2 weeks old!

Today is Benjamin's 2 week birthday and Mike and my 8 year wedding anniversary. :-D

The past 2 weeks have gone by so very fast. I still miss being pregnant and I miss being able to sleep more than 1 1/2 hrs at a time. Ben is growing up fast. He is starting to stay awake longer during the day and is already holding his head up and moving it around. When I put him on his tummy he lifts his head up and moves it around! He has stomach / gassy issues that I need to talk to his doctor about next week. I put him across my lap and pat his back to burp him and to give him something hard to rest his tummy on when it's hard. He has about 10 dirty diapers a day. The boy has explosive poo!

Mike weighed himself and then weighed himself with Ben in his arms and it was over 8 1/2 pounds. He was born at 7 lbs 11 oz and left the hospital at 7 lbs 2 oz, 4 days later he weighed at the doctors office 7 lbs 12 oz and then again this past Saturday at 11 days old he weighed over 8.5 lbs. Of course that wasn't an exact weight. We'll find out for sure on Monday when we take him back for another check up.

Ben lost his umbilical cord early Saturday morning, around 5am when we were up to change his diaper and do another feeding. Today it is still bleeding, which I don't know if that is normal or not. I continue to clean it with alcohol wipes at each diaper change. Another question for me to ask his pediatrician.

I also need to ask her about him being tongue tied - he is still having problems latching when I nurse him. At times he gets it the first time then other times it takes a few minutes for us to get latched. His pediatrician told us he was slightly tongue tied and we would look at it again after a few weeks. He's gaining weight so I know he's getting milk when I nurse him, but is he getting enough?

I have a ton of questions about breastfeeding. I want to star pumping now so we have milk to take with us when we go places, but when do I do it when I am exclusively bf'ing all day long? Do I wait an hour after feeding and pump from each breast? If I do that then I am going to be feeding or pumping every hour of the day. Once I do get enough pumped and I freeze it how do I handle it when I go places? If I want to take some milk with us when we leave the house, do I keep if frozen and just put it in the diaper bag to let it thaw out on its own? Or do I put it in the baby cooler and try to find a way to thaw it out when we need to use it? How much do I take with us at a time? I pumped the other day and I got 3 oz from one breast and 2 from the other, it didn't seem like much to me but I don't know for sure how much he is getting at each feeding. I feel like a complete beginnger when it comes to all of this. I really want to continue to bf exculsively and not have to deal with purchasing formula (we can't afford it anyway!!!). I think all of the questions and the amout of time it takes is the reason why I gave up with Zachary years ago. My parents bought me a very nice double electric breast pump for me to use, and it's in a nice carry pack that doesn't look like a breast pump so I can take it to work with me when I return.

Mike just got home from work, he's got to leave again in an 1/2 hr to go coach his soccer team's camp this week. Needless to say we won't be doing anything for our anniversary.

I know I need to post pictures, I will soon I promise. I haven't gotten them off of our camera yet. I still need to take one of him today for his 2 week picture.