BF = Breastfeeding

whole family napping on a twin bed...

So they say labor is hard ---- which it is, but funny how no one really talks about how hard breastfeeding is.

I've been pumping for the past week and a half cuz I can't get Noah to latch on properly :( Sadness. It'd be so much more effective if I could get the milk directly into his system, but right now, it seems we have to go through the intermediary medela pump. (Thank GOD for Julie - for lending it to us before we had Noah - or else I'd be in so much pain.)

So apparently, I overproduce milk. I was engorged, which led to an infection and high fever for a week. I'm on antibiotics now, so things are better, but having a fever and trying to pump every hour was NOT fun. Praise God we got over that though - it's kinda circular.... I have too much milk, so I get engorged, then I can't get the milk out, get feverish and the cycle continues. Eventually, I got myself to pump every hour so that I wasn't so engorged. Still, nowadays, if I oversleep or wait 2+hours to pump, I can feel it starting again.

I guess good news is WE HAVE MILK! Yay - hard part is getting it into the baby. Although, I guess I don't have anything to complain about because Noah sleeps really well when he is full and doesn't really fuss too much unless he is hungry or has a dirty diaper (usually he's hungry). He's healthy and a good baby in general.

It's just a matter of ME getting used to learning how to get him to latch. It's hard to see him screaming for food when I'm trying to get him in the right position. They say it takes 4-6 weeks to get it down ... sometimes a few months. WOW... talk about patience. I thought I was learning patience with the whole career thing, but this is getting down to the nitty gritty.

Being at home has actually been a huge blessing. My mom brings in food for me every few hours and my dad comes in to help feed once in a while during the day. Jon is a huge help too --- though I'm a bit worried and scared about going back to our apartment when it's just going to be the two of us and I'm going to have to clean and cook again along with pumping and taking care of Noah. Hopefully he'll get to sleep more by then!! :D Right now, he's at 2.5 hours which is really nice if he gets his 3oz worth of milk. I'm glad that milk makes him pass out! :D hee hee...

He is a cutie though - when he's happy and awake. His hickups sound like a squeaky toy.