Seven Month Update

3 December 2013… Sam spent a lot of time today practising her crawling. She has figured out how to push herself along with her legs and pull herself along with her arms, alternating as she goes. It’s getting really exciting watching her figure out the crawling thing. We can really see her deciding that she wants to get to certain places and then working on getting there. She was constantly going up to things today and patting them and scratching them to see what noise they made.

10 December 2013… Since yesterday, Sam has been really practising getting up on her hands and knees and holding this position. She had an appointment with the family nurse, and the nurse wanted to see how she went on her tummy, and she held that position instead, and the nurse said that it probably wouldn’t be long until she is crawling.

So, the stats from yesterday’s appointment are:
Weight: 7.5kg (250g increase from the weigh-in two weeks ago, 53rd percentile)
Height: 66cm (1.5cm increase, 44th percentile)
Head Circumference: 44.2cm (0.7cm increase, 91st percentile)

So, she’s growing well, and her head is slowly becoming more proportional to the rest of her body. She did start in the 98.7th percentile!

We had a little trouble feeding chicken. I made a chicken casserole as my book suggests and put it through the food processor so that it was mashed. The first day she was to have it, I was going to a birthday party. The food came out of the fridge and one hour later I heated it to serve. She LOVED it, but her body didn’t. Two hours later she was violently ill, and again another hour after that. It looks like I gave her food poisoning . Normally with a reaction like that, I’d wait a month to try again, but my gut said that it wasn’t a reaction to the food itself. I tried again the next day, and while she seriously resisted eating any, she ate enough to confirm my theory. I have since bought a bag to keep her food hot/cold when I go out to hopefully avoid a reoccurrence. I also managed to get her to finish her chicken today, diluting it well with other foods she does like. Onwards and upwards from here.

She does LOVE her banana, possibly even more than she loves her breast milk. I put it in the mesh feeder and she sucks it out through the holes. She has gone to sleep on more than one occasion sucking on this.

No teeth yet. That tooth made a liar of me and disappeared.

15 December 2013… We have an almost crawler on our hands. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks, and she also does push ups that go all the way to her feet. She is scooting quite effectively now, and can cover metres of distance in a short time frame. She is having a sleep regression and would rather practice crawling than sleep. I think she will be crawling in the next couple of weeks, because she has the same type of focus that she had when she was learning to roll, and she just has to figure it out, like NOW!!!!! LOL

Sam loves being tipped upside down. It makes her giggle, smile and squeal.

28 December 2013… Sam has a hole in her gum and hubby has reported that there is something hard in there if she bites down on his finger. This hole appeared two days ago, and we eagerly await the arrival of its occupant, which will hopefully reduce the grouchiness of its owner.

Sam is practising getting up on her hands and feet now. It’s like she’s trying to learn to crawl, sit up and pull herself up all at once.

29 December 2013… So, we’ve cut our first tooth, and Sam is much happier about that situation. Unfortunately, earlier today it peaked at 35 degrees, and she was definitely NOT happy about that situation.

I can’t believe we’re six months already!

5 November 2013… At Sam’s 5 month check-up (previous check-up was at 4 months), she weighed 6.8kg (350g increase and in the 45th percentile), she was 64.5cm tall (2.5cm increase and in the 59th percentile), and her head circumference was 43.5cm (1cm increase in in the 94th percentile). She can sit unassisted for around 30 seconds, she can roll completely over in either direction, and she can sing. She is trying to sit up unassisted and still trying to crawl. Once I put her in her cot, she seems to be able to crawl quite easily, as I frequently find her stuck up against the bars and in the corner. Maybe she’s like one of those weeping angels on Doctor Who and can only crawl when no one’s watching.

She’s now tall enough to use the Jumperoo without padding underneath, and she’s really getting into the swing of jumping in it and practising her running. She also likes to examine its decorations in great detail.

She now eats solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She eats pear, apple, peach, mango, carrot, sweet potato, potato, swede, beans, and zucchini as well as baby rice.

11 November 2013… Sam is blowing copious amounts of raspberries. She has also figured out how to roll to where she wants to get to. She is also happy to sleep for 11-12 hours overnight, as long as she doesn’t get cold.

12 November 2013… Sam just sat on her own in front of the TV watching the Wiggles for a good minute. I’m a very proud Mumma!

