"May strong arms hold you, caring hearts tend you and may love await you at every step… " ...An Irish Blessing

First off, we really would like to thank everyone for all of the well-wishes and congratulations we received, as well as all of the beautiful flowers and cards and gifts! It's so wonderful to know that there are so many people who love and care for us and our daughter :-) Thank you!

We've been getting along all right. Last night was a good sleep night...we managed to get a couple of longer stretches, which was very nice.

Yesterday we had Avelyn's first pediatric appointment...all is looking good and Avelyn is doing well: She was holding at her discharge weight, 7lbs 11oz. The doctor was quite pleased with how she was. They checked her legs, hips, tummy etc and all was good: YAY!

We did ask him about her not having a bowel movement since we had left the hospital (48hrs prior) and he suggested we try a 1/2 oz of prune juice with formula...oh boy did that work lol We go back in another couple of weeks for another check up.

We also had a first today, for mommy and daddy, BATH TIME! Of course they bathed her at the hospital, but we didn't have much to do with that, so this was the first time we were doing it ourselves.

She survived (albeit with a bit of hollerin') and we survived!


Breastfeeding is ehh: I definitely am not producing enough for her. I started using the pump that my MIL bought...I seem to be only getting about 1.5 oz and that's only after several hours of not pumping/feeding (we're increasing the frequency) and with the setting on high; so we're supplementing what I can get. This girl is a hungry baby! We had quite a bit of fussiness today, but then we started putting the whole thing together with the breastfeeding.

It takes me about 45 minutes on a side to get the 1.5 oz of milk...I'd be frustrated too if I was hungry and it was taking that long and that much work for me to eat. It honestly doesn't matter to me how she gets fed...my priority is to give her as much as the good stuff as I can, but if I need help to keep her fed ok. In the mean time I'll keep pumping and doing what I can.

The other issue I am seeming to have with breastfeeding is something called Raynaud's Phenomenon. It's when the nipples contract and blanch after feeding...the blood supply is essentially getting cut off to the nipple. They don't know what causes it, but it's believed to be related to nerve damage in the nipple...which for me would make some sense. It hurts though when it happens....imagine going outside in the freezing cold, topless, and pouring water on your nipples...yea.

I'm feeling ok. My butt hurts from sitting so much (lengthy feeding sessions). My tear is doing all right and the "bleeding" is definitely down to my usual periods (which are pretty light). My tummy is pretty funny looking...a bit deflated, definitely some stretchmarks, and very smushy. Matt says I should get a tattoo of tiger paws on both sides of my tummy, because my stretch marks look like I was clawed.

I got on the scale this morning and since I last weighed myself (last week - while pregnant) I've lost 20lbs. I'm back down to what I was while pregnant and had lost some weight from the MS (173 or so). I'm hoping, once I can exercise, to at least lose another 10 lbs...that would get me down to what I weighed in college...more than I really should, but I'd be happy with that.

Sleep is ok. Avelyn is quite content to sleep (*knock on wood*) at night....I think last night I got about 6 or so hours on and off...I seriously couldn't ask for more than that. I know it could very well still be newborn exhaustion and am definitely expecting sleepless nights, but for right now I'm ecstatic!

Mentally I'm doing all right. The first night home I had a bit of a crying jag before bed...I was scared about sleeping, whether she would be all right (seriously was fearing something would happen and she would be gone in the morning), also the breastfeeding thing was frustrating me.

Last night I had another crying jag, but it was a good one....we were laying in bed and I was trying to feed her before going to sleep and I was looking at her and just burst into tears. Matt asked me if I was ok (he's concerned about PPD - because I do have some depression issues in general - and I've told him I'm concerned about it too). I just told him that these are genuine tears of joy. I've never cried tears of joy in my life (except after delivery)...I just can't believe this is real...we really have a baby and she's such a good baby, she's beautiful, and healthy, and so much more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. I just can't believe that we're so blessed to have her.

The dogs are doing well. I'm actually sitting here with both of them in my lap right now. They're very interested in Avelyn and get very concerned when she starts whining or crying. They immediately come running to Matt or I. Sage will actually sit there and whine until we do something about it. It's kind of cute.

Matt is awesome (as I knew he would be): He's so good with her and completely comfortable with anything. He's definitely a happy daddy and madly in love with his little girl. The smiles he gets on his face when he's around her are priceless.

Yes, we've already discussed the next one. Probably next summer (2010)/fall we're going to get back on the horse and do another round of IUIs. We want the first two fairly close in age (no more than 2 years apart). Of course there's a lot of time and things that can change in the next 10 months.

I honestly can say that we couldn't be more happy for our little girl.