Baby 101

It's been 100 days since we left the hospital with Leah. That corresponds to roughly:

200 loads of laundry (and our highest water consumption ever)
400 mood swings (those are mine)
600 feedings (I'm a cow)
800 diaper changes (more than half with poop)
1000 bouts of crying (which Michael thinks are cute)

Yes, things have changed but we knew that would happen. For years people have told us life changes more than you believe.

But... what are those things they don't tell you?

My vote: lack of warning about the true pain of the [insert pause for added dramatic effect]... THE CLUSTER FEED.

I first heard about this mysterious thing a few weeks before Leah was born. I was informed that at some point during the first week the baby would have a growth spurt. This growth spurt coincides with cluster feeding, an increased rate of feedings resulting from increased hunger.

I suppose this happened when I was in the hospital but everything is a bit of a blur the first week. The baby seems to be doing nothing more than eating, pooping, sleeping, and crying. Therefore, a slight increase in the frequency of feeding did not seem alarming.

Trouble is, I was not really warned about the future cluster feeds. Had I been thinking logically, instead of thinking like a sleep deprived new mom, I may have realized this would happen. After all, I knew there would be future growth spurts.

Here's a short recap of the last 24 hrs:

Tuesday morning is Baby Day at the Alamo Draft House theater. I burst out in laughter when I saw the warning signs posted on the doors.

I fed Leah before we left and brought a bottle, assuming she would not want it until the end of the movie. Shortly after the movie began, the crying began. Warning sign #1: an off schedule feeding. We fed Leah, changed a diaper, and walked around the back of the theater with her for another hour. Apparently she was in no mood to sit still (I still have no clue where that trait comes from).

When we returned home we fed Leah again, changed her, and put her down for a nap. She slept for 1.5 hrs and managed to soak through her diaper so extensively that three large spots soaked her bed when she woke up. I'm pretty sure this is the first time she's managed to leak through all three diaper holes. Warning sign #2: massive amount of pee in a short period of time

Since yesterday afternoon Leah has followed a stringent pattern of eating every 2.5 hours (it's normally every 4 during the day and 8 at night), sleeping a bit, and waking up for more.

I'm sure you can guess how our night went! Not much sleep and a lot of frustration that I have to squeeze even more liquid life out in a short period of time. These type of nights make a mom want to rip out her hair. I thought twice about this as I remembered my hair is already falling out at a rapid rate due to nursing.

We responded to this eating frenzy with logic. In a classic example of an over controlled process we pulled about 3 feedings worth of milk out of the freezer. Of course, once she starts eating more my body will also respond with an increase in the cow factor. It's impressive how quickly the body can respond to an increased demand but it's not much fun when the discomfort level rises.

Biggest concern now is our flight tomorrow. It was already going to be a logistical challenge for us but the eating frenzy adds some increased fun factors. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'll just have to repack all of Leah's clothes. She's been wearing 0-3m stuff but after this last cluster feed I think we'll be exclusively in 3-6m before the weekend.

Maybe Leah felt the need to grow enough to fit into the snow suit before it warms up in Austin:


Another picture, Leah with her favorite nerd toy: