from 8 lbs 0.4 oz when she was born). She is eating really well though, so we knew she had gained weight but didn’t think it would be that much! We also talked to the doctor a little more about her diaper rash which was still lingering at that point, and he said to mix Maalox and corn starch as a paste and use it as the diaper cream! Since we have been using that, it has since disappeared so Ashlan used her first cloth diaper on Christmas! She actually leaked out of her leg but that’s because mommy didn’t stuff it enough (with the inserts) for her little butt! The next diaper we put on her held up very well, even though they are a bit bulky on her right now since she is so little and they are an all-in-one diaper. However, they are fleece inside, so they must be very comfortable for her! It seems if she’s in a position laying sideways that the diaper leaks through the legs though. I think it’s because she not only has skinny little legs but because she is so small. I’m hoping that her legs get a little chubbier so she can fit into the diapers better. Anyway, at the doctor appointment last Wednesday we also found out the poor thing has acid reflux, which could be why she was so inconsolable for the first two weeks. So, the doctor wrote her a prescription for liquid Zantac and since she has been on it, it’s like we have a different baby! There has been no more throwing up 30 minutes or more after a feeding; she isn’t as irritable right before/after a feeding either; and she doesn’t “have” to eat so soon after a feeding anymore (the doctor said to feel full makes her feel better apparently) because her heartburn is better. We are so happy to have found something that worked for her! And because her diaper rash is gone, she doesn’t cry anymore when we change her, which is so comforting to me because it would make me so upset to hear her cry!

So, unfortunately (and ALREADY), she has moved from newborn sizes to 0-3 months. She was three weeks old on Christmas Eve, so her mommy is not happy that she has already upped a size! Before we started the cloth diapering, she also upped a diaper size from newborn to size 1, ALREADY! Everyone is right when they say they sure do grow fast!

 Ashlan and me on Christmas Eve

We really enjoyed Ashlan’s first Christmas!  We picked my parents up from the airport on Wednesday night and they were thrilled to meet Ashlan for the first time.  She behaved herself the whole time they were here by sleeping a total of seven hours a night, though we had to feed her once in between since she’s so little.  But she is so much better at sleeping compared to when we first brought her home!  She still hasn’t slept the night in her crib yet but I think that will be my project once my parents leave.  She has taken naps in her crib though, and she loves her mobile, which seems to comfort and fascinate her.  She also loves her swing and the music with it, though I am hesitant to put her in it often because even on the lowest setting, it seems like she is flying in that thing.  I think the swing will be better when she gains more weight since it would go slower, but I definitely don’t want to wish her time as an infant away!

Us on Christmas

My Mom and Ashlan

My dad and Ashlan (and Caesar!)

Ashlan’s baptism was on Sunday, December 26, and we were happy to have my parents here for that.  There were three other babies to get baptized and ironically, they were all girls!  Anyway, she barely made a peep the entire service and baptism ceremony and we were really relieved since we were wondering if she would cooperate!  Here are a few pictures below. 

Pics and first bath

So things have gotten tremendously better in the last few days. I think it was just taking us time to get to know her. Last night she slept for a six hour stretch! We ended up getting around eight hours last night which was awesome. Saturday night she didn’t do so well though and I was up with her most of the night. So sometimes it just depends. But she usually only cries when something is bothering her…we just have to figure out what that is!  Still haven't graduated to the crib yet so we'll work on that here soon!  We're just happy to be getting sleep!

Poor thing already has a diaper rash! That’s hard to believe for how often we change her diapers! We actually went to her pediatrician about it because she was only a week old and it was so red! It looks better today but is taking its’ time clearing up. She doesn’t cry as much when we change her diaper anymore but it still breaks my heart when she does. Because of that we have to wait until it clears up to use the cloth diapers, but I think she would fit them now as she is quite the eater!

She got her first home bath a few days ago (sponge bath because her umbilical cord stump is still attached) but she hated it! We took some pics and as you can see, she was very unhappy!

(I’m getting really good at typing with one hand!)

She was sleeping like this!

Pics of first bath- not happy!!!

Caesar is still curious about her but is such a good boy.



I left the flash on by accident...whoops!  Don't think she appreciated that!