24 November 2013… Sam has been improving her skills. She can sit for a good period of time on her own, and she has figured out how to squirm her way around the place. Between rolling and commando crawling, she can really get places. She seems to always end up at my feet.

Her six month check-up is tomorrow, and she feels so heavy! If she hasn’t doubled her birth weight, she must be rather close.

She seems to like to spend a portion of her day in the Jumperoo, and if we get to the end of the day and she hasn’t been in it, she spends the rest of her awake time jumping on our laps.

We appear to be getting our first tooth. One of the outside incisors seems to be trying to make an appearance, and if this is true, then she is cross-cutting teeth in true Laing style.

29 November 2013… Sam was supposed to have her six month check-up on Monday, but unfortunately the nurse was triple booked. We did get to put her on the scales though, and I am proud to announce that my bubba has doubled her birth weight and weighed in at 7.25kg.

Since Wednesday, Sam has been seriously practising her commando crawling, and now she can actually move with some pretty good pace, especially if she really wants to get somewhere.

Samantha…5th month update

5 October 2013…Today was day six on solids. Today was the first day she gobbled it all down and eagerly awaited each new mouthful, opening her mouth and sucking the puree from the spoon. Today, I was a proud momma. Today she ate one pear puree cube (ice cube size) for lunch, and the same for dinner, plus one tablespoon of baby rice mixed with three tablespoons of breast milk.

In addition to eating solids, Samantha is sitting unsupported by us for short periods of time, although she does lean on her arms. She can roll onto her tummy and back to her back, the latter only under certain circumstances (according to constantly changing rules made up by Samantha). She can lay on her belly supported on her elbows for up to 30 minutes, especially if she’s distracted by the television, and she can push herself up the full length of her arms and hold that position for a few seconds. When she puts her head down, she makes crawling motions with her legs. If she engages her legs a split second before getting her chest back on the ground, she moves forward an inch. This leads onto my next statement, being that she’s commando crawling.

14 October 2013…Last night, Sam did her first 11 hour overnight sleep. I was so proud of her. I thought I’d try cutting out her late feed because she was trying to cut out her 2:30pm feed, and I don’t want her to cut that one for a long time yet. I felt she was trying to tell me that she was ready to cut one of her feeds though, so now she only has four milk feeds (7:00am, 10:45am, 2:30pm, and 5:00pm) and two solid feeds (11:15am and 5:30pm) a day.

She is now eating double portions of baby rice at night, and three cubes of food at lunch. She has now tried pear, apple, carrot and pumpkin. I was doubting how much she was actually eating, as so much ends up everywhere but her mouth, but her poops have changed in texture and smell to solid poops, so I guess more of it is going in than appears to.

She can now sit completely unsupported for a few seconds, particularly if she’s distracted by the TV or the vacuum. When she’s left to her own devises, she constantly works on stretching her vocal chords, rolling and crawling. When she’s with us, she works on her sitting and standing.

 

22 October 2013…The overnight sleeping has been going fairly good. She has been waking up every other night at various times for various issues, and ultimately (after giving medication, water, turning fan on/off or giving a cuddle) wants a feed to resettle. However, she is giving me the distinct impression that she’s not at all hungry, which is one good thing. Hopefully this all settles down over the next couple of weeks.

We’ve ditched the pumpkin for the moment, as it was giving her really bad reflux. However, we have moved on successfully to potato and sweet potato, both of which are definite winners. The vast majority of the food now goes in the mouth instead of down the front. Little greedy guts though finds it hard to stop eating, and will literally eat until she vomits. I guess she got my genes there (not that I eat until I vomit, but I do like to eat until I feel very full).

My weaning book by Gina Ford has arrived, and I now feel like I have somebody holding my hand guiding me as to what to feed my baby. It turns out that she recommends leaving pumpkin until seven months of age, but I didn’t have the book when I tried the pumpkin, with bad consequences. I now look forward to this journey thanks to her guidance, instead of feeling completely bewildered.

Sam is really working on her crawling and desperately wants to follow us, particularly if we leave the room. She is also giggling at me (although I feel sometimes like she’s humouring me). She likes me to growl like I’m a car engine revving, particularly if she starts growling first.

