Miriam likes to be swaddled, has not been a huge fan of her binky, and she cries a lot. She has a really loud cry. She has had a few nights where she was up quite a bit but for the most part she goes right back to sleep after I feed her. The hardest part at first was that she took forever to eat. I was feeding her for an hour only to have her act like she was still hungry as soon as I thought she was done. There were several times I would sit and feed her for two hours until she was full. It was pretty clear to my doctor on her first check up at three days old that she had a lip tie and she had jaundice and had lost some weight so my doctor sent me to a lactation consultant. We found out that Miriam had a tongue tie as well and as a result she had a terrible latch and was not getting very much milk with her feedings. That's probably why she was taking so long to eat. I had to go back to the lactation consultant a few more times and she referred me to a dentist for a lip and tongue tie reversal for her. I was really hoping that would help because I spent a lot of the early days of Miriam's life feeding this baby. She had to eat every two to three hours on the dot and would cry pretty loudly if she didn't get fed right away. All of these next few pictures are from Miriam's first week of life.
This baby girls poops a lot. I think one night I changed a total of six diapers. I am constantly changing her trying to keep her clean. She also spits up a lot. She loves the baby swing. Sometimes when she gets super fussy I put her in there and that calms her right down. Her sisters keep bringing her toys to play with so I will often find a little rattle or toy of some kind tucked in next to her while she sleeps.
My sister in law Heather came over on Miriam's due date when she was six days old and took some newborn pictures for me. Heather had a pretty great set up with all kinds of wonderful props for baby pictures. The only thing we didn't have was a sleepy cooperative baby. Miriam made us work really hard for those pictures. We spent several hours trying to do pictures and in the end we got some great pictures but Miriam was pretty fussy and cried during most of the photo shoot. She was awake for most of it and was moving like crazy. She would not leave her hands where Heather would put them. She would fall asleep long enough for us to get just a few shots and then she would be right awake.
I took Miriam to watch her cousin Charlotte's baptism and we went to church when she was One Week Old. Plenty of people told me I was crazy for taking her out in public so early but we had to get out of the house. I didn't let anyone else hold her except family. We stayed home for the first week of her life and I skipped church the first Sunday. I spent most of that first Sunday at church with her in the mother's lounge because she cried and had to be fed for most of the three hours of church. We got to attend most of Relief Society and a small part of Sacrament meeting. I took Miriam to the doctor later that week and found out that she had gained back all of her birth weight. All of these next few pictures are from when Miriam was two weeks old.
Miriam's cord fell off when she was twelve days old and she got to have her first real bath the next day. She hated that bath. She cried the entire time. She seemed to have a fussy period everyday where she would cry for a good amount of time and there was nothing I could do to calm her.
We skipped stake conference the next week of church because Joel ended up getting sick. Brynlee had been sick earlier that week as well so at that point we were all just praying that Miriam would not get sick. Summer also had a pretty bad cough for the first three weeks of Miriam's life and it was hard to keep her away from the baby. Luckily Miriam still seems to be healthy. Kyla started preschool this week so Miriam got to go on lots of car rides to get Kyla where she needed to be.
It took a while but we were finally able to take Miriam in to get her lip and tongue tie fixed. She was almost three weeks by the time we got it done. It was a quick procedure that took less than five minutes. They used a laser after they numbed her mouth and then cut the troublesome part off. I had to leave the room while it was done but was able to back in right away and comfort and nurse her. It was kind of heartbreaking to see her crying with her mouth bleeding when I walked back in. Plus the whole room smelled like burnt flesh. I have to stretch her mouth for four weeks after the procedure and she absolutely hates it. I have to do it six times a day so that nothing will heal back together and she screams every single time. Her tongue tie turned out to be really tight and they were only able to make a small difference, they couldn't do a lot with the laser, so I haven't noticed a huge difference in my pain but it doesn't hurt as much to nurse Miriam and she has been able to eat much faster and is full for a much longer amount of time. Almost immediately I had to feed her less and she seemed happier and more content between feedings so I am still really glad we had the procedure done. These next few picture are all from when she was two weeks old.
I started to put Miriam in the baby carrier when she was three weeks old and she loved that thing. She falls asleep in it really well. I took her to the library while she was in there for music time and she slept the whole time like a little champ. We also took Brynlee to the dentist and then we took her out to eat. Miriam went to parenting class and I nursed her the entire time so she was pretty happy while we were there.
