2008 In Review

This year has been full of firsts.


January

• The first day of the year gives me Helena - my first baby.
• I celebrate my first 30 years on this earth. Doing remarkably better than my mother did with that birthday - of course having Helena only 12 days earlier gives me a great distraction.

February

• My friends at CSC get to meet my precious Helena for the first time.
• Helena will only sleep in the swing - when she sleeps.
• Helena cries almost every night from 2am - 10am because of gas. I give up broccoli and dairy - which kind of helps.
• Helena meets Aunt Debbie who tells me the secret to getting more sleep when breastfeeding. Breastfeeding on my side in bed - they need to tell new moms this in the hospital!

March

• The first time I leave Helena to go back to work for a meeting wasn't as scary as I thought is was going to be, but I still cry.
• The first hour and a half commute home from Falls Church after going back to work full-time is the hardest commute of my life.
• Helena has her first serious sickness - pneumonia.
• Helena moves from sleeping in the swing to sleeping with Omar and me in our bed.

April

• I cry for the first time about leaving a job. I love you Carol and Jenni!
• I write my first proposal - and we get the job.
• I film and edit my first video.
• Helena and I go to Baby Yoga. She still smiles when we do some of the moves.
• Helena moves from Daycare to staying with Omar's parents. She LOVES it.

May

• I organize my first big volunteer event - JA in a Day. 225 employees took over 5 DC public schools for the day to teach the students different (age appropriate) economics lessons.
• I attend my first Reznick Group party. This group knows how to have fun after working a long busy season!
• Helena smiles.
• We get our first family portraits. Helena is SO cute!!!!

June

• I start voice lessons with Chrissellene Petropoulos.

July

• Helena has her first plane ride - to Maine. Going was a breeze - coming home not so much.
• Helena finally crawls - after we see everyone in Maine.
• I have my first two weeks alone with Helena when Omar goes to Michigan with his unit.
• I go to my first Happy Hour ever - yes I know that's sad.

August

• Helena officially moves out of our bed into her crib and starts sleeping through the night.

September

• Helena weens herself - sad day for me.
• I go back to the gym and join Weight Watchers.

October

• Helena walks at exactly 9 months - and hasn't stopped since!
• I go to my first concert since college - NKOTB.
• I audition for the first time in almost 2 years - I got cast.
• Helena has her first Halloween. She's a Redskins cheerleader. I picked it since it was a very practical costume and she can wear it on game day - of course she out grew it too soon to wear it more than two times.

November

• I hit my pre-pregnancy weight. Now to lose the rest.
• Helena gets her first taste of doing her civic duty of voting.
• The person I vote for is actually elected President. (I'm still in a daze about that.)
• Helena gets her first tooth.
• Helena starts dancing. Her signature move - bouncing up and down.
• Helena "rescues" her toys from the froggie toy chest.
• Helena turns off the lights.
• Helena graduated to the big tub - I compose "Helena's Bath Time Song."
• Helena enjoys her first Thanksgiving.

December

• Helena discovers the XBox and enjoys pressing the button to turn it on and off.
• Helena goes through the tunnel at Gymboree for the first time.
• Helena adds stepping backward, forward, sideways and in a circle to her dance repertoire.

Of course there are still a few weeks in the year, so more firsts I'm sure will come. And of course I know I've missed some important things. But between lack of sleep and not writing everything down. I forget! If you know of anything I missed - please add so I remember :-)

Mama's Turn

I finally started voice lessons with Chrissellene Petropoulos in June. It's been great. At first I appreciated the fact I was learning to think objectively - I've been known to be over dramatic at times. Then I was loved the fact that I was singing around the house again and singing to Helena. And I didn't get upset if Helena started crying while I sang. But the biggest things have been I'm not getting upset if Omar says I'm flat or rolls his eyes when I mess up the words and my voice is coming back (I haven't really sang at all since I got pregnant last year).

