Stumpage be GONE!

Tonight, as I changed Shepherd's diaper, I went to check his umbilical stump to see how it was looking. And I couldn't find it. I looked and looked, and finally found it... in the leg of his sleeper. "Impressive!" I thought to myself, "The books all say it takes 10 days to fall off, and that's 7 days!" Funny, I take pride in the fact that my son is faster at losing his belly button stump. How many other seemingly ridiculous things will I take pride in? So far, tonight's been a good night. He went almost 4 hours between feedings, sleeping 3 of them. I finally broke down and called the doctor today about his fussiness, seeing if maybe we could give him some Mylicon. She said he was a little young for that.

See, our problem has been that he won't lie down on his back without fussing or crying. He gets all tense and arches his back and screams. We either have to hold him, or pray for mercy and hope that the one time we lay him down, he won't scream. The nurse suggested that we let him sleep on his side, with a little blanket wrapped up to keep him on his side. So far so good! I just laid him down after his feeding, and he's sound asleep already. Hopefully, this will make things during the day better.

Thanks for all of your advice. Today was a much better day, and this week, if things go back the way they were, I may drive up to see the Lactation Consultant again. I'm slowly beginning to distinguish between Shepherds cries, and realizing that breastfeeding isn't a mechanical process that you time between feedings. I know the goal is to get him to wait longer between feedings eventually but for now, I'm feeding my baby when he's hungry. And thankfully, that's no less than 2 hours from feeding to feeding, and up to 4 hours between feedings. I tend to be a perfectionist, and wanting to do everything right, so it's hard to let go, and just feed when he seems hungry.

Anyways... tomorrow, my mom leaves, and Forrest's mom flies in. Wednesday, Forrest goes back to work. I'm extremely nervous about this, because when I have a breakdown (emotionally), I want to have him here with me, not an hour away in DC. But I know it'll be good for both of us. He's ready to be back at work (though not ready to leave us here... he asked if he could take us in... silly boy... :) ) because for him, working is doing something productive for the family. Friday night, Forrest's dad and brother are coming up to see the baby for the weekend. His dad has been in Hawaii, and his brother, in school. We're looking forward to them seeing Shepherd... I'm a little nervous about having guests. I don't count mom or Cathy as guests, because they're here to help with the house. Their main focus is helping me out, not visiting (although they do get to visit, it's just not the reason they are here). So having company whose exclusive purpose is to hold and get to know Shepherd is hard. I didn't think I'd be the jealous type, but I don't know if I'll be wanting to hand my baby over to someone to hold every time he calms down enough to be held! We'll see... I'm sure things will be fine. It's just hard to know how I'll handle anything these days.

Well, with the little man asleep, I figure I'd better go get some sleep myself. Thanks for all of your comments... it really makes my day when I open my e-mail and see that so many of you care enough to take the time out of your day to leave us a note. So thank you, internets... :)