1 Month Post-Partum: Baby Edition

I tried to post an update a lot sooner and I have changed the title of this post a few times but I actually think I am going to finish the update this time...

So Cooper is now 1 month old. He turned 1 month old on November 17, 2014. It seems like the time is passing by so fast. Overall, he is doing great. He is sleeping and eating pretty good and becoming more alert and aware of his surroundings each day.

Weight:

The main concern with Cooper over the first month has been his weight. Cooper was 6 lbs 13 ounces when he was born and dropped to 6 lbs 4 ounces by the time we left the hospital two days later. This was within the 10% weight decrease so it wasn't a concern at that time. However, he continued to lose a bit of weight after we left the hospital. When the midwife came to visit us at home 4 days after he was born, he dropped a bit more and only weighed 6 lbs.

At this point, he had lost about 12% of his body weight which is past the acceptable amount of 10%. It seems that he was losing weight because I was trying to breastfeed and my milk had not come in yet or it was extremely low. Therefore, the midwifery student suggested that I start taking Fenugreek which is a herbal supplement to increase milk supply. Mitch went out that day and bought some and I started taking it right away. The midwifery student recommended that I take 16 pills a day which seemed like way too much since the bottle says only to take 6 capsules a day. I started taking the 6 capsules a day and I think it was working but I found it dehydrated me so much so I cut down especially after my milk came in 6 days postpartum.

Cooper continued to gain weight slowly throughout the 1st month. He made it back to his birth weight at 3 weeks. The midwife gives 3 weeks for a baby to reach its birth weight but most doctors like to see babies at their birth weight within 10 days which is very tricky if you are breastfeeding and there is a delay with your milk coming in. This is why a lot of doctors are quick to suggest supplementing with formula which is something I didn't want to do. Instead I started to pump and supplement with the pumped milk after feedings and I also think pumping really increased my milk supply and he eventually started getting more at each feeding.

At our last doctors visit which was on November 14, 2014, Cooper weighed 7 lbs 4 ounces but I suspect he has gained a few ounces since then.

Circumcision:

In the Jewish religion, the bloodline follows the mother so since I am not Jewish, Cooper is not considered to be Jewish and therefore we couldn't have a Briss but he was circumcised at around 3 weeks. I know that this is a controversial decision these days but for our family it was the right thing to do so please don't judge. I already heard an earful from the midwifery student in this regard, which I was really annoyed about. 

The procedure was preformed in the office of a very well known and recommended paediatrician. In fact, I really like this doctor and wish that he was Cooper's regular paediatrician but he is located across the city. I am still trying to convince Mitch to switch doctors. 

Anyway, during the procedure, Mitch and I were both in the room. They gave Cooper a local anaesthetic and we also gave him brown sugar water during the procedure. He was fussy when they were first preparing him for the procedure but he was really calm during the actual procedure and he really seemed to like the sugar water. Overall, the procedure went smoothly. We went back to see the doctor who preformed the circumcision a couple times for follow-up visits just to ensure it healed ok, which it did. We did have to apply polysporin to the area for about 2 weeks afterwards at each diaper change to keep it from getting infected.

Breastfeeding:

Even before Cooper was born, I intended to breastfeed Cooper for at least the first year. I researched it a lot and there are so many benefits for both the baby and mother so it was really important that I breastfed. However, breastfeeding was SO much harder than I thought it would be. As I mentioned previously, my milk didn't come in until 6 days postpartum which made it hard. I also had to deal with a bad latch which meant cracked bleeding nipples and I think I also had thrush at about 2 weeks postpartum which made breastfeeding even more painful than it was already. I have to admit that there were a couple times that I asked Mitch to go to the store to buy formula out of complete frustration but luckily he knew how important it was for me to stick to exclusively breastfeeding and he didn't buy it. 

As I mentioned above, I had a great support team which is essential if you are serious about breastfeeding. This support team consisted of my husband, my sister, and my midwives. Mitch was there to encourage me on a daily basis, my midwives also encouraged me and helped improve Cooper's latch, and my sister breastfed my niece for a couple of years so she had experience. One of the main things that got me through the difficult first couple of weeks was that my sister told me the first 3 weeks were the hardest and if you can get through those 3 weeks, you can breastfeed as long as you desired. Through every difficult feeding I kept this in my mind and tried to just get through that feeding and it really did get a ton easier at the 3 week mark. His latch improved a lot by 3 weeks and my milk supply was also up. Something really just clicked for us at the 3 week mark. So for anyone that is struggling, just stick it out for at least 3 weeks and it will get a ton easier! 

