A Day During Jacy's First Month

Here is how my days go.  To keep track of the days, I start at midnight.  You will see why this works well.

12:00am - Put Jacy in bed.  This is about the time she goes down.
2:00am - Diaper change and nurse in the dark while I am half a sleep.
6:00am- Wake up to my alarm in a panic because Jacy slept for 4 hours.  Diaper change and nurse Jacy while I watch the news then go back to bed.
9:00am - Diaper change and nurse Jacy then go back to bed again.
10:30am - Diaper change and nurse Jacy then do a load of diapers and other random housework while Jacy is in her bassinet, swing, or bouncer seat.  She chills and sleeps during this time. I also get in a shower during this time.
12:00pm- Diaper chance and nurse Jacy and have lunch with Josh. He holds her a lot then I hold her. This is our prime sleepy baby snuggle time.
2:30pm - Diaper change and nurse Jacy.  She ussually stays awake for a little while we do some tummy time read books or she might spend time in the Moby Wrap while we do housework together.  She may also get a bath or go for a walk.  
4:00pm - Diaper change and nurse Jacy and take a nap if I can.
5:00pm - Josh comes home and we talk about his day.
7:00pm - Diaper change and nurse Jacy and eat dinner.  Jacy is also usually awake for a few minutes during this time and Josh plays with Jacy until she is hungry or sleepy again. I try to do some housework or I take a nap.
9:30pm - Diaper change and nurse Jacy. She is also awake for while again. We talk, tummy time, or play with dad. For some reason Jacy thinks from around 7-10 is the best time to be awake.  I think this is because she is her father's daughter.
10:30pm till 12:00 - I start trying to get Jacy to go to bed without success.  I nurse her for 10 minutes till she falls asleep and then I put her in her crib and she wakes up in 20 minutes. This continues till around midnight.  Josh sometimes gets her to go to bed by rocking her. During this time Josh and I watch TV while I do the nurse, put to bed, get back up cycle.  A few times Jacy has gone to bed around 11:00. It was awesome.

Tonight, Jacy is in bed at 9:00pm!!! That is how I got to write this blog post.  I really want to remember how crazy this time is so when her schedule is a little less demanding I can be thankful.  Now I better go to bed before this kid gets hungry again...
too late.

Baby Gotta Eat

As most people know I am attempting to nurse Jacy for the obvious financial and health benefits. I went in to this endeavor with what I thought was a lot of information under my belt. During our Bradley Method Classes we talked at length about breastfeeding for 2 of the 12 sessions. I attended 2 Le Leche League meeting before I delivered. I talked with anyone I could about nursing and how they had made it work. I checked out countless books from the library on the subject and even purchased a few to have on hand after Jacy came. With all that being said I had NO IDEA what it would actually be like to nurse a baby.

There are many things that no book or person makes totally clear in regards to nursing. The first being that it is a very messy procedure when you first start. I swear Jacy and I were both covered from head to toe in "people milk" as it is now called at our house. It got so bad that by the end of the day we would both smell like spoiled milk. This is not a joke, just ask Josh.

Also, Jacy and I had some troubles getting her to latch and stay awake. This was made much worse by the advice of some very well meaning nurses and lactation consultants at our hospital. When we first had trouble instead of saying "try again" or "try holding her a different way", they handed us a silicone sombrero that you put over your nipple called a nipple shield. I had only briefly read about these in some book. They were not discussed at our classes or at the Le Leche League meetings. I remembered that they were used for premature babies but I assumed that the people at the hospital knew better about such things. That was totally false. I ended up with bloody nipples and clogged milk ducts (ouch!!! and sorry for TMI) and a lazy baby. The only thing that got us over it was encouragement from my mom and friends and the outside lactation nurse at Kilgores Medical Pharmacy. Seriously, there was NO WAY I would breastfeeding right now if I had not gone to see Beth. It was amazing. She helped us loose the shield and get Jacy to eat with no trouble. We had to go see her quite a bit for weight checks and it was one of the most reassuring things I did during my first weeks home with Jacy. Not to mention it was free!? I love free.

