Sunday, May 17, 2009

7 weeks, and growing :)

Long time no blog :) I know I kind of left you all hanging after my last dramatic post at 5 weeks! Sorry about that. Life has been full to the brim with our girlie. How about an update?

Things seem to be improving with Miya in terms of the fussiness (we are so thankful) and just taking it one day at a time. With many peoples advice and tips (thanks everyone!) we were able to implement some soothing techniques that really seem to calm miya when she hits the "witching hour" as we have grown to call it. It usually hits around 5 and lasts until she finally conks out around 9ish. She pretty much fights sleep the entire time and we have tried everything to get her to settle during this time. Usually she is ok with being held but really doesn't want to be put down, actually that is true of her most of the day. This evening time fussiness is usually the hardest part of the day and once she finally goes to sleep we are ready for bed too (it wears us out) We still aren't sure if this is officially colic, because she has stopped having the long crying spells (seems like they left as quick as they came) but one HUGE discovery was simply the fact that our girl gets VERY easily overstimulated and needs to nap frequently. She tends to wake up, eat right away, have about 30-45 minutes of awake time and then it's back to bed! One thing we realized is we were keeping her awake way too long, and way past her point of exhaustion. I had no idea babies this age need so much sleep...oops :) So much of her fussiness was us not picking up on her sleepy cues and what we learned is that once she becomes overtired, she is almost impossible to calm down at that point. So I have started learning her cues and watching for her getting tired and putting her right down to sleep, and amazingly she seems to be happier and calmer now! Don't get me wrong, she is still a little "diva" of sorts when it comes to making her preferences known (and trust me the girl knows what she wants!) but she seems to be easier to calm and sleeps better now, which has been great! Speaking of sleep....

Miya is finally in her crib full time! We couldn't believe how quickly and smoothly the transition took place. We started Tuesday night this week after a really bad failed attempt last week. I was afraid that putting her in the crib after she had gotten so snug in our bed would be horrible, but it wasn't! We started with naps first, then at night. I think the transition was harder on me than it was for her. I would make several trips (and still do) to peek in her room before I fall asleep. What really has helped is trying to give her a little routine that fits in with her sleep. So basically trying to be consistent so she knows what is coming next. So when she wakes I open her blinds, feed her, then change her diaper, then spend some "awake" time with her enjoying all the smiles she is starting to give us, then I basically watch for the yawing to start. Then it's right back to her room, close the blinds, turn on the noise maker (which seems to work like magic for her, but only on the rain setting) rock her for a minute, sing a song, then lay her down. The only hiccup we have hit is the whole pacifier ordeal. Our girl is totally hooked on her paci for sleep. How can something do so much good and so much evil all at the same time? :) Basically sucking on it is the one thing that soothes her gets her to that oh so happy sleepy state, BUT then once that sleepy state hits, the paci slips out and WAAHHHHHHHH. She is not a happy girl. So here come Mommy and Daddy running to pop that bugger back in. The first day we tried her in her crib I counted 35 times that I came in to put the pacifier back in so she would nap. Finally it worked and she slept for a good 2 hours! It is gradually getting better where it doesn't seem to wake her as often, which we are grateful for. She even has gone to sleep 3 times today without fussing at all! What a change from just a week ago.

She also has set herself on a nice little time schedule. She usually is awake for an hour or so at a time during the day, then sleeps for about 1.5-2. Then she is sleeping anywhere from 3-6 hours at a time at night which has been very nice. It's amazing to see how her body is setting it's internal clock for sleep. She is becoming more predictable with when she will nap and when she will wake. At night I can pretty much expect her to wake between 12 and 1 am and then again between 430 and 530am. Not too shabby! Sometimes she will even surprise me and skip one of them, I like those nights :)

The hardest thing that we are dealing with now that she has gotten used to her crib as the place for sleep, we can't get her to fall asleep as easily other places. But, no complaints, we are just happy to see her getting some sleep and finally liking her crib!

I can definitely say I am learning a lot about dependence on the Lord right now. There is nothing more humbling than being a mommy. I love it, it challenges me and stretches me like never before.

Miya is starting to do a lot more smiling and cooing which has been so fun. She makes you work for those smiles though. She also has decided she hates her carseat. Yikes. She really is a WAY different little girl then she was the first 3 weeks. She would pretty much go with the flow and was happy and content all day. Loved the car, loved her carseat, loved just sitting in her little seat (or anywhere we set her down for that matter) but she is a different girl now! When we would take her for car rides this week she screamed so loud and so hard that she actually ended up drenched in sweat. It was so sad because it usually happened when it was just me in the car so there wasn't much I could do to help her. Eventually she cried herself to sleep...but I am hoping to find a solution to the car screaming, maybe she will outgrow it? Fast I hope :)

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures this week...but here are a few!


