one single mother. one spririted preschooler. oy — what a life.
Sami was one month old yesterday. I need to get on typing up his birth story! Kate, our birth doula, came by for her postpartum visit today and shared her notes with me from the birth. I learned that I was pushing for 2 hours and 15 minutes rather than 3 hours like I had thought (that 45 minutes makes a difference!!). I also learned that his little hand came out alongside his head which is probably why I tore…
We downloaded the birth pictures from her camera, and I finally felt ready to see them today. I remember right after he was born, she asked me if I wanted to see the pictures and I said “no thanks!” I think I didn’t want to re-live what I had just gone through. It’s crazy to see the pictures of me in so much pain, and weird how you kind of do forget the pain. A blessed amnesia. And it was absolutely wild to see this little man emerge from my coochie! I still can’t believe I did that…
Today was a pretty good breastfeeding day. I feel like my milk supply is up–maybe it’s all the herbs I’m taking? Just yesterday I received a shipment of the More Milk Plus tincture from Motherlove Herbals. I’ve also been maxing out on fenugreek capsules and an herbal tea blend that I got from Aviva Jill Romm’s Natural Health After Birth book. Anyway I pumped 6 oz and it’s only 7:30 pm, which means I can probably get in a few more pumping sessions today.
Sami also had more alert periods and slept a lot more than he usually does between feedings, which I can only take to mean he is feeling satisfied! He is up to 8 lbs, 3 oz today which is a 6 oz gain from last week — not the 8 oz of the week before, but not bad. Very much in the healthy range. Kate assured me that he looks healthy — I worry that he is too skinny but she pointed out his chubby cheeks. It’s good to get some outside validation that I am not starving my baby!
In other news, I’ve gotten very good at picking things off the floor with my toes when he’s nursing. Earlier in the day I picked the computer charger cable up on the second try. Just now my cell phone died and I picked that charger cable up on one try. New skills of motherhood…
Welcome to this blog - my chronicle of the illuminating, character-building path of single parenthood. I'm making this up as I go along. My life is my practice, and my five year-old son is my greatest teacher.
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