Lily at 4 weeks

I cannot believe how fast these last 4 weeks have gone by!  This past month has been wonderful, overwhelming, frustrating and amazing!

Stats...
...weight 9 lbs 9.7oz at 3 weeks and 3 days.  Lily had lost a little over 10% of her body weight by 1 week, down to 8 lbs.  By her 2 week appt she was up to 8 lbs 15 oz.
...height 21 inches at her 2 week appt.  Lily was 19.5 inches at birth.
...LIly has outgrown most of her newborn clothes and is now wearing 0-3 months.
...next appt on Nov 9th, her 2 month checkup!

Eating...
...Lily is nursing like a champ these days!  We had some difficulty out of the gate because mommy has flat nips.   Our Doula suggested nipple shields, which we used for 3 weeks to help with feeding.  It only took Lily about 3 days to transition off the shield to bare nip.  Now that she is off the shield she is feeding and sleeping more frequently.

Sleeping...
...Lily is now sleeping 2-3 hours at a time, with some 4 hour stints at night.  She is usually up for an hour to 3 hours at a time.
We've been able to get into a good night time routine this past week.  Lily comes to bed with mommy and daddy between 9-10pm.  We watch t.v. and Lily gets a good feeding in and usually falls asleep sometime around 11pm.  She stirs a little during the night, and I get up to change her sometime around 2-3am and again between 5-6am.  She barely wakes fully during these times, and I nurse her a little after her changing just to get her fully back to sleep.
Lily is a very active sleeper, she grunts and sometimes laughs in her sleep... we think she is quite the dreamer!!!
We're co-sleeping right now, which works for us.  With Z being back to work, Lily can stir a little during the night which wakes me without a full blown cry fit.  We hope to transition her to the bassinet/ crib within the next few months, but for now we're just rolling with it!

Exploring...
...this past week & half Lily has become much more alert to her surroundings.  She enjoys looking at the curtains beside her changing table (black/ white print of trees and birds).  She also enjoys looking at the balls above her Mamaroo, also black/ white prints.  Lily is starting to smile more frequently now.  She is a very happy girl!  Lily loves bath time and I often get a couple of good smiles out of her.  Lily grunts and coos a little now.

Birth Story

My amazing hubby SoggyStargazer wrote up our Birth Story from his perspective a few weeks back, which was amazing to read!  I started feeling that I needed to put in all into my own words as well.  I have so much I want to express and share about our experience that it seems almost impossible to convey how utterly perfect it all was!

My hubby and I spent a lot of time over the 9 months reading, asking questions, and deciding that we wanted to try for a natural childbirth (no epidural, no narcotics, no interventions).  We hired a Doula, and attended classes to help us with coping through the labor pains. We created a birth plan and shared it with our OB. But we were very realistic in knowing that rarely do things go according to plan, so we prepared ourselves for alternatives and knew that however our birth played out we would not be surprised by any necessary interventions/ procedures.