My life with Camden

Hanging out with Daddy!

I am going to try to get in another blog while my happy baby is in his bouncer...entertained by the bright light on our ceiling fan. Here are a few subjects that I have learned about since becoming a mommy.

Nursing

Since we came home with Camden, our life has been changed. We no longer have just the two of us to worry about. All of our focus is now on our little bundle. He is our joy! The first couple of days were pretty hard. I was exhausted from child birth, and still trying to heal. We did not get much sleep the first few nights, I was so worried to fall asleep because I was afraid I wouldn't know if something was wrong with our son. I stayed up most the night just checking on him and listening to him. The first day at home I woke up and my entire body hurt...my milk had come in! Not only was my milk in, I was engorged! I had no idea how bad it would hurt to get in my milk. Camden was still struggling with latching on, and because I was so engorged it made it that much harder for him to latch. We (my mom and I) struggled to get him to eat that first day, and to no success. I pumped enough for him to eat from a bottle and hoped we would eventually get this nursing thing down. The next day I woke up in just as much pain, as I did not get much relief because he was still not eating. My mom decided we needed to see a lactation consultant to help us with this nursing thing, I would not give up just because of the pain. The lactation consultant saved our life! Apparently when you are as engorged as I was, a baby can not latch on because I was too huge and hard (excuse my descriptions). She told me to try a nipple shield, which is basically like a bottle top that suctions to your breast. We tried it, and he nursed instantly! After he ate for about 10 minutes, my breast felt better, but still so uncomfortable. She told me that after he is done, if I don't get relief, I should pump out the rest of the milk until I feel that relief. Who would have known?! So we did that, and I felt better instantly! We used the nipple shield for about 2 days and gradually weened him off of it because his sucking was getting better and my breasts were softer for him to latch on to. We are now nursing like a champ! He is finally eating enough, and we are noticing his cheeks are plumping up a bit. I am supposed to nurse him every 3 hours, but this little piglet wants to eat like every 2 hours...we try to hold him off just so our feedings are more effective. Our pediatrician says if we can go every 3 hours, by the time he is about a month and a half, we will be able to cut out 1 feeding per night...which means more sleep!! So that is our goal.

I am also loving all the snuggle time I get when we nurse. Camden is the best snuggle bug, and I love that after he eats (and burps, or belch) he snuggles up against me and falls asleep. It is the best feeling ever! He also does the cutest things when he nurses. Usually he just eats and everything is great...but last night he was being a stinker. He was not latching on, and I was sooo ready for him to eat. Instead he was pretending to nurse and would turn his head in my direction and give me this adorable little smile. He was saying, haha Mom, I have everything in control, you want me to eat, and I am going to do what I want! lol he just cracks me up. I adore this little boy!

Diapers

Not a whole lot to say here...except, boys pee everywhere! Camden has peed on just about everyone and everything. We have actually gone through 3 diapers in one changing. Sometimes when we get a new diaper on, he will pee again, then squirt pee on himself and the changing pad. This creates some exciting diaper changes. We never know what we are gonna get. He has actually gotten better since his circumcision has healed. When it was healing we had to cover it with gauze and vaseline which made it difficult to position him, so pee would go all out of his diaper. We were going through nearly 4 outfits a day because the pee would run up his back! Haha oh the joys of having a boy!

Outings

We are finally experts at packing up the diaper bag, and taking Camden out and about. The first time I swear it took us almost 2 hours to leave the house. I had to feed him before we left (about 45 minutes), pack the diaper bag, change his diaper (twice), get myself ready, pump for a bottle just in case, put the stroller in the car, pack him in his car seat, then head on out the door. It seemed like we would never make it anywhere on time ever again. Don't be surprised if you invite us to something and don't see us for at least the first hour...haha we are probably still changing diapers. Actually it really has gotten easier throughout the week. He is nursing more effectively, which means about 15 minutes each side...I have the diaper bag packed, so it doesn't take as long to figure out what to take, and I realized that I can run out of the house without doing my hair, and no one will care! So for now I think outings are going great!