Preston at one month old! 

Preston update

I’ve had a bit of a weird few days – the plunket lady came over and was freaked out by an unusual looking rash Preston had (everyone at coffee group said it was just a hormone rash their babies had too). But she ‘didn’t feel it was her place to advise me what to do’ so that was unhelpful. In the end I mixed some acidophilus powder with some breastmilk and it was all gone by the morning (otherwise I was off to the doctor).

Preston also lost weight this week, which she was also worried about, but couldn’t tell me what to do about it either. Sigh. So she left me feeling all worried that I was doing things wrong – the only thing she told me was to go to the plunket drop in day on Wednesday and get him weighed again to see if he has gained anything this week. I’ve been feeding like crazy hoping to get him meeting their growth and development chart…not that it probably matters anyway since surely it is just a guide. He seems totally fine which is the main thing, so hopefully its just a small blip and I’ve been worried for nothing.

Other than that, Preston now smiles and occasionally giggles at us which is really cute :) He is really interested in studying faces and spends a long time just looking at us.

This week we are off to Dunedin, Christchurch and Napier to show him off around the country, so wish us luck for our long flights with a 6 week old baby....

Photo Gallery

I just sent off a whole lot of cute Preston photos to be printed and the online place (www.frogprints.co.nz) kindly offer a free online photo gallery so I thought I would post it here for anyone that wants to see more pictures (click to enlarge the pictures). http://www.frogprints.co.nz//share/index.cfm?sharekey=ahkiqoinhp I think you can even buy any of them if you want!

Here is our 4 week old cutie! He has started to become more fascinated by his toys and stares at them for ages. 

Preston likes to snooze in the beanbag. And what groovy pants! 

I got all adventurous and made this wedding cake for a friend of Dan's. It's so pretty!! 

Who's a proud daddy?? 

We have an activity mat that Preston seems to like. It is bright with animals, and has a series of hanging animal toys that make a noise when he kicks them.  

"Excellent..." 

A story about sore boobs

This post is about boobs, so if you don't want to hear about my sore boobs, then don't read on! I am writing this purely for those readers who are pregnant and are interested in practical advice on what to expect...

Breastfeeding has been going really well, and I am so pleased that I can breastfeed Preston. He is a very...let's say...vigorous feeder and right from the start I managed to have rather damaged nipples which required attention. When the milk properly comes in, breasts turn to rock and it is difficult for the baby to latch on properly, so you get lots of ouchys. I've just about healed now, and it was time this week to try using my breast pump to express some milk. This is recommended so that the baby gets used to drinking occasionally from a bottle, and being fed by someone else so I don't always have to be there.

So I spent a while the other day in between feeding times pumping away, but since Preston is so hungry, I managed to get only about 80ml that was left (I was aiming for about 100ml). Breast pumps are curious devices if you have never seen one, and basically it creates a manual vacuum sort of system which sucks out the milk. Imagine having a vacuum cleaner on your breast - it is a weird sort of pain! Anyway, it was an interesting experience, rather time consuming though. But after I was done, I was in quite a lot of pain. The vacuuming had kind of 'bruised' me and I had ouchy pain radiating up my shoulders and even down to my toes. That night and the next day's feeds were so amazingly painful I was just about crying from pain. It is not very fun trying to feed a baby when you are so scared of him latching on (it's like a super powerful vacuum) and anticipating the pain.

The other problem is that breast milk is created on a supply/demand system, and as the demand increases, supply increases about 24 hours later. So my pumping told my brain that more milk was needed, so the next day (while I am in extreme pain) I have an enormous amount of milk produced. So I have really hard engorged breasts that REALLY hurt, but the only way to make it better is to feed and drain it all, even though that is the hardest thing to do. I took a hot bath to try to relieve some pain, but heat makes the milk flow, so I had milk pouring out everywhere. Hmmm. Luckily today I feel lots better, and I'm giving the pumping a miss for a while.

Incidentally, Dan got to feed Preston my expressed milk in a bottle, and he didn't seem to mind at all. So that is great that he's not fussy! Hopefully when we try it again it will still be ok.

Looking a bit startled (probably sick of all the photos!), but he doesn't really look like he's only a few days old! 

Mummy and baby.  

Here is a shot of the cute Pirate suit Preston wore for Christmas :) He was the cutest baby at the party! 

Preston and I at Christmas. 

Here is Mr Cutiepie! 

What a cutie!! We love Preston so much :) Today has been a very busy day though, with our coffee group this morning at our place - it was so cool to have all the babies born so far hang out together! Then Dan's family were here for the rest of the day/night, and by the end of it all Preston and I were both a bit tantrumy so I'm hoping for a good sleep since we are both very tired. His feeding quantity has increased by double or triple today so I'm guessing he's having a big growth spurt. My milk must be yummy. At least the longer feeds are mostly equalled with a longer sleep too. And my Pam Anderson breasts are getting a bit better now - yesterday when my milk properly came in, they were ENORMOUS and rock hard - I really wished I had somewhere exciting I needed to go that required the most revealing top ever to be worn (or even just taken a photo!), but it's also very painful. Today is much better now that they are starting to deflate :) Well time for bed now. Tomorrow Preston will be 1 week old! 

It's bath time!!! Bathing is Dan's job (since I get other exclusive jobs), and look - we're getting the hang of it and it's FUN! 

A nice shot of his face for you - I will try to get an awake shot as a comparison - he is so cute :) 

So peaceful and asleep.....he has to wear mittens since he has such long fingernails and I don't want him to scratch himself. 

Here is my cutie pie - can't believe we made him! (and that I squeezed him out of me)