6 weeks old!

We have big aspirations of Colben becoming a Pirate

the kids


Colben's been a bad, bad boy


Tuesday July 28th
Hot sooooooo hot
Today was 32 degrees right now it is midnight and is still 22 degrees which is the daytime normal. Colben is one unhappy baby and so am I.

Wednesday July 29th
This morning Colben Lily and I went for a walk with our friend Marie-Eve from prenatal class. It was crazy to see how small her daughter (3weeks) is although she out weighs Colben by a couple pounds. Good news I am down 25lbs now from pregnancy weight! Honestly it is probably water loss from the heat but I'll take good news when I get it.

Thursday July 30th,
The heat continues across the west coast breaking records. Colben is miserable and doing his best impression of Linda Blair, puking all over. Last night he screamed, shrieking cries for over an hour straight and I was totally unable to comfort him.l Today it is too hot to go out so I am going to try to log Colben's activites so that we can start to see a pattern for establishing a routine. I just realized I hadn't mentioned Colben's milestone. He has just started social smiling (which means it isn't gas)He still is pretty selective about when he will smile but those 1 or 2 times a day it is like the sun is shining only on you.

****SPECIAL REQUEST*****

AS YOU KNOW WE ARE NOW HAVING TO USE FORMULA WHICH IS REALLY EXPENSIVE. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR SPECIAL GIFT AT http://similac.ca/p.aspx/en/similac_welcome_addition_club/ . YOU WILL RECEIVE 15$ IN COUPONS WHICH WE CAN REALLY USE IF YOU SAY YOU HAVE A BABY.

WE USE THE REGULAR FORMULA

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE,

COLBEN,ADAM AND MISCHA

5 weeks old!

Monday July 20th,
5 weeks old and a bit meaning we have almost made our first milestone- 6 weeks!
Not much to report Lactation Dr appointment tomorrow and our last midwife appointment on Wednesday.
Here are some pics ...

My sleeping angel. I am finally starting to put Colben in the basinette beside the bed during the day instead of keeping him beside me. He sleeps better and I am much less stressed. I do keep the moniter beside me though.

Colben all dressed up and ready to go for his daily evening walk with Adam and Lily

Lily enjoying their walk


Auntie Diane with Colben

Colben is wearing his Woombie- essentially a baby straight jacket which has eliminated the need of me pulling my hair out trying to swaddle a squirmy baby. It totally works although he has now taken to popping one hand out through the neck


Tuesday July 21,
Adam made me take the bath picture off! oy!
Well Colben and I are hitting the road today for shopping, dr appointment then baby class.
Here is his new hat I made on Sunday for him. Soon he should fit store bought hats that arn't touques.



Just got home. Today was bittersweet. I will not be a breastfeeding mama the doctor says. After 2 weeks of intense pumping, taking drugs my supply has not increased significantly. We have decided I will decrease my pumping from 10 times (which is unrealistic longterm) to 5 times a day. This will give Colben my antibodies is 2-3 feeds a day. There is a chance my supply may peter out but until then I will do my best to keep it up. On a happy note Colben has gained another pound! He is 8lb 14oz which is great news.

Wednesday July 22nd,
I am sad. Today was our last appointment with Julia, she has been so good to us. She is moving to a new midwifery group, the Cook Street one. I will definitely ask her to be my midwife next time. Hospital though...hospital.

Adam had the day off today and he is picking up the outdoor swinging bench we have tested out every time weve gone to superstore for the last 5 months. I love it (classic Mischa green) and it is now down to 50$. Pics of me relaxing to follow. (or pulling out my hair trying to put it together)

4 weeks old!

Sunday July 12th,
One month, Colben will soon be one month. I cannot believe how fast it has gone. Colben still looks much the same size due to the lack of weight gain but he when he is awake he is much more alert. His eyes respond when you are talking to him especially Adam's voice. We are now settling into a routine that is a bit more comfortable. I figured out if we feed Colben every 2 hours instead of 2.5 it made things a lot less complicated because it matched my 2 hour pumping schedule. This means the feedings are shorter but he still gets the same amount daily.
Our evenings are the following
7:30 Adam takes Colben and Lily for a walk,
8pm I pump then head to bed
Adam returns and feeds Colben
Adam gives Colben a bath
12:00am Adam feeds Colben then wakes me up to pump and start me shift and he goes to bed
12am-to 7am I feed and pump with sleep in between pumping and feeding every 2 hours
7 am Adam is up (or at work) and I eat

My supply is getting better with all of the pumping - I can now feed Colben with breastmilk every 2nd feeding plus 1oz of milk during the formula feeds.

It is hard to get out with the 2 hour schedule but later today we will try to take the pump on the road.

Monday July 13th,
Colben is 7lbs 14oz !!!!

Friday July 17th,
We finaly got our birth announcements designed and ordered so expect yours soon. We should be picking them up at the printer next week so they should arive in a couple weeks.
Finally some pics

neck

no neck

Grandma Still , Adam and Colben

Colben is spoiled

Angry Colben

3 weeks old!

Monday July 7th,
We are a couple days behind. Grandma Still arrived on Saturday and yesterday we went out to Cowichan Bay and Duncan. More later.

Tuesday July 8th,
Not going to lie- today sucked.Colben is no longer growing slow or maintaining his weight. Colben has lost weight not gained despite going through an awful 24 hour cure(absolute bedrest with the baby- skin on skin contact) and taking domperidone. Julia has gotten us a rush appointment with Dr Spratt tomorrow, one of two doctors that specialize in lactation in Southern Vancouver Island. She says that we have tried everything and it is time to go to the next step which is Dr. Spratt. In the meantime Julia wants us to start topping up right away with formula and breastmilk after each feeding by bottle. So we have gone out and bought the formula and a bottle. Colben took to that specific bottle right away. I tried another one and no luck. One more thing to buy. Man formula stinks, by that I mean it smells bad. I will secretly admit it is kinda nice feeding with a bottle, breast milk or formula- there is no pressure that Colben isn`t latching, trying to find a nipple shield, I know how much he is getting and it is relaxing. Our 4-5 hour sleep block has been cancelled effective immediately (feeding every 2-2.5hours 24hours a day) so Adam and I may be a bit zombie-ish for a while longer. Oh did I forget to mention I need to pump more. Julia is being very supportive and she says Dr Spratt may have different recommendations and to follow them. The ones above have been put into place to ensure he is getting calories immediately.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have someone buying the homebirth kit we didn`t use, My surgical consult, the Lactition Dr and Ethan is having his surgery. It may be a day or two until I can get back to the blog.

Thursday July 9th,
Quick one- baby is waking. Teeth ARE coming out- all 7 of them. Need to pump more. Getting baby fed is priority bottle or breast doesn't matter. Colben is now refusing the breast and is getting milk via bottle. Will deal with that once he is up to weight and and my milk supply is well established. Colben is much more content in general now that he isn't starving. His poops and pees are ENORMOUS now.

Friday July 10th,
My child is a monster! When we went to the Dr's for a follow up today he went from
7lbs2.5oz to 7lbs 11oz in TWO DAYS! Normal weekly gain is 7 oz- he gained 8.5oz. This is great news stemmied only by the fact that Colben will only take the bottle now and the Dr says I need to pump every 2 hours to increase supply for a minimum 10 days.

Today Grandma Still went home and I will miss the extra hands and I know she was sad to leave Colben.

Colben took his first bus ride today- travelling is messy. I came home with spit up down my front, pee in my lap and sweat on my brow.