One-Month Checkup

Tuesday was Ellyson's one-month checkup with the pediatrician. Overview:
Height: 21" (50th percentile)
Weight: 10 lb, 1 oz (75th percentile)

Carter was 11 lb, 11 oz at his one-month checkup, so she is much closer to average. :)

Overall, everything is well. She is developing the same strawberry-type birthmark that Carter has, only hers is on her torso (his is to the side of his eye).

She has one hip that seems a bit loose in its socket (the ped noticed this at the newborn checkup also, but confirmed this time). So we will see a pediatric orthopaedist next week in order to do an ultrasound. There's a good chance everything is fine. However, if the socket has too much "space" around the leg bone, then it may form too loose. Which would cause her to be at high risk for hip problems as early as her late teens. If we treat it now, we can make sure the hip forms properly. Usually this problem arises in breech babies, or runs in families. Ellyson wasn't breech and there's no family history. However, as I noted at my 36-week prenatal appointment, the midwife wasn't entirely certain Miss E was head-down. By 37 weeks, she was. So it's possible she flipped into head-down position between 36 and 37 weeks gestation, which would have meant turning in such a tight space that she could have pulled her hip.

Finally, Ellyson is showing some symptoms of acid reflux. Jack and I noticed it in the days leading up to her checkup. I didn't say anything to her doctor, but she mentioned it. She seems pained often when she's nursing - trying to pull away while she's obviously still hungry. She'll scream while she's eating - and after. She doesn't like to lay down (we just thought we were spoiling her by holding her). The symptoms got worse in the 36 hours after her checkup, so we have a prescription for Zantac. I'm going to try a couple other treatments before I try the Zantac, though, to see if we can fix this without using twice-daily meds on a one-month-old.

That's about it . . .

Funny Story of Last Week

I use the freezer-cooking method. I prepare and freeze meals when I have time, so that I can defrost and/or reheat on days when I don't have time. I do this with breads, muffins, cupcakes, casseroles, soups, pasta dishes, etc. Well, last week at breakfast time, Carter was scouring the fridge and freezer, looking for what he wanted for breakfast. (I try to leave the decision up to him most days, though I will guide and veto him as necessary.) He pulled a bag of frozen food from the freezer and said "I want muffins." He thought he'd pulled out muffins, and wanted me to defrost some. In my I-slept-four-hours-haven't-had-coffee-yet-and-am-dealing-with-bagging-pumped-milk-right-now state, I said "Carter, those aren't even muffins. They're cupcakes." His eyes lit up as he said "I want cupcakes!" Jack barely contained his laughter at the sight of me telling Carter he was holding half a dozen cupcakes in his hand. I guess in his mind, I was now offering them up in a bargain. Umm, that one got a veto.

Mastitis

So, I came down with mastitis last weekend. It came on Saturday night and was in full swing on Sunday. When I woke up Sunday morning, I told Jack I felt like I had the flu - then looked up the symptoms because I was already suspecting the infection - and the first thing I read was "produces flu-like symptoms". Umm, yeah. Achy, tired, headache, fever, chills, and a rash on one side of the affected area. (I'm not going to spell it out, but mastitis is an infection caused by blocked milk ducts. You can deduce the rest from there.) I was wiped out for all of Sunday but was determined to avoid a trip to the doctor. I took Tylenol and tried almost every home remedy mentioned online (I stopped short of eating chopped raw garlic). Sunday night, my fever was 102.4 - and I decided to sleep on the sofa with Ellyson because I couldn't convince myself to climb in and out of our relatively tall bed all night. In the middle of the night, I started to feel much better and my fever finally broke. By Monday morning I was running only 99.9, and I was feeling about 90-95% back to normal.

I nursed Carter for a whole year and experienced engorgement, but never a full-fledged infection. It was brutal. Hopefully that'll be the last time it hits me!

Picture People

For Ellyson's one-month birthday, I took the kids to have portraits made. Yes, I ventured to the mall to take both children for a portrait sitting. As I pulled out of the garage, I regretted my decision. But in the end, while Carter grew a little restless, he did very well. Not a single tantrum. And we visited the Great American Cookie Company next door as a reward.

So, here are photos from the shoot. We never have portraits done. Never. Carter has had portraits made twice - both times because I had promo offers from the Picture People. So I broke down and got packages of pictures of both kids this time.

One Month Old

Ellyson is a whole month old today! Here's where she stands.

