It was wonderful having last week on my own, but it was also great watching my brother meet his nephew for the first time. He didn't change any diapers or make us dinner or anything, but he was great for bouncing the baby when he cried and explaining hockey playoffs to a one-month old and drinking all our beer. I'm glad to have my house back (if only for a day) but I'm also sad Mike had to go already.
In other news, we've been working on getting Colin to take a bottle and we've had some success. At first we had a few days of trying to introduce the bottle only to be met with frantic cries and flailing limbs and screams that were only comforted by the real thing. Which I then read not to do, since rewarding a bottle refusal immediately with the breast only reconfirms that the baby doesn't need the bottle. Harrumph. Then we thought maybe Colin just didn't like the Avent bottle/nipple that came with my pump, so we sterilized and tried a Playtex bottle someone gave me for a shower. Joe had minimal success with that, but most of it ended up down Colin's sleeper and not in his mouth. On day four, after trying all the things the books recommended about having me out of the room and introducing the bottle when the baby isn't frantically hungry etc etc. I finally realized that at a certain time in the afternoon Colin tends to be pretty zen and happy (for once) to take a pacifier and just hang out with it. So while he was content in his bouncy seat with his plug in his mouth I pumped, poured the milk from the Avent bottle into the Playtex one, waited for him to drop his plug, and then promptly replaced it with the bottle and....he gulped down an ounce and a half while looking at me curiously then realized it was all gone and started crying for more. So I picked him up and nursed him and he was happy and I was happy and I emailed pictures of the bottle session to Joe at work and submitted my nomination for Mother of the Year. And then Joe got home and we tried to give him a bottle and...screams and flailing and not having it.
Since then we've had successes and failures and it really depends on when you try to give him a bottle and yesterday he took an ounce that I had just pumped and then we frantically warmed up another ounce and then another two ounces as our hungry boy just wanted to eat and eat. (nevermind that he had just nursed half an hour before) So I guess you could say bottle feeding is a work in progress, but I think we're all getting the hang of it, and I'm happy to think that at some point I'll be able to sneak out for a few hours and not worry that my boy won't be able to eat.
I had my six-week appointment last week (Colin is six weeks old tomorrow!) and was given the all clear to resume activities, and so I ramped up my afternoon strolls to actual walking, including pushing the stroller up some ridiculous hills around here. And then added some weights and some tentative crunches. It felt really good to start working out again, so hopefully I'll be able to work that into my routine and rebuild a bit of muscle tone. I was looking forward to going for a walk with a friend today, but it's crappy and rainy so I don't think that's going to happen. Instead I'll be working on getting the house back in order before our next guest arrives and figuring out what I can make for dinner tonight without having to leave the house. I suppose this is the new definition of Monday.
1 comments:
Sounds like great progress on the bottle venture. Who would have thought it was such hard work? Not me, that's for sure.
Six weeks already? Damn!
More pictures, pretty please.
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