3 Months & Back to Work

So last Friday was my first day back at work. It went pretty good...partially because I knew I just had one day and then the long weekend...and partially because Grandma (my Mother-in-law) came to watch Autumn instead of having to take her to daycare for the first time. Autumn did great as always and had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa.

And then Tuesday was the first day of daycare...it was tough for sure. Jacob and I both decided to take her that morning...to make sure we remembered to tell her teacher every possible thing we needed to to ensure she had a good day :o) Her teacher Miss Anita is very nice and I know she gives Autumn a whole lot of attention...probably because she is the only baby in the room right now...haha!! I sure hope it stays this way for awhile because with Autumn being such a good baby I would worry about her being neglected a little if other babies are more demanding. So for her sake hopefully she'll get a month or two more of the one on one! It was great too...when I went to pick her up the first day Autumn greeted me with a great big smile and was super cuddly! She even did her first art project and put her hot pink handprint on a letter telling us how much she loves us and what a great time she's having at daycare...too cute! She hardly slept at all that day at daycare...I think she just wasn't used to the environment so was likely busy checking everything out. So that night when we got home she slept ALL evening and ALL night! She was worn out for sure. Even the next day at day care she slept half the day. I think having this new environment every day combined with a growth spurt it is really making her sleepy!

Being back at work is going well too. I am officially going part time on a permanent basis...meaning I can't just go back to full time if I wanted to...which is fine with me. And it worked out great for Boeing too...as they were having to do some budget cuts...and with myself and another girl both coming back from maternity leave part time, we saved them one full time head...so they don't have to worry about reducing headcount else where...so we may have saved someones job. I love it when it's a win-win.

Autumn is doing wonderful. She is getting so close to rolling over...is experimenting a lot with her voice (still hasn't quite figured out how to talk consistently though), drools like a fountain, and just lights up our lives! Jacob and I fight over our snuggle time with her...especially on nights when we've both worked all day! We are loving the new cooler weather and are trying to take advantage of taking those walks we've been waiting to do all summer! Life is just wonderful!

We also sent a note to Dr. Ahlering to ask his opinion about when he would recommend us doing our first frozen embryo transfer. Not that we're in a huge hurry...we're really trying to enjoy being a family of three, but just trying to plan a little and figure out what will work best for Autumn and our family. He, true to form, didn't exactly answer the question...just said whenever I stop "nursing" and have a regular cycle again. I was hoping he would advise us on if there is a certain amount of time we should wait...i.e. is there more success if you wait a year...or is it the same if it's only six months. I may try and probe him a little more to see if I can't get a more firm recommendation...so more to come! Not that we can totally plan it because as it was the first time, it's totally out of our hands, but I'm thinking getting pregnant next January or February would be wonderful because that would be a fall baby and would put them about 18 months apart. I want to have our kids close together so they will hopefully be best friends growing up...especially if we have another girl.

Here's another couple pictures of the two of us at Autumn's cousin Sophie's birthday party!

2 amazing months!!

Autumn is officially two months old today!! It's hard to believe two months have passed already...time certainly does fly when you're having fun!! Autumn is such a blessing and it's such a joy to watch her grow and learn new things every day. Like just now...I'm sitting outside her room after putting her down in her crib for her first nap in the "big girl bed"...up until now she's been sleeping and napping in the bassinet in our room. I've been considering moving her up to her crib for awhile, but kept putting it off because I just love having her down close to us (we have a 1 and 1/2 story house...so our room is on the first floor and her nursery is on the second. But as she is quickly out growing the bassinet it is time to start transitioning her to her crib. And so far so good. Maybe we'll start putting her to bed up here too...she's been sleeping about 8-9 hours a night so coming up here to do her 4:30 or 5 AM feeding would be an easy switch. I'll just miss having her right next to me as we sleep :o( Since I've last updated you she's grown 2 pounds and was 11 pounds 9 ounces at her two month appointment!! She's great at lifting her head and looking around and can even support her own weight on her legs when we pull her up!! Jacob is convinced she's going to be walking way early...we will have to wait and see though.


Her eyes have started to turn a lighter shade of blue that look gorgeous with her long eye lashes. I'm really hoping this means that she's going to have her dad's pretty blue eyes!!



Autumn is such a happy baby...give her a pacifier and a pair of arms to cuddle in to and she is just as happy as can be! I don't think we could have asked for an easier little girl to help ease us into the role of parenting!! We are so very lucky! She's learned to laugh and coo and even sing along with mommy occasionally...there's nothing like it in the world!! It definitely makes everything we went through to get here so worthwhile!!




The feeding issue never really improved...she never was quite able to latch properly so we've basically decided to just pump and bottle feed. It's not ideal, but thankfully we're doing well with it...and pumping so much extra we even invested in a deep freeze. My goal is to pump until atleast six months and hopefully have another three months frozen to give her.

