Six Weeks Old!!!

Hello, all!

J.R. turned six weeks old yesterday, and things are going SO much better than even two weeks ago. I've lost a total of 25 pounds, and I can finally fit into my "fat" pre-pregnancy pants! I was so ecstatic when I could do that. My belly's smoother now than it was, though the dark brown lines haven't gotten any lighter.

Breastfeeding finally doesn't hurt anymore. Once in a while, J.R. will get mean and clamp down pretty hard, but he only does that occasionally. No more wincing in severe pain every time he latches on. The hardest part with latch-on now is getting him to keep his head still and open his mouth wide enough. He still falls asleep nursing, but I wake him up to burp, and he usually stays awake for about twenty minutes to half an hour after that. He still screams his little head off when he gets tired, though. That makes car rides incredibly nerve-wracking. He can and does scream for an entire ride. Bryan still doesn't like to hear him cry, so that makes him dread car rides. He seriously dreads going to any store or anything, because he doesn't want the baby's crying to disturb other shoppers.

Our poor little guy has a major issue with reflux and gas. He's refluxing during the day, and his gas wakes him up at night. So he sleeps upright on my chest or in the Snugli carrier during the day, and he gets Mylicon drops after his evening feeding to help with the gas. I also put his bed at an incline, so he's not completely horizontal while he sleeps. The reflux is much better, but the gas still gets bad in the middle of the night. It makes him squirm SO much while he's nursing. I hate it, because he arches his back and pulls on my nipples. It can get pretty painful. So I do what I can for his gas, moving his legs around to work out the gas during the day. There's not much I can do at night, since I need my sleep, too. I thought the reflux or the gas was what was making him cry so much during the day, but it's just that he gets tired and he needs help getting to sleep. So I'm getting better about his crying. He still has times when he will just cry and cry, but that's usually when I've either got him in the Snugli and can't rock him like he likes, or I've let him cry too long and he's gotten worked up. Only he doesn't cry so much as scream, like he's seriously mad. That gets very hard to deal with.

I'm coping, but I'm not sure how well. We've got a lot of stress right now, with moving and Bryan's job hunt and all. Plus, my house is a complete disaster after a month of no housework while I tended to a newborn. So I'm on a mad dash to try to get things organized before the movers get here. I've resigned myself to knowing that I'm not going to get it right, but I'm going to get the majority of it done. I've narrowed down my required chores to a few major ones. So I think as long as that's done, I'll be okay. At least we're not doing it ourselves. I would be SO stressed out, not being able to do anything because of a clingy baby. Even when I have him in the carrier, I still can't do much that involves a lot of bending down. That kills my back.

What I'm really nervous about is the two-day car trip we'll be making back home. I'm pumping as much as I can to have bottles available for when I can't feed him while driving. But I'm concerned about my milk supply. I also worry how Bryan's family, who is driving us, is going to deal with J.R.'s crying fits that I know will happen. When he gets tired, I know I'm not going to be able to rock him to sleep, so he'll scream until he gets tired enough to drift off on his own. I worry about how everyone else is going to handle it.

Anyway, that's about it for me for now. I got a clean bill of health from my doc at my six-week appointment. I got the go-ahead for sex, and a recommendation to get Gripe Water to help with J.R.'s gastric issues. So I'm gonna do a search to find out where I can get some.

TTFN!!!