Right now Cooper is feeding like a champ. When he was first born his feedings were about 20-25 minutes per side so about 45-50 minutes long in total. The paediatrician thought this was too long and said they should be about 12-15 minutes long per side. In the last week or so his feedings became a lot shorter and now they are about 12-15 minutes per side and he feeds every 3 hours or so during the day and he can go 4 hours between feedings at night. I think he has become a much more efficient eater in the last few weeks so he is able to get enough milk in a shorter amount of time. 

Overall, breastfeeding is becoming second nature and I am so glad that I stuck to it. I hope to breastfeed for at least the first year and to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. At 6 months I plan to start "baby led weaning" which I will discuss in more detail in a future post.

Sleep:

Cooper has been a pretty good sleeper since he was born. He always slept 3-4 hours and sometimes there would even be a 5 hour stretch. There have been about 3-4 days in the last month where he was fussy and wouldn't nap throughout the whole day. Yesterday being one of them. He was up from 7 am until 3:15pm where he barely slept. During this time he would dose off for about 5-10 minutes and then wake up. He seemed a bit gassy so I am not sure if it was something I ate but he slept pretty well at night. 

So far he has been sleeping in his bassinet beside our bed and sometimes taking naps in his swing or bouncy chair but I try not to leave him in those things for too long. The last couple of days he has napped pretty well laying on my chest which is fine with me. I will cherish newborn snuggles for as long as I can. 

We don't really have a schedule yet but he usually sleeps for 3-4 hours, feeds, gets his diaper changed, is up for another hour (we bath, sing songs, tummy time etc.) and then goes back to sleep. I would say on average he is up for 2-3 hours in between his naps. During the night, I have been able to get him back to sleep within an hour which is nice.

Our new trick to get him to sleep is playing ocean waves on YouTube. For some reason he seems to love it. 

I plan to keep him sleeping in his bassinet for 4-6 months (depending on when he grows out of it) and then putting him in his crib. However, I may start him napping in his crib soon and see how that goes. Overall, I can't complain about his sleep schedule. I think he is a pretty good sleeper.

Baby wearing:

So in theory I am a big fan of baby wearing and I intended to baby wear a lot more than I have. Before Cooper was born, I bought two different carriers. I got the moby wrap and the Ergo with the infant insert. However, in the first few weeks, we both didn't like these carriers so I didn't wear him as much as I thought I would. 

We both weren't big fans of the moby wrap at first but it is starting to grow on us. I found it very complicated to wrap and he didn't find it comfortable but now I am getting used to wrapping it and since he is getting better at holding his head up, he is finding it more comfortable.  

As for the Ergo, I find it hard to clip the shoulder straps together at the back but he does fall asleep pretty fast in it. However, he wakes up so easily if I try and transfer him. I personally don't find the Ergo that comfortable to wear. 

I bought a ring sling a couple days ago and tried it once so far. He didn't like it but I am not sure if I had him in correctly. I really want to try the Mei Tei carrier and see how I like that one. I really want to baby wear more often so hopefully I find a carrier that we both like. 

Cloth Diapers:

Early on in my pregnancy I learned about cloth diapers and decided then that I wanted to try it out. I wanted to try it out both for the environmental reasons and also because I thought it was healthier for my baby not to be exposed to the harmful chemicals in disposable diapers. Plus it saves a lot of money depending on what type you use. 

We currently use prefolds. I have about 30 bummis prefolds and I have about 5 covers.  I will do a separate blog post and discuss our stash in more detail but so far we both like cloth diapering. Mitch was unsure about it when I first mentioned it, but he finds it easier than he thought it would be. At first I wanted to cloth diaper from birth but we didn't start using our cloth diapers until he was 3 weeks old. I have enough diapers to last 2-3 days without washing. I do find that it is hard to get the stains out of the prefolds. I have heard that leaving them in the sun to dry gets out the stains but that is hard to do in the winter. I will try and leave them near a window in the sun if we get a sunny day soon and see if that works. If any of you have any other tricks to get the stains out of prefolds, please let me know. 

Now that Cooper is getting bigger, I plan to try our AIO applecheeks diapers. As I said above, I will try and do a blog post on our stash and I will also include a review of the various brands we tried. 

Babysitting:

So far I have left Mitch alone with Cooper a couple times while I went to yoga/the gym but I haven't left him alone with anyone else. I think I will feel more comfortable leaving him with other family members once he is a few months old. I am still not sure what we will do for daycare once I go back to work, but we have a while to think about that. 