Last week I was on a kick and watched a bunch of old tapes and DVDs of shows I've done. What started out as a quest for choreography clips turned into me making Omar watch Birds of Paradise, Grease! and the Spring concert from my senior year of high school. Between these three things and me watching my Junior Recital from college I came up with two goals:

1. Sing Gretchen am Spinnrade like a woman instead of a young girl.
2. Be vocally prepared to audition for Nunsense at Kensington Arts Theatre (KAT) in the spring.

So, I've started practicing everyday, either by blowing air, vocal exercises (although next lesson I need to bring a tape so I can record them because I can't remember them all) or talking British. I only have lessons every other week right now so I've got to practice everyday and really take in all I can at my voice lessons.

On another note. Saturday night Omar and I attended the KAT Gala. It was great fun and we got to see a lot of friends we haven't seen in a long time. We also won some items in the silent/live auctions. Omar won an XBox and I won three personal training sessions and a three-month membership to Fitness First. Which is great on its own, but my company subsidises memberships at the gym so I'll only be paying $4 a month after the first three months.

I had already started the Couch to 5K program with the goal of running a 5K in October and run/walking the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon again in September 2009. But this is exciting. Omar was just as excited as I was - which is something since we've had our treadmill for 2 years and I wasn't using it for over a year, which he reminded me every time I complained about losing the baby weight.

Now I have some new goals:

1. Ask the trainer to design strength training programs I can do on my lunch break.
2. Go to a yoga class at least once a week.
3. Either run at home or workout at the gym after Helena goes to sleep 3-5x a week.
4. Be in shape by the time I audition for Nunsense.
5. Be able to run a 2 - 3 hour Hexagon dance rehearsal without losing my breath or getting tired.
6. Running at least 70% of the Half Marathon, if not more.

So there you have it. Mama's goals.

Spoon Full of Sugar

Helena has started to baby babble. It started with "ba" - which worked great for Ba Ba Black Sheep. She loves that song and somedays i nthe car I can hear her even singing along.

Next came "mama" - and she meant it! Omar had just come home from his two week reserve duty and took over the nighttime routine so I could relax. Then I hear "mama" and then and even louder "MAMA." As soon as I went into the bathroom to see what was going on, she stood up in the tub and reached for me. She did this again when he was putting her in the crib. She stared right at me and said "mama." Over the last few weeks she's gotten bored with saying "mama" and moved on.

Yesterday and this morning I noticed her making these "heh" sounds. I thought this was a weird progression in her vocabulary, until I started doing my vocal exercises in the car on the way to work this morning. They are all use "Hey" - which sometimes come out "Heh" because I forget to but the "ay" on there.

I laughed and thought, " Man, I really need to talk to her more in the car on the way home each day instead of doing vocal exercises."

And since my voice teacher wants me to talk with an English accent so I get used to lifting my soft pallete, Helena will get Mary Poppins mommy in the car. Win-win.

Party in My Crib - 2 AM

Six weeks ago we started the process of moving Helena out of our bed and in to her crib. It's been a struggle - for all of us. For me it's been extremly hard because she's not snuggled beside me at night anymore, but all the way (next door) in her crib by herself.



The first couple of nights I slept on the floor in her room so I could quickly "shhh" her to sleep if she woke up. That seemd to work OK for a couple of days. Then we totally messed her up by taking her out with us two nights in a row that weekend.



SO, we revisited the idea of letting her cry for a little bit and then going in and comforting her, and repeating this until she fell asleep. It has actually worked. Some nights are still better than others but for the most part she's asleep within 30 minutes of going to bed.

She still wakes up around 3:30 am for a feeding and sometimes we all fall back asleep and she's with us until the morning, and sometimes she falls asleep and Omar takes her back to her room for the rest of the night.

Most mornings she is waking up happy - this morning was an exception.

Monday's are hard - even for a baby!

Hope For The Future

This morning I read a story announcing that Barack Obama might be the Democratic Party's nominee for President. This evening the stories on the radio were more positive that he would get the nomination. Tonight he has the numbers to cinch the nomination.

