Family Friday: Sept 21

I started the "Family Friday" posts when we announced our pregnancy.  Now that Cameron has arrived, I'm going to continue the Family Friday posts in order to keep family and friends (and a soon-to-deploy daddy) up to date on our little girl.  This also serves as a journal of Cam's growth and development... information that I'll later put into a book for her.

The first two weeks:

It's been two weeks already?!  I haven't really done anything but lay around, eat, and care for Cameron.  Johnnie has been super amazing, taking care of everything so that I don't exert any unnecessary energy.  I know it's definitely helped with my recovery from the C-section and I'm so grateful for all he's been doing :)  We have been getting meals from people in our squadron and from our neighbors which is so helpful and one less thing for us to worry about doing right now.

Cameron is really an "easy" baby (knock on wood).  She only cries if she's hungry or needs changed, she eats well, sleeps well, and she's so darn cute!  She is on a self-made schedule of an average of 3 hours.  I am pretty exhausted and miss my full nights of sleep but that's to be expected.

I am exclusively breastfeeding Cameron for now.  It's really convenient to do and (now that we have it figured out) it's easy.  We did have some rough moments: 1) engorgement when my milk came in which prevented a good latch and caused some damage, 2) slow let-down for a couple days which really frustrated Miss Impatient, and 3) really sore nipples from poor latch due the engorgement and constant feeding for a day/night before my milk supply was established.  One night I sat feeding her with tears streaming down my face the whole time because of the pain.  My breast pump has been my saving grace, relieving engorgement and allowing us to bottle feed her for a day or two so my nipples could heal.  Now my supply is abundant and flowing (oatmeal and cheerios help a ton!) so I can feed her on one side per feeding which gives the other side a break.  It wasn't easy to get to this point, but it's all working out now :)

It's so much fun discovering who Cameron is and what kind of things she likes.  She likes to be swaddled.  She likes to roll onto her side to sleep.  She likes to sleep with a hand next to her face.  She likes to suck her thumb when she's lucky enough to get it in her mouth.  She likes her Sleep Sheep sound machine which helps her sleep deeply.  She is the queen of facial expressions.  She smiles when she's had enough to eat :)


Weekly Photos:

I came across the "52 Weeks of Clara" photo project well over a year ago.  I fell in love with the idea and vowed to do it myself for our children some day.  While living in Korea, I stocked up on fabric at Happy Quilt to use for this "someday" project.  I am so excited to watch Cameron grow in these weekly photos!  Here is the start of the "52 Weeks of Cameron":

Pregnancy Totals (37 weeks):

WEIGHT:  According to the doctor's scale the morning of my induction, I gained 23 lbs total.

BODY:  I grew 9 inches on my waist, 7.5 inches on my lower belly, and 2 inches on my hips.

Post-Pregnancy Body:

I am amazed at how quickly my body is bouncing back after being stretched for 37 weeks!  It's been 2 weeks since Cameron was born and I've lost 20 pounds... that's only 3 more pounds to lose until I hit my pre-pregnancy weight.  Although I only have a few pounds to lose, I still have quite a few inches to lose as well.  My waist is still at +2.5 inches, my lower belly is still at +2.5 inches, and my hips are still at +.5 inch.  Because of the C-section, I won't be exercising until about 6 weeks postpartum but I am looking forward to running again and getting my body back into shape.  Until then, I am perfectly content to spend as much time as I can with Johnnie, Cameron, and Dulce at home :)

I was never one of those girls who "needed" to be a mom and I wasn't sure if I'd ever want to have children.  But when I married Johnnie, I couldn't imagine not having babies with him.  I love that Cameron is a part of him and now that she's here, I am more content than I could've hoped to be :)

*******

"Birth is not only about making babies.  It's about making mothers... strong, competent,
capable mothers who trust themselves and believe in their inner strength."

 ~Barbara Katz Rothman