The bodysnatchers have returned the goods....

.....at-least part of them, anyway! I have been enjoying the daily revelation of the return of my body! Each day, I have just a little more of myself back! I still have a LONG way to go to regain my former self (and loose my current poundage!) but that will come in time. No rushing there! But for now, I am enjoying the ability to bend (slouch even!), breathe without effort, roll over in bed and walk without a severe waddle! I'm still walking hunched over from the c-section, but I'm almost completely vertical again! My pain is getting better by the day....I had a few rough days between Sunday and today, with the pain being sometimes just a little too much to tolerate, but I can feel improvement all the time! I am on the road to recovery!

As for things around the house, my last post was obviously written when I was on severe 'baby high'! Re-reading it, I realized we were walking on Cloud 9. We still are happy and blessed, but the adrenaline is wearing off and we're coming down from the mountain-top, so to speak. Monday was a HARD day for us around the house. The 'tireds' had caught up with both Ty and I and Luke was having a really tough day too. His behavior is getting a little better each day since, but he is showing us that this new adjustment is hard for him. No matter what, each time we tell him no for anything, he throws himself to the floor in tears. And when we offer him choices (which we try to do ALL the time) he will pick one thing, then cry when we give that thing to him because he wants something else. A few times, we have tried to give him the other choice, but he will cry even then too! Argh! SOOOOOO frustrating. Nothing pleases him, really. And I know that all of this behavior is completely normal, but I think the fact that he is normally SUCH a good boy with a pleasant demeanor makes the times when he is 'stinky' even harder to handle. Sometimes I wonder who stole my sweet child away. I know it is just a season....and I know just how normal it is, but it's tough nonetheless.

I miss him a lot! My arms and time have been so consumed with Ellie....between breastfeeding, diaper changing and simple my own healing, that I have not been able to love on Luke as I always have. I miss our special time together. It makes me tear up as I type that. Sometimes it feels like our relationship has changed so much already. It makes me sad. I am trying to make a concerted effort to stop what I am doing to focus my attention solely on him and take the time to cuddle him extra long, read a story just to have him close, or make do whatever it takes to help him feel extra special, but its still hard. The bright side of all this is that I can see his relationship with Ty blossoming. They are getting the time together that Luke and I used to share. That is wonderful to see, but I'm envious of it as well. Change, change, change.

Speaking of Ty, he continues to be my hero! He is doing such a good job at keeping this household running while I am recovering. He's doing laundry, making meals, keeping the house tidy and keeping track of Luke! I'm pitching in where I can, and each day I can do just a little more, but it's slow going. His biggest heroism is with Luke. My sometimes easily irritated husband had morphed into a pillar of patience!!! Sometimes, he is considerably more patient and 'with it' than I am, and I am thankful for that!!! Keep the prayers for him comin'! With all of us to care for, he needs 'em!!

And lastly, but certainly not least is Miss Ellie! She is doing great! Part of our frustrations this week was trying to get her to the pediatrician for her first well-baby check yesterday. She was supposed to be seen on Monday, but we were unable to get an appointment for her, so we got one for yesterday (Tuesday) morning at 9:15. We scrambled to get there on time, and I was eager to see how her weight gain (or loss) was. Well....when we arrived, we were told that somehow, her appointment was scheduled for Aug. 31st instead of Aug. 21st and that there were no appointments even available yesterday to squeeze her into. I explained the situation to the receptionist..."She was supposed to be seen yesterday, according to our discharge orders. I just made the appt. yesterday morning...how could there be a mistake. I explained our situation to the appointment lady! She is a newborn and absolutely HAS to be seen today...if only for a weight check!" and the receptionist disappeared into the back to speak to our doctor. I waited at the counter, silently asking God to figure it all out because I was, at this point, near tears.
Dr. Zaft (our pediatrician) came out with more bad news. Apparently, my medical group recently changed their policy (recently meaning that it must've happened in the last 3 weeks, because I confirmed that Dr. Zaft could be our pedi. about 3 weeks ago and all was fine) and now, that particular office where Dr. Zaft is is no longer accepting new pediatric patients. I would have to see another doctor at another office. The tears began to flow at that point and Dr. Zaft reached for my hand, assuring me that Ellie could be seen that day in the Lactation clinic for a weight check and that they would figure out who and when I could get in to see a different doctor. I cried. Couldn't any of this be easy?! I did all my homework and thought I had it all figured out, and when it came down to it, I couldn't even get my newbie baby in to see her doctor at 5 days of age! Argh! I walked away from the desk, immediately called Laura Messmore (my lactation specialist friend and saving grace!!!). I told her the story and I discovered that the lactation clinic was closed on Tuesdays. Great! But being the angel that she is, she told us to come to the hospital (which was just across the street) and she would check Ellie's weight, billirubin levels (jaundice) and see how our breastfeeding was going. Oh, thank God for Laura!!!! She always comes to our rescue! We are so grateful for her!!!!

To make this long story short (or even longer I guess), we spent about an hour with Laura. She weighed Ellie before, during and after her feeding and we were all surprised to learn that she has already surpassed her birth weight! She is currently 7 lbs 1.5 oz, and she is breastfeeding and transferring milk so well that she took double the amount of milk that most babies her age take. The average is 1 oz. per feeding and Ellie took in two!! Way to go, Sweetie! Most babies also don't usually regain their birth weight until sometime around the second week of life, but by day 5, Ellie already had surpassed it! Yay!!!!! That news made me feel so calm and reassured! My milkers are working great!!! :) I won't have the constant struggle that I had for the ten months I breastfed Luke and I won't have to be on that stinkin' Reglan to keep my supply up! God has answered my many prayers in that department as well! Hallelujah!!!

So, all in all, the outcomes continue to be positive....despite a few bumps along the way.
We will continue to adjust to all these changes and life will seem much smoother in just a short time. I am still working on the photos for you.....it's tough to steal away to be on the computer at all, so the pics are slow in coming. The only reason I've even been able to blog right now is that Ty took Luke and Tess to the park and Ellie is napping in her swing between feedings. It's almost time to milk her again though, and I'd like to squeeze in a shower soon too, so I had better get going. Thanks for all your comments, prayers, phone calls and emails. I love feeling your presence through this time! For those of you who have not wanted to call for fear of bugging us, feel free to do so....I'd like to chat with you...it's okay to call! If I can't talk just then, I'll tell ya and I'll give you a call a little later on. But you're never bugging us! We feel blessed by your concern and love for us!

Okay...off for now. Hopefully I'll get some more pics for you today or tomorrow!