On our own

Well, we have been on our own for 3 days now and Eleanor is still alive and kickin'! My parents left Sunday morning and we were all so sad to see them go.  We went with them to the airport, which meant Ellie's first bus ride and train ride. We carried her in her sling and she slept the whole time! She liked being all snuggly with grandma for the trip there. Since they left, we've been trying to figure out things on our own. She is doing so well with her feeding and sleeping. I mentioned in the last post that we've been having trouble with breastfeeding. The second night she was home, she screamed pretty much the entire night and we realized the next morning that she was hungry because she wasn't getting anything from me. We started supplementing with formula that day at the advice of the midwife and waited for my milk to come in. We waited and waited and waited. We rented a hospital grade breast pump that day and I started pumping every 3 hours to try and jump start my milk supply. Even with all the pumping, I was only getting less than 1/2 an ounce total. On Wednesday, we finally called a lactation consultant who came over that afternoon and showed us how to latch her on and also gave advice for stimulating my milk production. She thought that it was possible my milk was just delayed because I didn't sleep for 3 days , starting with the night I went into labor. So she encouraged me to "double pump" to trick my body into thinking I had twins. She wanted me to pump every 2 hours in addition to feeding Ellie with the formula (and occasionally offering her the breast) every 3 hours. Dan asked her when I was supposed to sleep, since it usually took at least 30 minutes to feed Ellie and even longer to get her back to sleep. The lady just looked at us, laughed, and said " you're a new mom, you don't sleep!" but in the next breath told me to make sure I got enough rest because that could hinder my milk production...riiiight. Anyways, so Ellie started latching on like a champ and it's so easy now. She can be hysterical with hunger but the second I get her in "feeding position", she calms down and latches on right away. Unfortunately, the double pumping has not helped to increase my supply so I've also started taking this herb called fenugreek, which is supposed to help. I believe that it has helped some but not sure it's enough. I have only been taking it since Saturday so we're still giving it more time. 

The important thing now is that she is growing. She had dropped below 7% of her body weight 2 days after birth because she wasn't getting anything to eat. She started at 8.24lbs (3740 grams) and today she weighs 8.55lbs (3880 grams)!! She sleeps very well at night, at least 3 hours each time but usually she has a 4 -5 hour stint in there as well. The nice thing about formula feeding is that Dan can help. Last night he took both feedings so I could get a full night of sleep. I'm not sure what I'd do without him.

People have asked how the cloth diapering is going. So far, so good! We used disposables for the first few days until she was done with the meconium movements and then we put her right into her bumgenius ones. They've been fabulous! We usually do a load every day or every day and a half because right now she pretty much has a wet diaper every time we change her. But it's really no big deal and they have not been a hassle at all. Plus they help some of her clothes that are too big, fit her better! We are also using cloth wipes and those have been just as easy. I can honestly recommend them to anyone, as long as you have a washer and a dryer. 

I have another blog to write about the care and aftercare differences between here and back home but I think that is another post in and of itself. I want to make sure I document it well so I can remember when/if we have another baby(all you people who say it's the worse pain you forget the quickest are a bunch of liars! :) ).

And now some more pics for your viewing pleasure (ok so probably mostly for the grandparents :) ).