If being pregnant wasn’t enough, add to that the energy needed to chase after a soon to be 8 month old who is going EVERYWHERE and FAST! Now add nursing, and getting up a couple times a night to feed said 8 month old. I told mom the other day that I didn’t remember being this tired when I was pregnant with Ruthie. Now that I think about it, I wasn’t. I wasn’t nursing at that time. That in and of itself, is an energy drain on ones body. Now maybe I’ll be able to keep my weight in check with this pregnancy with the help of the extra calories needed not only to grow this new baby, but also to feed Ruthie.
I’ve been so frustrated with our nighttime routines here lately and I’ve been trying to change them. We have managed to get her to go to sleep on her own with a little bit of reminding that it is time for sleep. The long screamfest that used to take place when dad would put her down are no longer here. So once we had that one accomplished, we started with trying to get her to sleep through the night or at least not needing mommy. We decided that Daddy would take the last wake time, which is usually around 4:30ish.
The first two nights worked great. The third and fourth, not so good. We both weren’t getting any sleep and we were dragonbutts the next morning. So after some research, I decided to try dream feeding. Dream feeding is slightly waking the child right before you go to bed so they can nurse without being really awake. You then put them back in bed and go sleep yourself. It worked! she only woke up at 3:30 which was fabulous. I had a 5 hour stretch of sleep. It has been so long since I’ve had those constistently. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but we’ll see how it goes tonight.
Ruthie is crawling so fast now and is so inquisitive. I’ve pulled catfood out of her mouth already. We continue to struggle with cords and the only rooms she hasn’t explored in the house remain the dining room, the back bath, the laundry room, and most of the back bedroom. She chases the kitties who usually don’t have any use for her except keeping me in one spot long enough for me to pet them. When they do give her a chance, she not only grabs a fist full of hair, but she laughs and giggles at how their tails rub up against her legs or feet. There are days when discipling the cat and chasing after ruthie, I’m up non stop. It wears me out.
She is such a delight and you can see the lightbulbs turn on each day. She is beginning to learn “no” and has yet to learn mommy or a “real” daddy. With that, I’m off to get her away from the computer desk.
Erin,
I gained 42 pounds with my first one, got pregnant when she was six months old, nursed her and only gained 22 with the second one. You’re right with the nursing and chasing after the first one the weight gain shouldn’t be an issue. She sure is a cutie.