Phoenix - 13 days young
Well We're almost two weeks now and it's been such a delightful time.
Phoenix has made being parents look and feel so easy. He's set his own routine of feeding roughly every 4 hours and sleeping most of the time inbetween. He's a happy and alert wee boy who is fascinated with faces, light and sound.
He's super strong, Pushing himself up off the ground/ my chest from the day he was born. If I put my hands against his feet when he is having tummy time he'll push himself up the mat. He's learnt to turn his head from side to side when he's having tummy time too. He knows our voices and seeks us out when we are around.
Phoenix is a real wriggle bum (Just like when I was pregnant with him!) and he fights his sleep to stay awake and look at everything that is going on around him.
His feeding is perfect though he has figured out how to be fussy on the breast when he has wind which is uber cute! He has started to get a bit windy and has started to spill on occassions after feeding. He is feeding for about 20 -45 minutes first side then 10 - 20 minutes second side. His latch is brilliant though I did have a bit of a problem around day 7 where my nipples were cracked and bleeding. Luckily I had expressed some milk during the day and almost had a full feed for him. He took to the bottle no problem but the teat was too fast flowing and he got chronic wind from it. I then used nipple shields for a day but it felt so unnatural and gave Phoenix such bad wind that I put them away and haven't used them since. PURE LAN 100 by Medela has been a god sent for getting my nipples back into service. I used it after every feed and now they are perfect.
I've been expressing milk in anticipation of Katie and Ben's wedding day. It's been an interesting experience. The milk initially took AGES to express (Think about 1 hour for 25 odd mills and I need about 130mls for a feed!) but now the expressing seems to be much faster and more comfortable. I found expressing particularly useful when my milk came in and my breasts were so engorged I couldn't even put my arms down.
Warkworth birthing centre was AMAZING! We stayed there for three nights. The staff were incredible and the assistance was amazing. Hydrogel breast pads helped with sore boobies and pads soaked in witch-hazel then put in the freezer were awesome for my stitches.
The first few nights were VERY sleep deprived. I would have been lucky to get 8 hours total. Phoenix just feed constantly and slept seldomly but I managed. There was only one time when I asked if the nurses could help me settle him but in the end nothing we did worked so the nurse knidly took Phoenix for me and settled him then brought him back in when he was asleep. I managed to get an hour that night. Tane stayed the last night with us and it was hilarious to hear him complain how tired he was the next morning. That night was a good night, We managed to get about 3-4 hours sleep!
The three/ Five day blues never showed up for me. I kept waiting but nothing. Im not complaining :-)
My bleeding backed off quite quickly too, Maybe down to normal period flow about 4-5 days after birth. My stitches have healed nicely and I have been out and about since we arrived home, Visiting people, shopping, appointments etc. Phoenix is incredbily well adapted at changing from capsule to stroller, then back to capsule and into bed. Hardly stirring when I move him around.
I make sure there is lots of noise going on around the place when he sleeps so he doesn't need silence for his naps. Saturday we had Katies hen's party, It was a full on day and Phoenix took it all in his stride. We even went out to a loud resturant for dinner and he didn't even batter an eyelid! Clever boy.
Everyone is saying the two week mark is when the honeymoon ends. I'm hoping that's not the case but I guess time will tell given he'll be two weeks tomorrow. Squee!
We're getting professional photo's done this week and we're also heading to a cranial osteopath today to get everything checked out.
Oh, And added bonus - I fit back into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes (Yay me!) and I look like I am only a bit heavier than I was before I got pregnant. I can tell my hips have popped out through and I doubt they'll ever go back to normal but otherwise I look pretty good all things considered which makes me happy given Kates wedding is only a few weeks away!
Post another update in the coming weeks :-)
Phoenix has made being parents look and feel so easy. He's set his own routine of feeding roughly every 4 hours and sleeping most of the time inbetween. He's a happy and alert wee boy who is fascinated with faces, light and sound.
He's super strong, Pushing himself up off the ground/ my chest from the day he was born. If I put my hands against his feet when he is having tummy time he'll push himself up the mat. He's learnt to turn his head from side to side when he's having tummy time too. He knows our voices and seeks us out when we are around.
Phoenix is a real wriggle bum (Just like when I was pregnant with him!) and he fights his sleep to stay awake and look at everything that is going on around him.
His feeding is perfect though he has figured out how to be fussy on the breast when he has wind which is uber cute! He has started to get a bit windy and has started to spill on occassions after feeding. He is feeding for about 20 -45 minutes first side then 10 - 20 minutes second side. His latch is brilliant though I did have a bit of a problem around day 7 where my nipples were cracked and bleeding. Luckily I had expressed some milk during the day and almost had a full feed for him. He took to the bottle no problem but the teat was too fast flowing and he got chronic wind from it. I then used nipple shields for a day but it felt so unnatural and gave Phoenix such bad wind that I put them away and haven't used them since. PURE LAN 100 by Medela has been a god sent for getting my nipples back into service. I used it after every feed and now they are perfect.
I've been expressing milk in anticipation of Katie and Ben's wedding day. It's been an interesting experience. The milk initially took AGES to express (Think about 1 hour for 25 odd mills and I need about 130mls for a feed!) but now the expressing seems to be much faster and more comfortable. I found expressing particularly useful when my milk came in and my breasts were so engorged I couldn't even put my arms down.
Warkworth birthing centre was AMAZING! We stayed there for three nights. The staff were incredible and the assistance was amazing. Hydrogel breast pads helped with sore boobies and pads soaked in witch-hazel then put in the freezer were awesome for my stitches.
The first few nights were VERY sleep deprived. I would have been lucky to get 8 hours total. Phoenix just feed constantly and slept seldomly but I managed. There was only one time when I asked if the nurses could help me settle him but in the end nothing we did worked so the nurse knidly took Phoenix for me and settled him then brought him back in when he was asleep. I managed to get an hour that night. Tane stayed the last night with us and it was hilarious to hear him complain how tired he was the next morning. That night was a good night, We managed to get about 3-4 hours sleep!
The three/ Five day blues never showed up for me. I kept waiting but nothing. Im not complaining :-)
My bleeding backed off quite quickly too, Maybe down to normal period flow about 4-5 days after birth. My stitches have healed nicely and I have been out and about since we arrived home, Visiting people, shopping, appointments etc. Phoenix is incredbily well adapted at changing from capsule to stroller, then back to capsule and into bed. Hardly stirring when I move him around.
I make sure there is lots of noise going on around the place when he sleeps so he doesn't need silence for his naps. Saturday we had Katies hen's party, It was a full on day and Phoenix took it all in his stride. We even went out to a loud resturant for dinner and he didn't even batter an eyelid! Clever boy.
Everyone is saying the two week mark is when the honeymoon ends. I'm hoping that's not the case but I guess time will tell given he'll be two weeks tomorrow. Squee!
We're getting professional photo's done this week and we're also heading to a cranial osteopath today to get everything checked out.
Oh, And added bonus - I fit back into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes (Yay me!) and I look like I am only a bit heavier than I was before I got pregnant. I can tell my hips have popped out through and I doubt they'll ever go back to normal but otherwise I look pretty good all things considered which makes me happy given Kates wedding is only a few weeks away!
Post another update in the coming weeks :-)