Tess’s second week of life was from August 7th – August 13th. This means she turned 1 week old on August 7th and would turn 2 weeks old at the end of this week on August 13th. Weeks ages get so tricky 😉
Nursing: At this point Tess knew what nursing is all about! Right when she woke up (or we woke her) she immediately started rooting and got super mad if I wasn’t not quick enough in getting her to the breast. She was pretty impatient 😉
She started being a lot more alert during the day this week and I had to work less hard to keep her awake for feedings. She was nursing an average of 30 min total per feeding session! Which is SUPER fast for me 😉
My body was still producing exactly what she needed. I hadn’t felt any engorgement and I hadn’t seen her showing any signs that I was overproducing. I was very hopeful that this would be my best breastfeeding experience yet and that I’d avoid the issues I’ve had in the past…especially mastitis. While I was super thankful for my balanced supply I was also nervous about Hawaii. We will go on the trip when she’s 10 weeks old and I HAVE to have enough milk stored for her while we are away! I was getting about 5 oz a day just from the Milkies, but as I have discussed before, I can’t just give her bottles of that as it’s not as healthy as a true pumped milk bottle is.
My favorite thing about nursing is her sweet hands. I love feeling them hold me and I love that closeness. There is just nothing like it and if you have breastfed then you know what I’m talking about! Ugh I wish I could just bottle up that feeling and keep it forever!
Love those middle of the night feeding snuggles!
The craziest time of my day is lunch hour. Kye’s school day ends at 12:15 rather than 12:00 so the big kids don’t get home until 12:30 at the earliest. It’s a mad dash to get them fed and in the bed before Tess eats again at 1. Their first day of school I rocked it! They got home at 12:30 and I had them fed, with a story read, prayers said, and in the bed before she needed to be fed at 1!
One day I just gotten them down and had just started nursing her when I heard this bang on our front door. Like over and over and over again. Dogs started barking and freaking out and I even yelled “GO AWAY!” in hopes that they would stop. The knocking finally ended and I was nursing topless b/c it gets really hot in the house at that time of day. I turned and looked out our huge picture windows and saw the bug man spraying the porch. Y’all. He got quite the show!!! After that I decided it was time for a sign 🙂 I covered our doorbell with it and, so far, everyone has gotten the point!
We decided to try out the bottle for the first time on Aug 10th. I pumped at 6:30 and got 3.5 oz. We gave her that bottle at 7 and I was able to tuck Britt into bed and spend some special time with her. Tess took to the bottle instantly! It was amazing!!! She sucked it down like a dang pro and didn’t even mind that Kye and Britt helped feed her. She was on a mission! She drank the entire bottle except for a little drop!
She reminds me of a little bird!
Kye really liked helping her burp! And he did great at it!
Pro Dad 😉
Mr. Rusty and Mrs. Charlotte came by a few days later and we made a bottle then as well. I know many people say not to introduce the bottle too young when breastfeeding due to nipple confusion concerns. I have NEVER heard of a SINGLE baby who had nipple confusion. But I have heard of a TON of babies who wouldn’t ever take a bottle because they weren’t introduced to it young enough. So I try to always introduce the bottle to my kids after 1 week old. And I try to make sure they have at least 1-2 bottles a week to keep them used to drinking from them! She did great again with the bottle for Mr. Rusty and he really enjoyed feeding her 🙂
Schedule: Like I mentioned on the last weekly post…Babywise does NOT recommend any type of scheduling at this age. But honestly, I just can’t stand not having some type of routine. I need it to make it through the day and it helps me be a better mommy to all my kids. Since Tess was doing well eating every 3 hours I just woke her to eat at that time. If she woke earlier and was hungry then I fed her but if not then I had an alarm set on my phone and woke her to eat after three hours. Even through the night. So our “schedule” was her eating at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, 10, 1, and 4 unless she woke on her own sooner than that. Usually she made it to those times or if she did wake early to eat, she’d end up sleeping the next time until the “scheduled” feeding. So it always balanced out! It was a win/win because she was getting the 8 feedings a day she needed and I was getting to have structure that I need!
I do need to start storing milk for Hawaii at this point in order to have enough for when we go on the trip. I started pumping after her 10 am feeding. The first time I pumped I got 2 oz which isn’t too bad! I really didn’t want to introduce a pumping session each day but don’t really have any other choice if I want to have milk stored for us to go on the trip!