Coopers likes/dislikes:

Likes:

• breastfeeding
• bouncing
• being sung to
• sleeping on mama's chest
• pacifier

Dislikes:

• getting his diaper changed
• bath time

Here are some pictures of Cooper during his first month:

 

Labour and Delivery Story - Welcome to the world COOPER JACK SPIEGELMAN

We are so excited to announce that Cooper Jack Spiegelman made his arrival! He was so excited to meet his mommy and daddy that he decided to come almost 2 weeks early! Cooper Jack Spiegelman was born at 7:06 pm on October 17, 2014, weighing 6 lbs 13 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long. He is healthy, happy and of course adorable!

Here is my labour and delivery story :

When I first woke up on October 16, 2014, I had mild cramping similar to period cramps. This cramping was mild and basically only lasted during the time I was getting ready for work. Since the cramping was so mild and didn't last long, I didn't think much of it. I went to work as usual that day.

I ended up going into labor in the afternoon of October 16, 2014. I was at work at the time when I first felt some minor contractions. At first I did not realize that they were contractions. At this point they were very irregular and like 45 min apart. I only remember having 2-3 contractions while I was at work but then I got two stronger contractions on the bus ride home from work. These contractions were about 20 minutes apart.

When I got home, I told Mitch that I thought I was having contractions but that they were very far apart. He was really surprised since we were not expecting him to arrive for another couple of weeks. At this point the contractions were short and not really painful at all so we decided to go ahead and make or home-made pizzas for dinner. Throughout the evening the contractions started getting a bit closer together so we started timing them around 7 pm or so. At this point they were ranging from 15-20 minutes apart. It was discussed with my midwife previously that we wouldn't need to page her until they were about 4-5 minutes apart.

I continued to labour throughout the night. The contractions got closer together, around 7-10 minutes apart but still somewhat irregular. Throughout the night I couldn't really sleep since the contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I spent a lot of time labouring standing leaning over the counter in my en-suite bathroom and also sitting on my birthing ball leaning over stacked up pillows on my bed. These were the most comfortable positions by far. Below are a couple of pictures I took at about 1 am while I was in labor...

My contractions continued to get closer together and a bit longer in length. I ended up calling my midwife around 6am on October 17, 2014. At this point the contractions had been 6-7 minutes apart continuously for about an hour. I decided to call her at this point because I was pretty sure that he was still breech and I wasn't sure if we needed to get to the hospital a bit earlier because of this. 

After explaining everything to my midwife, she thought I was either in false labour or still in early labor. She suggested that I take a warm bath to see if the contractions would go away. She also suggested that I take a couple Tylenol and Gravel in order to relax and get some rest. She explained that if I was in early labour, I would need all my energy for the later stages of labor. I got into a warm bath but it only made my contractions stronger and closer together. They went from 6-7 minutes apart down to 5 minutes apart. I then decided to try and get some rest as suggested. When I rested in bed, the contractions slowed right down to 20 minutes apart but they were much stronger and way more uncomfortable. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours (but woke up during each contraction) and got up around 10am. 

During this time I kept in contact with my midwife over the phone and through text. She explained that there was supposed to be a doctor on call at the hospital who is familiar with delivering breech babies vaginally later in the afternoon. We discussed the options and she pointed out that if I was leaning towards getting a C-section, I should go to the hospital sooner rather than later since there was no point in being in pain for longer than necessary. 

At this point I was still hoping to have a vaginal breech delivery. I wanted to go to the hospital and get an ultrasound to first see if he was still breech, and if so, if he met the criteria for proceeding with a vaginal breech delivery. I ended up arriving at the hospital around 4 pm and my midwife (along with the midwifery student) was already there. I had an assessment done and at this point I was 5-6 cm dilated. Then they proceeded with an ultrasound and he was still breech. 

The resident doctor went over the pros and cons of breech vaginal delivery as well as the pros and cons for a C-section. While a C-section has more risks for the mother, there are definitely more risks for the baby if I was to proceed with the vaginal breech delivery. After discussing it again with my midwife and with my husband, I decided to proceed with a C-section. I was really upset over this. I really wanted a natural birth but in the end I knew it was way more important for the baby to be born healthy. 

My mom and sister came to the hospital and they were able to come in the assessment room briefly before I was prepped for the C-section. Then they started prepping me for the C-section around 6:15. I got a "spinal" in order to freeze the lower portion of my body. For those of you who are not familiar with "spinals" it is similar to an epidural except the needle just goes in and is taken out right away. Whereas with an epidural, I think a tube is inserted in your back.

