Journey of an Appleseed: The One with a Newborn: Miss Lorelei Lake Turner

Whew! Life with a newborn is hard to put into words. There is so much love, happiness, frustration, and tears that come along with this age. At least in our household.

Jonathan has been great--especially the first few weeks when I felt like I had been ran over by a steam roller.

From the top, Lorelei never latched for more than one or two minutes from the minute she was born. I had to immediately start pumping and bottle feeding her when my milk came in. She was on formula until that time.

We finally figured out that she was tongue-tied and that allowed her to latch. However, at this point in time, it was much easier to feed her strictly breastmilk through the bottle. I know some people might think I am crazy, but after your baby loses over a pound when she is born (drastic) and was basically starving, I really enjoy knowing exactly how many ounces that she takes in! It makes me feel better. I am also happy that by strictly pumping that I can make enough milk to feed her adequately and save. She take around 2-4 ounces at every feeding and I am able to store/freeze around 15-20 ounces a day! This is awesome! I already have close to 150 ounces frozen! She should be able to feed for a while off of breastmilk even after I wean her eventually (I am not sure when I will do this--time will tell). I pump about 10 - 12 ounces each time. I am telling you--Jonathan calls me the Dairy Queen.

Anyways, after the drama of her not eating and only taking the bottle (with only breastmilk remember), she started screaming after 1/2 ounce around 4 weeks of age. This was SO EMOTIONALLY draining to me and thus my one and only crying episode (other than when they clipped her tongue). However, the medicine finally started working along with a combination of her learning to digest and pass gas with more ease as she ages. This is still a work in progress and I was so worried that she wouldn't eat enough to grow and develop properly. I have moved past the fears and put it in God's hands. My baby is healthy and happy; thus, so am I!

Jonathan and I consider ourselves very lucky! Lorelei only cries with her reflux/gas during feedings or when she is hungry. There are a couple of times when she will cry because she is overtired and has been awake for 7-8 hours--this also makes mommy tired. This is when she has to cry it out. Some people are not fans of crying it out but when your baby is obviously tired, clean, full, and warm, you just have to let her cry. She cried one night around week 1 or 2 for an hour. It was hard. We would talk to her and soothe her but not pick her up. She has not cried going to bed since. She might cry for a minute or so now, self soothes and is out. THAT IS RIGHT! You heard correctly. Our baby sleeps anywhere from 5 - 7 hours every night. From around 11 p.m. - 12 a.m. to 5 or 6 a.m. She is amazing. She also doesn't wake up crying. She just starts grunting and we feed her. She also goes right back to sleep and is a great sleeper for 2 to 3 hour increments until noon. She is most active in the afternoon and early evening. She is a very happy baby and coos and tries to talk, smile and laugh at us.

She hates tummy time but is getting better about head control.

Here is our 7 week old angel! Doing what she does best! I must also put in there that she is only 7 weeks old and wearing 6 month clothes. She is too long for the 3 month clothes. Her pediatritian, Dr. Grooms said that the computer said error for her height at her age because she was off the charts haha. She was also in the 75% for weight last time. We go back for her 2 month shots next week and I will update then if not before!