Dinner as Usual
Pasta…salad…bread…asparagus:
Dinner as usual. Well, with one tiny exception:
Our newest dinner guest, of course. 
Today marks a week since we brought little miss home from the hospital…and dare I say I think we’re starting to feel a little more at ease? I don’t want to jinx us, but I think we lucked out with a pretty good baby. She sleeps a ton during the day. At night, she’s been fussy from about 10pm to midnight, but then she settles right down and conks out until 6:30 or 7 (we wake her up for a mid-morning feeding—Ryan feeds while I pump). Those two hours are rough—lots of wailing and screaming for no apparent reason that we can find (gas? Maybe she just needs to cry?), but all in all, things are going really well here.
My family was here all last week:
…which was a major help. It was just nice to have people around to help out, clean the house, cook food…and above all else, provide a little moral support—the first week is pretty emotional!
Plus, Lila got to met her sweet cousin Sophie:
Big cousin and little cousin.
My mom is going to be here for a few more days, but the rest of the crew went home yesterday. The house seems so quiet now…until little miss opens her mouth, that is. 
An update on the feeding: still not going well. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all of your sweet comments about it—it was SO nice to hear that many of you had struggled with or knew someone who struggled with the same issues.
We visited the lactation consultant again on Friday, and when she put Lila to the breast, she latched like an old pro—all of the pain was gone, and Lila was feeding perfectly. So…basically, it’s just me. My milk still hasn’t come in, almost ten days after having given birth. I’m still pumping away, drinking the tea (yep, Mother’s Milk), taking two types of supplements, eating oatmeal, drinking tons of water, having skin-to-skin time, drinking a dark beer at night (twist my arm)…and when I pump, I usually get about half an ounce.
The lactation consultant was actually really reassuring. She basically told me that I’m doing all that I can do, and that if the milk doesn’t come in, it’s just not going to—and that’s okay. She said to give it another week with the pumping and supplements, and that if it still isn’t increasing…basically to move on.
Anyway…I’ll let you know how it goes throughout the week! She seems like she’s doing pretty well, regardless of where her food is coming from:
Today, we’re baking cookies to take to my doctor and the hospital nurses—they were all SO great throughout this whole process, from our first appointment to the labor and post-labor care.
Hope you have a great Monday!
Glad to hear you’re finding some peace with the feeding situation and that you have a plan of action.
And what great pics of everyone..thanks for finding the time to post!
So glad things are going well for you guys!! The picture with the pink bow/flower is so sweet!
You look beautiful! So glad you got to spend some quality time with your family. Good luck with feeding and that’s so great that you had such a great experience with all the docs and nurses! Congrats
Aww! Aren’t you glad to have your own mom around now that you’re a mom?
I hate to see you beat yourself up about breastfeeding. You have a beautiful, healthy baby to celebrate! No matter how she gets fed, you’re taking care of her. (Also, are you taking the supplement that makes you smell like maple syrup? One of my former co-workers also had feeding problems, so she was taking that, and poor lady, every time a new person came into the office they said, “What is that delicious smell? I really want some pancakes right now!”)
Haha– I AM taking that one!! The lactation consultant said that it would do that, but I haven’t noticed it yet…maybe I just smell like pancakes but I don’t know it?!
You look fabulous- glowing, happy mama! Glad you have such great family around. Hang in there!
How cute!!! I’m really so so so happy for you!
These pictures are so sweet! Thank you for sharing your family with us! I know you are frustrated, but you are doing the best you can do! Don’t let this get you down. You are doing such a great job! Lila is absolutely beautiful!
I’m so glad things are going well! The pictures are beautiful! Ellie did the same thing, as far as random nighttime crying, only she did it from 2-4am. I think she just needed to get her nights and days straightened out. I hope Lila gets it worked out soon for you!
Life looks sweet, Anna! Congrats again!
One week already? Wow.
Just a question: you mentioned that you got more milk out of one breast than the other. Are your breasts very different in size? I am asking because there is a condition called Insufficient Glandular Tissue where a woman lacks the number of milk glands necessary to produce a full supply of milk, and one of the signs is breasts that are divergent in size (and where one breast produces more than the other). Another is that the breasts don’t enlarge much or at all during pregnancy. You might ask your doctor or midwife about that.