Marigold Lee: 1 Month Update

Miss Marigold Lee is one month old!

I cannot believe it – the past 4 weeks have flown by and looking back at pictures from her first week here it’s amazing how much she’s changed already! 

STATS: Our current pediatrician doesn’t do well visits at 1 month so I don’t have exact statistics BUT I do know that Marigold is growing like a weed. She was born at 8 lbs 14 oz, weighed 8lbs 9oz at her well visit at 1 week old and two weeks later when I took her in because of her cold she was already 9lbs 9 ozs! I’m sure she’s topped 10 lbs already but we don’t have a scale to check. She’s already in size 1 diapers + 3 month clothes. We have so many adorable newborn outfits that I’m bummed I didn’t get to see her in. She is our big healthy girl that’s for sure!

EATING: Marigold is a CHAMP at breastfeeding! She literally latched and started nursing within 10-15 minutes of being born and nursed for nearly an hour right off the bat. From the beginning she’s had a really good latch and is a strong sucker – I think this really helped me establish a high milk supply. This is a little different than my experience with Lavinia because she was a little bit of a lazy eater at first, meaning she didn’t have a very strong suck and would often fall asleep after just nursing for a few minutes. With Liv my supply was high enough to get us through 15 months of breastfeeding but my freezer stash was really low and there were some stressful moments related to work trips and if we’d have enough milk or not. This time I’ve been able to use the Haakaa Breast Pump just once a day and have built a little bit of a freezer stash already which feels nice.

The first few weeks my letdown was pretty quick and she had a hard time handling how quickly the milk was coming out but the past week or so my letdown has regulated and is a lot less intense and/or she’s caught up to be able to handle it and that hasn’t been giving us any/as many issues anymore. So overall we’ve had a relatively easy breastfeeding experience so far, she is still nursing on demand and it fluctuates throughout the day how long she’ll go between feeds. She is giving us some good stretches at night and then sometimes during the day she’ll eat after just having ate an hour ago. 

SLEEP: I’ve been really pleased with Marigold’s sleep so far. The first 3.5 weeks we were really lax with her sleeping habits –  during the day she slept while being held 99% of the time and we didn’t try to force any routines. She was also sleeping the DockATot in our bed for those first 3.5 weeks as well. For the last week we’ve started encouraging a schedule for afternoon nap and bedtime and have continued to let her nap outside of those times while out and about, in the carrier, etc. What nap and bedtime look like – she gets a new diaper, I swaddle her up, nurse her and put her in her crib. Sometimes she is 100% asleep, sometimes she’s awake but drowsy. If she fusses or cries I let her be for ~5 mins to see if she settles herself and most of the time she does, if she is crying intensely after the 5 minutes I go in to comfort her and sometimes offer the other side for nursing. So far she’s been doing about 2.5-3 hours for the afternoon nap and at night will sleep from when I put her down around 8 until sometime between 1 and 2am, then wakes up again around 5 for a feed and then is up up in the morning between 7 and 7:30 (at about the same time as Lavinia). During night time wakes I leave all the lights off and do the following routine – diaper change, re-swaddle, feed, put down. For the first few nights in her own room she’d be up for anywhere from 30-60 minutes during her middle of the night wakes but the past few nights I’ve typically been back in bed 15-20 minutes after I got up. Really hoping that this trend continues!

LIKES:

• Her sister!

• Being walked around 
• Being held close to mommy in the carrier

• Her pacifier
• BATHTIME

• Nursing

DISLIKES:

• Being in her car seat when the car isn’t moving
• Being hungry/cold/wet/etc.

FIRSTS:

• At just a week old Marigold got her first cold (the joys of being a younger sibling and winter baby), it was heartbreaking to watch and I’m just so glad that she got over it quickly and is feeling better now!
• First party – her Sip-N-See
• First time sleeping in her crib overnight
• First time switching her head from one side to the other during tummy time – she did this for the first time the day she was born, she was on Henri’s chest and just completely lifted her head up and switched to the other side! We were baffled by how strong she was!
• First time taking a paci – couldn’t believe at first that she wasn’t interested!

THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER:

• Our labor and delivery experience with her, she was the greatest prize at the end of the hardest thing I’ve ever physically gone through!

• The awe in the delivery room over how big she was and how strong of a baby she was to be born with the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times and not need anything more than one puff of air to start crying
• Introducing her to her big sister!
• The weight of her in my arms while she nurses   
• Her little snore when she sleeps 
• Her chubby cheeks and double (sometimes triple chin!)
• The funny faces she makes

• The way that she looks at her big sister – she is always sooo interested in Lavinia and it is the sweetest thing to see the smile on her face when she sees or hears her sister
• The little “prayer hands” that she makes sometimes right underneath her chin
• The moments when she would be crying when someone else was holding her but she would totally melt and fall asleep when she was handed to me

We love you Marigold – you’ve been the perfect addition to our family and we are so glad you’re ours to keep!