Happy Valentine's Day!!

One Month and How Not to Breastfeed

 It's been an exciting month. As all parents say, "I can't believe it's been a month already!" We have had our ups and downs, but I think Sophie has doubled in size. At her two week appointment she made it back to her birth weight of 7 lbs. and 8.5 oz. She grew one inch to 21.5 inches. She measures in the 95th percentile for length {which we fully expect her to continue to do} and she was in much smaller percentiles for head and weight--tiny head and skinny girl.

 We took these polka dotted pictures at two weeks and six days old. It's fun to get her all dressed up even if she doesn't go anywhere. We are still trying to figure out how to get her to sleep for long periods of time by herself--she much prefers to sleep on someone's chest, which means I get little sleep. Being a mom is tough business.

 Daniel's brother-in-law Jason was in town, so he had the privilege to see Sophie.

 My sweet little brother had to come home from his mission to have some work done on his hip joint, but the bright side is he gets to see baby girl.

 Sophie loves bathtime! We just run the sink water over her and she calms right down. Also when she goes totally nuclear we will often go in the bathroom and run the shower which she seems to love  too.

 She has rather long feet and toes so she can fit into all her darling shoes.

 I've learned you really have to smile even when they don't.

 Here she is at one month old!! So big!

 So...how not to breastfeed... Firstly, I have a wonderful circle of support that has been there for me through the hardest weeks of my life, but even then things can be hard. I was not expecting the hormonal rollercoaster you jump on after having a baby, but that only worsened my breastfeeding difficulties. Sophie did great and I thought we were doing everything right, but my body soon looked like I had been in a bar fight. Everyone sympathized and helped me push through it. I tried every home remedy under the sun- even putting black tea bags on my chest. I was treated for a fungal infection, but a week later I was back in the doctor's office feeling totally awful. I had a fever, chills, and felt like death. I cried every time Sophie was hungry because it hurt so badly. The doctor took one look at me and asked that I be admitted to the hospital. I had severe mastitis. I freaked out pretty bad because 1. I had never had to go to the hospital for anything besides having a baby and 2. I knew that baby was home and way past feeding time. Ironically, my mom was at the hospital prepping for neck surgery. By the time I was admitted, situated, and had Sophie reunited with me my mom came down from her room to tell me her surgery wasn't going to happen today, which turned out to be a great blessing because she stayed the two nights in the hospital with me to help with Sophie. I was hooked up to and IV to have pain meds and antibiotics pumped through me. The greatest blessing of the whole ordeal was the help of a lactation consultant who guided us on how to breastfeed properly, even in my damaged state I was able to do it with minimal pain. Looking back I wish I had had that information from the start and I would have saved myself a lot of pain and even more tears.

This little gal sure is worth all the hassle. We still have lots to learn as parents, but each day makes a little more sense. What we've learned so far:

1. I really do need sleep--or I go crazy. I can handle crying fits a lot easier if I am well rested.
2. Sophie likes to look at your face, so you must hold her face up and out in front of you or she will just try to nurse on your arm.
3. Dressing a newborn can be tricky. It's easier with two people.
4. Running water (or any white noise) makes baby calm down.
5. Ask for help, always.
6. Lay baby down whenever you can, or else she gets too used to being in your arms.

Sophie Mae Jensen

Ashley has been super busy with the baby so I, Daniel (new father) will be writing this blog post. Ashley is the history graduate and me the accounting, so don't expect the same quality of writing. 

This story begins on the coldest night of the year (-15* or so). Ashley was very uncomfortable on Sunday and was ready to have her baby already. All of us had chosen days for when we predicted the baby would come. Ashley thought she would come on the 17th because my family is in a habit of sharing birthdays. The 17th is our niece Bella's b-day. I was the most optimistic and chose the 16th. None of us were right since Sophie decided to come on the 14th. 

Ashley woke up on Monday at 3:00 a.m. and was starting to have contractions and could not stay asleep. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and didn't not see my wife so I went outside to investigate and found her bouncing on her exercise ball and very much looking like she would have a baby sometime that day. 

 We decided to to go to the hospital at 6:00 a.m. as the contractions came closer together and were about 5-8 minutes apart.These are the pictures of Ashley as she was first admitted to the hospital. As you can see she was very smiley and happy before the really bad contractions came. Ashley was quite the trooper and toughed through a lot of mean contractions until she decided it would be best for her to have an epidural. Before the epidural she had one contraction that was so bad she threw up a few times. She received an epidural at around 11 a.m. and started to feel much better. Ashley took a nap for an hour and a half or so and then we just hung out awhile until she was ready to push. Ashley only had to push for about 5 contractions and 10 minutes before baby Sophie was born!

Sophie Mae Jensen is 7 lbs 8oz and 20 1/2 inches long

Grandma Jensen is soooo happy to finally have a grandchild here that she doesn't have to travel several hundred miles to see.

Sophie has been a very good eater so far and ate for about 45 minutes her first time

 Sophie looks so tiny in her car seat. 

We left the hospital around 6 p.m., the day after Sophie was born and we are very happy to have her healthy, safe, and happy. 

We were excited that my sister Marci and her family happened to be visiting this week. We didn't know if Sophie would make her appearance before they left to go back home. Baby Stella was very fascinated by Sophie and wanted to touch her sooo bad 

I got to give Sophie her first bath and dress her up, and pick out her first bow

Here we are as we are about to leave the hospital with our new baby 

Parenting Practice

 We have been blessed with lots of visitors this year! Shortly after Christmas Daniel's sister Marci, her husband Alan, and their darling 10 month old Stella came to visit. Daniel does so great with nieces and nephews around this age. They just love him. One particular night Stella just cozied right up with Daniel until she was whisked off to bed. She also loves the whiskers on Daniel's face. Apparently they are fun to touch.