A Month Old

Pia is going through a growth spurt and I find myself crying every time she cries because I don’t know what else to do to calm her down.  I know she wants to eat every hour but sometimes I can’t give her the amount of milk that she wants. The milk supply I had in the fridge is gone ( this is why its always good to pump as much as possible and keep enough milk supply in the fridge because it will help when your baby reaches a growth spurt) and I absolutely have no time to pump now   because Pia needs me to feed her.

I do hope the location cookies are doing their job, though….I have been eating them like there is no tomorrow.

Update

No sleep
Cluster feeding
Piles of dirty diapers
Repeat

I am trying out lactation cookies because I can’t keep up with Pia’s demands. I nurse her and she seems satisfied with what I offer her but this week has been rather hard for both of us.  She is growing fast, therefore she is hungry most of the time and I need to keep up with the demands. If she feeds from a bottle , its usually 3-4oz on a normal day but this week it has gone up to 6-7oz!  So I have decided to bake lactation cookies in order to provide Pia with 7oz of milk for each feeding.

Other than that, we haven’t slept in a month. People say it gets better- I hope.

2 weeks and 3 days

Today we went to Pia’s first newborn check up and we found out she has gained a pound and 7oz.  How awesome is that? All that pumping and breastfeeding is paying off. I have dedicated myself to pump as much as possible in order for Pia to have endless milk supply.
I really don’t want to feed her formula so this is the reason why I have become a serious breast feeder and milk storage addict – yes, crazy.
I even have a Medela breast pump with hands free bra and six boxes of Mother’s Tea which was bought by my husband through Amazon.
Mother’s Tea has increased my supply by 2 to even 3oz per pump. I  am even thinking of buying the lactation cookies just to try them out.

So far, our days feel like the movie Groundhog Day. Everyday seems like the previous day: same story, same routine, same zombie like feel.
In fact, I should be asleep but I find myself typing this entry with my eyes half opened. I hope that one day I can have an 8 hour sleep with no interruption…

Til next time.

Sweet P

Its been a week since Pia arrived and we are still trying to adjust to hour knew roles and schedules.  I seem to be on demand when it comes to feeding which means that I rarely have time to myself but on the good side, she’s gaining weight – this makes me happy.  I do not want to give her formula so I have been pumping and breastfeeding like there is no tomorrow.  

I tried the Ameda breast pump and it only lasted a few days so my husband bought me the Medela breast pump with the no hands breast pump bra and it was the best thing we have invested.  Medela pumps 3-4 oz in 10-15 minutes when the Ameda would take an hour to do this.  

As for Pia, she’s been incredibly amazing.  She’s so beautiful that I cannot believe she’s our baby – our sweet little girl.  She’s mine and I am a mom. Wow. I am overwhelmed and still trying to process my new role in this life and so far, I think I am doing pretty good.  🙂

She’s here

Baby P is here. She was born April 22 at 6:28pm (pacific time) weighting 8lbs and 15oz and measuring 53cm.
I was going through natural labor until I reached 8.5cm and decided I couldn’t take the pain. I had an epidural around 11am, water broke at 12pm and baby Pia was born at 6:28pm.
Labor pains started the previous day at 1pm with mild cramps and escalated to contractions at 8pm. Went to labor and delivery at 2am and was sent home at 4 because I was only 2cm but as soon as I arrived home at 5am, the contractions were 1-2 mins apart. I knew then, I was in active labor. We drove back to the hospital and my mom told them we were not going back home again.
Once they checked my cervix at 7am, I was 4cm and by 11am, I was 8.5.

There are other things that happened during labor but will write about it next time.
Right now, I need to catch up on my sleep. We are like zombies now.

ZzzZZZzzzzZzz

I’ve Got 99 Problems, and Gwyneth Paltrow Doesn’t Understand One

Amazing post.

nihilisticle

It’s so easy to mock Gwyneth Paltrow, but it seems wrong to kick her while she’s down. Sure, she’s impossibly pretentious — and yes, she’s seemingly oblivious to the expansive privilege that has allowed her to maintain the world’s most excruciatingly twee lifestyle. But she’s still got some genuine human feelings, and I assume it’s incredibly painful to separate from your husband and the father of your two children.

BUT GWYNETH. Why do you make it so hard for me to empathize with you? Here’s the notorious G.O.O.P. discussing her decision to take (even more of?) a sabbatical from acting, via E! Online:

“I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening. When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to…

View original post 1,730 more words

41 weeks

She’s staying in there for good. 
Contractions are mild , no rupture of the membrane or mucus plug….this has been the most uneventful pregnancy ever.
I guess I should enjoy the time I have to sleep like a bear and eat like there’s no tomorrow because once she’s out, I have to watch what I eat and sleep 1 hour a week. 

What have I been doing the past week? Not much. I rearranged our bedroom thinking that it could trigger strong contractions but it only made me sleepy. Then I went for walks and it actually made my tummy drop – I think it did, unless I am imagining things. And last but not least, I have been getting those awful migraines again. Perhaps its a sign of labor? Who knows.

Let’s enjoy these last few days ’til Pia gets here.

40 weeks and 4 days…

And no baby yet. I think Pia is camping in there and does not want to come out anytime soon.

I am not dilated yet and this could take another week.
Foot massage, spicy food and walking have not helped at all.  I hear curb walking is another option and I might just give it a try but I am sure I will definitely get weird looks from strangers seeing a pregnant woman walking with one foot out the curb.

Contractions are still there but not strong enough to make me scream. Its just mild, menstrual like symptoms. Nothing to worry about…yet.

Another week…

39 weeks and 4 days…

..and still pregnant.  The only difference is that I experienced the worst migraine that covered my right side of my head and neck for over a week.  Tylenol and Magnesium were prescribed and it helped a lot. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I think my head would have exploded by now.  Still sore but not as painful as it was last week.  No pre-eclampsia, diabetes or high blood pressure – just a difficult migraine that wouldn’t go away.

Now my days are just about patience and more patience.  I do get cramps once in a while but nothing out of the ordinary.  No rupture of the membrane and no mucus plug. I seem to be in it for the long run.  She might even attend college while being inside my belly.

Anyhow, let’s just wait a see what happens in the next few days.  Sunday would be my due date but due dates are never exact.

A la prochaine fois.

Sleepless nights

I can’t seem to fall asleep and it’s been happening every single day for that past two weeks.
I seem to have a very bad headache associated with a sinus problem I just developed the last 24 hours and it won’t go away plus, I have been feeling nauseous as well. I almost puked out my breakfast Monday morning but it went right back down after a few sips of water. These late stages of pregnancy are getting harder by the minute.
Hope these are early stages of labor!

Goodnight or perhaps, good morning.

‘Til next time.