Quotes of the Day

"You fed her with that one."

-Aubrey said this while pointing to my left boob after feeding Copper

"Have a glass of wine and go into it with a good sense of humor."

- Our Midwife, Laura

I'll let you guess what she's talking about.

Battle of the Bottle

I thought that babies immediately took to bottles and pacifiers. I've seen those baby shows on TLC. Pacifier in the mouth on the way home...Struggling mom gives baby a bottle on day 4. I have a friend who's daughter took neither and Aubrey and I always wrote that off as parent error. Paybacks are a bitch. We tried the first bottle feeding at about 3 weeks and then read you should wait until after 4 weeks to avoid nipple confusion. Now we think we should have tried sooner. Copper loves boobie and I doubt that she would abandon me. After two very unsuccessful tries at the bottle, we researched a bit and found out that we were doing it all wrong. It made sense to us to try to bottle feed when she was hungry and that I would do it since I always fed her. Wrong. Mommy = boobie, not bottle. So apparently baby expects boobie from mommy and is less likely to take a bottle from her. Waiting till they are hungry is also bad because then they will be fussy. So on the third try, Aubrey gave her the bottle about an hour before boobie time. After about 45 minutes of Copper pleasantly declining she finally latched on. Mission accomplished, right? Wrong again. Aubrey was able to successfully bottle feed her small amounts on 2 other occasions, but she is once again protesting. Grandma Strong was trying to feed her yesterday and Copper was looking at her and talking and smiling. With the bottle in her mouth. No sucking. We've tried 4 different nipples. The only one that she has taken to is the Dr. Brown's bottle, but as mentioned, has since turned it down. I have a haircut and color this Friday and a Ladies Lunch in two weekends. I would like to be able to have more of these outings. Copper Jo Jo just loves her mommy too much. Or is it that she hates me?

*I uploaded the pictures for this post on Dec 22 before heading to Texas. I never got around to doing the post in Texas. I finally got it posted on January 13th. The Dec 22 post would have been about successfully bottle feeding Copper. Good thing I waited.

She stole my pillow!

This morning Copper woke up about 6:30. I changed and fed her and then I spent 2 hours willing her back to sleep. Luckily we went to bed around 11:00 and not the 2am bullshit that she pulled on us a couple nights ago. I wasn't quite as ridiculously tired as usual. One thing that was working to make her fall asleep was setting her up. I did this a few times against my legs, but I can't sleep with my knees in the air. Around 7:45 I finally propped her up against my pillow and she immediately passed out. So I just scooted over and spooned with Aubrey until the alarm went off 20 minutes later.

Aubrey is fake sleeping here. He was awake admiring our little girl moments before I took the picture.

Failed!

Copper had her newborn hearing screen done today and she failed. Don't worry, the kid can hear, it's just that her responses were delayed due to a possible ear infection or fluid behind her ear drums. Being a new mom, I immediately called the pediatrician to see if we should bring her in to have her ears checked out and they said we should. So we brought her in and it turns out that she has a bit of a cold. It wasn't her aptitude that caused her to fail, it was out of her control. She has had some big boogers lately so it made sense that she had a cold. Unfortunately, we have to go back to have a follow-up test done the beginning of January that is 3 hours long. Today's test took about 45 minutes.

The test was done at Children's Hospital and the moment I parked my car and saw parents walking their kids across the parking lot, I knew that the hospital is not a place I wanted to be. Kids and illness are a combination that I do not like to see. While there were probably a few kids in there just getting routine tests done like Copper, most of those kids are in for much more serious conditions. I saw a dad walk out with some kind of padded backboard that looked big enough for about a 2 year old. I've never liked thinking about sick kids, but now that I have my own kid, I like thinking about it even less. While Aubrey and I have high expectations for our little girl, we've both stated on numerous occasions that what we really want is for Copper to be healthy. I can't even imagine what parents go through when their child is ill. I try not to even let my mind go there.

