How has it been O N E whole month since we met our baby girl? It's such a cliché but it really has been a whirlwind and gone by SO fast. I'm trying hard to soak in as much as I can, knowing she's our last baby is a little bittersweet for me. My hormones are running wild right now, but to be honest I'm just obsessed with her.
This month has been crazy (not only because we added baby number four to our tribe) but because we had lots of doctors appointments for her. She was born with a pretty bad tongue tie, so nursing was EXCRUCIATINGLY painful. She would get frustrated, I would cry because of the pain, we were getting nowhere. Not only that, but she started to lose more weight.
We were quickly referred to the ENT where we had her tongue tie revised (for those of you who have never had to do that, it's hard to watch). It was more traumatizing for me I'm sure, but watching her scream and bleed threw me into a state of panic. I bawled like....well, a baby. She was sore for a while, and nursing was still something we were learning, but she was doing so much better almost immediately.
Soon after getting over the nursing hurdle, we ran into another problem. Her umbilical cord fell off at only 3 days old. She was born on a Saturday, we got released from the hospital on a Monday, and that night it came off completely. It seemed WAY too early for it to fall off and I almost brought her right back to the hospital (the kind NICU nurse assured me I didn't need to come back). I went into her doctor's office the next day, and he agreed it was very early for it to fall off. We cauterized it to stop the bleeding and off we went on our merry way. Well, that night it started actively bleeding again. Back to the doctor we went. We were on this carrousel for a week. We had it cauterized a total of FOUR times, by three different providers. It just wouldn't stop bleeding. I was starting to really panic at this point thinking it was a blood clotting disorder. Just around the time I started to really worry is when it cleared up.
After her umbilical cord FINALLY stopped bleeding, we ran into a skin issue. At first we thought it was just normal baby acne. But, when her skin started to yellow and crust I was concerned it was something else. I immediately went down the rabbit hole of thinking she had some horrible flesh eating bacteria (I know, I know a bit dramatic). When we brought her to her four week check up recently, her doctor informed me that it wasn't acne, but eczema. This girl just can't catch a break. He sent us home with some hydrocortisone cream and off we went. It was the magic solution we had been waiting for. It cleared up within two days. Her face did a 180!
So how are we doing now?
sleep
She is honestly a great sleeper! Probably the best sleeper of all our babies. She wakes up a few times at night to nurse (although I couldn't even tell you how many times, because I just nurse in bed with her half asleep myself). She sleeps most of the time still, but is starting to be more alert during the days. She sleeps pretty well in her carseat and I pray it stays like that!
eat
This girl loves her mama's milk, and she has the double chin to prove it. She nurses approximately 108,033 times a day. But really... SHE LOVES FOOD.
stats
Weight: 10lbs 3oz (birth: 7lbs 9.6oz)
Height: 21.5 inches (birth: 20in)
I decided with my babies to do a more spread out vaccine schedule, because that's personally what works best for our family. With that said, she got her boosters and did great!
I am just in awe of her, and feel so lucky that God chose me to be her mama. I can't wait to see what this next month brings (and the New Year).