Samantha at four months of age

Tuesday, 3 September 2013 – Today, Sam tried to roll over from her back to her tummy completely unassisted and on the floor. She was trying to look at me as I was sitting behind her, and once she had wiggled around so that she could see me with her head cocked at ninety degrees, she gave up trying to roll over. She also giggled at me for the first time. I’m not sure if she was amused at me sitting down while saying “and”, or if she was gleeful because she was about to be fed, but it felt really good to have it happen. The best thing was that hubby was there to see it. She also started talking to the girl in the mirror in the bathroom for the first time.

Sam has also started exhibiting teething symptoms (pulling ears, chewing hands, drooling, whinging), although I am also aware that some of these are developmental, some are tired signs, and some are signs of ear infections (although she had no trouble lying down to go to sleep). Nurofen works well for pain relief, but we do try and limit its use to desperate times when she appears to be in a lot of pain.

Saturday, 7 September 2013 – Sam officially rolled from her back to her tummy on a flat surface today. She can only do it if she has something in front of her to grab onto to pull herself over, but she’s doing it completely under her own steam, even if she is grabbing our hands to do it. We’re so proud of our little girl. She now spends a good deal of time trying to figure out how to do it when we’re not there. Once she figures out how to roll from her tummy to her back, there’ll be no stopping her.

Tuesday, 10 September 2013 – Sam’s teeth seemed to have settled down for now. No toothy pegs yet, but with the amount of gumming she does on my nipple, I can’t say I’m looking forward to teeth. She’s getting quite obsessed with watching me eat, so I suspect a formal introduction to solids isn’t too far down the track.

Sam is quite able to roll over on the bed (all the way over now...back to front to back again), but she’s still trying to figure out how to roll over from back to front on the floor. She spends hours trying, and she has the most success when she’s angry. She can get her legs and hips over, but can’t move the weight of her head and shoulders over unless she has something to grab onto and pull on. She can’t roll from her front onto her back yet on the floor, except the times when she’s not quite rolled over from back to front properly and loses her balance. She’s trying to work out the mechanics of crawling (or paddling a surf board LOL), and she can now lift her head right up to look at us. It won’t be long now until she won’t stay in the same square metre that I put her down in.

She loves sitting up too, and is starting to play around with standing, both with our support.

With summer coming quickly, I’m now able to put her in all the cute rompers that are available. I’ve discovered that pastel pink looks very wrong on her, but red is totally her colour. I’ve also got a navy Minnie Mouse dress coming, and I suspect that colour will look amazing on her. The American red, white and blue is very much her colours. She fits into 00 (3-6 months) clothes now, and only a few special 000 (0-3 months) clothes still fit.

Wednesday, 11 September 2013 – I am very proud to announce that Sam rolled over from her back to her tummy, on the floor, completely unassisted. The video is of her rolling over a week later.

Samantha rolling to play with monkey.

Saturday, 14 September 2013 – Sam just rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time, and it was so special because Brad got to see it too. I’ll be in trouble the day she puts the two motions together and starts rolling to where she wants to get. Does anyone have any suggestions for playpens?

Sunday, 15 September 2013 – Today Sam started rolling in the cot instead of sleeping, and then when she did sleep (for 10 minutes), it was in a half rolled over position. She has also started a new game of planking when she’s on the change table. She stiffens up from neck to knees and pushes herself up. Quite annoying when you’re trying to do her nappy up.

Wednesday, 18 September 2013 – Sam likes to roll onto her stomach pretty much as soon as you put her down and turn your back. The only problem is that she hasn’t yet rolled back onto her back since Saturday, so she spends a lot of her time yelling encouragement to herself to figure it out.

Friday, 27 September 2013 – Sam met her grandparents (my parents) for the first time this week. She has really enjoyed all the extra attention that this brings, and all the extra toys they bought her. She has been a little grumpier that usual, due to quite a number of things. She’s going through a growth spurt (or a wonder week), a sleep regression (trying to roll), teething, and she’s also been chronically overtired for the last week. All this combined to make a tired baby who was starting to wake in the middle of the night for extra feeds, and a stressed out mum who wasn’t getting any time to herself. At the worst point, we were down to 9 hours sleep in 24 hours, which is 5 hours short of her usual 14 hours, and this happened for three days in a row. Luckily, I decided to unload of my BFF (she’s already had one baby, and her second is only a week behind Sam, so she’s either going through the same thing, about to go through it, or has been through it before), and she had some good ideas for getting things back on track, starting with the 7pm sleep, which had disappeared this week. She’s been feeding at 5:30pm and 6:30pm, with the bath at 6:00pm, but we’ve changed the bath to 5:00pm, and this seems to have made a big difference. Fingers crossed the good sleeping continues.