For me this is a momentous moment for my daughter. She was with me when I voted in the primary for Obama and tonight, while she sleeps, our candidate is speaking about the future - her future.

The Long and Short of It

After I posted my last blog I realized I did not mention my new commute. That's because I don't really think of it as a commute anymore. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to and from work - including walking to and from the parking lot. I've also learned three different ways to get here - all without touching the beltway.

So, what do I do with all that extra time? 

The extra time in the morning means I actually wear make up and jewelry everyday. The extra time in the evening means that if I get home before Omar and Helena I can make a gradual transition from work to home and maybe even cook dinner. 

If I get home after them, usually it's only 5 - 10 minutes later, it means waiting for Helena to wake up from the car ride to feed her or spending extra time with her and Omar if she is awake.

So that's the long of it about a short commute.

Working 9 to 5

For those wondering what happened to me - my new job happened to me. It was clear from day one that our little team - by little I mean the two of us - has a heavy work load.

Things started off slowly as Shelley trained me on some of my responsibilities and then I got assigned to coordinate JA in a Day for our office.

JA in a Day is a program through Junior Achievement where volunteers go into a school and teach kids about financial literacy - everything from how you earn money to the United States' place in world economics.

Our office took over 5 D.C. Public School last week for JA in a Day. We had about 200 volunteers teaching more than 1,400 students. And THIS was my first major project.

During this time I've also taken over responsibility for updating our office's intranet pages, sending broadcast messages and making RezTube videos - which are like YouTube videos but for our employees.

All my HTML, FrontPage, MAC, Photoshop and Quark skills have come in handy.

Oh, and there have been proposals too.

The moon must have been in retrograde a few weeks ago because when Shelley was at a conference in Las Vegas, I had four proposals come in. Luckily these were not like the mammoth government proposal CSC does. Otherwise I would have put in more overtime than I did that week.

So, that is what I've been up to during the day.

What I have been doing at night and on the weekends are two different blogs and my lunch break is now up - yes I know it's 3:00 and I'm just getting around to eating.

Bitter Sweet Symphony

Monday I turned in my resignation. It's a bitter sweet thing because I love working with Jenni and Carol, but am looking forward to my new position and career direction.

After having Helena the commute to Falls Church everyday took on new meaning. Less time for her with me, more time for her at daycare, tired mommy for her when I got home.

So, for the past few weeks, I've been applying and interviewing for positions with companies closer to Silver Spring. I've had the opportunity to meet some great people, learn about different companies in the area and figure out the best position and company for my family and career.

Thursday I was offered the position of Marketing Assistant with Reznick Group, P.C. in Bethesda, Md. Our friends Kevin and Cindy Zarcone work there and I've always heard good things about the company so when Cindy sent me a job posting and it was exactly what I was looking for I hoped that I'd get an interview and hopefully the position itself. And I did!

It's an exciting time for the company and I get to be in the middle of it all. I'll continue to work some on internal communications, but now I get to work on external marketing and proposals too.

The office is only 7 miles from home and during rush hour it would only take me about 20 minutes to get home. Plus, the benefits and salary are great too!

Sadly, my last day with Carol and the gang is April 4. It's been great working with them and I'll miss our team. Of course, I plan to keep in touch and send plenty of pictures of our little Helena.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

This week I returned to work and it's been an adventure!

Wednesday I returned to work for a half day. After 7 days of rehearsing our morning routine, we woke up an hour late. This on top of the stress of returning to work set the stage for mass hystaria in the Latiri house. We were rushing around and Omar had to drop Helena off at daycare I usually do it. I was in tears as Omar toke her and placed her in the car seat. I even ask him to give her back to me so I could hold her more.

After getting ready I got to work early and pumped - something I had skipped at home because I was running so late. I have been pumping for a while using a pump a friend of ours gave me. It worked fine, but I was afraid I would burn out the motor because of how often I'd have to use it so I bought a hefty duty one.

