Hi ladies. I'm back. My company left. It was my husband's cousin. She's nice and all (a bit older and single...not by choice) but since we aren't as close as say I am with my brothers or siblings-in-law, I sort of had to entertain her the whole time. When our siblings are here, we feel like we can take naps and stuff and they can entertain themselves (we have lots of entertainment options here at the house even) but that wasn't the case. Also, closer family members make themselves more at home and cook their own breakfast/lunch (I mean, bagels, cereals, and sandwiches...and even snacks) but she had me cook/prepare all her stuff. I told her to make herself at home and that I'm a bad hostess, but oh well. At least she got her own drinks. Half the time I have DH running around the house getting drinks for me with the nursing and all and it would have REALLY annoyed me to get her drinks. She held Zoey a lot, which was okay, but wouldn't change a single diaper! Not a biggie. I guess what bothered me was she kept waking Z up to talk to her and Zoey got quite over-stimulated, leading to some difficult bedtimes. That, and I AM NOW SICK!
DH got sick last week and he tried so hard to stay away from me. He stayed in his computer room most of the time and even went in a separate room to blow his nose. He did still sleep with me, but faced the other direction (we have a tempurpedic mattress and he really needs that for his back and neck) But Thursday night while I was sitting up in bed nursing Z in the middle of the night, he accidentally sneezed all over my face! I started feeling off the next day...which could also be why I was not so thrilled with having company and not being able to take naps. So here we are, DH starting to get over this bug and me getting it, having to take care of Z and try not to get her sick and entertain his cousin. UGH! Then she thought she wouldn't be able to go home yesterday because of all the snow up north, but she made it. Thank God!
I felt a bit better yesterday and after DH got home and company left, I did STS disc 1 followed by no equiptment abs. This morning I woke up with a head that feels like it is going to explode and tons of mucus in my chest. Today was supposed to be IMAX2, but I don't think I'll get around to that. Way too intense. I may skip a workout today or just take Z for a walk later if I feel up to it. I have a feeling I'll just stay in and try to rest though. I'm keeping her in her bouncy chair as much as possible to try and not get her sick. I did break down and take pseudophed, which is okay with nursing, but may lower supply, but may not.,...but I just couldn't take it any longer! DH is going to Target after work to pick up a humidifier, more tissues, and some fenugreek tea (which I know helps supply but kellymom.com also says can help head and chest congestion) so hopefully I won't have a lowered milk supply. I don't want Z to get sick!
Hopefully resting today will allow me to do STS disc 2 tomorrow. I loved disc 1 although I suck at pushups and ended up doing most of them on my knees...oh well, something to work on.
Jen, congrats on the baby. As the second most recent mommy here (compared to you) I can tell you that the first 2 weeks were the worst pain wise and then it got much better. I applied lanolin after every feeding and let my nips air dry. I also applied it before a shower. DH wasn't allowed to go near them and they were so tender and bright pink. I think I kept up the lanolin for another week or two, but now at 7 weeks I haven't needed it for the past few weeks. Oh, and Z has gone back and forth with longer nursings and shorter sessions. Right now she's onto much shorter sessions, sometimes as short as 5-6 minutes, but as they get more efficient, sometimes thats all it takes. Trying to force her to eat more just makes her mad. I have noticed that as it gets later in the day she nurses for longer periods of time, but I think that has more to do with comfort than food. Also, up until just last week, she seemed to get really irritable at night like I wasn't giving her enough food. I learned that late evening is usually the time of day when the milk supply is the least and middle of the night it is the highest. Now it has evened out and she seems to get all she needs, but I did end up supplementing like 2oz of formula for about 3 nights at about week 4 or 5. She was trying to nurse every 15 minutes then but I just wasn't making enough.
Sorry for the novel. With Z in her bouncy (and asleep...maybe she if fighting off this bug...she's slept all morning with wakings just for feeding and diaper changes...or maybe she's catching up since our cousin kept her up so much this weekend) I can type with both hands.
Oh, will try to get back for more personals later. I need to get some work done. I started a med school rotation yesterday...fluffy and from home, but still need to do work. It is called "Creativity in Medicine" and is basically a writing workshop led by a doc who quit practicing to write exclusively. My project this month will be to prepare a Grand Rounds presentation (for April 2nd) about a patient experience I had (I can tell ya'll about it later if your interested) that posed an ethical delimma/I had to overstep my med student bounds to get her proper treatment. I'm also going to write an essay about it and enter it in a contest. ($5000 prize)
Becky