This month’s favourites

Pram links – Sam loves to feel and hold the links, wear them as bracelets and chew on them.

Bright Start monkey – Sam grabs this toy around the crinkly middle and tries to stuff the whole thing into her mouth. It’s quite comical and she clearly loves the feel of it in her mouth.

Lamaze ladybug – This toy is primarily a teething toy, so it spends a lot of time in her mouth, but she also likes to feel the yellow loops on the side.

Summer sleep suits – This is the perfect outfit for bedtime at the moment. Cool enough for the warm nights, and warm enough for the cool nights with an extra blanket.

Samantha – 3 months old already

Sam is sleeping 8.5 hours at night, from 10:30pm to 7:00am. I love my sleep, and I love that I am able to get a full night’s sleep in one chunk, and at the proper time. I also love walking into the nursery to be greeted by Sam’s adorable smile and excited wiggle as she waits for me to take her into my bed for her morning feed.

Sam weighs 6.1kg and is 60.5cm long. She has put on 2.5kg and grown 10.5cm since birth. She is rapidly growing out of 000 clothing, and I am enjoying buying some 00 clothing, which I also needed to do because the season has changed rapidly here, and I didn’t own much in the way of summer clothing for my little girl.

Sam struggles with gas, mostly farts, and at times I have needed to treat it with gripe water (the non-alcoholic variety). It appears to be a whole heap of oils that have pain relieving properties, and seems to work reasonably well and quickly.

We took Sam to church for the first time when she was 9 weeks old, and we have continued to do so every week since. She behaves fairly well, and if she gets overwhelmed then she just goes to sleep.

Sam is rather ticklish, although she only shows it at this stage by grinning and wiggling, not giggling.

She is quite happy to sit down and play with toys or pram links for about an hour every day. It is really interesting to watch her learning about whatever she’s playing with, even if it’s just her hands. She spends hours watching their movements and linking her fingers together and examining them. She watches me put sanitiser on my hands, and I expect one of these days she will start copying me.

Sam found her thumb this month, and her sleeping and self settling has improved dramatically. She never really took to a dummy – it was a device to be spat out and cried over – but now that she has found her thumb, there is no need for one.

Sam prefers to be carried the majority of the time so that she is facing the world. She wants to see everything and take it all in. She has discovered television, computer and mobile phone screens, and she’s fascinated by them. She has discovered that there’s a little girl in the mirror as well.

Sam practices her chuckling most mornings, although the giggles are at random things at the moment. The first time I heard her giggle, I was trying to put her back to sleep in her pram. The hood was down, and I heard this chuckle from within the pram. Needless to say, all attempts at getting her to sleep were abandoned after that.

Sam has rolled over…once. She rolled from her back to her tummy while she was on our bed. She had been feeding in the middle of the bed, and when I hopped she rolled into the divot where I had been lying. She then spent five minutes wiggling around trying to figure out how to get her arm out from under her body.

Mummy & Baby Favourites 0-3 months

So, for those of you who are new to favourites blogs and vlogs, a favourites post is where you list of all the favourite products you’ve used during a particular time frame, basically as a means of recommending them to other users.

For Mummy

U by Kotex maternity pads – These were the most comfortable maternity pads I tried. They didn’t leak, and they didn’t come apart when they got full. I had the wingless variety.

Avon block colour singlets – These singlets were and are very easy clothes to wear while breastfeeding. They’re comfortable and easy to layer up to suit the changing weather and heat needs, depending on where you are and what you’re doing.

Light blue with white polka dots brunch coat from Target – I use this as a nightie. It has buttons all the way down the front, and is very easy to breastfeed with in the middle of the night.

Samsung Navibot robotic vacuum cleaner – This was my birthday present from my husband this year, and I’d be lost without it. I was never big on vacuuming anyway, which has always been a problem for my husband’s dust mite allergies. However, he has noticed a big improvement since running this clever little machine every day, and the floors always look presentable now. He chose this one, because it maps the room and cleans logically, instead of randomly.