Thursday I added two hours. The morning went well and I even got in an extra feeding before we left for daycare. Helena was asleep when I dropped her off so that made it easier. I did call to see how she was doing - very gassy all day. She came home and we had a nice walk outside with Omar. She fell asleep in the stroller. She had a nice nap and we found a park near the house.

Friday, I stayed the whole day. I'm lucky that work is busy, busy so I wouldn't have too much time to think about Helena. AND being Friday means it's the weekend after 5:30 PM, which means it's Helena time.

The Final Countdown

This week starts the countdown to me going back to work. We were lucky that our daycare set it up so we could transition Helena into daycare. So, beginning on Monday, Helena has been going to daycare - a little more each day. This has been great for Helena and me - mostly me. 

I think I've been handling it well. 

Wednesday I even went into work for a meeting without crying as I crossed the American Legion bridge. Well, I didn't cry on the way there. I think it was a combination of being tired and rush hour that I didn't have time to look in my rearview mirror and see the empty car seat base that she usually occupies. On the way home, in little traffic, I looked back there to see the empty base and started crying.

Thursday I got a little sad as I spent the morning at home alone. Then I went and got an eyebrow wax. That helped for an hour. Then I called the daycare and got to hear about her day and Miss Carola also helped me by saying I was going to see her in 3 short hours.

Today was different. It's her first full day and I was missing her before 10:00 am. I called Aunt Esther to talk and started driving to the mall to go shopping. Then I realized I needed to pump and turned around and went home. Pumping helped me not miss her as much. Then I remembered we recorded Lost so I watched that and then tried again to get to the mall. Now I'm blogging and watching The Daily Show. 

So, I guess I'm good as long as I keep busy, or watch TV - now I know how stay at home moms with kids in school can become coach potatoes.

Next week I transition back into work.  I'm nervous about being away from her for so long - 7:00 am - 6:30 pm on a good day. So, starting Wednesday I add some hours until I have a full day away on Friday. And that's a blog for next week.

When Doves Cry

Last week we started putting Helena in her crib to sleep. She naps in it fine, but night time is a different story. 

A co-worker of Omar's suggested we try the Ferber method with her - which is let her cry for 5 minutes then comfort her, then wait 10 then 15 until she goes to sleep. I couldn't do more than 5 so that's what we agreed upon. Thursday night she cried for a few hours, then Friday she cried a little less, then Saturday and Sunday she cried a TON more! 

Sunday night we noticed the cry was a little different and saw some blood in her diaper - not a lot but enough to make me freak out. So we went to the doctor on Monday. It looks like the skin around where she poops is broken and that was the cause of the blood and pain. She also suggested I breastfeed from both breast each time, spread out her feedings and add rice cereal to her bottle at night to help her sleep through the night. 

And it seemed to work. Helena slept from 9:30 pm until 4:30 am when she woke up to feed. Then it was very hard to keep her up all day because my cold was the worst is has been yesterday and all she wanted to do was sleep.

When she was awake, she was crying all the time. Even diaper time, which is playtime for us, became a crying fest! Then all was well in the afternoon once she let out a huge poopy. 

All was going well, bedtime routine was on track she hadn't slept the day away - even though she wanted to - and it looked like she wasn't going to fight us to go to bed. We put her down around 9:30 pm and she was still awake, but tired. She cried on and off for a little while, but not hysterical like the other nights.

Then around 10:30 we heard it, the cry of pain. Its a horrible sound and had both of us running upstairs to check on her. Nothing would soothe her, she even fought nursing. We finally got her quited down enough that she would nurse and then she relaxed enough to get all the poopies out of her - at least we though she did. She proceeded to poop all over Omar and the floor when he went to change her. 

At 1:30 she awoke again wanting to eat, at least that's what I thought. She did nurse, but was in pain again when she tried to poop. We called the nurse and went to the doctor today.

We saw a different doctor today who thinks she has a virus, probably caught it from me and Omar, and her body is trying to flush it out through her poop and that means its coming faster and is more acidic. She had one more mean poopy there and has been acting normal ever since. 

Hopefully she's over it and I won't have to hear her cry like that again any time soon!

