Nursing her baby

 

I walked in to my room one day, where my rocker that I nurse and rock Hazel is, and Everly is sitting in my chair with her shirt up and her doll nursing. It only lasted this one time and I have not seen her do it since, but I asked her about it and she said she was giving milk to her baby. I LOVED it because first, I think nursing is the sweetest thing and one of my favorite things and second, I loved it because she was only doing it because I do it. I love that they watch what we do and mimic it. It makes my heart so happy!

Meeting Baby Norah

Norah Luisa Erwin has arrived! Ana and Charley delivered my sweet, little niece into this world on Friday, September 21, 2018! She was 9 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. She is just a precious baby and it's going to be so fun to watch her grow up!

I'll give a quick story of their big day and the pictures Charley text us. Because their doctor was concerned about Norah's size, she decided to do a c-section on Ana on that Friday, the 21st. When our families knew a plan, everyone decided to go sit in the waiting room at the hospital for her delivery. Since Atticus and Grace were being picked up from school by Vic, to go to Orange Grove, I realized I would be able to leave early in the morning with Hazel and Everly and be in Grapevine for the delivery as well! I was so excited. But, hours before we were set to go, Everly got a fever. Ugh. I was really disappointed. But, Pa, Melbo, GG, Dad, Mom, and Ana's parents were all there and I loved getting updates from them and Charley that day, as well as the weekend. I'll only share the photos they sent us that day, but they are so sweet!

They are so funny! Ready for their big event!

 Charley was ready to scrub in! haha!

And, then she arrived! 

 They are finally a family of three!!

 So, Norah and Hazel are only 7 weeks apart! They will get to grow up together, and I think that is so exciting! I had to do a side-by-side of their newborn photos!

 

 And, I thought this was a sweet photo of 3 of the 4 grandparents of little Norah together!

The following weekend, I took Atticus & Hazel and we went to DFW to meet Norah and see the Erwin family. We arrived Friday afternoon around 3:30 and Melbo, Pa & GG were already at Ana & Charley's house and had been loving on Norah all day! Ana was nursing when I got there, so I got to go upstairs and see her and visit and then we nursed together and it. was. so. fun! Nothing better than nursing babies, but especially with your favorite new mamas! After a couple of hours there, we headed to Sanger for the night. I went back to Lewisville for a couple of hours on Saturday and then went to GG's house to visit. That evening, GG kept Atticus and Hazel and I went to eat dinner with Melbo, Pa, Mom & Dad at Bebo's in Pilot Point. I can't wait to take Vic there - live music, good food, and fun atmosphere - it's what Vic would call a "dive" and it even had BYOB! It was a good weekend and I can't wait to be back to see them all again soon!

 Sweet little Norah!

 Hazel and Norah meeting for the first time!

 Melbo and Hazel met too!

 Melbo was getting a lot of baby holding in on this day - she is always sad to not hold my babies very much since we live so far away. So, I hope she gets to snuggle Norah a lot more!

 Even Pa wanted to hold babies this weekend!

 Then, we thought it would be so cute to get a photo of Melbo and Pa with both babies; well that was a fiasco! haha! Neither one would look at the camera at the same time or if they did, they didn't smile at the right time and then Norah was crying and Pa was talking to her - it was hilarious!

So, Atticus was SO excited to see Norah. When I told the kids that I would only bring one big kid (Atticus or Grace) with me on this trip, he begged to go. It was also funny because on the way, we talked to Vic and he said "Atticus - you be good for Mom" and Atticus came back with "Don't worry Dad, I'll just be snuggling baby Norah." in the sweetest, most sincere little voice ever. He really does love his babies! However, on the way to Lewisville, he started coughing. And then he couldn't stop. So, after Friday evening, he did not get to go back to see Norah again. He was so sad and I was so sad for him, but hopefully Thanksgiving gets here soon so he can love on her some more!

