Time flies

My sweet baby girl is already 3 weeks old.  How is that possible??  Even though I'm in denial about how quickly time is passing (since it honestly hasn't been that long), in a weird way, it seems like she's been with us forever.  I hardly remember what life was like before she joined our world.

I'm glad to report that Savannah finally ... and I do mean FINALLY ... decided she wanted to actually be a breastfed baby.  After her weight check last Monday we went up to the hospital to meet with a lactation consultant since we were still struggling.  And wouldn't you know that the little toot latched like a pro for the consultant!  That lady thought I was nuts for coming up there for help, but I swore to her that Savannah had NEVER gotten it so quickly.  But from that point on, it's been pretty easy and I am so thankful for that. 

We went to see our pediatrician again this week and everything looked great except that she hadn't really gained any weight since the week before.  Dr. Joki wasn't too terribly concerned yet, but said if I don't see her getting chunky over the next week then I need to take her in so we can figure out why.  At this point, he thinks she's still just adjusting after the trouble we had with jaundice.  Hopefully she'll start looking like a cute, chubby baby very soon.

A ton of friends have had babies recently and it's uncanny how similar our experiences have been.  We all seem to have little girls who love to sleep during the day, but not so much at night.  Working through that together has been a blessing even though I wish none of us had to go through it at all. 

The one area where my experience seems to be unique goes back to labor and delivery.  It hadn't really struck me how lucky I was to have only had to push for 15 minutes until I talked to friends who pushed for an hour or more.  I can't imagine how exhausting that must be.  In fact, it was a total surprise when the nurse said she was going to get the doctor because it was time to push.  She came in to try and coax Savannah lower because they thought she was still too high ... but to everyone's delight, she was hanging out just waiting on me to help her into the world!  Replaying it in my head brings tears to my eyes.  Nothing can compare to the joy you experience when your child is born.

Speaking of child ...

... isn't she BEAUTIFUL?!?!

And now she's hollering for momma.  More to come later.

Introducing Savannah Leigh Baker

We welcomed Savannah into the world at 2:12 pm on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

The new family!

Daddy was worn out from all that hard work during labor and delivery. ;) 

Mommy was recovering well and just wanted to go home already.

Ah, total relaxation.

We have been doing pretty good at home although I'd be lying if I said we haven't had a meltdown or two.  For one thing, we've struggled with nursing.  She's just not interested.  If she doesn't fall asleep right away, she thrashes around like she's being tortured.  Starting when we were in the hospital, we were having to supplement with formula because she refused to nurse at all.  It is so heartbreaking to want to do something so badly and not know how to make it work.  We've tried everything and still nothing.  And at this point I'm afraid she's so completely spoiled with a bottle that my persistance in trying to get her to nurse is useless. 

I held out with supplementing in the hospital as long as I could which exacerbated the other challenge ... the dreaded jaundice.  Because she wasn't getting what she needed to start having good wet and dirty diapers, her bilirubin level got out of hand and we ended up having to take her to get blood drawn for four days straight to monitor it.  It was so emotionally draining to have just brought a new baby home and have to turn around and make trip after trip to the hospital lab and pediatrician.  I can't help but blame myself for being so stubborn about wanting to nurse.

After our fourth trip to have her heel stuck yesterday, we got good news that the level had gone down enough that we don't have to go back anymore.  We'll go to the pediatrician Monday for a weight check and then our first actual well baby check the week after that.

So how do I look at all of these events?  Is she struggling to nurse now because I didn't have a choice but to feed her with a bottle in order to flush her system of bilirubin?  Or did I have a choice?  I don't know.  The support I got in the hospital was lacking.  Every nurse and lactation consultant had a different opinion and method for trying to get her to nurse ... none of which worked.  Maybe if there had been some consistency we'd have made more progress.  Is it really possible that "some babies are just bottle babies?"  What did they do before bottles???  For now, we're going to keep working on it.  I'm praying for success because I don't know how long I can endure being attached to a pump.

And despite these little hurdles, we are overjoyed with our new addition.  She's the most precious gift we've ever received and I can't even remember what life was like without her.  I could just sit and adore her all day long, which thankfully is almost reality since I'm getting to stay home with her.  So be prepared for lots and lots of baby updates to come!