I Survived!

I survived my first two weeks as a momma!! And what a wonderful and amazing two weeks it was. I love every second I spend with Harper. I still think his cry is adorable (I am sure that is about to change) and I still find every little thing he does to be the cutest thing I have ever seen. I spend my days nursing, changing diapers, nursing, changing diapers, and occasionally sleeping when Harp decides to take a nap.

I was not allowed to drive for the past two weeks... doctors orders. That was slightly miserable. Erik had to go back to work so I was stuck in the house with the baby and the puppy for the majority of the time. But now my 2 weeks is over and I am FREE AT LAST! It is so nice to be able to run to the grocery store again!!

Last week I experienced my first afterbirth pains. Talk about miserable. These cramps are caused by contractions of your uterus as it shrinks back to its pre-pregnancy size and location after you have your baby. Breastfeeding can bring on these cramps or make them more intense because your baby's sucking triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin, which in turn causes contractions.  I think this was the case for me because right after I nursed the baby they started and they HURT! I didn't cry when I had the baby... but these suckers had me balling. I was pretty darn close to going to the ER but they got better and have been gone for the past few days.  Glad they are over with!

Harper is quite the trooper. Erik and I have brought him on several outings and he is GREAT!! He usually sleeps through everything and even when he wakes he just looks around with his big beautiful eyes and checks everything out. It is nice being able to go on date nights with the baby! I even took him with me to Wild Wing Cafe to meet up with Brooke and Brice when they came to visit! He didn't make a single peep.

Harper has been to two doctor's visits now. Everything looks great. He is still a few ounces under where we would like him to be. He is 7 pounds and he should be back at his birthweight 7 pounds and 3 ounces this week. So hopefully he will continue to eat and will gain back the weight.

I have decided I am not a huge fan of breast-feeding. I think it is great for the baby and I AM going to continue to do it but it really wears on me. The whole leaky breasts doesn't help either. It really is a whole lot of work! And my little man LOVES to eat, OFTEN. And the breast pump... what a pain in the butt... or should I say boobs... haha I know that was lame but whatever. I was naive, thought you just hook on up, start pumping and then you will have a nice full bottle of milk. Wouldn't that be nice!? Nope, that is not how it works. I am lucky to get a full 2 ounces every time I pump. And it takes about the same amount of time to pump as it does to feed him. So that was kind of a bummer. My milk pumping dreams... splattered.

Well I am off to feed the baby. Hope everyone in doing well. I am going to try to get back on track. I have been neglecting my blog and my blogger friends.