Much Ado About Randall: August 2013

The last couple of nights have been great! Randall is sleeping for 4-6 hours a night and he has yet to turn one month old. Granted, in order to do this, he doesn't get much sleep during the day which results in a cry-fest every hour or so.

Yesterday, his paternal grandparents, Dr. Tsung Jen Huang and Mei Yu Huang, came all the way from Kaohsiung, Taiwan via United Airlines with a stopover in Tokyo to visit him. Perhaps it was the sound of unfamiliar voices in the house, but Randall was throwing fits one after another. He would get so worked up. His face would turn bright red and then almost purple as he cried his lungs out and tears rolled across tiny face. It was definitely not a good first impression for his grandparents.

Here are pictures of Randall on:

Day 26 with his cranky face:

Day 26 in a calmer mood:

Day 28 on the changing table in his room which he likes:

Day 28 hanging out with Grandma Judy:

Day 29 crying hysterically - who wants to be the grandparent of this baby?

Day 29 after Grandma Judy calms him down:

Mommy slept most of the day today, but yesterday was a day to remember!

Miraculously, you were able to latch on and we were able to successfully breastfeed!!! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud of you and I felt a huge sense of relief. Being unable to breastfeed you was my only issue with enjoying motherhood.

We had so much difficulty getting you to latch at the hospital and at home that I almost gave up. Our previous attempts were so traumatic - with you clawing, punching, and scratching me while you cried and howled red-faced as if you were being tortured every time I tried to breastfeed you. I felt so rejected that you preferred the bottle over me. Only when the lactation consultants came over during our 3-night hospital stay did you latch on successfully about 50% of the time. However, yesterday you took to the breast so naturally as if we never had a problem with it at all.

All this time, I read everything I could about breastfeeding and felt like I was missing out on a terrific bonding experience by not nursing you. These past few weeks, I did the next best thing and pumped every 3 hours around the clock so that you received the benefits of breast milk. However, washing all the pump equipment and bottles and even the pumping itself meant time away from you. I heard other babies that wouldn't take the bottle and needed to be nursed by their mom exclusively. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that at least others like Daddy, Grandma, our nanny Gloria, and our friends could feed you instead of me being the only one to feed you.

Now that we were able to successfully breastfeed at home on our own, without the aid of lactation consultants, I feel more at peace. It's strange, but I finally felt accepted by you as a mother and it gave me a boost of confidence that we could do it again if we wanted to. I was beyond happy!

Here you are, passed out after half an hour of breastfeeding:

Another milestone was achieved yesterday - I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight!

Just for fun, here's a toe-to-toe comparison of my left foot with your right one: