Hooray!

We went to see the Dr. for a weight check today. The results of the weight check were very important, since my decision to keep breastfeeding or not was riding on it. She weighs 11 lbs. 1.4 oz., which is tiny, but good. She is back up to her original curve, and she's following it well. Dr. has zero concerns about her at all, so I'm going to keep breastfeeding! I don't know what caused her to drop off the curve like she did a few weeks ago, but it seems to be resolved and she is back to her normal, albeit smaller than average, self.

I am so relieved about this. The though of exclusive pumping was awful to me. I was willing to do it, both for my own peace of mind and because breastmilk is best for her, but I was really dreading it. Also, the thought of not breastfeeding her made me so sad. Before I ever really thought about having kids, I thought I would breastfeed for 6 months. When it became more of a reality, I decided I would try to do the AAP recommended full year. Now that we're actually doing it, I am hoping to keep it up until she decides to wean herself (though I'm hoping it will be by her 2nd birthday or shortly thereafter). I also did myself a favor today and ordered a baby scale. This way I can keep track of her weight gain at home and also monitor her intake by weighing her before and after feedings. I am super excited to get it, and will probably spend the first week or so weighing anything that will fit onto it, so stay tuned for future posts in which I will report the weights of all of my cats.

In other news, we have most definitely entered the dreaded 4 month wakeful period. We are about 5 days in now, and I have to say, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's certainly not enjoyable by any means, but I was expecting her to be up every hour of so, and thankfully that is not the case. She has generally been waking twice in the night, instead of her usual one waking, and she's also been ready to start her day at 5 am a few times. On our worst night, she was up three times, which I think is the most she's ever woken since she was born. I'm kind of glad that it's started, so we can get it over with and be done with it. I'm hearing from most people that it lasted around 2 weeks for them, so hopefully we're about halfway through. If she decides we're going to do this for a whole month though, I retract my earlier statement about it not being that bad.

EDIT: Apparently E heard that I was talking about her and had to prove me wrong. She slept from 9 last night until 5 this morning, ate for about 10 minutes, and went back down until 7:30. No complaints here!