2 Weeks Old

Wow, my baby does something new everyday and there are always something to discover!

Her skin is peeling.  She's got grandma hands and feet, but we are not supposed to put lotion on her, so I hope the new skin comes out soon.  Her skin around the eye lid area peels frequently and her lips, oh my...it looks painful, but she does't mind her blistered lips.

The patio has started!!!  Guys come out everyday and they are making progress.  It already looks nice and I cannot see the finished patio with a deck.  I think it will be warm by the time it's ok for Haley to go outside :)

My company sent her a personalized teddy bear!!!!  One paw says "Haley" and other one says "Sakura".  The bear has tutu and wings.  It's soooo cute!!!!  Thank you, Elysium

New Teddy Bear!

She started doing this "reflect movement".  It usually happens during sleep and it's so cute and funny!  Suddenly, she puts her arms and legs wide open and it looks like a Franken Stein!!!  This is called "Moro or Startle reflex".  According to one source on google, a baby does this to protect herself from harm.  Interesting....

We gave her a first bath!  We thought she was going to cry for sure, but you know what?  She seemed to enjoy the nice warm bath!!  I think the water tempature has to be right and it was.  She was so relaxed and we put her in the Elmo's bath robe!  Too cute!!!  She smelled so nice after the bath and looked really clearn :) 

Comfy~

All clean!!

Mountains of pills.....yes, I am taking so many pills now.  Those pills include: vitamin, omega3,  fenugreek, stool softner & herbal tea.  The total of 17 pills and 3-5 tea a day!!!!  Since I am pumping, all of them are good for my baby, so I will take whatever I need!!

They are good for you, Hay!

It was such a nice & warm day on Saturday.  Haley was only 2 weeks old at this point and I heard that it's good to wait taking her to a public place until a month later, but we couldn't resist to walk her in a stroller.  It was really sunny and we put a soft and warm blanket on her and put up a cover so that she wouldn't get a direct sunlight.  It was just sooooo nice to get out of the house and enjoy the nice day with 3 of us.  I cannot believe that we now have an addition to our family.  It was so peaceful to walk our neighborhood and we are so happy!!

Let's enjoy the sunny day!

It was Joe's mom's BD dinner, so we went over to his parents house.  It was so much fun because Parker/Anderson/Emery were all there!!!  They loved the baby.  Parker and Anderson kept saying how cute Haley was.  Emery was so funny.  She had a little doll and trying to put Haley's diaper on the doll!!!  She is so active and has an amazing personality :)  After talking to Heidi, I learned that a nipple shield might help BF, so we went to go get one from Medela. I was excited to try to see if Haley latches the shield and she DID!!!  I had never seen her latching for that long time.  She is getting my milk via pump, but it will be nice if I have an option to nurse or pump, so I will have to keep trying.  BTW, we introduced her to a pacifier on Sunday.  She loves it and it works like a magic!!!!

Happy girl~

Day 8: Happy Easter & Cluster Feeding

Easter this year started as a wet morning.  We were supposed to go to Joe's parents house for Easter dinner.  We found this adorable pink premee outfit for her Easter visit and she looked sooooo cute in it!!!

It was kind of nice to get out of the house.  It was my first time to use a diper bag, so I was hoping I didn't forget anything important!  I put 2 bottles just in case she gets hungry....

Speaking of hungry......we think that she is going through the famous cluster feeding stage.  She used to eat every 2 hours, but she got really fussy and wants to eat more as soon as we fed her.  This threw us off because we didn't want to overfeed her.  I was reading the baby book and they suggested to feed her whenever she wants, so that's what we are doing.  Oh, my milk production has increase!!!!  I don't know if it's the herb or my body trying to adjust to the baby's demand, but I am so happy that I am getting more milk now.  I am not sure if my boobs can keep up with the cluster feeding demand, but I am taking the herb and drinking tea all the time.  I am also pumping more, so I hope all of my effort helps in the end!

Other thing we are a bit worried about....she pees pretty much everytime when we change her diaper, but no poop.  I googled this and looks like some babies can go for a long time without pooping (The one girl said her baby didn't poo for 14 days!!)  We have a pedi appointment on Tuesday, so we will bring this up to the physician.   

Oh, by the way, Haley started smiling!!!!!  It's not intentional but she does give me a smily face sometimes and it just puts me a big smile on me.  She changes so much rapidly and I am certainly amused by all the changes :)

Happy Easter!

      

Day 7: Happy One Week Birthday!!