Who would have thought that Atticus would be the big kid, and only boy, to 4 little sisters/cousin just 7 years after we welcomed him into our family!?

 

 Hazel and I hung out with Ana, Charley and Norah on Saturday.

And, since Ana and Charley have a daycare setup in their living room, we had options for napping, playing, swinging, etc.!  

 Uncle Charley & Hazel.

While we were in Sanger, Atticus was always helpful. He loves his little Hazel and wants to carry her or hold her every chance he gets. While we were at Melbo's, everyone got to love on her too.

 I'm really glad we got to see Norah on this weekend; I look forward to the entire family getting to meet her and our whole Erwin crew being together for the holidays!

 Also, here I should note that Hazel did really good on our trip. On the way down, she slept the entire way and then, although it was after midnight on Friday before she went to sleep, she slept all night until I had to wake her Saturday morning. But, once she was on the bed, she stretched and stretched and just smiled so happily! It was the sweetest thing!! I love you, my little Hazel Laine!

Oh and one more thing! On the way home, Hazel only made it to Riesel before she needed to eat, so we stopped in the parking lot at that intersection/gas station and I fed her. Well, after that, Atticus needed to go potty. Instead of strapping her in to her carseat to drive across the parking lot to the gas station, I just handed her to Atticus and off we went. It was a very short distance and we could have walked, but this was easy too. It's so nice to have a sweet, good, big brother to help me!

Oh and meanwhile, at home, these girls are having so much fun with Daddy - taking walks and decorating for Halloween!

 Grace, sitting next to "Skeletor" our skeleton.

 And, Grace took a selfie with him and this little face looks just like her toddler face!

Silly girls!

Ups & Downs of The First Two Weeks

Here is my 2 week summary that is detailed, but I just wanted to document. What should have been just a c-section recovery and snuggling Hazel turned into lots of appointments with all kinds of doctors for small issues that were fixed, but took time. Here we go:

Monday, August 6th:

• C-Section Recovery: moving slow, a little abdomen pain, needed help in and out of bed
• Nursing: the pain was getting worse and I started researching the lactation specialist in Bryan
• Hazel: precious and perfect and getting lots of attention from Atticus and Grace
• Appointments: None 
• Other: dinner brought by our neighbor, the Woods

Tuesday, August 7th:

• C-Section Recovery: same as Monday
• Nursing: terrible and by the end of the day, I pumped and gave Hazel a bottle because my body (so technically my nipples, but I'm not sure if anyone wants to see that word over and over, even though this is just life with a new baby) needed a break from nursing; it's tough to give yourself anytime to heal when you are feeding every 3 hours;
• Hazel: precious and perfect, but sadly LOVED that bottle and how easy the milk came
• Appointments: 11:00 am for weight check - Hazel was down to about 7 lbs. 7 oz. but was ok

Wednesday, August 8th:

• C-Section Recovery: same as Tuesday, but starting to get lots of bruising on my stomach
• Nursing: it was getting terrible; just like Grace and Everly, I would cringe when she latched and it hurt entire time I nursed and I was cracked, bleeding, and bruising
• Hazel: precious and perfect, but had one more bottle...she loved it again. And, she started not wanting to latch and nurse well. I have never had nipple confusion between breast and bottle with my other kids, so I was not hesitant to give her a bottle, but she immediately preferred the bottle. This was not in my plans.
• Appointments: 3:00 pm for lactation specialist - lasted 2.5 hours, but she was awesome*
• Other: Scarmardo's came by to bring dinner and visit