Coles breast pads – I tried both these and the Rite Aid ones, and the Coles are my favourites by far. They last 24 hours easily without breaking apart.

Nursing cover – I am an overly modest person, and I certainly would not be game to nurse in public without my nursing cover, although I’m sure I manage to flash anybody that could be bothered to look.

Hand sanitizer – I have some on my change table and in my nappy bag, and I am so glad this stuff was invented. We use it on our hands every time we change a nappy.

Baby by Smallnest app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch – This app is amazing! Brad and I both have it on our phones and it is synchronised. It keeps track of feeds, sleep and nappy changes. I use to track which side I fed from last, how long the current nap has been going for, how long she’s slept in the last 24 hours, and how many wet nappies we’ve had in 24 hours.

Avon’s Anew Aqua Youth Gel Cream – Avon sent me this as a gift for Mother’s Day, and I didn’t use it initially because I was still pregnant. I started using it a few weeks postpartum because my skin dried out so much, both from the hot water in the twice daily showers I was taking and from the dry air that accompanies winter. I love it because it’s a gel that stays on your skin for a long time, rather than a cream.

For Baby

Newborn stage

Sleeping bags and night gowns – For a winter baby, these outfits are functional and warm, and they make the endless nappy changes easy (particularly important at midnight).

Snappies – These make doing up terry cloth nappies a breeze. They are a “T” shaped piece of stretchy plastic that works similar to a bandage clip.

Cotton On stretchy swaddle and big muslin swaddles – I was given a lot of swaddles, but I found that the little swaddles quickly became too small, especially for my little Houdini. I had three big muslin/cheesecloth swaddles and one Cotton On swaddle and they were big enough to fold down the top to keep escaping hands in and fold the edges under far enough to be tight and secure.

Infant stage (Winter Season)

Sleep suits – Great for night-time sleeping and especially cold weather.

LS Bodysuits – Great for general daytime wearing up to around 21 degrees. The snaps make for easy nappy changes, which are more frequent during the daytime at this stage of life.

Singlet suits – Greatly preferred over normal singlets, because they snap up under the nappy and don’t ride up.

Terry flat nappies – This is such a versatile item! In the beginning, we used them for their original intended purpose as nappies. However, we now use them as burp cloths and spew rags to protect clothing and any surfaces Sam is laying on.

Bibs – Very important to protect Sam’s clothes when she is posseting and dribbling.

Bepanthen – We tried other nappy rash creams, but unfortunately any creams containing zinc oxide make my MCNs leak, as they form a barrier on the nappy as well as the bottom. This is the only cream that we have found that doesn’t contain zinc oxide, and it seems to do a pretty good job too.

Lamaze lady bug teething rattle, Playgro ‘Clip Clop’ donkey, and Bright Stars monkey – Sam’s three favourite toys

Least Favourites

Babylove newborn disposable nappies – These nappies are my least favourite, because they made poo stick to Sam’s bottom.

Baby pants – Such annoying pieces of clothing, particularly with frequent nappy changes.

Rite Aid breast pads – I found these pads didn’t last 24 hours where others would. They came apart fairly quickly.

Singlets – As mentioned before, disliked because they ride up.

Samantha and the next four weeks

Fifth Week (27 June to 3 July)

I received my new Baby Beehinds this week. They are a cloth nappy in the shape of a disposable which you wash and reuse. They come with bamboo inserts that you insert into the pocket to absorb all the liquid. While I’ve had a few pee leaks while they were being broken in, I’ve not yet had a poo leak. I declare them a success.

The local community and family health centre sets up a new mother’s group starting every seven weeks and runs them for six weeks. At the end of the six weeks, the contact details of all the members are distributed to all the members and we then arrange to meet on an independent basis. Samantha went to her first mother’s group this week, and she was a little angel, which is good as my biggest fear was that she would scream the whole time.

Sam started reaching out to touch things, and when she’s put on her tummy she’d do a couple good push ups before getting tired. She also self settlings rather well when she is put down for a nap. She was sleeping 5 hours stints at night after 11:30pm, and was feeding 7 times a day.

Sam and I had our first bath together this week, and I was delighted to discover that babies naturally float.

