Week 37: September 23 - 29

Nursing
Well. It's been quite an adventure. I don't want to bore you with details or too much information, but I've really been struggling. Saturday night things kind of boiled over. I've been nursing through pain that has been increasing, despite medication and my topical cream. So we decided to try mommy milk in a bottle Saturday night so that I could rest from nursing for a little while. It was hilarious. At first, Madeleine put it in her mouth like a toy: she tried to chew or gnaw it. Then I think she got a little milk out that way and so she was like, "HM!! I know this stuff. I want more." But she had no idea how to get the milk out of the bottle. She chewed the end, but that's not a very efficient way to get milk. Eventually, she just kind played with it.

So I let her nurse on the side that hurt, and it HURT. Matt had to hold my hand the entire time while I cried. Ten excruciating minutes. Well, we both decided that I couldn't keep going like that. Sunday, I tried just feeding her on the less painful side, which worked fine until the feeding before bed, when that side was killing me too (though not as bad). We tried a bottle again, with no luck. (on a side note, we've really stepped up the table foods!) So, again, I decided to feed on the side I'd been resting. It went just fine. Hurt a little just at the beginning.

Monday I started making phone calls, though the most important one I made Sunday night when I asked my mom to come up to help. :) She played with the baby while I called around. I went to my doctor on Monday and got an antibiotic because Lesli said I might have picked up an infection. Tuesday, I called Lactation at Kennestone, and Mary told me how to keep Madeleine from gumming me (did I mention that she was going through some serious teething pain Saturday and Sunday and Monday too? When it rains, it pours!). Then she recommended a specialist to have a look, so I made an appointment with them for Wednesday.

I also called Ann, the lactation consultant who came to my house in February to work with Madeleine and I. She and I talked for an HOUR, and then she said I could come over and she'd look at Madeleine and me and help us out some more. So we did. Matt got home from work, and we walked out the door 5 minutes later. Got home just in time to put baby to bed. Her analysis: we need to work on Madeleine's latch and position during feeding. Ann was AWESOME and helped a bunch.

Wednesday, I went to the specialist, who basically said the painful side looked "completely, perfectly healthy" and the other side "was a little inflamed." I was told to keep taking my antibiotic and that the pain was probably due to "wear and tear." NOT encouraging. When I got home, I called Ann, as she'd asked. She didn't think the wear and tear explanation was any good, either.

Thursday morning (sneak peak for week 38, LOL!), Madeleine spit up a little blood, so I called Ann again to get her help with just healing. She suggested that I just STOP everything I'm doing (except the meds, have to finish those) and see what happens. To use the shells I bought that allow air flow and not put anything on anymore. No cream, no lanolin, nothing. I said, WHY NOT? Let's see. So that's what I'm doing now, and I'll get to post more about that next week!

Sleeping
For whatever reason, Madeleine's sleep has been off for most of this month. It was very regular and predictable during month 8, but month 9 has been the opposite. What we CAN predict is that we have no idea what she'll do. :) We did have about a week and a half where things approached regular, but then they went haywire again. THAT started around the time my pain nursing got really bad. Coincidence, perhaps?

Her morning wake times are very irregular. She's woken as early as 5:15 (!!) and slept until her "ideal" time of 7am. We haven't found any pattern, but we're working on it. Getting good nighttime sleep is super important. So, we are working on that.

Solids/Food
As I mentioned above, we've been doing much better with this. A few days, she has even eaten three times with us. Yay!

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Crawls with one hand holding something (er, she still doesn't classically crawl...)
2. Turns around when crawling (she can do this--again, not really crawling, still army crawling)
3. Bangs objects together at center of body (yes indeed)
4. Uncovers a toy that she saw hidden (not sure?)
5. Deliberately chooses a toy for play (YES!)
6. Imitates some sounds, such as cough, hisses (yes!)
7. Manipulates and drinks from cup (er, no... it's still quite a mess)

New Things
Madeleine got her first balloon on Friday! (It was orange) We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, and Matt got her the balloon. She played with it almost the entire time we were eating. Her favorite thing to do was bang it against her high chair--repeatedly. Sometimes it would bonk her in the head, and she's just keep right on banging. :)

She LOVES standing, and her favorite place is the white basket. She likes to stand at all times, almost. It's the newest, coolest thing. She's also started letting go with one hand, and BOY is she proud of herself when she does!

Matt reports that she stood facing the couch and walked sideways along the couch. Go baby!

Madeleine crawled from the living room to the kitchen for the first time! She got distracted by the electrical sockets though, so I had to go out and buy the plastic plugs for them.

On a totally new front, Madeleine seems to be getting very verbal. Matt said that he was standing in front of her bookshelf, picking out a few to read, and she said "buh." Of course, it could totally be nothing, BUT we'd like to think she was trying to say book. Because she is so fabulous. Then on Wednesday, she and I were sitting on the floor beside Layla. Madeleine looked at her and said "dah." NATURALLY, that meant "DOG!" She is brilliant.

MIMI has also been the recipient of TWO (2!!) baby kisses! The only two, I might add (no, mommy is NOT jealous, not the slightest, thankyouverymuch!). The first was Tuesday, the second Thursday (sneaky peak again).

Misc
My friend Manda from Illinois came to visit and stayed with us Thursday through Saturday. She loved meeting Madeleine and Matt and just hanging out around the house.

Mimi came up Monday and has played with Madeleine A LOT. The weather has been awesome this week, and we've spent a lot of time outside. On Wednesday, we played outside for about an hour, and Mimi got some pics of Madeleine and I. This made me SUPER happy because I don't have many of my baby and me. :)

She also LOVES crawling over stuff. Matt will let her crawl around on the chair-and-a-half or we'll put cushions on the floor. This pleases her greatly.

Madeleine was possibly a little congested as of Wednesday -- we'll see how it goes. Hope she doesn't get sick!

Special Topic: Wonder Week 37

This was a Wonder Week for Madeleine, during which her little brain developed the ability to learn the world of categories. (Note: This can happen any time between weeks 36 and 40, but it's most common at 37) This means that baby is able to "recognize that certain objects, sensations, animals, and people belong together in groups or categories" (Wonder Weeks, pg. 194). Basically, she's now got the ability to understand that a dog is a dog live, in a book, or stuffed. Dogs can be brown, white, black, grey. This doesn't mean she now KNOWS all of this, but after this leap, she'll be able to start figuring this stuff out.

It's so fascinating. The good news for us is that, unlike the last Wonder Week (two, really, 19 & 26, which kinda of just ran together into one long Wonder MONTHS), we barely felt a bump from this one. She met all the symptoms -- fussy, whiny, grumpy, discontented, impatient, restless -- but it was no big deal. Her sleep wasn't disrupted (the biggest problem last time). She was a little more clingy, a bit shier, wanted to be around mom and dad more, but that was really it. I am SO THANKFUL that her sleep wasn't disrupted. That just made all the other "symptoms" so much worse.

Although... it just occurred to me that her sleep HAS been affected, and it JUST hit me this MOMENT! Haven't I been writing about poor sleep at night lately? It never crossed my mind that it might be related to the wonder week. LOL! Wow. Well, it still may not, because she has been having long awake times before bed, and I've been trying to fix that. Just wanted to mention the Wonder Week, since we had such a rough time last time around. The next one is due to peak at week 46 and will probably start around week 42. WOO! Let's hope it's as smooth as this one was.

Teething Update
I think they've pushed out a little more. And I KINDA suspect she's getting another tooth? But there's no telling. I don't feel anything. [Click to see bigger]:



Slideshow

Video of the week!