Week 94 and Week 7.5 - Breastfeeding and more

I am rounding the corner on the fabled 8 weeks where breastfeeding is supposed to get easier.  Is it getting easier?  I suppose - gone are the nights of feeding all night long.  Sophia is on a schedule where she sleeps in the afternoon forever and now at night forever.  The biggest issue I have now is whether she sleeps too long and whether I should wake her.  Wise Minjenah says to let a sleeping baby sleep but if there are less than 8 feeds a day (there hasn't been to date) then well - I will intervene.  But for now - I am enjoying some decent rest.

Also - I have now been breastfeeding Sophia longer than I did for Charlotte!  

Sophia pooped on her own last Wednesday (yay!) and then had a blowout on Sunday (double yay!).  So I think this Hirschsprung business is out the window - but now I wonder whether she is getting enough milk.  I am pumping twice a day (the rest of the time there are still continuous feeds) and now getting a whopping 4 oz a day.  The day before the blowout (never before did I think I would be SO excited for such a disastrously messy poop) I gave her 3.25 oz of expressed milk.  So I am experimenting with the milk volume on a daily basis to see if and when we can repeat (although the next time I would prefer not to have to wash the car seat liner again).

I am taking Fenugreek, Motilium, and Blessed Thistle.  Today I tried acupuncture to help with the milk production and I forgot how much I hated needles.  I couldn't even look at myself!  Much worse than childbirth.  People often ask me if I have a high pain threshold, and instances like today confirm that I absolutely do not.  I literally do not FEEL the labor pains - I am not trying to suppress some Hurculean pain I can assure you.  Acupuncture does not even really hurt (though I can feel it and it is not at all comfortable) but I could not relax at all during it.

Charlotte is still hitting us and getting her share of timeouts.  She closed the screen door while we were inside and proclaimed "I'm in timeout!"  Aunt Sherry is visiting and helping this week and has advised us to say "Kiss Me" at the end of a hitting/timeout episode so we end it on a positive note.  Charlotte complies and you know, all is better then.

On with the weekly pictures!

Cutie pie!

Tita Monica helping with bottle duty:

Restless waiting for pigtails:

The quintessential toddler pose:

Cheese!

Charlotte hanging with a neighbor dog JD:

Cute park poses:

Lovely Sherry has been a great help this week.  Here she is looking fresh and lovely:

More cheese (the last pictures are all in appropriate Wisconsin garb)!