Biggest Challenge in the first week

I can't believe Alyeska turned one week old yesterday. I can't stop staring at her. The biggest challenge this week is breast feeding by far. OUCH it hurts, although I think it hurts less and less everyday. Second me and Alyeska have no idea what we are doing so we both get frustrated, but now we are both starting to get the hang of it. Lastly its A LOT of work. After her first doctor appointment the doctor said she gained 5 oz back which is almost back to her birth weight so I can kinda start to try to get her on a schedule. I read this great book called Babywise which talks about getting your baby on a eating and self soothing sleep schedule. Yesterday was perfect! I was able to wake her up every 2 hours and feed her, then last night I stretched the time to two 3-4 hour stretch of sleep. The nice part about waking her up is she isn't upset when she eats and then she goes right back to sleep. The trick is keeping her awake long enough to get a good feeding in. I'm learning different ways in keeping her awake. If she is exhausted enough she will not wake up for anything. Andy and I also found that keeping her awake for a short time during the day and right before bed she is able to sleep longer at night. I know it's only the first week and everyday wont go as well as yesterday but the longer I keep at it the more secure Alyeska will feel with a nice routine.

My second biggest challenge is healing after my C-section. I had never been admitted to the hospital much less been to the doctors much before having this baby so surgery was a completely new experience. Its funny how modesty flies out the window when having a baby. First some of the other nurses wanted to watch the inversion (turning the baby), so there were lots of people in the room for that. Then being totally exposed to doctors and nurses. Lastly since I sucked at breastfeeding at first there was no way I could cover up because it took to much concentration and hands to do so, so I really didn't care much about privacy at that point since someone comes in your room just about every hour. Its amazing how much you have to rely on people after a surgery. I couldn't even go to the bathroom by myself. But all that didn't even matter and I didn't even care about my privacy. All I could think about was the miracle God gave us. Andy was amazing. He changed every diaper and brought her over so I could feed her and then he burped her. I have never relied on one person more then I relied on Andy for everything. Luckily I still get him for two more weeks at home. I love that guy! I think I am almost healed enough to stop taking my pain medication soon.

Here are some more pictures of Alyeska.