I cannot believe she is now a week old!!!  I felt like it was such a survival week, but we did survive.  Haley seems more calm and I think it's because she is eating well now.  She sleeps a lot and wiggle.  She is darn cute!!!!  When she is awake, I just melt when I see her big eyes.  I think she can recognize me somewhat.  I am tyring to do skin-to-skin as much as possible and I absolutely love the bonding time with her. 

She slept decent (2-3 straight) at night, so maybe she is a perfect little girl!  When I was pregnant with her, she always slept when I was asleep and she was awake when I was awake.  Are we lucky enought to get the same routine????  Let's see....

Day 6: Miracle Herb - Fenugreek

The lactation consultant told me about this herb which can help produce more breast milk yesterday.  I forgot to write down the name of it, but she said I can get it at GMC vitamin store.

I remembered that my friend was talking about this herb because she was having an issue with producing enough milk.  She said the herb made her smell like maple syrup.  I haven't talked to her since she came to the hospital, so I called and told her all the crazy past few days.  I asked her about the herb and she said "It's called Fenugreek and you have to take 12 capsules a day.  Also, you have to drink this herb tea 3-5 times a day on the top of the capsules."  She stopped by in the afternoon and gave me all the left over from her try.  It was so nice to see her, husband & their 6 months old baby.  Their baby has grown so much and I cannot wait for our babies to play together!!!    

Day 5: Lactation Consultant

It was a rough night and both of us are so exhausted.  I was actually dreading this day.  I was so scared that the lactation nurse will tell me that I am doing everything wrong and I have to keep BF every 30 minutes.  However, at the same time, I wanted to know what she can do to help us. 

She was very nice and had a nice smile when we met her at the pediatrician office.  She saw how I was BF and how Haley was responding.  After she witnessed how our BF was going, she asked me "What would you like to accomplish with BF?"  I told her "I would like to continue giving her my milk, but I am just so worried that I am not producing enough milk and also my baby is loosing too much weight already.  I would like to use formula, but would like to give her my milk as much as I can pump.  She agreed.  A huge weight was lifted from my shoulder at this moment.  I was so glad that I could take a plan B and feed her as she deserves to get to the normal weight. 

I was finally in good mood.  I was determined to pump as often as I can to give my little baby as much as breast milk.       

Day 4: First Pedi Visit

We were anxious to have our pediatrician look at Haley's condition.  She doesn't appear to be sick, but we wanted to make sure if she is getting better and her jaundice level has gone down. 

A nurse told us that she lost 1 pound since the original birth weight.  This isnt't good at all.  Most babies lose weight a couple of days after the birth, but the average loss is 7% - 10%.  She lost 1 pound from her birth weight of 7.1, so she lost 14%.  Not good.  They also took her blood to test the jaundice level.  I cried while they are taking her blood from her feet because she screamed and cried. 

I told the nurse about my struggle with BF.  Unfortunately, the lactation nurse wasn't in today, so my nurse spoke with her on the phone.  I was told to stick to the BF and no formula supplement until the follow-up appointment with the lactation nurse the following day.  Ugh....it will be a tough day for sure.

Yup, it was a mentally and physically exhausted day.  Haley screams top of her head when I tried to make her latch.  She can only latch for 10 seconds and gives up.  I pumped as much as possible, but my milk production is not enough.  I was only getting 10 ml per pump, but that was the only thing I could give to her.  My head hurts and I feel like I hit the rock bottom.    

   

Day 3: Leaving the Hospital (Maybe)

It started snowing pretty bad on Monday morning as the weather forecast predicted.  We were anxious to go home, but was worried about driving home in this weather.  Moreover, we were very concerned about Haley's wellbeing.  The level of jaundice went up and we had no choice but to use a supplement with a formula.  My body hurt and I could only move slowly.  I felt like a failure, but at the same time, I was glad that Haley was getting some food in her. 

A doctor came in and told us that she wanted us to stay one more extra day to monitor Haley, but my insurance declined to pay for the extra stay, so she told us to book an appointment with her pediatrician.

A photographer stopped at our room to take some pictures of Haley.  I knew it was going to cost us, but I wanted to see how it turns out.  Actually, she did good job!  I had no make-up and was so exhausted, so my picture with her is horrible, but she is darn cute!!!!

Hayboo with Daddy

I really thought staff at the hospital was amazing.  I felt really good and would like to use the same place for the next baby.  We were discharged and left around 5pm, so we hit some rush hour.  I was so excited to see our house and come home to the home sweet home!!!  Joe went into the house first to make our dog Candy sniff the baby blanket Haley was in.  When we brought Hay in the house, Candy didn't go crazy, so I was glad.  We still have to monitor our 3 pets to see how they react to the newborn.  I am hoping they will be cuddling with Haley someday...