7 Weeks

How time flies when you're having fun! And, yes, we are having fun. Emma and I are really getting to know eachother, and I love every second of our days -- even when she cries. She is having more awake time now and loves to watch her mobile and play underneath her Baby Einstein activity "gym." Her cooing and her smiles make my heart overflow more than I could have ever imagined!

Overall the last few weeks have been the best yet, but we did discover that Emma (and I) have thrush. It's basically a yeast infection in her mouth that could be passed on to me during nursing. I'm not really having any major symptoms, but she had them all -- white spots on the inside of her cheeks and on her tongue and a raised diaper rash. Plus, she was getting fussier and fussier at the breast, so I knew something wasn't right. She was growing so impatient that I knew it had to be more than her personality that was making every nursing session a screaming match. So, she has an oral medication that we give her 4 times a day, and I have a topical cream. Thankfully, things have gotten MUCH better and now there's maybe one nursing session out of 9 or 10 that she gets fussy -- and that's normally at night. I'm not sure if it's the thrush going away or her passing the 6-week and/or 10-lb mark, but I am enjoying her much more now, and I love feeding her.

Speaking of which, another development has been her weight gain. While we were at the doc for her thrush, he said her weight gain (over 3 lbs in 5 weeks) was "off the charts." He wasn't totally concerned but wanted me to spread out her feedings to every 3 hrs instead of the every 2 hrs she seems to want. "Pushing her off" has been hard. It's not that she's screaming to eat (thank goodness!), but when those big blue eyes look at me while she's sucking her hand, I just feel downright cruel for not feeding her. A lot of times I give in, but most of the time I try to at least get her to 2.5 hours. That may be another reason she's eating better, I don't know. The tricky part is that she kind of put herself on a 2-hr schedule during the day. She wakes up, eats, has about an hour of awake time and then takes an hour nap. This active little bunny won't take a 2-hr nap and gets fussy after an hour of awake time, so this "putting her off" for an hour after she wakes up kind of throws everything off. But we're managing and she's still gaining weight and growing like a weed, so I'm trusting our doctor while using my best judgment.

I am pumping now, so Jeff gives Emma a bottle every other night so they can have some bonding time. He's really enjoying it, and it gives me a break. She still doesn't sleep for more than 3 hrs, so I take what I can get! Hopefully as she gets older she'll start those 4-hr stretches at night. Every Tuesday, some mom at my nursing support group brags that her little one slept through the night. I can't wait until I can say those words... Keep praying! :o)

Well, that's about it for now. Hope you enjoy the photos of our little princess. Yes, we're a little biased, but isn't she just beautiful!!!??? :o)