Once again, I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner. But, the last five weeks have been a blur. The passing of time has both sped up and slowed down. There are certainly some long days, but the weeks just fly by. I often find myself with absolutely no idea what day it is. And the actual date...I keep forgetting that we are even in August. Ha.
Week 5 -
Hattie girl has started eating like crazy this week. She will often take a full 4 oz at a feeding. Wyatt is still more inclined to take 2-2.5 oz. Hattie also has decided she has zero interest in nursing. She prefers all of her food from a bottle. And Wyatt is not terribly interested either, but he continues to get as much breast milk as I can give him in the bottle.
Pumping is a roller coaster. One day my supply will be decent and the next, not at all. I am realizing that I will not be able to keep up with even just Wyatt's needs, and he's taking more and more of the "gentle" formula as his eating increases.
I've definitely been surprised at how emotional I've been about breastfeeding/breast milk. Before the babies were born, I had said (repeatedly) that I was fine with giving them formula and/or with just pumping. Ugh. It's so complicated, though. I feel guilty that I can't get them to nurse. I feel guilty that I can't provide enough for even one baby. I feel guilty that Wyatt does better (reflux) with breast milk, but I have to give him formula. This is just not what I expected. And it's frustrating that my body hasn't cooperated in the way I hoped it would. And it's out of my control. I don't really like that so much.
They are definitely filling out their newborn clothes now and changing so much. Last night, Hattie went 5 hours between feedings. Usually, we wake one up when the other awakes, but early this morning we let her sleep through his feeding. It worked out, because when she got up to eat, he was ready for another round.
On Tuesday, we went to Dodge City so that Wyatt and Hattie could meet their great-grandparents. My granddad has a doctor's appointment, so my mom and I met them for lunch and then hung out at the doctor's office through the afternoon. Both babies did great all day long. We did have to stop and feed them on the drive there and home. But, for the most part, it went very smoothly.
The following day, however, was probably the roughest yet. I think that I paid for taking them completely out of their routine the day before. There was much inconsolable crying on Wednesday, from all three of us. It was not pleasant. Of course, when 5:30 rolled around and Phil came home, they became perfect little angels, not another peep out of them all night long. What in the world?
Phil did introduce Hattie to the swing that evening. And she loves it. And it may just be a sanity saver for me. I introduced Wyatt the next morning and he was also a fan. Looks like we will be procuring a second swing.
I've started to put them on their tummies for a bit each day, and both of them seem to like it. Hattie works hard to lift her head, while Wyatt prefers to sleep.
K-State football kicks off tomorrow night. We had hoped to go to the game, but after Tuesday's road trip, I've decided I'm not quite up for that just yet. We will enjoy it from the comfort of home this time, which is a little sad. We LOVE being their for opening day (or night, as the case may be).
Even though this is hard, and I do mean hard, we sure wouldn't trade it for anything. So thankful for these two precious babes and for Christopher too!
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