Still alive at 4 weeks

I'm happy to report that I think I have lost all feeling in my nipples and breast feeding is a lot less painful. I say that until she starts teething. I started pumping this week, purely for relief. The days she doesn't sleep well, she eats more often because she is awake more often. Then the following day my supply is a bit overwhelming and it's pretty painful. 

We are struggling a lot with sleep. She will sleep for 10-15 minutes and then wake herself up.  I am trying the 5's from Happiest Baby on the Block but really she just wants to be held while she sleeps.   The good thing is my parents have been here since Sunday and they are more than willing to hold her non-stop. I am working on my swaddle technique, I will never be nurse level but it's improving. Wednesday was really tough and I think she got over tired, along with being a little constipated, because she slept like a champ almost all day Thursday. We had been having periods of awake time but Thursday she slept the day away, including a 3-4.5-4.5 night, which means we all handle it a bit better. I have also apparently become a Penguins hockey fan since she was born. With her schedule it works really well to bathe her before the game and then nurse and hold her while she sleeps through the game. After the game it's feeding and diaper change, then off to bed. I almost made it through to the second overtime last night but fell asleep during the break.  I am probably doing several things the baby books would tell you not to but she is only 4 weeks old. She needs sleep, I need sleep. We can fix bad habits later.

She is growing like a weed. I keep forgetting to get a weight at bath time (I'm more worried about not taking my eyes off her so she doesn't drown). She doesn't fit in most of her newborn clothes now. Part of that is her diaper. She is finally big enough to use her reusable diapers. How hippy, I know. That's actually the husband. I'm actually very allergic to plastic and my parents couldn't use disposable diapers on me. Fortunately I don't seem to have passed on that allergy so we can still use them while we are out and about. It's easy now with breast feeding poop and I know that will change once we get to solids.

The other great part of my parents being here is they are cooking all my favorite foods and brought me good tortillas. Enchiladas and tamales for breakfast only seem normal if you are from New Mexico but i am loving it. 

We have made it to oyster happy hour at Hanks twice. The timing (her naps and at the bar) of course helps but she is also a champ about sleeping through the noise and going back to sleep after feeding. It's nice to have those adult moments. And to eat oysters again. 

I also finally got to see my scar from the c section. It's not as bad as I thought. It was covered in bloody glue so it looked a lot worse initially. All the glue came off (or I picked the last few pieces off) so I had my first fully normal shower. Minus the numbness. Speaking of showers, I managed to shower 6 out of the last 7days. That's nothing short of a miracle. The first week I felt successful if I remembered to brush my teeth once a day. Then it was remembering twice a day. Now I'm almost a full functioning adult. Funny what becomes the priority.