breastfeeding & weights / measurements

i had been looking forward to breastfeeding again for the last couple months of my pregnancy. i enjoyed it so much with mia - the closeness, the quiet time, just her and i - and from the moment i weaned her at 15 months i wished i had waited a bit longer. there are things that she did just days old that she still does - it's pretty amazing to me how much she was already her own person (she used to grab my finger with her tiny hand and then make me hold her foot in my hand while she stretched her legs out - she still likes to do this 29 months later). that said, there are some things i had blocked from my memory. and they all came rushing back within the first day with gideon.

gideon latched on like a champ within 5 minutes. and didn't let go for 45 minutes. he ate and ate and ate every hour or so for the next 2 days. unfortunately, my milk didn't come in for 4 days. i had forgotten how quickly my nipples could blister, crack and bleed. and how long it would take for them to heal. as soon as it started happening it all came back to me, though. i was more braced for the pain and knew that as soon as my milk let it would be over. and it was. the last scabs (ew! scabs on my nipples!) fell off on day 5 and haven't returned since and it's been smooth sailing.

at gideon's 1 week check up they measured him at 22" (he didn't grow an inch in a week, they said the babies don't really stretch out completely at that first measurement and that this is his real birth measurement) and 9.1 lbs. - only 3 ounces less than at birth, which is great!

while we were there we had mia weighed and measured, too, and she came in (fully clothed) at 33" and 26 lbs. she finally seems to be really growing! of course gideon will probably be as heavy as her in no time at all.