Walks and getting fresh air have been SOOOOO good for us lately. She loves getting outside and usually sleeps great after getting outside. I love this little hat on her


These little smiles make me melt.





snuggles after bathtime. Sorry it looks like I accidently cut daddy out of most of these pictures. Oops!

bathtime makes her sleepy


haha this is one for her wedding slideshow many years from now :)


Her cute "I love my Auntie" jammies from Auntie Cherai

I love you Auntie!


her and hippity.


she's growing :)

The End.

Monday, May 04, 2009

5 weeks...and sleepless nights :)

Here we are, 5 weeks :) This week has been the most challenging yet. Tuesday I started to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't feeling well...and needed to do something about it. My incision from my c-section had been really sore, swollen and red for days...and though I know what that means, but being the bad patient I am (I think most nurses are the worst patients) I ignored it for several days. By Tuesday there was no ignoring it. I went to my OB who gave me a "tsk, tsk" for ignoring it and to my dismay he had to reopen a portion of my incision to allow it do drain. He also gave me antibiotics and instructed me to clean it and irrigate it 4 times a day to which I responded: "you know I have a newborn right!?" Just brushing my teeth once a day has been a challenge. He reminded me that I can't take care of Miya if I am not healthy, which finally made sense to me. Thankfully the incision is looking better and I am pretty sure the infection is pretty much gone. I will go back this week to follow up.

This week Miya has also entered a very very fussy phase. It started off with a few days where she just wouldn't nap and would want to eat pretty much every hour, which would then follow with hours of crying on and off. She also was waking up every hour or two at night. She had her one month appointment on Wednesday and he thought her reflux might be worsening and because she has gained so much weight the zantac might not be helping. So he increased her dose. I hoped to see immediate results...but didn't. By Saturday the fussiness seemed to be consolidated a little...meaning she would be ok most of the day, but by the evening it was like a timer went off and the screaming began. She started crying around 7 and went until about 11, pretty much non-stop. It was gut wrenching for me. I kept thinking something must be wrong! So both Lew and I would try everything we knew to calm her, all to no avail. Thankfully Sunday she was a happy girl once the morning passed we hoped maybe Saturday night was just a bump in the road and Sunday night we would have our happy-go-lucky baby girl back. But again just like a timer went off she began to cry this time lasting from 9 until 2 am. This time we both realized there was nothing wrong (at least that we could pin point). We tried everything we could and all we could do was cuddle her and love her while she cried. She would stop for a few minutes and fall asleep...only to resume her crying moments later. She woke up this morning as mellow and calm as can be! She is sleeping peacefully right now, which makes me thankful to know she is at least doing ok part of the day. I talked to her pediatrician today who confirmed what we were thinking: colic. Thankfully colic (if that is what it is) is very normal in this age, and will pass in time. The frustrating thing is that there isn't a lot that we can do. We are still trying different things to sooth her and comfort her, but really time is the key. I would love any tips from Moms out there who have dealt with colic. We are going to try giving her baths every night now to give her a little bit of bedtime routine. We also have had to have her sleep in our bed because that is the only place she really will sleep at night. The pediatrician actually recommended us doing that for now just to help comfort her and allow all of us to get a little more sleep. But among all those things nothing has driven me more to my knees. We have found ourselves praying like never before! Crying out for strength to patiently endure the crying and sleeplessness, as well as peace in the midst of her fussing. I am SO thankfully for the peaceful parts of the day when she is happy and content. One thing that has saved us this week is music. Many times I will just put on some music and dance around with her, sometimes that will calm her down for a while. It's also just good for my soul. There is a song by Bethany Dillon called Hallelujah that I find I will play over and over again making it the prayer of my heart...that I would be able to say "hallelujah" even in the midst of a crying baby, infected incision, and sleep deprivation like I have never seen before!

Here are some pictures. I didn't take too many, but tried to capture the "peaceful moments" which means she is sleeping in most of the pictures!
I love how she crosses her little feet


cuddling with daddy


I just love her so much...


So cute, Lew had her propped up like this when I came home from my doctors appointment, it was the cutest thing. She was quite comfy!

As you can see she HAS to keep her pacifier nearby at ALL times. She is pretty much obsessed with it.



Her new favorite sleeping position...we usually put it in the middle of the living room and she likes to nap there :)

Did I mention she is obsessed with her paci?


Squishy lips :)

She's getting big! 8lbs 13 oz. and 20 1/4 inches! She's a good eater :)


Our little ducky after a bath.


Again with the paci :)

Time really is flying. I must say this week felt longer with all the crying...but still I can hardly believe another week has passed. I am aware that I have so much to be thankful for.