On a brighter side, the crazy cute picture of Copper was taken at the pediatricians office today. I'm sure Copper was thinking, "Holy crap! That baby is CUTE!"

On a side note: Copper now weighs 9 lbs 11 oz! She is now in size 1 diapers. Such a big girl.

Meeting the Great Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa Strong made a special trip out to Colorado last weekend to see their great granddaughters. They're lucky kids to have such wonderful great grandparents. Copper will get to meet Aubrey's grandparents next week and great grandma and grandpa Meeves early next year.

Per Josie's Request

Big Girl Bed

While this picture was taken this morning and Copper is obviously sleeping in our bed, she actually spent her first night in her own bed last night. We made the choice to have Copper sleep in our bed and it has worked out really well. For the most part her and I both sleep really well. I have to have her sleep on my side of the bed since Aubrey complains that he doesn't sleep well when she sleeps in between us. Two nights ago I decided that it was time for Copper to sleep in the pack-n-play. (I was getting a little tired of only being able to sleep on one side. It's just a queen sized bed and I don't have that much room to move around when she's next to me.) She'll stay in our room for a while, but now she'll be in her own bed. It's definitely easier having her sleep in our bed though. Last night we went to bed at our usual 12:00 (Copper's a crabby night owl), she slept 'til about 3:30, changed and fed her, back to sleep 'til about 6:00, changed and fed her, back to sleep "til about 7:00. That was when I put her in bed with me. She'll generally go 3-4 hours in between sleepy time feedings, but it seemed she was a little more agitated this morning. What sucks about her being in the crib is that it's harder to do the little things that make her happy. It's easier to sooth her when she's right next to me and I don't have to get out of bed. Plus I love having her snuggled up next to me. She's just so darned cute!

Somebody's getting big!

Copper will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. Today she weighed 8lbs 10oz. The doctor told us that whatever we're doing to keep doing it because our little girl is doing really well with her weight gain. Our midwife told us at Copper's 10 day appointment that a baby has 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight. Copper started out at 7lbs 5 oz dropped to 6lbs 12oz at 2 days and was already at 7lbs 10oz at 10 days. Pair my magic boobies with Copper's suction cup lips and we make quite the team.

Name issues

We went to Copper's first pediatrician appointment today and the nurse hesitantly called for "Cooper." We corrected her. When the doctor first came into the room, she called Copper "he." We corrected her. I just made an appointment for Copper's newborn hearing test and when the lady called back to verify some insurance information, she called Copper "Cooper" and referred to her as a boy. I corrected her. I know that the name is gender neutral and that there will always be that problem, but when her own mother writes her child's name on a medical form, she most likely spelled it correctly. Sorry Copper, but looks like mom and dad have cursed you with a name that will need constant correcting. I actually just realized that Aubrey's name is that way. Everyone thinks it's a girl name and people reading his name often say "Audrey."

Wait! Don't throw that away.

For the past two weeks I have been consuming my placenta. We first heard about it at the birthing center in one of our classes. We decided to become part of the 25% of birth center mommy's to try it. While some women will actually blend their placenta into a smoothie type concoction, we chose to have mine encapsulated. (I'm not quite that hard core.) Some of the benefits include: increased milk production, reduced risk of postpartum hemorrhage, decreased "baby blues", lower incidence of anemia, and better energy overall. I didn't start taking them until about 4 days after baby (it's a 2-3 day turn around), at which point I hadn't had any mood swings, had not shed any tears, and my milk had come in full force. I have pretty much been able to go all day long without naps and I've been feeling really well physically and emotionally. Not too sure if any of that is because of the pills, but maybe it is. It wasn't that expensive to have done and there aren't any reasons to not consume my placenta (well, other than the obvious, that it's kind of weird). Aubrey thought that I would have placenta burps, but I don't.

Here's the website of the women who did my placenta. http://www.mothersbirthright.com/