A Wonderful Copley Life: First few months of motherhood

We got home from the hospital on June 15th. While at the hospital everything was going great. Karlie was latching to my breast without any problems. As soon as we got home, I could not get her to latch for anything. I wanted to exclusively breastfeed so I resisted the suggestion to give her some formula. Thank goodness my mom and husband were there to support me. I was exhausted and frustated and Karlie was screaming. Finally, after a few hours I agreed to give her a bottle of formula. I ended up supplementing her for 3 more days until my milk came in.

Once my milk came in, 5 days after delivery, I had no need for formula. All I had to do was think about feeding her and milk started pouring out of my breast! Needless to say, I have a freezer full of breast milk. Still to this day, Karlie has only had breast milk with the exception of the first couple to days. It is so amazing to know that my body provides everything she needs. And the bonding experience is wonderful. At her 2 month appointment she weighed 11 lbs 15oz and was in the 91st precentile for weight.

I have gotten used to feeding her every 2-4 hours. I was had the first couple of weeks, especially at night. And my nipples were so sore! Lanolin made it bareable. Now at 2 1/2 months she sleeps at least 5 hours at night. One night she slept for 7 hours straight! I woke up in a panic and had to make sure she was ok. She was fine. I am finding that she sleeps best in her crib and in her room. When she wakes up at 3:00 am to eat, I usually keep her in bed with me to snuggle until daddy gets up for work.

For the first 2 months poor Karlie was so gassy. She would scream at the top of her lungs with tears running down her face. It broke my heart beacuse I felt so helpless. We gave her gas drops and put some pressure on her belly. But nothing could take away her pain right away. Now we give her gas drops to prevent these epidsodes. The doctor thinks she has colic but in the last week we haven't had another episode.

We are finally settling into a routine. If she doesn't have her 3 hour nap during the day, she is one crabby patty. I am lucky at the timing of everything. My maternity leave ended and the next day I started the 10 day clearing process to get out of the Army. Which, for those who have cleared before know, is really only about 2 days of clearing and chilling out the rest. My best friend, Chelsie babysat Karlie the first day. I cried as I drove off, not because I was worried but because I missed her already. The next day daddy had Karlie duty. As soon as my 10 days were done, I got my DD214 and started transitional leave. I currently have one day left in the Army and hope I get started as a civilian on my floor by October. I did join the reserves and get to wear the uniform one weekend a month for the next two years. I think it will be a good transition into civilian life.

Karlie has grown so much in the last 2 months. She smiles all the time, especially when she wakes up. And she loves to coo at us. Its like she is telling us what is on her mind. She scrunches her eyebrows and tells us what she thinks. I love it and could listen to her beautiful voice all day long. She doesn't like tummy time but is getting good at holding up her head. I'm sure she'll be crawling all over the place before I know it.