During the daily nappy free time in the morning this week which Sam spends on the change table, she decided to try out projectile pooing…all over the cream carpet. The stains are still there, because I have not had time to really try and remove them. Unfortunately, the incidents happened two days in a row (and on the second day I also got peed on while cleaning the poo from the carpet). On the first day I attacked the first stain with generic carpet stain remover (the type you spray into the carpet and vacuum out as it turns white), and it did a good job of fading the stain, although it wasn’t removed completely. I feel it would disappear if treated further in this manner, however, the room must be ventilated well for this to happen, which means keeping the baby out and having her entertained elsewhere for a period. I treated the second and first stains with vinegar and warm water, however it really did little to remove the stain.

Sixth Week (4-10 July)

Sammy was immunised this week. The poor little chicken suffered a few side effects as a result. She immediately became very drowsy, despite being overdue for a feed. A few hours later she became inconsolable. The next morning, she got a fever and started vomiting. The only side effect she didn’t get was diarrhoea and a lump.

Seventh Week (11-17 July)

Sam started sleeping through in this week, from 11:30pm to 7:00am. I started to regain my sanity in earnest, and found I could actually get stuff done. She started “talking” to us, copying the noises we make, and making all manner of squeals, grunts and coos. She started smiling in earnest, delighting us with her big grins. When she reached out to touch things, she would sometimes grab hold of them and pull (particularly when it came to Daddy’s chest hair).

Eight Week (18-24 July)

Sam started waking us up between 4:00am and 5:00am, screaming her little lungs out. As she had been struggling with some pretty painful looking nappy rash, I assumed she needed a nappy change, so I would get up, turn on her lamp and go to the toilet. Several times, by the time I got back to her bedside, she’d be fast asleep, so I’d turn off her lamp and go back to bed until 7:00am. However, one morning, Brad was kind enough to offer to do the nappy change as he was getting up to go to work anyway. He pointed out that she was in fact fast asleep during the whole time she was screaming, and actually didn’t wake up until after he finished changing her nappy, at which point she looked terrified and became inconsolable (nothing a little feed didn’t fix). She did this a couple times during the week, during both the night and midday sleeps, and then it stopped as suddenly as it started. Who knows what the reason was…

She also decided that she was too old to be swaddled this week. I had been putting her down for her day sleeps unswaddled, and I forgot to swaddle her one night during the week. I remembered the next night, however she screamed until I removed it, so she has been unswaddled ever since. Because her cot head is higher than foot, I put two rolled up cloth nappies either side of her to stop her squirming sideways down the cot, and then I use another two to make sure her blankets are tucked in snuggly at the sides. I use her swaddles as ground sheets to catch any accidents during the night so that I don’t need to change the sheets.

Samantha is 4 weeks old

First Week (30 May to 5 June)

After spending two nights in hospital, getting really frustrated with the conflicting breastfeeding advise I was getting from the midwives (It shouldn’t hurt at all…It should only hurt for 60 seconds…It must just hurt all the time for you), I brought home a slightly jaundiced and rather sleepy baby. My milk came in that night, and I found out about leaking boobs and engorgement. Samantha found out about feeding too much, posseting, and dealing with belly pains.

Because I went home a day early, I was referred to the home midwife service, where the hospital midwives came to visit me at home to make sure I was coping and bub was putting on weight. Unfortunately at the second visit, it was revealed that bub had lost weight and was dehydrated. After a slap on my wrist and some adjustment to our breastfeeding attachment, we were proudly discharged from the HMS two days later, having put on over 100g in two days.

Sam was very unsettled during this week, and Brad and I had quite a few nights of broken sleep on the couch. We struggled to tell the difference between pain and overtiredness, and we’d end up massively overstimulating an overtired baby, compounding the problem. I felt like we needed a medal or a celebration party when we reached the one week milestone.

Aside from periods of unsettledness, Sam pretty much ate and slept on a 3-4 hour schedule. She exhibited good neck control and figured out how to roll on her side really quickly.

We were always keen to use cloth nappies, in particular modern cloth nappies (MCNs). I had 25 multi-fit MCNs on layby that I was paying off, so we were using terry flat nappies in the meantime. A modern invention called the Snappi Nappy meant that we didn’t have to mess with safety pins. We weren’t using any waterproofing over the nappy at this stage, as the wetting wasn’t that heavy, and the pilchers I had bought were still way to big.

