At Home with Savannah

Well, Miss Savannah is a week old already. It’s hard to believe! We are all doing pretty well so far at home. I feel like we are managing the newborn phase a lot better this time around. I guess that’s what experience does for you! Travis is going to take off work through the end of next week, so I’m very thankful for that.

So far, Savannah seems like a very easy going baby. Maybe that will change (when she is awake for longer stretches), but for now that’s what we think. She is still sleeping a lot in between eating, but even when she’s awake, she rarely cries unless she is getting her diaper changed or she’s really hungry. She loves to be swaddled and held, but is usually fine with being in her swing or bouncer too. I feel like nursing is going much better this time around as well. I am still having the problem of an “overabundant supply”, but Savannah seems to manage it a lot better than Brooklyn did. We will see if that still holds true over the next few weeks. But, so far she hasn’t gotten frustrated even though I’ve been extremely engorged and it’s sometimes difficult for her to latch on. She never cries; she just keeps trying. Hopefully, my supply will level out sooner this time around than it did with Brooklyn. I’m trying to manage it without pumping so that I don’t make the problem any worse. Hopefully that will pay off in the long run even though I’ve been pretty uncomfortable this week.

Big sister Brooklyn is doing pretty well at times, but we have definitely noticed a change in her behavior since we’ve been home. Before Savannah was born, Brooklyn would be whiny (more so around me than Travis), but it has been 10 million times worse over the past few days. She is also deliberately not minding us a lot more lately. I guess it’s all for attention? We are trying to praise her even more than normal for good behavior and to sit down with her and explain that we still expect her to obey us and that we know she’s capable of it. I’m also trying to give her as much attention as I can while Savannah isn’t nursing. Hopefully she will get adjusted to this “new normal” soon. I think Brooklyn does love her little sister though. She has suddenly gotten very interested in her own baby doll. She has pushed it around in the baby doll stroller every day this week, and she also enjoys putting it in Savannah’s car seat :) She likes to give “Sister” hugs and kisses too. She knows that Sister drinks “Mommy milk” and has done pretty well while I’m nursing at not getting in the way. She also likes to point out Savannah’s fingers, toes, nose, and ears. So, she is definitely interested in her little sister!

I’m really hoping that Brooklyn will go back to her old wake-up time before long. I thought she used to wake up early (around 6:30-7 AM), but this week it has been more like 5:45-6 AM). Not cool, especially for a sleep-deprived nursing mom. And, of course, she never wants Travis to get up with her; it HAS to be me every time. I guess I took the newborn stage for granted last time around. Even though I was sleep deprived, at least I could sleep when Brooklyn slept and not have to worry about entertaining a demanding toddler at all hours of the day. So, I was feeling pretty good until about Tuesday or so, but I feel like I’ve finally “hit the wall” of exhaustion. I’d forgotten how bad I feel on such little sleep, but at times I’m so tired that my whole body tingles and literally hurts. I’m looking forward to Savannah stretching out her nighttime feedings from every 2.5-3 hours to more like 4 hours. I think that will help!

So far I’ve also done better at not acting too crazy from lack of sleep + crazy hormones. You can ask Travis to verify this, but I think it’s true at least. Last time after Brooklyn was born, I was just literally acting crazy the day we came home from the hospital. This time, I feel like I’ve been pretty sane for the most part. I’ve still cried several times, but I’ve actually had a few days where I haven’t cried at all. So that’s much better! I feel like Travis and I are working as a team better than we did last time too. I think it helps that we know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel because we’ve done this once before. I KNOW we will eventually sleep better again, even if “better” is a relative term :)

I’m saving the best for last: pictures! And lots of them :) Just get ready…

Home from the hospital on Friday afternoon!

Snuggling with Paw before he and Rae Rae left town

Savannah went about 24 hours right after we got home without a dirty or wet diaper, so I got a little worried and called the pediatrician. She recommended that I pump the next feeding and give it to her in a bottle so that we would know she was getting a full oz of milk. I was so impressed…Savannah took to the bottle like a champ! That’s been her only bottle so far, so I’m not sure if we just got lucky or if she will be a better bottle drinker than Brooklyn was. We’ll see. The funny thing is that immediately after she finished the bottle, she had a huge blowout. Poop everywhere. So, I guess we didn’t have anything to worry about. And, once my milk came in, there definitely wasn’t anything to be worried about!

So, of course Savannah needed a sponge bath right after that blowout. She hated it! Cried the entire time until we got her bundled up in the towel. She’s had one other sponge bath since then and cried just as hard. Hopefully once her cord comes off and we can actually put her in the bathtub, she’ll like it better :)

Worn out after all that crying…

Cici has gotten some Savannah time this week too!

She likes being swaddled…

I caught a little smile on camera! :)

Surfing the internet with Daddy :)

Sisters!

Brooklyn was handing Savannah some magnets in case she wanted to play too :)

Checking out Sister before church on Sunday

Kisses!

I love these girls!

Tyler, Alisha, and Carter were at the beach while we were in the hospital, so they came over Monday and brought us lunch. Wonder why they were so eager to come? ;)

First picture of the cousins together :) One day, they will all look at the camera at the same time! Maybe?

We also got some cute pictures of the “big kids” together…

Carter was thinking about holding Brooklyn’s hand…

“I wonder what she’ll think…”

Brooklyn is thinking about it too…

…and so she grabbed his hand! Unprompted by us :) I think they are going to be great buddies in a year or two :)

Monday was Savannah’s first visit to the pediatrician for a weight check. She was 8 lbs even, only 1 oz shy of her birth weight! Dr. Dudley was very impressed. She said Savannah looked great overall. We’ll go back to see her next Thursday for her 2 week checkup.

It was so funny: I told Brooklyn we were going to take Savannah for a checkup with Dr. Dudley, and Brooklyn kept asking “Check Brooklyn too?” She also came home from church on Sunday telling me that she wanted to check my “heart beep, blood pressure, and temp-ture”. She is always cracking us up!

Waiting to see the doctor!

Practicing taking care of her baby :)

First time in the Moby!

So far, Savannah has been sleeping in this co-sleeper in our bed most of the time at night. She is doing pretty well in it as long as she is swaddled and asleep before we lay her down…

After sponge bath #2

I love this little sleeper and hat that Rae Rae bought her!

It’s hard work to be a big sister!

Brooklyn has gone “swimming” on our back patio the past two days and absolutely loved it! We might be spending a lot of time out there this summer :)

Savannah was 1 week old yesterday! We are surviving so far! Many thanks to all of our family and friends who have brought us food, watched Brooklyn for a few hours, or helped in other ways. You are making this transition so much smoother than it would be otherwise!! :)