Emelia at five months

I couldn’t help myself. Olivia wore this outfit for her five-month photo, so I had to put Emelia in it and take a side-by-side.

I was telling Chris that five months seems crazy. I mean, Emelia was four months and oh man she was getting so big, but five months seems old. As in, the preeclampsia, the hospital stay, the VBAC, the beautiful terrifying birth, the NICU, the around-the-clock pumping… all of that was five months ago and that seems unreal.

 

But here we are. Five months. We celebrated her transferversary. We had a bunch of family birthdays and managed to avoid bringing sickness home to us.

Emelia and I started the ECFE Babies class a few weeks ago. It was one I took with Olivia and it’s so amazing to be back. The same teachers are there and that’s emotional for me. I’ll have to write about that in a separate post because I have so much to say about it. But so far, so good.

I’ve been bringing her to my MOPS group and that’s been a disaster that grows worse and worse every time since it’s smack in the middle of her nap and this baby needs her swaddle and bassinet to sleep in, refusing to sleep on me. Chris works from home those days so bless his heart, he’s volunteered to keep her home, so I can still go.

Nicknames: Meals, Mealie, Bubbles, Squish, Squishy

Weight:  15 lbs 12 oz according to home scale

Length: ?

Diaper size: 2

Clothing size: 3-6 months

Eating

We’ve hit the distracted phase of nursing. Lots of head swings out to look at DOG! TV! WEIRD SHADOW! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! She arches. She flings off. It’s so much fun around here. In fact, you can read below why, but she seems to do her best nursing overnight.

I’d say she’s nursing about every three hours during the day and 2-6 or 40 times at night.

It’s not all annoying though. She’ll hold my breast like a bottle it’s all Awwww! until it’s not and she’s cutting into my skin with her razor nails. The best moments are when she falls asleep nursing.

This month, in particular, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on our time in the NICU and the weeks after she came home. When she could only do bottles and was on a set schedule and I was so crushed wondering how we’d ever get to the point of exclusive nursing. And then she did. And she nurses like a champ almost like the NICU never even happened and she hates bottles and refuses to use them and AHHAHAHAHAHAHA but jokes on me because now I’m tethered to her and can’t leave her for more than 2.5 hours at a time.

However, we’re trying a sippy cup to see if she’ll hold it and drink. Chris tried it once when I was out to dinner with a friend and she loved it to death and probably drank half an ounce before getting royally pissed and then was so done with it all. But that was in the evening where all happy things go to die, so maybe it wasn’t a fair time to try it out.

Like with Olivia, we’re doing baby-led weaning with Emelia, so it means no solid food for the time being. But I’m getting excited about it.

Sleeping

Sucks. Last month, there were…three nights? Three nights I think where she slept through the night, meaning she went down around seven, woke up to nurse at 3:00 am and then slept until 7:00 that morning. Not anymore. She’s up anywhere from 2-6 times. Two wakeups are now considered a good night. She sleeps with me quite a bit and that’s been exhausting. Even just in the sense that I can’t roll to my other side when she’s in bed with me. Getting her down at night usually means she nurses to sleep, I set her carefully in her bassinet and she’s up immediately. I nurse her for the second time and she’ll usually go to sleep right away, or within 10-15 minutes of putting her back. Sometimes I’m coming back in 1-2 hours later because she’s woken up and won’t go back to sleep without YOU GUESSED IT nursing again.

Basically, this can be summed up in I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork most nights.

Her naps have been pretty good though. She’s on two a day (sometimes three depending on how the other two went) in her bassinet and they’ve been between 1-2 hours.

She’s vastly outgrown her newborn Halo sleepsack swaddles, but I’ve found she just does better with her arms swaddled. I’ve done one out at a time, and that’s usually OK too, but both arms seem to wind up in Disastertown. I don’t know if it’s because she still startles herself awake or she just sleeps more comfortably being snug, but the swaddling continues.

Milestones

The babbling has officially started. Her favorite noise to make is “MMMMMAAAAAAAAAM!” She’s been hollering and screeching quite often which only intensifies when she is mouthing a toy, particularly her links or her Oball—which Chris calls her “Angry Ball” because she rants and raves while chewing the fuck out of it.

She is getting so good at holding onto her toys and bringing them to her mouth. She has fantastic head and neck control on tummy time even though she merely tolerates it.

When she sees people (read: me) she’ll frantically kick her legs and wave her arms in excitement. Same with toys you shake at her. Like, ERMMAHGERD! She can’t even handle it.

I’ve also noticed some stranger anxiety lately, even with my parents who see her the most besides for us. It helps if I’m holding her or in her line of sight otherwise we get the lip quiver and the saddest cry you ever did hear.

Health

She’s been coughing a bit more than usual but hasn’t had any other symptoms. I read that drooling can cause that because they choke on it. So much drool around here.

Her spitting up seems to go in stages. For the most part, she doesn’t spit up much at all, but still has weird gagging episodes that get to be pretty scary. I had brought this up to her pediatrician last month who wasn’t concerned unless it was happening a lot. We’re chalking it up to reflux. But then she’ll have a span of 2-3 days where she’ll spit up several times that day. Luckily, she hasn’t emptied her stomach in a good two months. I haven’t restarted her probiotics since she hates bottles, but maybe she’ll get more tolerant of a syringe of milk. I haven’t done it in a long time, but maybe I can convince her it’s a good thing.

Physical therapy and chiropractor visits have been greatly improving her torticollis. Both practitioners are happy with her progress and she’s continuing to alternate each of these every other week. I’m managing to get her stretches in 2-3 times a day, but there are days it slips my mind. We’re working on getting her neck strength up and hopefully, she’ll be rolling in the next two weeks.

Personality

She’s bold. Not exactly like Olivia, but she’s loud and proud and probably won’t stop talking once she can. She has a voice and likes to use it. But the smiles and laughs. She’s very free with those. She’s also getting really curious. Anything we hold up to her she has her hand out to explore.

Likes

Olivia. Toby. Nursing. Sleeping in bed with me. Games where I bounce her. Her toys. Playing on the floor. Watching TV. Getting her diaper changed. Being sung to. Smiling faces. Bathtime. Screeching. Her hands. She’s also discovering she has feet. Since she’s five weeks behind developmentally, she still hasn’t grabbed her feet, but I’m practicing propping her butt up so she can see her feet better and man is she interested in them. She’s started grabbing at them, so hopefully, that will happen soon.

Dislikes

Bottles. Sleeping for longer than three hours at a stretch. Being tired. Not being at home for her naps. Strangers in her face. Pacifiers.

Undecided about

Her Sit-Me-Up. Sleeping in general. Her stretches for physical therapy. Walks. Tummy time. Being outside in the wind. Her Tula.

Looking forward to

Warmer weather. Walks. Time outside. It’s coming soon. Also, I’m really looking forward to her rolling from her back to tummy. Maybe she’ll end up sleeping better.

Past monthly updates

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months