Baby Jake is now 1 week and 1 day old. He was born on 16th March 2006 at 8.58am precisely. He really is a joy to behold and we are really thankful that after a long labour and subsequent complications he is a beautiful healthy bairn.
The learning curve over the past week has been very steep and short. I have lost half a stone in weight because sometimes there just didn’t seem to be enough time to eat! There is also the sleep deprivation which actually I am coping with better than I thought. We are woken two to three times in the night for a feed, each feed taking up to an hour assuming he gets back to sleep without any problematic wind or discomfort.
We have been using reusable nappies which although save money and are green take a little bit longer to put on as you need to carefully position the liner to avoid leakage. Sometimes leakage is inevitable though :-). Jake was a little small when born; 7 pounds and 1 ounce and these nappies although ‘one size’ are a little big, making Jake look a little like an Emperor Penguin. Of course he will grow into these very soon.
Amy is persevering with breast feeding and it looks extremely painful. Every time Jake latches on I see Ames face and a ‘silent scream’ there. Once he has latched on both Jake and mother seem quite content. I have bought various creams and tried home-made remedies to help the soreness which all help to a certain degree :
- Cold camomile tea bags
- Lansinoh cream
- Vitamin E cream with calendula
- Olive oil and honey
So after a week I believe we are beginning to get there and a kind of routine is being established. Now we are more tuned into Jakes needs and can read his body language and cries a little better so that we kind of know what he wants. Although sometimes he will cry and no matter what we do nothing helps :-(. Thankfully this has only happened once! (a dummy is a life-saver for these situations).
As I write this it is 7.22am and Jake is feeding. I have got up after a wonderful 5 hours sleep and am psyching myself up for changing Jakes nappy after his feed. I heard some ominous sounds coming from his bottom earlier so it might be a pooey one!