Sleep: The night of Zach’s birthday (8/7) she had her first flawless night where she slept totally solid until the next feeding time. The gas drops seemed to really help and her sleep got more consistent and solid. When she did poop during naps it seemed to cause her to wake early. Which is funny because I have felt the need to be SO CLEAN. From labor to postpartum I just feel icky and dirty very easily and it bothers me. Very interesting that it also bothers her!
Even though she started sleeping more solid this week, I was still not getting enough solid rest. Feeding her every 3 hours meant that I’d only be able to get 2 hours solid sleep max. I still was requiring naps whenever I could get them and I’d go to bed after her 7:00 feeding for the night!
One night I set my alarm for the 1 am feeding but accidentally had set it for 1 pm instead of 1 am. I overslept the feeding and she didn’t wake up until 2:30! So she ate at 10 then not again until 2:30 and then made it all the way to 7! I knew she was too young to be doing that, but that one night of solid sleep was AMAZING for me 🙂 It allowed me to have my FIRST day of feeling totally rested and normal 🙂
She was sleeping better for night sleep and was harder to keep awake for night feedings this week. I would change her diaper between sides to help wake her up. Often her naps were still gassy and I’d have to hold her quite often to get her to sleep solid!
On the first day of school for the big kids I had Tess nap in her car seat for the first time. It went really well! She napped the whole time we were gone and when we got home I put the car seat in the crib so I could see and hear her on the monitor. I know a big thing going around now is not to let them sleep in the car seat. This is why I’m thankful for the Snuza! I know it’s not accurate while riding in the car because we are in motion, but once we get home I can keep her in the car seat and know it’s monitoring her breathing. She did wake up fussy so I took her out, swaddled her, and put her to bed and she slept great the rest of the nap! I don’t plan to have to take her out and about often (thankful for Zach and Mrs. Charlotte for helping with the big kids school drop off and pick up until Tess is on the 4 hour schedule!), my plan is to let her sleep in car seat as long as she will and then transfer her to crib if she wakes early in the car seat.
I don’t get to hold my babies to sleep very often since I do sleep training. While it’s frustrating to have to go in and hold her for naps, I didn’t mind to much either! I follow the Babywise Newborn Sleep Hierarchy and at this age she just needs SLEEP. If she’s fussing in the crib then I go in and hold her for a bit. By me holding her (no rocking or anything, just holding) it allows her to sleep and then once she’s good and asleep I will put her back down.
I could tell that GAS was her main sleep issue. I did drops before each feeding, burped like crazy, and pumped her legs. I also tried to trouble shoot and figure out why she was so gassy. I was gassy myself which is not the norm for me and the only real “different” thing in my system was the Colace stool softener they had given me at the hospital. At that point I was still taking one a day and decided to cut that out and see if it helped her gas. I do think it helped some when I stopped taking it!
Here’s a cute little video of her sleeping. I love those little baby noises 🙂 Here’s another showing her sleeping and smiling.
Other Stuff From This Week:
With her awake times being a little longer I got to read her a story for the first time! It took us a FULL DAY to get through the whole book haha. But we read it 🙂 Her first book was Guess How Much I Love You (thanks Catherine for the gift!)
Gotta love a freshly bathed baby!
On the first day of school it was all a little crazy between trying to get myself ready and all the kids ready so Tess got her first experience in the bouncer! I know a lot of people swear by baby wearing but it’s just not my thing. I’m a fan of a bouncer seat for when baby is awake but I have to get something done where I can’t be holding them!
Her umbilical cord was still hanging on this week!
Her skin was also very peely. Mostly only on her hands, feet, and face. To help with her face peeling I’d use a little bit of lotion or Aqaufor.
- Before having Tess I bought two smaller packs of newborn size diapers. Both Kye and Britt went to size 1 pretty fast. Britt actually never even wore newborns I don’t think! I assumed “Leo” would be the same but I was wrong! Zach ran to the store and bought a JUMBO box of newborns!
- Tess required a lot of diaper changes. Like twice per awake time. I’d change her right when she got up from nap and then again before going down!
- She is a VERY happy baby. She smiles ALL THE TIME. I know it might be gas at this age, but it’s adorable
- Her tear duct is for sure no longer clogged
- Her privates are no longer swollen.