I love this picture...so sweet!

Sweet little face!

Haha- this is a funny pic! 

Check out Caesar on Dan's butt!  He always wants to be with the person holding Ashlan.

Hospital stay and first nights home

Well, the past few days at home have been rough to say the least, at least with her sleeping/feeding schedule, which I’m sure is common in every newborn’s life. Little by little though we are learning her needs and have finally gotten her to sleep without one of us holding her.

Let me start with our hospital experience. It was pretty awful! Not even the c-section part so much (though that was NOT a piece of cake), but the recovery part. First off, every few hours a nurse would come in to check my vitals, then another nurse would come in about an hour later to give me my medication, then someone else would come in to check on my wound, take Ashlan to the nursery to check her, etc. Can’t all these people do everything at the same time to ensure the patient’s rest? Seems like every hour we had an interruption! Of course, that would wake Ashlan also, so sometimes we’d have to comfort her back to sleep and then get to sleep ourselves only to be woken up in that hour with someone else coming in to check on me or her. It was so frustrating! Also, we were placed in the room right next to the elevators, which have a separate door entryway, and is kept locked for security purposes. Every time someone came through those doors, that door would slam. And I’m not talking a little slam, enough to wake us up every time someone went through those doors.

One good thing about the hospital was the fantastic lactation consultants that helped me so much! We made the mistake of giving her a hospital binky to get some sleep and she wouldn’t even try to eat for six hours after that even though she was screaming her head off in that time! So we’re not sure if it was the binky or if she just was just frustrated because my milk wasn’t in yet. She was so inconsolable most of the time we were in the hospital so that’s another reason why we didn’t get any sleep. Even the nurses said she was an extremely fussy baby and couldn’t offer us any suggestions on what to do that actually worked! That continued when we got home too. Turns out she HATES to be on her back, and man, this girl can scream!!! The only position she is comfortable in is in our arms but mainly in a sitting position. We swaddle her and keep her legs tucked close to her chest and that seems to be the only way she stops screaming.

So, because I had her on Friday evening, they allowed me to stay until Tuesday. However, when my doctor checked me on Sunday, she said she would have expected me to look like tomorrow what I look like today and asked if I wanted to go home early. So, we checked out on Monday afternoon. We were so worried for the ride home because we didn’t want to give her a binky again to interfere with breastfeeding but in the end that won out just to have a few minutes of peace in the car. Ironically, she spit it out as soon as she fell asleep and we didn’t have to worry about her waking up the rest of the ride home (a 35 minute drive).

Since then though, we gave into the binky that the hospital gave us once or twice more. By that point, I made Dan go out and get a binky shaped like a nipple, so there wouldn’t be any confusion between the binky and the nipple. Luckily, she has taken to the breast quite well, so we still use the new binky occasionally when she is inconsolable, which is happening less and less often, thank God! Now we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel! We had her first Pediatrician appointment yesterday morning and we asked her doctor about it then since we have gotten no sleep since she’s been here. Of course, she was pretty calm the whole time he was in the room (making us look like big liars)! We mentioned the positions that she’s comfortable in and he said if sleeping in her car seat is the only way she’s comfortable, then go for it! So, we tried it yesterday and got her to sleep in it for 3 hours! That nap was heaven even though every time she breathed weird, I had to stare at her to make sure she didn’t wake up screaming again. She has since napped in it a few more times, so at least that’s working for now.

So, we have hope now! I must admit, we were at our wits end between her incessant feedings, her inability to sleep unless someone held her and her crying so much when we put her down. We ended up just giving in and holding her to get some relief for us from the crying. I really do think the hospital stay was worse than our first night home though. I might not have gotten a lot of sleep the first night home (or any?!) but at least I didn’t have anyone interrupting me when I did fall asleep with her in my arms. We are learning her little quirks and every day seems to be a lot better than the last.

Here are some more pictures of her. She really has such a sweet face and we are still so in love with her, even more so now since we seem to be figuring her out! Caesar seems to have accepted her, and these pictures are so cute of him investigating her. Check out the one where I am cross legged on the couch…he is sitting in between my legs! (Please excuse my ridiculously messy appearance in these pics!!)