*Shannon Sanford was the L.S. we saw. She was very thorough with our appointment. She asked a ton of questions about delivering, previous babies and nursing, and wanted all kinds of details about us. Then, she had me nurse, but realized Hazel was not latching properly because she couldn't get enough nipple/aureola (there I go again with the uncomfortable words) into her mouth so she was just getting nipple and creasing it and hurting it. So, she showed me how to get her latched better and it felt SO much better! It was also interesting because she had a scale that measured in mg and we weighed Hazel before she nursed. Then, we weighed her after 10 minutes of nursing and she could tell exactly how much "milk was transferred" and we could see 1/2 an ounce or so difference. So, when we did the other side, she had to help me get the right latch again but then she barely moved any milk in 10 minutes, which meant while I thought she was nursing, something wasn't working because she wasn't actually getting much milk into her. At this point, she gave me a nipple shield to help and I will say that I have tried those things in the past and did not like them. I did not think they helped me latch better and while the point of them is to protect you while you heal, but still be able to nurse, I have just never had any luck. But, again, she got her to latch with the nipple shield and we got a better latch and she moved milk this time. However, she also looked at her mouth and determined she had a shallow latch which she thought was because of a tight jaw. She said her jaw will loosen as she grows, but she had some ideas on how to naturally help it loosen too. She also said that she thought that her frenulum could be causing the bad latch. She said it was not terrible, but it was still tight and if it was causing pain, then we should consider cutting it. She also said that because of the tongue tie, her tongue was not moving up and down in the back well and she did not have a good suction. She would put her gloved finger in Hazel's mouth and drop milk in to get her to suck awhile and she felt like there was not good suction. So, she gave us a special bottle that would help with this until we could solve these problems. It was 2.5 hours of a LOT of information. There were hormonal tears and Vic took notes and still, when I left, I was emotionally drained and overwhelmed. The next step was to try to get Hazel into an ENT quickly to cut her frenulum. Vic called Scott and White ENT's and they couldn't get her in until 10 days and 2 weeks later. Um...I could NOT do the pain for that much longer. So, he called the one we used last time, Dr. Salzar, and they were booked, but could squeeze her in Friday morning at 8:15. Praise the Lord! That meant I only had to last until then to hopefully fix this issue.

• The funniest moment of the day was by Vic. So, at the appointment, she told me to use "organic, virgin, coconut oil" on my nipples to help heal them instead of the Lanolin I have always used. So, whatever she says, right? Vic had to go to HEB that evening and he had a list and when GG saw this item on it, she asked what he was cooking? He stated "Sarah's nipples." I still laugh every time I think about this remark!

Thursday, August 9th:

• C-Section Recovery: started moving more, but swelling in my feet and legs began; also the bruising was looking rough - total purple all the way across my belly under my bellybutton and it looked terrible. I'd never had that with my other surgeries, so I was concerned.
• Nursing: awful; I could NOT recreate the latch's or the nipple shield latch from the L.S. appointment; I was in terrible pain, but knew that she loved the bottle so much and so, I started out determined to NOT use the bottle; it was a constant routine of nurse, pump, bottle feed, repeat and I was wearing down. Eventually, 15 hours prior to the next morning's appointment, I only pumped and gave her the bottle; my body hurt, but I was hoping if I gave it a break and the tongue tie appointment was successful, I would start nursing again. I also knew that I was not allowed to do a paci or a bottle for 24 hours after the tongue tie cut, so I could not have any rest then.
• Hazel: precious and perfect, but not eating great, although at least when she had the bottle, I knew she was getting enough milk.
• Appointments: No appointments this day.
• Other: TMI AGAIN, but of all days, on this one, I had a stomachache with side effects - all I can really say about this is that it was terrible. And why did it need to happen on this day?

*I should also mention here that this was my low point day. I cried from Wednesday night to Friday morning. The hormones were rough and I was feeling like a failure because of the hormones. Mentally, I knew I was not a failure, but my hormones told me I was. And, I was half decided that Hazel was going to have to be a bottle baby which killed me even more because I love nursing my babies. It was rough; I stayed in my room ALL day crying, pumping, feeding, sleeping, etc. Yikes.