• Height/weight update: I don't have one. Her one-month checkup is next Tuesday, so then I'll have an update. But we think she is smaller than her brother was at this age - and he was 11 pounds, 11 ounces at his one-month checkup. She seems to have hit a growth spurt in the last couple days, though.
• Clothes: She is in between newborn and 3-month sizes. Some newborns are a little tight, but most 3-month clothes are still way too big. She's just now starting to wear some 3-month, because the legs of her newborn pajamas were too small. Pants are still newborn: they fit at the waist and just look like capris.
• Nursing: Going great. She's in a pretty good routine of nursing every 2.5 to 3 hours. Much better than Carter: at this age, I was still fighting to get him to go longer than 90 minutes between nursing. He used to pass out after about three minutes, and I couldn't wake him to finish. She usually nurses a solid seven minutes (the last couple days, it sometimes is double that) and then she's set for three hours, give or take.
• Pumping: I'm freezing 25-30 ounces of milk per day.
• Bottles: She has taken a couple bottles of breast milk, but hasn't been as accepting as Carter was.
• Pacifiers: So far, no luck. We've tried three types and she spits them back out.
• Nights: She finally made it to her bassinet (as opposed to the travel bed on the sofa), which means I made it back to my bed (as opposed to the sofa, beside her travel bed). We usually stay up until about 11, and then I wake twice with her before getting up for good around 5, when I work out three days a week.

Carter: Doing pretty well. He has his moments, but loves his sister. He tells her that she's his best friend. He does think he's missing out on something at night, though, so he usually comes to our room once or twice during the night. For anyone keeping count, that means my six-hour night is broken by 3-4 rounds of getting children back to sleep. Yeah, we've made a serious Starbucks investment in the last four weeks.

Jack: Also doing well. He's taking the brunt of Carter, and occasionally helps get Carter back to bed at night. His job has kept him at home (literally, since that's where his office is) most of the time. Travel is picking up this coming month, though, so the new-baby honeymoon is ending soon. He is wrapped around Ellyson's little finger, though.

Me: I feel like I didn't have a baby. I started walking again at 2.5 weeks. I started cross-training on the cycle and the row machine, at 3.5 weeks. I resumed running today. (One mile running and one mile walking. Started at the pace that I finished the pregnancy, 6 mph. Learned I need a new bra for running, now that I'm nursing again.) I'm tired, so I nap during Carter's afternoon naps. That, plus a morning round of coffee, is enough to make up for the broken sleep.

Word of the Week: Sling

I didn't use a sling with Carter. I used a front carrier semi-regularly. But this time around, I knew a sling would come in handy so that I could have my hands free for Carter. And it works great. It allows me to take Carter to the potty, do dishes, take Marley and both kids outside . . . and even allows me to take Carter to the playground while she sleeps in there for a full hour and a half!

Ballerina Photo Shoot

An amateur attempt at a cute photo shoot of Miss Ellyson . . .

Can't leave out Big Brother.

Public Debut

Ellyson made her public "debut" last Sunday. She went with me to a baby shower. She donned one of the dresses her daddy bought just hours after we learned we were expecting a baby girl. She slept through the whole shower, except for the gift opening - when I sat in the back and nursed her.

p.s. That is a size 3-month dress. Only because I have a very limited newborn wardrobe (and most of it is borrowed from Carter's BFF, Ashlyn). We didn't invest much in newborn clothes, since Carter wore 3-month from birth. Miss Ellyson, however, is still drowning in the 3-month clothes, so we're getting plenty of use out of our one-week-rotation of newborn!

Brother Love

Word of the Week: Snake

Jack found a little garden snake this week. He used it as a learning opportunity for Carter, and then they released it onto the bank of the creek in our yard.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wordless Wednesday

Bath Time

Ellyson commemmorated her one-week birthday (last weekend - we're slow around here) by taking her first bath. Carter was quite a little helper, sharing his bath toys and keeping her entertained.

Words of the Week: Pumpin' out milk

So, my little mommy's-little-helper has taken my breastfeeding pretty well. Jack and I were a little nervous about how Carter would react to seeing Ellyson nurse, but I just explained what we're doing and why, and I've offered honesty about it, and he seems to be perfectly fine with the idea. Step two was explaining the breast pump. Which I again used complete honesty in explaining. Well, now Carter wants to help by "pumpin' out milk" for Baby Ellyson, also. Every time I pump, he has to pump, too. Luckily, none of the tubes are actually connected - so he isn't creating any suction on his belly. Otherwise I'd have to intervene.

Nursing and pumping are going very well, though. I anticipate the same amount of success that I had with Carter, and am already preparing to contact the National Milk Bank about resuming my donor status. I'm banking 15+ ounces per day in addition to what she's drinking (and she is drinking better than Carter did at this age). Since Ellyson won't be in daycare, our need for pumped milk will be far less than with Carter - using it only for babysitters and occasional bottles from Daddy or big brother - as opposed to the four bottles a day Carter received at daycare.

Recovery

I've noticed that recovery from Ellyson's birth has been so much faster and smoother, than after Carter's birth. The post-partum cramping was so much less - I assume because there was no pitocin in my system? I was walking and ready to get dressed in my own clothes, only an hour after delivery. I had no lingering soreness or strain in the days that followed. There was no swelling or tearing - for which I credit my water labor, my midwife and a slightly smaller baby (and a body that knew the drill).

Labor seemed more painful. But I will take the three hours of shrieking pain (this birth) over the days and weeks of soreness and pain (Carter's birth) any time.

Pictures from Ellyson's first day