We also had an issue with our daycare...they didn't hold a spot for Autumn and when I went back to register her they were full!! I was really upset, but it has worked out for the best. We found another day care close by that I actually think I like better...so God was looking out for us once again.

I'll try and keep the blog updated more frequently with how she's doing, but no promises. We're trying to get in to more of a routine, but she still pretty much drives our schedule everday so getting online for any amount of time becomes a bit of a challenge. I'll do my best though :o)

Nursing Woes

It's funny...since I got pregnant I was adament..."I am going to nurse Autumn for the first year." It's what is recommended by the American Pediatric Association and I just felt like it would be best for both of us. Since Autumn has arrived though we've struggled our way through the challenges of breastfeeding. I had heard many times before becoming pregnant that breastfeeding is a learned skill...and although it's natural, it's far from easy and many people struggle. I never thought it would be as difficult as it has been for us though. The first weekend we were home we were doing ok, I was having a lot of pain while nursing, but we were managing our way through it (probably partially because I was still on pain meds from the surgery). When we went to our first pediatrician appointment on Monday though everything changed. I told them about Autumn getting kinda frantic while eating...and not staying latched on. When they weighed her and she was only 8 pounds 6 ounces the tears started coming. She wasn't getting enough food. She'd lost more than 10% of her body weight...so the pediatrician immediately said we have to supplement with formula until my milk supply could keep up. As he examined her though he said this really doesn't make sense. She doesn't look like a baby that's gone from 9 pounds 9 ounces down to 8.6. So he did some investigating and found in the hospital records that they likely weighed her wrong in the OR and she really only weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces at birth. We can't be sure, but because she left the hospital at 8 pounds 6 ounces they were pretty positive 9.5 was her actual weight. As another aside, there was confusion at the hospital about her length. We were told she was 21.5 inches long at one point and 20.5 at another. Since she was only 20.5 at the doctor and we're assuming she's not getting shorter, we're going to go with 20.5. What a mess!! Based on the new information he said we are ok for now, to just keep feeding her and we'll check back in a week.

Unfortunately the stress and anxiety of the whole situation was really weighing on me and that started affecting our feeding times too. Almost every feeding I was crying, Autumn was crying...it was going down hill quick! By Wednesday I felt like I needed help. I tried to contact my primary care physician, but the office was closed. I finally ended up calling the pediatricians office again asking if someone there could help or if they could recommend a lactation consultant. They said to bring her in, the doctor will check her out and one of the nurses can try and help with the feeding issues. I later determined this was a huge mistake and another derailer in our feeding journey, but there was nothing I could do now. Her doctor is not there on Wednesday's so we saw another jerk doctor that said we absolutely had to supplement at this point...she was down another 2 ounces. I attempted nursing in front of one of the nurses to get help and of course Autumn latched on, stayed on and did great. We left the office feeling worse than before...and things continued to be a struggle. After going to the pediatrician one last time on Friday for another weight check I was at the end of my rope. I cried all the time, was extremely frustrated, was in pain, and most importantly was worried about Autumn.

Finally we made the decision that the pediatrician was not working out. So far all they had done was freak me out and derail us time and time again. I called my primary cares office to see if she sees newborns. When I found out she did I was ecstatic!! I made an appointment for Autumn that day! At this point I was exclusively pumping and bottle feeding Autumn. When we got to the office Dr. Grawey immediately got to work on fixing us (I just love her!) She told us to stop using a pacifier, to stop using a bottle and to try nursing Autumn as much as possible. She said to get ahold of a lactation consultant and gave us a prescription for thrush (a yeast infection that is likely one of the main causes of the pain). She said to get support...to go to la leche league meetings, to go to a breastfeeding support group, anything and everything possible! I left her office feeling so much better! I called the lactation consultant she recommended and she said she was right by our house now and could be there in a half an hour! I was excited! We were going to get through this!

I know this story is getting long so I'll try to wrap it up...Barb, the lactation consultant, worked with us for about an hour and a half on Monday. Unfortunately though the outcome was not great. It turns out that there really is a problem preventing us from successfully nursing. With out getting too detailed...our anatomy just does not match up right now. Autumn is unable to properly extract a sufficient amount of milk at this time. We've been trying to purchase a supplemental nursing system (a tube taped to my breast that will deliver milk I've pumped out). This way Autumn continues to "nurse" and gets the milk she needs. Another bump in the road though...nobody in town has one in stock right now. So as of right now, I am pumping and we are feeding Autumn through a bottle.

I hope and pray that some day Autumn will be able to nurse normally...hopefully some day sooner than later, but for now we're doing the best we can!! And we'll take any and all prayers you want to send our way :o)