Friday, August 10th:

• C-section recovery: going well, but bruising was still getting worse and abdomen was hurting more
• Nursing: after the tongue tie cut, I noticed a major difference - within the first hour of nursing! However, she had a hard time latching the first time. It was taking me 10-20 minutes for her to latch and then stay latched. She was just so frustrated, but once latched, nursed great and I didn't have "new pain". The soreness was there and I had to still heal, but it was so much better. For our second feeding, Hazel didn't even eat - she was so frustrated with trying to nurse that she eventually wore herself out and napped instead. But, we started getting better and better every few hours.
• Hazel: precious and perfect, but frustrated with nursing.
• Appointments: 8:15 am - tongue tie cut - took all of 2 minutes so WHY could other ENT's not get us in? 10:30 am - appt with OB nurse to remove wound vac and staples, and check on bruising; Dr. Bertsch said the bruising looked bad but was just because of the operation and the pulling and tugging they did. Thank goodness.
• Other: Dinner got double-booked and brought by a MOPS friend, Katie and The Kiessling family; Also, Mom & Dad arrived for an overnight visit! They snuggled Hazel, visited and we played Yahtzee; I was a new woman after getting that tongue tie cut and felt so much better about life!

Saturday, August 11th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling, abdomen sore, but overall good!
• Nursing: making all good progress even though latching took awhile
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: 11:30 am - weight check with L.S. - Hazel gained 2.5 ounces! Also, L.S. determined the suction was so much better (which I had also thought when I did it at home) so she thought the tongue tie cut was the right decision; 4:45 pm - went to after hours care because I was feeling like an ear infection was coming on in my right ear and sure enough it was; but the Dr. said we caught it early and gave me some drops or my ear
• Other: Mom and Dad headed home that afternoon; the Powell's were driving through so they stopped by; the Kirchoff's and Barmettler's also stopped by and brought us dinner

Sunday, August 12th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling, abdomen soreness
• Nursing: Good! Still very sore and taking time to latch, but getting better.
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: none
• Ear Infection: the right ear was starting to get pretty painful and I was back to using my c-section drugs (that I had mostly stopped using for c-section pain) just to relieve the pain; the drops were not working yet and my ear was starting to swell

Monday, August 13th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling, abdomen soreness
• Nursing: Still getting better.
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: 11:15 am - appt. with my GP because now my left ear was hurting and my right ear was in terrible pain and I wanted an oral antibiotic as well; he confirmed a double ear infection; he decided my first drops were not working (and he said sometimes they don't - what? thanks a lot! why not just skip them on a 1 week postpartum patient then???) and so he prescribed different drops and an oral antibiotic
• Ear Infection: my right ear was blocked now and it was hard to hear and my left ear was getting worse
• Other: the Schulze's brought us dinner

Tuesday, August 14th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling in feed and legs, abdomen soreness
• Nursing: Still getting better.
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: None
• Ear Infection: completely terrible; both ears swelling; couldn't hear well in either ear; pain was TERRIBLE until combined dose of Hydrocodone and 800 mg of Ibuprofen kicked in but then pain was bad again when they wore off and until I could take the next dose; I can't even explain the pain - it was just so terrible. I literally counted down the hours and minutes between pain meds and had no problem just saying "forget it - I'm taking them 30 minutes early" multiple times. And I couldn't sleep at all for 2 nights in a row because it hurt to lay on it; so I slept in my rocker which was comfortable, but then the swelling got worse in my feet and legs, instead of getting better
• Other: We had Meet the Teacher for Atticus and I couldn't hear well so trying to visit with people was tough. Also - I had more pain in the afternoon because I was delaying taking pain meds so I could have the most relief during Meet the Teacher. I should have skipped it, but I just didn't want to. I love things with the kids!

 Wednesday, August 15th:

•  C-Section Recovery: swelling was still bad, abdomen soreness
• Nursing: Good
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: None
• Ear Infection: On Wednesday afternoon, I felt like my right ear was getting a little relief, but I was still deaf in both ears and the pain was still terrible.
• Other: Tonight was Meet the Teacher for Grace and I could hear even less than the night before. Also, we had my MOPS mentor, Susan, bring us dinner. And earlier in the day, we had newborn photos done (with the family as well). The only way I made it through each of these things was LOTS OF PAIN MEDS.

