The Baby Diaries- Week Four.

Last Weeks News...

My little lady is four weeks old- I cannot believe it has been a month since we arrived at the hospital ready to have our baby.  In some ways it feels like she has always been a part of our family and has slotted in perfectly, but in some ways it feels surreal that she is even here.

The health visitor came to weigh her again as she lost so much weight in the beginning.  I am pleased to say that she is now 9lb 9oz and put on almost 10oz in the week and a half since I saw them last.  They now no longer need to see her, I am thrilled that breastfeeding is obviously working.

Friday was the first proper day I had them both on my own because we have been busy doing stuff with my Mum this week and Mads goes to family friends two days of the week.  We survived and had a nice day at home just me and my little ladies.  While I am sure it will get stressful sometimes as she gets more awake and demanding of my attention, I am pleased that it all went well and I had a lovely day with my little ladies.

LL had her first doctors appointment on Monday as we were worried about her cold- luckily her cough hasn't spread to her chest and so we didn't need antibiotics.  She has had it longer than a week so they have said if it hasn't cleared up soon then to ring them again.

She is still sleeping a lot during the day and my favourite moments are when she snuggles up on my chest and falls asleep- I love feeling her little chest rise and fall and the warmth of her on me.  I know this stage goes so quickly so I am enjoying every second.

Sleep...

LL still can't seem to go more than 3 hours in the evening, although a couple of times she has done 3.5 hours.  We have got into a pattern of going to bed about half ten and she will have a feed and settle about eleven.  She then sleeps relatively soundly until about 2am.  

She is quite a lazy feeder at this feed and because I am so tired I don't wake her up as much as I should, and so she generally just snacks but this isn't always the way.  She then settles again in her moses basket as long as I wind her and cuddle her for twenty minutes.  

She then wakes up again any time between 4am and 5am but this is when she gets unsettled and seems to grunt, groan and cry with trapped wind.  Eventually after about half an hour of cuddles she goes down in her moses basket again but she doesn't really sleep soundly and will generally wake about 6am and come into our bed.  I don't want to get in the habit of it but it is the only way to get sleep.  She will then feed again about half seven/eight when Mads wakes up.

 While I don't want to get her used to sleeping in our bed, I do love snuggling up close to her.

Food.

We are doing well with feeding, it no longer hurts and she is putting weight on nicely.  She generally feeds every three hours in the day, especially if we are out, but if we are at home then I do feed more on demand which can be as near as two hourly.  

She is starting to cluster feed in the early evenings from about 5pm until we go to bed, but then sometimes she will sleep or just be awake.

She is going through a stage of being grizzly when she is awake, I think a lot of it is wind but she definitely is not happy, especially in the early evenings.  I remember Mads being like it too.  It can be tough hearing her cry at the top of her lungs, but generally a big cuddle sorts her out quite quickly.  She loves the comfort of her Mummy and Daddy.