Thread: *~*~ Brittany's (MrsMangoBabe) Birth Lodge~*~*

Originally Posted by rainymama

How are you feeling? Are you getting some sleep? How long will your mother stay? Does your DH have any time off from work? It sounds like you are doing great, mother of TWO!!!!!

I'm feeling good. Recovery is much easier when you don't tear! I'm doing okay on sleep. I find nursing lying down to be the best way to get sleep. I just nurse him until he falls back asleep and only change him if he poops so that he gets woken up the minimal amount possible, and it really helps. It is hard when DD wants to sleep with us, too, though because she can't sleep next to the baby--some nights, I've ended up with her on one side and him on the other, and not a lot of room for me to sleep. Night before last, DD slept all night in her big girl bed, but no such luck last night. I ended up taking Teio to her bed and leaving her in our bed with DH.

My mom is staying a total of 2 weeks. She'll leave on Saturday. My brother and his wife are driving up from Utah to visit for a couple of days on Thursday (it's their spring break). DH only got one day off work (the Monday after Teio was born), but he feels like the baby and I are in good hands with my mom here. He could probably have gotten more time off, but I don't think he wanted to push it because he hasn't been working at this job very long.

Teio's cord stump fell off yesterday. I might give him a tub bath tonight--hopefully he'll like it better than the sponge baths. His eye cleared up for a day or so and then got goopy again--small tear ducts, I guess. DD never had any blocked tear ducts, but she has freakishly long eyelashes, and did when she was a newborn as well, and that may have kept stuff out of her eyes.

Yesterday, my mom and I (mostly my mom) made some freezer casseroles that we can have for dinner after she leaves. I put Teio in the wrap I made while I was helping and he fell asleep really easily in there.

I have pictures I want to post, but for some reason when I put the memory card from my camera into this computer, nothing happens. I'll have to try it on the other computer and see what happens.

I'm so glad your doing well and I'm excited to see some pictures! Isn't wearing a nb babe so much fun I wish I could just have a tiny baby for at least a year! Enjoy your mom, and hang in there your dd will start sleeping in her own bed some day.

I am glad you are feeling good. I am excited to be wearing my baby, too. I hope that when your brother and his family comes it can be a relaxing time for you and not too stressful. I tend to stress if anyone but mothers come, and no baby blessings at least for 6 weeks for me. I just get too overwhelmed. It sounds like you have things under control. The bed situation is reminding me of how having a newborn can be like one l-o-n-g day that never ends. I kind of enjoy being up with my babies at night (to a point, if they aren't crying) and enjoy that special time with them, but it can make the days long. Your mom sounds great - like she might have done this a few times

I do love wearing him. I'll probably be wearing him more after my mom leaves and I'll need to start doing more around the house.

My brother and his wife came yesterday and hung out all day and dropped by this morning before they left for Seattle. They don't have any kids yet--they just got married in October. They brought a tea set for DD and a blanket for Teio--which is good because we have TONS of girly blankets from all the baby showers I had with DD, but we don't have very many boy baby blankets. When DH got home, we all went out to dinner, and it was the first time we've taken Teio anywhere except when I took him to his doctor's office for his appointment and the hospital for his second PKU (and my mom watched DD both times). It is weird having two kids in carseats in the back of our car. DH said something about how when we have the next one, we'll have to get a bigger car. Although I know I want more kids, I am so not ready to think about that right now.

Teio has another doctor's appointment today, so I'll update with how his weight gain is doing when we get back.

Elizabeth--we did DD's baby blessing when she was only 2 weeks old, because my parents were in town, and I was so not ready for that! We're waiting to do that until the beginning of May this time. My mom had 4 babies--which is a lot by some people's standards, but not by others...hehe. My MIL had 9

Weight gain is good! Teio now weighs 8 lbs 14 oz--a pound and 4 ounces more than his birth weight at 2 weeks old! I was impressed when Tehani was 1 lb over her birth weight at this point. I was kind of distracted during the weight and measurement check, though because Dr. J. first looked at him then and the first thing he said was "he has a goopy eye." He said it looks like he does have a blocked tear duct (he used some fancy medical term for it), but it has gotten infected, so he gave me a prescription for antibiotic eye ointment--the same eye ointment they give routinely to newborns at the hospital (which I declined this time). I have to put it in just that one eye 3 times a day. It already looked a lot better after the first time I put it in last night. It kind of sucks that he ended up needing antibiotic eye ointment after I declined the routine application, but I'm pretty sure the blocked tear duct would have caused the infection even if we'd had that--Dr. J. said that the tear duct thing makes them more prone to eye infections.

Getting caught up here. I'm glad he's growing so well! That's awesome. How is dd doing now?

You might have said, but what kind of carrier/wrap/etc are you using? I want to try the Moby out this weekend and see if I can get the hang of it.

DD is doing okay. It's an adjustment, but it has helped that some people have had the insight to give her stuff as well as the baby--such as the tea set from my brother and his wife. DH's boss also gave us his kids' old outdoor playhouse (and it's a nice one), so she loves that. We tied the gate shut, so she can go in the backyard by herself and can't get out, which is good. I discovered this morning, though, that she is now tall enough to unlock the deadbolt on our front door, which is not good! We figured out that after my mom put up the blackout curtains in her room, it was too dark in there at night. We left her door open and a hall light on last night, and she slept all night in her own room again! Yay!

I made my wrap out of cotton jersey that I bought at a fabric store. It's not particularly beautiful, but it's functional. It is similar to a Moby, but probably not as strechy. It is just barely long enough for me to tie it in a front wrap cross--I wanted 4 yards, because I'm petite and wouldn't need the extra fabric with a 5 yard wrap, but all that was left on the roll was a little less than 4 yards, but I bought it anyway. I may need something a little longer when he gets bigger, but we'll see.

That is great weight gain! I was going to mention before about his goopy eye, and maybe it doesn't matter now, but I used expressed breastmilk on the goopy newborn tear ducts we have had which helped a lot. Might not help for an actual bacterial infection, though.

I am glad to hear that your daughter slept in her own room all night. What a relief! Hopefully that will continue for her. If she sleeps better then the days will go better, too, right?
I saw a two week old yesterday and gosh, I just forget how tiny they are! So adorably cute.

Do you have a "favorite part" of your baby that you just can't resist? My first son had fuzzy shoulders and I just couldn't stop rubbing them and kissing them. My second son LOVED having me gently rub his feet. It was so cute. When I touched his feet he would get really quiet and just stretch his legs way out and stretch out his toes. Funny how I don't really remember about my daughters, but maybe it will come to me if I think about it awhile.

I do know there was a difference between having daughters and sons. I LOVED my girls but I totally felt like I was IN LOVE with my boys, like I had a new boyfriend!

Your husband's comment about the bigger car made me laugh. We had our first three in carseats in the backseat for quite a while (luckily they fit), and got a minivan for #4. We still will all fit in it since we got an 8-passenger, but my husband must be in a dreamworld because now he's looking at 12 passenger vans! His excuse is that he could "use it for the Scouts". Yep. That's about right, honey.

Originally Posted by MrsMangoBabe

I discovered this morning, though, that she is now tall enough to unlock the deadbolt on our front door, which is not good!

My SIL has a special needs four year old who is into EVERYTHING--the family has installed surface mount bolt locks on every important door at adult-head height. Actually looks nice, too--you can find decorative ones that match your existing decor and still do the job. (Of course you can't unlock it from the outside like a deadbolt, but you only need it locked when you're home inside with her anyway)