Progress

For the last 4 weeks, I've been attending a new moms' class at a local maternity/kids store called Isis Maternity. The class meets once a week for 6 weeks and is a way to get connected to other moms with babies around the same age as Annie. During the class meeting, a moderator talks about various relevant topics about new babies and there's a lot of encouragement for the moms to meet outside of class.

It has been a wonderful thing for me. First, it provides structure to my Tuesdays. I need structure. It also gives me a little push to get out and meet people, which I'm not always very good at. It also provides pretty useful information about babies and even better, makes you see that just about everything your baby is doing is totally normal! And lastly, Isis has a scale. So I can weigh Annie every week and see how she's doing.

It might sound sort of sad to think that weighing Annie is a highlight of my week. But it really is. If she's gaining weight, it means she's thriving and that we're doing OK in the feeding department. It also means that it's OK for us to let her sleep longer, and that she will sleep longer, since her belly can hold more food.

For the last three weeks, we've had this pattern:
May 26: 8 lbs, 11 ounces. (This was the most exciting weighing event - she weighed more than a pound since her last pediatrician visit, less than 2 weeks before!)
June 2: 9 lbs, 2 ounces
And, drum roll, yesterday: 9 lbs, 12 ounces!!

Now, granted, she's always wearing her diaper and a onesie when she's weighed. So subtract a couple of ounces. It still means she's doing great.

And, as an added reward, we got 6 hours of this for two nights straight:
(That's the frog prince on the left, keeping Annie company as she sleeps). Not bad, eh?

So there is good progress. I'm finding maternity leave a lot more manageable (still have to work at it everyday) and Annie is healthy.