ONE MONTH OLD TODAY!

Sorry I have been missing for so long, this mummy business is very time consuming! I love it though! As the blog title states, Cohen is one month old today and despite my fears of not knowing what to do with a baby we seem to have survived our first month together in one piece. It is all still a learning experience for the two of us though, sometimes I seem to get it right and other times I'll be awake for hours in the middle of the night wondering where I've gone wrong or what I'm supposed to be doing with this screaming baby! Luckily these nights seem to be few and far between and generally he's a pretty content little man and a great sleeper (once asleep!). I do wonder if I am making some trouble for myself though as at a month old I am still allowing him to fall asleep in my arms (generally he'll fall asleep towards the end of a bottle or just after) and not putting him to bed to self settle himself. Is this going to cause me problems later or is he still too young at this point for it to become a problem? Otherwise we are just learning as we go and sometimes that means crying together! 

BREASTFEEDING UPDATE

Thank you all for your comments, suggestions and support on my last blog post. It has been a real eye opener to read and hear about others who have been through the same thing as I have when it comes to breastfeeding and kudos to those who go through it and persevere! It really isn't easy! After having a visit from a lactation consultant who observed that Cohen has a tendency to be a lazy sucker on the boob and hard to latch, I tried a few times independently (with mixed results) before deciding that breastfeeding isn't for me. What should have been an enjoyable bonding time between my son and I was turning into a time of anxiety (me) and impatience and stress (him) so I have decided to continue exclusively pumping and bottle feeding expressed breast milk to him with the occasional bottle of formula thrown in as a top up (rather than waste precious breast milk if he is still fussy after guzzling down 60-100ml of breast milk, I give him 50ml of formula and that way if he only drinks 10ml or decides he's not hungry after all than I am not wasting the good stuff). This is working really well for me and I only have to express three times a day and not at all during the night in order to get enough to last us through. He has gained 400gms in 9 days so clearly I am doing something right! He is a little piglet and I am finding that I am still bonding brilliantly with him regardless of the fact that I am bottle feeding as opposed to having him on the boob - we are still snuggled together and I talk to him and he is happy and content which is important to me. I know that some people who read this blog may frown on my approach but it's working for me and we're both so much happier.

As for everything else, we are learning the art of swaddling and boy what a difference it has made to his sleep pattern through the night! I initially threw the idea out the window as he would scream having his hands tied down but I have since discovered that he is more than happy once he is swaddled and swaddled up nice and snug so he can't escape and I am now getting 4 hour sleep stretches through the night! Yay! It has also helped to actually get out of the house and go for walks with the buggy and get some fresh air.

So all in all, we are doing brilliantly and I am such a proud mumma! 

And just because I can't help myself, here is another picture of Cohen - he is already starting to look more like a little boy than a baby!

MY NEWEST CHALLENGE

Thank you so much for all your lovely words of congratulations! I just had to post this photo of my baby boy in his knitted woollies that his Great Nana knitted for him - so cute!

As for how things are going on the mummy and daddy front . . . well, we are actually managing pretty darn well except for the fact that I am finding breastfeeding to be such a struggle. I never knew how hard it could be and have discovered since Cohen arrived that it is just another one of those 'silent' topics (just like infertility is) that never seems to be spoken about, yet so many woman experience it. It seems I have jumped from one challenge to another. We have latch issues, even with a shield. Maybe because he is so small or maybe he just doesn't like having to make the effort, who knows. I spent 7 days in hospital already trying to master the art of something that I was always led to believe would come naturally. I could never figure out why people gave up so quickly, no one ever actually came out and said that it's because it's so hard! Master C gets so distressed when he isn't getting instant food (he has no patience whatsoever!) and I end up in tears because I feel like I am failing him. At the moment I am exclusively breast pumping and feeding it to him in bottles and supplementing with formula when I absolutely have to. I know it's not ideal and frowned upon but this is what is working for us at the moment. I have a lactation consultant coming to see me on Monday so hopefully we can make more progress then. Other than that, we are surviving on very little sleep (4 hours total last night!) but we're so in love we have no complaints. He truly is our precious little miracle.

INTRODUCING . . .

I am so proud to introduce to you our dear son Cohen Roy who was born on the 27th June 2011 via c-section arriving at 12.17pm weighing 6lb13oz. 

He is just perfect in every way and I am absolutely loving being a mummy and the HG is such a doting daddy! I can't believe he is actually ours!