Night Owl

Helena doesn't like to sleep at night. There were a few days where we thought she was going to start sleeping at night, but no such luck! 

This week she's been up until 3:00 - 5:00 a.m. each night. Yesterday she was even up playing most of the afternoon and then again during American Idol.

I don't know how we are going to survive when I go back to work. We still haven't figured out a night time routine that works. It's either I am with her all night or until I can't take it anymore then Omar takes over and neither one of us gets to sleep.

Last night she went to bed at 4:00 a.m. I woke her up at 7:30 a.m. to eat and change her diaper, hoping that this will get her going earlier in the day and to sleep earlier tonight. She's napped, fed, played and is on her second nap and it's only 11:40 a.m. At least she was up for an hour playing this morning. Hopefully she will play for a long time again this afternoon and evening so we can wear her out so she'll sleep - but not wear her out so much that she's cranky for hours trying to get to sleep.

Any suggestions?

The Funniest Thing

Early this morning Helena and I were laying in bed nursing. She had just finished and we were staring lovingly into each other's eyes when she spit up all over my arm, her clothes and the bed. 

Guess my eyes were saying I love you and hers were saying I love . . . spitting up now.  

Rumbly in My Tumbly

Helena has had a bad week. Each morning from about 2:00 am until 9:00 am - longer on some days - she was crying and not sleeping more than 30 minutes at a time. I'm on the night shift with her so by the time we've hit the 4th hour of crying I'm exhausted and crying myself. That's when we wake up Omar and he tries to get her to sleep. 

Well after a whole week of this, I figured out the cause of her pain was her tummy. Friday I called in my Aunt Esther for support because I couldn't figure out how to help her and I was exhausted and to my limit. She got her to sleep by 11:00 am and she slept for a good portion of the day. Aunt Esther also thought that the gassiness was because of the lemonade I've been drinking, so I didn't have any of that Friday night. However, she still had a bad time Friday night. By the way, McDonalds starts serving breakfast at 5:00 am.

Since I was up, I called Grandma at 7:45 am on Saturday to see if it was too early to come over - it wasn't. So off to Grandma's house we went. There Aunt Debbie worked magic and got the gas out of her and she was great the rest of the day and night. 

Last night we had a great night - other than my REALLY noisy neighbors who were playing their music until 7:00 am (thank goodness for my air filter filtering out the noise). I used what I learned, nursing while laying down, the magic leg exercise for gas, getting her to take a pacifier and using co-sleeper and it worked! 

I am So happy because Helena has no more rumblies in her tummy. She is a happy camper too. Twice today she has been awake, happy and smiling while we played - even if she was only awake for 30 minutes each time.

Oh, got to go - she's awake and ready to play.

Specific vs Organic

When I was taking theatre directing classes in college I learned about two different styles of directing. I forget their real names so let's call them specific and organic. 

Specific directing is where the director writes out every bit of movement their actors will do onstage, from their entrances to the smallest thing like turn out to the audience on this line. This is great when you are more interested in creating pictures on the stage. It is more of a direct process and doesn't allow the actor much freedom.

Organic directing is much different, and much harder for a control freak like me. You give the actors the basic blocking - where and when to enter and exit and if there are any specific spots you need them to hit in the scene. This allows the actor to have more freedom and the blocking process becomes more of a collaborative process.

I give this little directing lesson because I was thinking about this as I tried to fit in a nap last night and Omar was watching the ever-wakeful Helena. There were times I wanted to get up and let him know things I found out that worked for me - specific directions if you will. 

But I stopped myself. And when I did I realized something. It's better for him to find out organically what works for him than me always over his shoulder telling him what to do - a habit that I'm working on to correct.

And Omar comes up with things that work great with him and Helena. One of the cutest, funniest and most entertaining is "Helena's Dance Party." Omar plugs in his iPhone to the stereo and dances around with Helena. Not only does she stop crying (most of the time), she usually falls asleep by the end of the dance party. 