Thursday, August 16th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling was starting to go down, abdomen soreness - bruising still bad
• Nursing: Good
• Hazel: Precious and perfect
• Appointments: 3:30 pm - L.S. Weight check; Hazel was back up to birth weight, so we were done with the L.S.!
• Ear Infection: I finally started to feel like my right ear was getting better and would have small doses of being able to hear; left ear was still terribly painful. My good pain meds ran out. :(

Friday, August 17th:

• C-Section Recovery: swelling was still decreasing, abdomen soreness/bruising still bad
• Nursing: Good
• Hazel: Precious and perfect
• Appointments: NO MORE ON THE SCHEDULE!!
• Ear Infection: By evening, I can hear in my right ear! 
• Other: My MOPS friend, Joanna, brought dinner, and we finally had a better day at home for everyone. Meghan and her kids came to play and the then the big kids got a fun pool day outside. We'd been so busy with all of my ailments, I was glad it was a better day.

Saturday, August 18th:

• C-Section Recovery: still sore, but bruising started to decrease
• Nursing: Good
• Hazel: Precious and Perfect
• Appointments: None
• Ear Infection: Left ear is starting to feel better! 

 Sunday, August 19th:

• C-Section Recovery: Feeling more back to normal for 2 weeks post partum
• Nursing: Still working on latching more quickly but going so well!
• Hazel: precious and perfect
• Appointments: None (only one is 2 week well check scheduled for the following day!) 
• Ear Infection: I can hear again in my left ear and I think we are on the mend!
• Other: Friend, Melissa B., brought dinner and this was our last night before the school year began!

So, in summary, it was a crazy 2 weeks! 9 appointments = No fun. But, 9 meals brought by friends = Fun. haha! I am so thankful that we took care of the nursing issue because I really love nursing my babies. It was just mostly frustrating because we KNEW the tongue tie was probably causing the pain and it took awhile for anyone to agree with us. We should have just made an appointment with an ENT immediately. And, it was crazy to have an ear infection and unusual bruising and a stomach ache all during these two weeks. But, we survived thanks to Vic and GG! Here's some quick pics of our two weeks - even through the tough stuff, there were sweet moments!

 Vic was the first one of us to take ALL 4 kids somewhere...on a walk around the block.

 And this was, technically, our first photo of all the kids together!

 I love a baby head nuzzled into my neck!

 Behind the scenes of the photo shoot.

 Everly has been intersted, at this point, but not sure what to do with Hazel. By the end of the two weeks though, she was asking "Where Baby Hazel?" and checking in on her regularly.

 For Grace's class, we had to have a family photo. So, we had to snap one of the Seidel Six.

 I never get enough pictures with my babies, so I may have gone overboard asking Vic to take my picture...all the time! But, he was home for two weeks, so I had to take advantage!

 First sponge bath.

 Pop and Hazel - I love when newborns sleep in any random position and are just as snuggly and comfortable as can be.

 A moment before this, Grandma was crying because she was remembering having newborn babies herself! But, 10 seconds later, she was back to happy! haha!

 GG is very snuggly!

 I've got to take a photo of the bassinet under the bedding in this picture and post it. This bassinet is pretty old. We know it held GG and Daddy, so it's at least 69 years old, but it also held some babies before them. So, I need to find out who and how old it really is!

I was really glad to have two weeks with the kids at home with Hazel before they started school. This is a lot of what they did when they had her with them.

 Atticus really has the best heart for his sisters and he loves them - all 3 of them!

 And, I can just never get enough. I don't know how much pain I was in at this moment in this photo, but I'm glad it's over and I'm glad we have this baby girl! We love you Hazel Laine!