First BVC visit

Yesterday a nurse from the BVC (child care clinic) came to check out Love for the first time. The first visit happens at the parents home, and after that we go in to the clinic. The visit was really pleasant, except that Love hadn't gained any weight in a week. I felt pretty awful about it, because I was so worried that he was over eating. This worry planted itself because my friend had that happen (her child was born 7 weeks before mine), and I felt like I was feeding so much already. But it turns out it wasn't enough, so we have to double up our efforts. I'm spending ~6 hours a day breastfeeding, another hour pumping, and then sometimes Andreas supplements with a bottle of pumped breast milk. A lot of work, in other words.

Love seems happier with the increased amount of food, and I'm confident he'll start to gain weight. I'm trying to not feel bad about the lack of weight gain, instead trying to look forward and how we can better it. But these are rational thoughts and I'm a new mom, so I'm not always successful.

Yesterday I managed a 20 minute walk with Love in the carrier. My abs hurt a bit afterwards so I need to be careful that I don't damage my abs. I also managed to read my driving license book for 30 minutes. I did not manage to do my pelvic floor and tummy/back exercises though, except for some simple squeezing of the pelvic floor exercises.

This morning we were up at 6 am, which was ok since we went to bed at 7pm. I just completed my exercises, and after blogging I'm going to read my driving theory book. I'll wait until it's warmer out to go for our walk. Another goal I want to add to the list is tummy time with Love. We are going to try to spend a bit more time on his tummy. He does get quite a bit of tummy time on mine and Andreas' stomach/chest, but I'd like to do a bit more on the floor. I have the play mat out today so we will see how that goes.

The house is clean after yesterday and I've decided I'm not doing any house work today. I need a break. I'm still getting very dizzy so I started on some iron pills - hopefully that helps. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough as well, but that can be challenging. I think we are getting quite a lot of sleep for being parents of newborns. I think we both got about 7-8 hours last night. Andreas napped a few times through feedings, and then I mostly slept through our 4am feeding (he got a bottle).

I'm enjoying this experience but I don't know that I could do it again. It is hard. I can't even imagine having a newborn with a toddler around.