So by not being over his shoulder all the time it allows me to take a break and allows him the opportunity to find special ways that he alone can connect with Helena.

The Two Faces of Helena

My baby has two personalities.

Daytime Helena. This Helena is sweet and content in every way. She doesn't cry, she doesn't fuss. She eats, poops and sleeps without worry. She is the Helena that everyone sees when they visit. 

Evening/Nighttime Helena. This is the Helena nobody sees. She cries even after we've fed, changed, burped and cuddled her. She eats every hour and a half to two hours leaving Mommy with little to no sleep between feedings.

Both of these are my daughter, and I'm sure I'll see many other personalities emerge as she grows older.

Getting that Perfect Picture

Ever since Helena was born, that seems so long ago, I have been trying to get a good picture of her. I really wanted an official picture taken at the hospital, but because of the jaundice and doctor's checking up on Helena we didn't make our appointment and they were gone by the time we got there.

Then I thought about taking her to the Picture People, JCPenny or Sears to get her portraits done, but I am not ready to expose her to all those other kids germs yet. So, I decided to try to take some pictures myself.

I read up on taking baby pictures and got some good hints - natural light, no flash, get close in to the baby's face. This afternoon seemed the perfect time. Helena was alert after her feeding and her eyes were open. So, with the light pouring in from the window, I pulled out a blanket and placed Helena on it in the sunlight. 

Apparently she was ready for her close up.

Helena Kara 1/16/08

And miles to go before I sleep

The last few nights have been rough. 

Omar was away this weekend and as soon as he closed the door Friday Helena started to cry. Lauren spent the night so I would have some help if I needed it, and I needed it! Helena woke up multiple times during the night and not only to feed, but for other things - like gas - which I didn't catch because I was SO tired. After many attempts to get her to sleep, I finally woke Lauren up at 6:00 am to help. She fell asleep for Lauren and stayed asleep until I woke her up for her next feeding.

Saturday night she slept well, which was a good thing for Gayle who spent the night so I would have help. Thank goodness Helena let me sleep because last night she didn't.

The night started off well, but around 4:00 am Helena kept waking up. I had just fed her 30 minutes before and we got a good burp out of her, so gas and hunger were ruled out. I thought that she wanted to be held, which did get her to fall asleep, but as soon as I put her down and got back under the covers she was off and crying again. After about 4 tries I woke Omar up. He figured out the problem - she had another wet diaper. After that she slept until her next feeding when she started crying again - 15 minutes of sleep.

Omar went back to work today and I finally got some sleep this afternoon - 2 whole hours! I couldn't imagine doing this and going to work. I couldn't imagine going back to work after 6 weeks either. It's going to take the whole time I'm home to get into a rhythm - just to shake it up again when I go to work and she goes to daycare - but that's another posting.

Happy Baby

In yoga there is a pose called  Ananda Balasana , or Happy Baby pose. You lay on you back and grab the bottoms of you feet with your hands and roll back and forth like a roly poly doll. 

I have my own happy, healthy baby -Helena.

This morning was Helena's two-week check-up. We had great news as she has gained back all the weight she lost last week and is now 8 lbs and 13 oz. That's 3 oz more than her birth weight. That makes me so happy since I really wanted to keep breastfeeding and this confirms that she is getting enough to eat from me. 

The doctor also said her jaundice is going away - another thing showing that breastfeeding is working for her.

Helena also has a few birth marks. One on each eyelid, which will fade, and one on the back of her head where her head and neck meet - just like her mommy. Omar's father and my mother also have birthmarks near the same place.

The doctor answered the page of questions I had - thanks Aunt Margaret and Uncle Victor for the idea of writing questions down. She was patient and kind and assured us we had a healthy baby.

My happy baby.

Priceless

Poopie Diaper = 1 diaper, 2 wipes, diaper cream

Explosive Poopie Diaper = 1 diaper, 4 wipes, new pillow cover, pants and diaper cream

Knowing My Daughter is Getting Enough to Eat = PRICELESS

Super Woman Syndrome

You all know I have a type-A personality, surprise! As such, I think I am more susceptible to  developing a Super Woman persona. The woman that keeps going even if it does her more harm than good.

