One month update on Adeline

The last month of my pregnancy seemed to drag on but this last month with Adeline has flown by! It's amazing how relative the passing of time feels depending on our situation. Technically, I'm a week late and Miss Adeline is already 5 weeks old!

Adeline is growing like a weed! She is 9 pounds 6.5 oz and 23 inches long. She is a great eater and is already chunking up! The first week of breast feeding was absolutely horrible. I'll tell you what, nursing with blistered, bleeding nipples was way more painful than child birth! Adeline was a chomper and just chewed me up. I met with the lactation specialist a few times and she told me I had perfect technique -thanks to 16 months of nursing twins I'm pretty much an expert :) - and she said there was nothing physically wrong with Adeline so we should be able to nurse succesfully. We couldn't figure out why she was chomping but we adjusted a few things and I said a lot of tear filled prayers that we would be able to make it work. Thankfully, one day it just clicked with her and breastfeeding has been great ever since. (Side note, the lactation specialist recommended coconut oil for helping my nipples heal, and it was a miracle worker for me. I highly recommend it to any breastfeeding Mommas.)

Everyone asks me if having one baby as opposed to twins is easier. And I always answer with a resounding YES! The biggest difference is I'm able to be so much more relaxed with her. With the twins, I constantly had to be worrying about our schedule. I needed both of them to eat at the same time, sleep at the same time, etc. and I always had to remember whose diaper I changed, who ate on what side, who slept 45 minutes, who slept an hour, who pooped, and so on. Our schedule was our lifesaver yet it also drove me crazy trying to keep two very different babies in sync with one another. Plus going out with them was a challenge since I tandem nursed them. I couldn't feed them while on the go. With Adeline, I just go with the flow with what she wants to do. I don't care when she eats or how long she sleeps. I don't have to panic when we're out in public and she gets hungry. I just feed her wherever we are. It is so much more less stress to just have one baby this time. That being said, my other two children haven't disappeared so the challenge is taking care of two toddlers in addition to a newborn this time around.

I guess you could say Adeline is a "needy" baby in the fact that she loves to be held all the time. But for now, I don't really view it as a problem. I'm enjoying all the snuggle time. I feel like I missed out on that somewhat with my twins because I couldn't hold them both and when I was holding one the other one wanted me too and there wasn't a lot of leisurely cuddle time. Eventually, Adeline will have to learn to be content on her own so I can actually get something done, but I'm happy to hold her and relish in her sweetness and I honestly don't believe you can spoil a newborn!

Sleep is hit and miss which I'm sure is typical of most newborns. Sometimes she only gets up once in the night. Sometimes she's up every two hours! On days that I'm lucky, all three of the girls will nap at the same time which means I can too. I also am able to sleep in just a little bit because Nate will get the girls up before he goes to work. He'll put an episode on for them buying me 30 more minutes of  glorious sleep!

Eden and Lydia have been so good with Adeline. I was really worried about jealousy, and they do act out a bit more seeking attention, but overall they've done really well. They like to be big helpers and pick out her pajamas, throw her diapers away, get her blankets, rub her lotion on, etc. They really love her and I love having these three beautiful, wonderful girls to call mine!