Here is a picture of Emberly with my midwife, Susan Akins. I believe Susan said marie was her middle name, too, so that adds even more significance to Emberly's middle name. Susan said that she was talking about Emberly to another patient just the other day when someone asked how big was too big in terms of baby size. She used Emberly as an example of how you just never know what size you are capable of birthing.
I am healthy and right back on track. I lost all my pregnancy weight after just a few weeks and have been holding steady at 150 ever since. I guess my body likes that weight, although I know there is still a lot of flab I could stand to lose around my mid-section. I'm not too worried about it, though. I don't have time to get out and jog the neighborhood these days. And there are a few sets of clothes I fit into just right.
Did I mention I love my midwife? She has decades of experience and a personality that really puts me at ease. After all that pregnancy care provider fiasco, I am so happy with who finally ended up with us in the delivery room. I feel like I can ask her anything without making her defensive or suspicious, and I trust her implicitly to expertly handle any crisis the way I would want her to. You really need that kind of trust in order to relax and properly work with your laboring body, so I am so glad events turned out as they did.
Emberly is sleeping well. She often has a very fussy period in the late evening until she falls asleep about 10:30 or 11pm. Then she sleeps pretty well, only waking up to eat, until about 8 or 9 am. The longest she has slept straight is 6 hours, which was a few nights ago. But since she doesn't wake up in such a dramatic or extended way in the night, it isn't that bad. I have her moses basket by the side of the bed and just lean over and stick a bottle in her mouth for a few minutes when I start to hear her stir. I don't even have to wake up all the way except for once a night when I get up to pump.
She is also eating better. At the beginning, she would only latch on for a few seconds and then cry and pull away when my let down started to choke her. And then she was so worked up, she wouldn't latch on again. I learned from la leche league that this led to Emberly drinking more formilk and not so much hindmilk, which in turn lead her to be fussy and have a lot of gas and green stool. To fix this, I pump the first minute or so of letdown (until it stops spraying spontaneously), and then I let Emberly latch on. She still pulls away several times at each feeding, but she is willing to go back, and it doesn't spray all over her when she pulls away. It is a complicated process that involves a impatient baby, a bouncy seat, a boppy, a bath towel and a complete lack of modesty on my part, but she is nursing for 3 or 4 minutes at a time now instead of 30 seconds (and her digestive system is much happier too).
I end up throwing away about six ounces of foremilk a day, which doesn't seem like too much in the over production department. Hopefully when Emberly has her next growth spurt, I will also have a reduction in my letdown. Perhaps that extra production will just mean I won't have to nurse as often to get my milk supply up for the next level of demand for a bigger baby. It might also mean that the nursing process will be simple enough that I can discreetly do it in public. For now, it is an at-home only event. These days, I either pump and bottle feed on the road or just make very short trips.