I must admit that, over the last week, I have done more than I should. Omar and I have been up and about cleaning like mad and even went out twice with Helena, in addition to her two doctor's visits.

It wasn't until I called the nurse last night about some bleeding - everything is fine - I realized I needed to listen to my body more. So today I took two naps, one in the morning and one in the evening. I also planned our shopping trip so that it included a rest and feeding at our second stop, Great Beginnings. 

Great Beginnings has a really nice nursing area attached to their woman's bathroom, complete with a slider and a real changing table. It was a nice relaxing environment for us to do our business. 

I mentioned to Omar how nice the slider was in the nursing room and he suggested we look at them, so we did and I got to relax in a VERY comfortable slider/ recliner. I think I was in the recliner for about 15 minutes, looking at the color options, when Helena woke up because of a vacuum cleaner. She joined me to test out the slider function of the chair and it passed. So we ordered it for the living room.

When we got home I noticed that everything was going right with my body and that taking those breaks during our trip were worth it. I continued to listen to my body when we started to put things away. I stopped when I felt I needed to stop and didn't feel guilty. 

Then I listened to Omar when he suggested I take a nap. Being reminded to take care of myself is something I need from time to time and I'm glad Omar is here to remind me of that. 

Before becoming a mommy I pushed myself to the limits, whether at work, play or theatre. Now I need to remember that it's not worth it to push myself so much that I hurt or get sick or stress out so much I make everyone around me pay for it. Helena and Omar deserve much more that that - and so do I!

Yummy, Yummy In Your Tummy

Starting in the hospital I realized that, while the most natural thing to do, breastfeeding is something that mommy and baby learn together. And it's hard to learn something together when you have people poking and proding you every couple of hours. 

Needless to say we weren't getting it 100% of the time. Part of that was because, as part of the switch, I was craving healthy food and was eating broccoli, salads, veggies, orange juice and tomato soup (among other things). Well, these foods cause gas in babies - who knew? So she was gassy and crying so much of the time we couldn't get her to calm down long enough to latch on all the time - much less eat. 

The two lactation consultants said I was doing everything right, which made me feel better, but then then again I felt bad that the nurses called in two different consultants on two different days. Helena was getting enough to stay hydrated, but not enough to stay about the 10% weight loss.

We went home on Thursday and she was down to 7 lbs 15 oz. By our appointment on Friday she was down to 7 lbs 7 oz. As a result the doctor had us supplement with formula. Which meant feeding time because a two person affair lasting about an hour from waking her up, getting her to latch on, feed and supplement. But the good news is that by our appointment on Saturday she had gained 4 oz.

By Sunday she was latching on better - even though it still took both of us stroking her ears, cheek and feet to keep her awake.

By that evening I had grown 2 cups sizes because of the milk coming in and was in so much pain because the bras I got during my pregnancy were digging into me. I was so afraid if I didn't get a good bra ASAP that my milk supply would be hindered and then I wouldn't be able to breastfeed at all. So, after calling four different stores looking for my new size, and crying because I already thought my breast were too big to handle during feedings, I found a store that had it and held them at the counter for me to make sure they still had them when I got there. Needless to say, the people at Motherhoon Maternity at Wheaton Plaza were a LIVESAVER! I felt better the instant I got one of those babies on.

It must have helped because by the middle of the night she was getting enough to eat from me that she was refusing the formula.

We kept offering it to her through the night until we got a call from the doctors office Monday afternoon giving us the go ahead to stop the supplements which was GREAT!

By Monday evening she was latching on the first try and actually staying awake during her feedings. Now she even cries when she is hungry - which I am happy for because it tells me she knows where her food comes from and can tell when she is full and when she is not.

So that is the tale so far - at least the breastfeeding tale. There are also the tales of how cute she is and the tales of how cute she is when she's asleep and the tales of changing her and watching her watch me. So many tales, so little time before she wakes up again.