Second Week (6-12 June)

I have always been keen to put Sam into a routine. It’s the type of person I am. I like my sleep and a certain level of predictability in my life. However, I waited until I was discharged from the HMS on day 8 to start with the Week One to Two routine from the book Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall. While I preferred the routines from The New Contended Little Baby book by Gina Ford, I had to wait until Sam regained her birth weight before I could start on the first routine from that book, whereas the SOS routine was for a baby who was yet to regain her birth weight. The routine itself was pretty much the same as the 3-4 hour feeding schedule Sam was already used to, but the routine gave me suggestions and instructions, particularly on how to settle to sleep and teach Sam how to self settle. She has good days and bad days with self settling, but overall it is getting easier.

At 12 days of age, Samantha decided she missed the hospital and wanted to go back for an overnight stay. I was waking her for her 1pm feed, and I was changing her nappy as part of this. She had wet through her nappy and her clothes, so I was also changing her outfit. Basically, she was crying and tried to vomit up something (crazy, as it was 3 hours since her previous feed) and choked on the vomit. She turned purple before my eyes, reminding me of the purple babe that was placed on my stomach after I gave birth to her. I called Brad into the nursery because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and as soon as he saw her colour he told me to call an ambulance. I used my iPhone instead of the landline, but I used the emergency call button and dialled 000, then had it cut out at 1:30 because the iPhone didn’t recognise the number as being a genuine emergency number and thought a thief was trying to run up my bill.

Luckily, by this point Sam was breathing and vomiting again, and the operator had taken my address so the ambulance had already been dispatched. Meanwhile, I called back on the landline and followed all the instructions. Sam was taken to hospital as a precaution. We still don’t know exactly what happened, but we do know that it wasn’t due to a bleed on the brain or an infection. We have been reassured that what happened was supposed to happen or else she would have inhaled the vomit into her lungs. We (Sam and I) spent the night in the nursery of the paediatric ward with the lovely nurses there, and I found out that breastfeeding mothers are afforded certain perks (i.e.. free meals).

We had a visit from the community health nurse (CHN) the next day after we were discharged. At this point, Sam had been weighed three days in a row, and while she was gaining weight slowly, she hadn’t yet regained her birth weight, although she was getting close.

Sam started to change shape this week, particularly in her face, and her hair grew. She was still eating, sleeping and being unsettled – no interaction as yet, although there was a definite excited expression on her face when she was about to be fed.

Third Week (13-19 June)

I was starting to feel like I was getting a handle on things. I could no longer feel my stitches, and I was feeling comfortable with myself and my baby. Just as well, because Brad was going back to work next week. So, I started trying to adjust to life without Brad’s constant support. We also had our first outings this week, going to the doctor to follow up after the hospital visit, going to Centrelink to lodge Samantha’s forms, breastfeeding in the car park after the doctor’s visit and again in Centrelink, and a visit to the CHN clinic.

Samantha was three weeks old when she was officially weighed as being over her birth weight. This meant that I could officially move onto the Contended Little Baby routine, which still followed a 3-4 hour routine, but taught a method of splitting feeds before longer naps to enable the baby to sleep soundly on a full stomach (or that’s the theory anyway).  So you wake the baby, feed the baby, play with the baby, feed the baby, and put the baby down for her nap.

Sam started interacting with us this week, participating in mutual gazing.

Fourth Week (20-26 June)

Just when you think you have a handle on everything, everything changes and your primary support person has to go back to work. Suddenly there’s no one to get my water when I forget to get it before I start breastfeeding, and when the baby is unsettled during the day and won’t nap, there’s no one else to take over trying to comfort her while I take a shower, hang out washing, nap or eat. I managed to get most everything done that I wanted to, but I didn’t have very much in mind. I like to keep on top of the washing, because it’s my addiction and because I have to keep cleaning nappies. I also had to make all the various appointments for six week check-ups with our GP, obstetrician and physio. Anything more than that was a bonus.

I started to put away Sam’s 0000 clothing. She’s turning into quite the chunky monkey. Her hair has also doubled in length since she was born.

Sam started talking to herself this week and trying to talk to us. She looks so intently like she’s got something to tell us, but she can’t yet find the words or noises to communicate with us. She also seems to be obsessed with blue objects and will gaze at them for minutes at a time while talking avidly to them. She also has a lot more neck control and can lift her head up to look at you when you hold her chest to chest.