Week 2

Hm... I'm going to have to come up with better titles for these entries, but until then, you're going to be stuck with my generic titles!

So Callan is now 2 weeks old. It's crazy to think how fast this has gone by, but at the same time labor and delivery 2 weeks ago seems like it was forever and a day ago.

Nana and Papa left last Saturday to go back home to Boston. It was a tearful good bye (well, for nana at least, Callan didn't seem too distressed), but we will see them again soon when we go out to visit in June. We also had a lactation consultant come out to see if we could get Callan to latch better and eat a bit more comfortably (for me). Unfortunately for me Callan seems to have a veracious appetite and a super strong suck, but not a good latch. We had a great appointment and we were all optimistic about things improving. Unfortunately, after a few days of progress things seemed to deteriorate and I wasn't able to take it anymore. Callan was getting more and more frustrated during nursing and my poor nips were being torn up. The pain and stress of nursing was starting to take it's toll and I decided we had to change the situation. Fortunately I don't have a supply problem so Callan can still get breast milk, but we've decided for the time being while I heal and try to recover that he will be getting it from a bottle rather than directly from the source. I'm trying not to beat myself up over this, but a bit of mother's guilt has already kicked in and at times I wonder if I gave up too easily. I say that we will try it again and maybe once he's a bit older and his mouth is a little bigger, it might be easier. I try to justify it by thinking that he was going to eventually get a bottle anyway as I will be returning to work after my leave is over and he's still getting breast milk, but I still wonder if I should have just tried to work through all the issues. The nice part of giving a bottle is that Huge is able to do some of the feedings and I think he's enjoying that time with Callan.

We had another doctor's appointment this week and Callan has regained the weight he lost and is now just above his birth weight (8 lbs 5 oz). I attribute the gain to the bottle feeding as he seems much happier and more content after meals than he did before. Now the only problem is that I think he wants to eat all the time! He likes to suck on his hands and pacifier and I worry that we give him a bottle instead of just letting him suck to soothe himself. We are still working out the kinks and trying to read the cues, but it's still a learning process for both of us. The past few days Callan has wanted to be snuggled almost continuously, which is fun, but does not make for a very productive day!

Callan also had his first dinner out this week. Huge and I took him with us when we went out to dinner at the Xmarx pop up. He was totally well behaved and slept like a champ throughout dinner. The nice thing about Callan having a bottle is that we can time his feedings and sleep times a bit easier than when he was nursing. We also took him out to lunch, but that didn't work out quite as well as dinner did since he wanted to be held the whole time.

Lastly, our friends Shelby and Mike had their baby boy, Luke, and we can't wait to meet him. Additionally, our good friends Lauren and Ted welcomed the arrival of their son Michael on Monday and we can not be happier for them. So lots of little boys being born and I'm looking forward to watching them all grow up together.