Anyways, I really want to remember how tricky everything was and how the solution was so simple. I should have just followed my own new "mommy gut" and done what I thought was right for Jacy and I. The Good Lord would not give us a baby and leave us unequipped to care for her. I need to remember that.

Things I Can(not) Live Without

Here is a list of things that I cannot live without at this stage in the game. I would like to note that I am perfectly aware I could, realistically live without everything on the list. I just have no desire to do that. Also, I am perfectly aware that most of you do not care about this post. I just wanted to remember it if I ever decide to do this crazy thing again.

• Prefold Diapers - Holds everything all the time. Easy to change. Easy to clean. I am not sure how I am going to like the fancy pants diapers I have for Jacy when she gets older. If you have not tried prefolds, I highly recommend them.
• Video Monitor - Our house is super small and I could hear Jacy cry no matter where I am. The thing that makes the monitor so cool is that I can check on her without going in and letting her see me. This has also made sleeping easier because I do not have to get out of bed to see that it was a "in her sleep cry/coo" and not a "wake up and feed me lady cry". This has been awesome. We have a Summer Infant brand. LOVE IT!
• Tie Dyed Onesies. Too fun.Thanks Mellisa
• Changing Table - I do not like changing her anywhere else. It is too hard and stressful for me. I know I am crazy. (NOTE - We do not actually have a changing table. Just a changing pad thingy mounted to a dresser.)
• Breast Pump - Helped me through some tough spots.
• Colace and Tucks Pads - Also helped me through some tough spots.
• Bouncer Seat - Ours has some highfalutin name. I can't remember right now. It does everything. Thanks Aunt Rachelle and Aunt Donna. This thing keeps her awake and happy. CRAZY
• Swing - She falls asleep instantly.Sometimes it scares me!
• Moby Wrap - This should be called "Lets you get the dishes done machine." I love this. I get to snuggle my baby and write this blog post. WIN!
• My husband - He is the bomb. He knows that Jacy likes "jumps" and can change a prefold in his sleep. He also comes home for lunch and sometimes lets me get in a nap. He tells me to knock it off when I am being crazy. He watches TV with me in the evening even though he doesn't care for it because that is all I can do at this point.

The funny thing about this list is that these are not the things I thought I would find useful (with the exception on my husband) Parenthood is a trip.

NOTE - It took me 2, no 3, days and multiple attempts to write this.

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Prayer without Ceasing

If you want to work on the whole "pray without ceasing" thing, bring home a newborn baby. Take the past two hours for example. I had two friends over to chat and whatnot. During this time Jacy needed a diaper change. I left her lying on the couch next to my dear friend and I said "watch that girl" while I got the diaper. On the 12 foot walk to the diaper, I prayed that Ashley would catch her if she started to roll off (which at this point would make her the most advanced baby in all history) I then also prayed that she would not make a mess on the couch because I had never changed her there before. (and I don't care to do that very often in the future) I then realized I didn't have a wipe and the I prayed that her girl parts would be ok because I didn't wipe. (even though one book I read suggested not using wipes for non-poo diapers) I them started to feed her and my typical prayer of please make sure she gets enough food/please make sure she stays awake to eat started. I then realized I had not washed my hands, even though I had touched nothing unsanitary, so I prayed for germs to not find her. Then she had another diaper change and I prayed the typical, please don't let her get diaper rash prayer. Mind you, all of this was occurring while having two friends over and chatting. You should hear how much I pray when it is just Jacy and I at home. I am hoping I did not seem to distant while my friends were over. I was trying very hard to multitask.

I pray all day long. Please let her sleep- which is always followed by please let her wake up. Please help her eat well - which is always followed by please help my body provide the food. Please let her poop - which is always followed by please be the last poop for the next hour till the diapers get out of the dyer. The list could go on forever.

These are not idol "I wish" kind of prayers. These are real, true prayers that make me worry less about my sweet girl and remind me I am not the one in control of what happens to me or any member of my family. It sounds weird to say that all this prayer makes me worry less but it really does seem to help. Now I pray that I get some sleep!!!