I'm afraid Maggie is suffering from second-child syndrome and there haven't been nearly as many photos snapped of her as there were of Charlotte's first month. Fewer visitors. Fewer "welcome baby" gifts. And the universe didn't stop when she arrived- we still go to music class and waterbabies on Charlotte's same old schedule. I can't always drop everything the moment she makes a sound, and sometimes I actually set her down so I can attend to Charlotte's or my own needs.
As a result, or perhaps just because of her own nature, Maggie is kind of an independent little lass. She sleeps in a bassinet beside my bed, so I hear her every movement (seriously- the bassinet rattles and creaks constantly). I've actually seen her lie there, eyes wide open looking around for 5 or 10 minutes before she starts making her little grunting "I need some attention please" noises. I've put her to bed awake-but-sleepy and she's drifted off to dreamland all on her own- who among us was able to do that with baby #1 this early in the game? not me!
The one exception to all this easy-going wonderfulness is a nightly witching hour that appeared out of nowhere a few days ago. From about 6-8 pm, she's exhausted and inconsolable and cries pitifully until C manages to calm her to sleep with his magic (boobless) touch. If she's in my arms during that time, she's convinced she should be eating, but when that doesn't provide the solace she needs, she goes back to yowling and flailing. Swaddling doesn't work at that point. I tried putting her down for a well-timed nap just before witching hour, but she didn't sleep long enough for it to influence the evening.
It's 3/24 now, and I am just getting back to this blog for the first time in over a week. We've escaped the witching hour every night save two since I began this post. I think Maggie just wants to be involved in the action of our nightly dinner routine. As long as we don't try to put her to bed between 6 and 7, she may cry a wee bit,but there's no serious meltdown. Some evenings, she eats at 4-ish and then sleeps right through the witching hour completely.
Maggie had her 1-month visit to the ped. She weighed 11 pounds 5.5 ounces and was 23 or 23.5inches tall. She was squirming and crying by the time the doc tried to measure her, so the height measurement is suspect. I think Charlotte was about this size when she was 4 months old, or older, but I'm not entirely sure. Maggie wears a mixture of 0-3,3,and 3-6-month clothes now. She just bigger enough that none of Charlotte's summer hand-me-downs will fit when summer weather arrives. Oh, well. We have an ample supply of short-sleeved onesies that she can live in when it's hot out. And with the weather we've had already, maybe summer will start early enough this year that she'll get to wear the cute rompers and outfits in April or May (which Charlotte wore in August/September of her first year).
Maggie is an unpredictable nurser- meals can take anywhere between 8 and 35 minutes, then tide her over for 2 to 5 hours. Usually, it takes her 15 minutes to become sated, and she wants to eat every 3 hours. I am trying to get her to eat more less frequently,especially at night. I'm also still looking for a nipple she likes so she'll take abottle (of breastmilk). To date, she has not successfully taken a bottle since we came home from the hospital. She doesn't refuse it; she just doesn't seem to know what to do with it, so nothing comes out. I'd love for C to be able to feed her just once a week in the middle of the night so I can get a weekly full night's sleep.
I started pumping about 3 weeks ago, usually just once per day and I get about 4 ounces each time. I don't have to build up a major supply this time- no return to work on the horizon, and no fertility treatments to dictate the end of nursing. I'm not even sure what we'll do with an accumulated 4-ounces a day, but I like knowing it's there in case something unexpected happens.
Computer's battery is dying... bye for now.
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