The spinal worked well and I didn't feel any pain during the surgery but I did feel a lot of pressure. Overall, I think the surgery itself went well. Mitch, my midwives, and a bunch of doctors and nurses were all present during the surgery. Mitch and I just chatted during the whole surgery. He was allowed to stand and watch the baby being born and he was also able to cut the umbilical cord. It is now a standard procedure at the hospital to do "delayed cord clamping" so I was happy that we were able to do that as well. I was also able to do skin-to-skin right after he was delivered and until I was brought into the recovery room. 

In the recovery room he was weighed and I was able to start breastfeeding. The midwives were great about helping me breastfeed during this crucial time period. My mom and sister had been waiting in the waiting room during the surgery so they came into the recovery room to meet baby Cooper. I am not sure how long I was actually in the recovery room but it didn't seem like that long. Afterwards, I was wheeled into Mother-Baby unit where I would be staying for the next few days.

My mom and sister stayed and visited a bit longer and Mitch's sister also stopped by later that evening to visit as well. At this point I was on cloud nine and couldn't believe that he was actually here and I was a mom. 

During the night, the medication from my "spinal" wore off and I became quite itchy and uncomfortable. The hospital gave me Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 4 hours to manage the pain but I was still in excruciating pain if I moved at all. I was also extremely uncomfortable in the hospital bed with the extremely thin pillows. Lets just say, I got NO sleep due to the pain and being so uncomfortable and I had already been up for almost 40 hours.

The next day we had a lot of visitors. My sister, dad, my friend Angie, my sister-in-law and her family as well as my mom all stopped by. While I appreciated all the visitors and I wanted to show Cooper off to everyone, it was quite exhausting. 

We spent a total of two nights in the hospital and the 2nd night I had a bit of a meltdown. Overall, I really didn't like the night nurses at the hospital. I found them to be be very unfriendly and unhelpful. During the 2nd night, I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, I was in excruciating pain from the C-section and suffering from heartburn. I asked the nurse for Tums and extra pillows and she said NO. She said she couldn't give me Tums because it wasn't one of  my listed prescriptions. She explained she would need to get it prescribed by the doctor who of course was not working at 2 am and she said that I already had enough pillows...To me this was absolutely ridiculous. She was able to give me narcotics but not TUMS??? So stupid. I know it is probably hospital policy but it is still illogical and completely annoying. Mitch offered to go out and get me some at a drugstore but that meant we would have to pay for parking again so we didn't bother.

Another thing I hated about being in the hospital is their feeding & sleeping policies. I am breastfeeding "on demand" and this didn't really fit with their 3 hour feeding policy. I also hated the fact that they wanted my baby to sleep in a hard plastic bin which they called a bassinet. Cooper was not sleeping well at all when we placed him in there so we slept with him snuggling in my arms. I was told that this was not allowed in the hospital so Mitch and I took turns staying awake while he slept in our arms. 

My midwife called to check in the next day and thank goodness my midwife was such a good advocate for us while I was in the hospital. I explained what had happened the night before and how I really wanted to be discharged from the hospital and she was able to get the newborn screening and hearing test done that day (which was a day early) so we could be discharged later that day.

They did the hearing test on Cooper that morning and I was just about heart broken when he failed the first test. It was then explained that when babies are born via C-section, they tend to have a lot of mucous in their ears which is probably why he didn't pass. They did a 2nd test which was more sensitive and he passed with flying colours which was a huge relief. They also did the newborn screening test which is a blood test that tests for about 30 diseases. This test is sent to CHEO and we won't get the results back from this test for about 3 weeks. Fingers crossed that everything turns out fine.

We were hoping to be discharged around 7pm that evening but we had to wait for the OB to come and look at my incision and make sure that I was ready to be discharged. It turns out that there was only 1 OB on call that day and she was busy with deliveries and other patients so we ended up waiting until midnight in order to be seen by a doctor and get discharged which again, was frustrating.

Overall, I am so overjoyed that Cooper arrived healthy and happy. There is truly nothing more important than that. However, I am still not happy with how my labour and delivery went. While I don't regret getting a C-section under these circumstances, I still feel like it robbed me a bit of the whole birth experience. The first few days I was in so much pain from the C-section, I couldn't just enjoy my new baby. I feel like my delivery and hospital stay was merely a medical procedure rather than welcoming a new person into this world. You are treated like just a number by most of the staff (however there was 1 amazing day nurse that was so helpful and kind) which makes me want to avoid a C-section and a hospital delivery if at all possible in the future. I definitely think I will be leaning towards giving birth at the new birthing centre in the future.

Weigh in at delivery: 139lbs 
Total pregnancy weight gain: 12 lbs