- Kye, from birth, was always a “two sneezer.” He still always sneezes more than once at a time…Tess takes after her brother and is the same way! I LOVE IT!
- We have several Miracle Blankets and it’s funny how the pink one we have just doesn’t work right! It’s the only one she has kicked out of so I stopped using it.
- Just like she had in the womb, Tess gets the hiccups often. We give just a little bit of gripe water (not the full serving size) and it works like a charm to get rid of them!
Siblings: Still the same in the sibling world. Britt is ALL about being a helper and Kye is ALL about loving on Tess. It’s a great balance!
The monitor is a hot item around here…they both always want to check on her!
Britt doesn’t go to school on Tuesday or Thursday and I have noticed that on those days she shows more interest in Tess than when Kye is home. Maybe she has jealousy about him showing Tess more attention than he shows her? I haven’t seen her act jealous AT ALL. So maybe Kye just hogs Tess and that’s why Britt is less involved? Who knows! But it makes me super thankful for our Tues and Thur mornings…I LOVE seeing my sweet baby girls together. I have ALWAYS wanted a sister and giving my daughters that bond means the world to me!
Both of my kids have always loved these little games…they call them their “cakes” and the pegs are “candles”
I love these b/c they are both doing the same thing with their fingers!
One thing both kids really like is getting Tess to hold their fingers. They ask often if I can help make that happen!
Kye is a pro at helping burp her too!
This week I did notice that having a baby was causing more issues with the older ones. I think school starting made it harder on them because that was even less time they got to spend with me! Plus they got home and had to deal with me being busy with the baby too. Britt was more clingy than normal and always asked for me to cuddle with her. And Kye told me he didn’t feel special. It was a crazy time for me in general but I tried to stay focused on giving them that special attention from me that they needed (they both got Mommy Dates that next week as you’ll see in the next weekly post!).
Overall though the adjustment was going great at this point and I’m so proud of ALL THREE of my sweet children! Could I be any more blessed?!?!?!
More of Tess: Yes, it’s picture overload 🙂 Here are more pics of Baby Girl that I took this week!
My Favorite!!!!!
This looks like she’s got a sassy attitude haha
I just adore how TINY she is 🙂
“Mom I’m OVER the picture taking” haha
Postpartum: Zach’s birthday (one week pp) was the first day I didn’t have a tub soak and I did go back to them the next day but not as often. No more twice a day in the tub! I also still required sleep as often as I could get it and my “bedtime” was as soon as she got done eating at 7:00.
My bleeding slowed a lot…basically is stopped. This has been my lightest bleeding of any babies. But it ended up coming back again and would be on and off for several weeks, although never anything heavy.
Night sweats are THE WORST. Ugh. I’d shower at night and then have bad sweats while sleeping. No matter how low the AC was, I still had them. I know it’s b/c of hormones! I also got a MEGA huge zit on my face (thankfully it was edited out of newborn pics!). Again, I know it’s hormones.
Worse than the night sweats though were the DREAMS. I always had them with my other babies too. I would dream that I fell asleep with Tess in my arms and I’d wake up so afraid that she was hurt! I’ve never, ever slept with my babies but yet this is always a nightmare I have and it’s horrifying to me to wake up thinking I’d forgotten to put my baby to bed.
I had several large lumps in my arm pits this week. I read it was common when milk comes in to have them. I massaged them a lot in the shower and it helped!
I stopped taking the stool softener this week in hopes of it helping Tess’s gas issues. I also went down to two Ibuprofen rather than three a day!
I also weighed myself. I gained 30 lbs total…and still have 20 left to lose. 20. Ugh. I just can’t even think about it and plan to start on Advocare once I’m 6 week pp! You always hear that women lose weight while breastfeeding but I tend to hold onto weight. This pregnancy being SO MUCH like mine with Kye it makes sense that my pp would be too. I gained all over with him, and gained all over with Tess! YUCK!
Overall I felt good this week. Tired, but happy. Having Tess has given me such JOY. She’s so precious and gives ME baby fever and she’s my own baby! I can never, ever imagine being done having kids!!!
Even on my rougher days, I’m so so loved by my precious family. I woke up from a nap one afternoon to find these little notes next to my bed from Kye 🙂
Sibling Comparisons: You can read Britt’s Week 2 Summary HERE! With Kye I did a combo summary of the first two weeks, you can read that HERE!
