Morning Day 4

Well last night was kind of rough between the sore nipples and the screaming unsatisfied Emma we had some stressful times. That said we handled it as a family and while it was somewhat emotional everything is OK because we know that we will get though this process together. The biggest stressor is simply not knowing for certain that we are doing the right thing for Emma's health.

Twice yesterday we turned to supplements to fill Emma's hunger. We did not want to do this but it became clear that she wasn't getting enough during her regular feedings and of course we want her to have her needs fulfilled. The first time was yesterday evening and she only had about 5ml, and then early this morning she eat about 18 ml. This afternoon we are going to visits the lactation consultant again and get some gear to allow us to supplement while breast feeding so we don't confuse Emma about where her food comes from. In more successful news Jen just finished pumping and we saw some milk coming out so things are progressing we just need to be patient.

Also we discovered that Emma likes Avent style pacifiers yesterday evening. We tried pacifiers while she was fussing hopping one might settle her down. We started going through our pacifier collection, and the Avent was the first one that she did not spit out. This happens to be the favorite brand for her cousin Conor when he was a baby so they must be popular, at least in this family. We still have some concern about the nipple confusion thing but Emma is a barracuda breast feeder so we think that it is worth the risk to let her have the pacifier sometimes when she is fussing.

Bodie continues to try and sneak his big nose in Emma's business. So far it is only curious prodding and we just keep redirecting him. Sassy of course is still holding down the dog bed most of the time. We have no complaints about the dogs adapting to the baby. In fact everyone once in a while we catch Emma scoping them out, we think she will be a dog person.

For Emma Updates she is opening her eyes and looking around a lot more. The remnant of her umbilical cord is going fast and we hope it will be gone soon. I thought it would take longer but hers is really going fast so I think she will be done with that soon, which would be nice because the alcohol wipes we have to use to clean the cord site irritate her skin a little bit and it'd be nice to be able to stop doing using them.

Last night's diner from Sister Callahan was great and we really thank her and Sister Wendzel for taking care of us. This really allows us to work on Emma and not worry about some other things. I know I said this last time but it really is great to have the support that we have both the family and the the church. We might be able to make it without them, but we have no idea how we would do it.

Jen will be adding to the blog soon. She was going to do this post, but the circumstances got the better of her and between grabbing naps and feedings it just wasn't practical yet. She will start though as soon as we have a better routine established.

OK I am going to get on the treadmill for the first time in a week and try to work off some of Sister Smith's cake :-)

JWR