Hazel's 3 month update || Baby diaries

11 weeks old

I know I said the same thing last month, but this month has been my favourite and has gone by so fast (is it just going to continue like that?). I have started becoming more confident as her mother and we have all been pretty happy. Hazel and I have been getting out and about, enjoying the warmer spring weather and admiring the spring blossoms.


Hazel has become even more interactive this month with a pretty constant string of ohh's and ahh's and general babbling. Her jibber-jabber is at its peak while I sing to her, which can be a mix of radio hits, nursery rhymes and general nonsense I make up on the spot, and she just tries to sing-along. She gets very excited and waves her arms and legs around when I sing the songs she knows, her favourites seem to be the ABCs, Row-your-boat and You are my sunshine. She still loves her play mat and being on the change table too. Along with all this babbling she is now dribbling more, blowing spit bubbles and chewing on her thumb (or entire hand). I've heard that this can be a sign of teething, as this coincided with her recently (11 weeks) starting to chewing her bottom lip. This makes me think that her lower gums are a bit sore, it hasn't seemed to affect her mood yet but knowing that I got my first tooth at 4.5 months, she may be the same.

Rocking that tummy time

These dribble bibs have been coming in handy

Sleep has been the other big change this month which we are super pleased about. Our little angel was sleeping 6-7 hour stretches during the night and smaller sleeps during the day at 9 weeks old, which we were pretty impressed with already, but she has recently started to build upon this. At 11 weeks she started occasionally sleeping 8 hours during the night (10pm to 6am) and by 12 weeks she is sleeping 7-9 hours most nights, which gives us a full nights sleep (as long as we aren't silly and don't stay up past our own bedtime). She has been taking much shorter naps (1-2 hours max) late in the day in preparation for her long sleep at night, which just gives us more cuddle time with her when Chris finishes work. She is still generally tired after about an hour and now lets us know when she wants to go to bed by having a little grizzle, rubbing her eyes, and yawning.She sometimes will yell out suddenly in her sleep, but then will return to her dreams as if it never happened. While Chris and I have been startled and almost jumped out of our skins waiting to see if it continues, ready to jump out of bed and get her.

I had another lactation consultation this month (week 11) where she introduced a feeding tube. This is a device that gives extra milk through a tube while the baby sucks at the breast. However, the nurse could see how reluctant Hazel was to breastfeed and how much stress is caused both of us, so she reassured me that it would be a difficult road ahead and not to feel bad if we decide that it's not for us. Which I am relieved about as I have been feeling guilty and inadequate about not being able to breastfeed her properly, I know this is silly and that "fed is best" as she is still getting all the nutrients she needs to thrive. In order to banish these bad feelings I have been reminding myself that a happy mum and happy baby is the end goal and I give her lots of extra cuddles and one-on-one attention to compensate. While bottle feeding my expressed breast milk, we have introduced "paced feeding" and still use a newborn teat in order draw out and slow down to process to stop her guzzling it in one go. She has now become more contented and patient with her feeds, and she knows the routine of getting fed when she wakes up, so she is happier to wait and smile at us first, rather than going straight into meltdown mode.

Postpartum Recovery 

As for an update on how I am doing. Postpartum hair-loss is no joke. I am shedding like a Samoyed in spring-time. You could weave a rug from all the hair I am losing at the moment, and with having fine hair it's all the more concerning as I can't afford to lose it as it is. I just hope it looks okay at our friends wedding next month. Fortunately I know that this is completely normal and is nothing to be concerned about. It is just the hair that you would have lost during pregnancy, but didn't due to the extra hormones you produce during that time, starts to shed once your body starts returning to its normal cycles.
Talking of cycles (TMI warning) I think I may have got my first mini period at 12 weeks. It only lasted like half a day (which I am grateful for) but it looks like my body is gearing up for making a bigger family already. Chris and I however, are not making any plans to expand anytime soon, and we will need to be very careful until or even if we change our minds. So don't go asking when Hazel will be getting a sibling any time soon. Understood?! Okay, good.

Oh yeah, I don't own a scale so I'm not sure when it happened but I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I also tried on my old jeans a couple of weeks ago and they fit too. Woohoo! It felt good to dig through my clothing storage bins and add a few pieces back into my wardrobe. Although my body has certainly changed and my tummy doesn't look the way it used to, I'm not putting any pressure on myself to "bounce back" since it took 9 months to get to my biggest, it's only fair to allow 9 months to return to normal.

I couldn't resist dressing her up in this pumpkin outfit for an early Halloween. Don't mind the substitute orange jack-o-lanterns, we didn't have any mini pumpkins to hand so I improvised.

Just as Hazel hit the three month mark we took a trip down to Taranaki for a family reunion which was a really fun experience and good to catch up with everyone but it also totally altered our usual routine/schedule. So it was interesting for me to see how Hazel responded to the changes. I was very grateful to have family there who we all too happy to comfort her when she was over-tired and allow a bit of extra wiggle room in their plans to allow for some longer naps. We had a busy schedule of long car journeys, walking and adventure activities. All of which had Hazel on the move and sleeping and feeding on the go.

Hazel with her Nana (my Mum) with Mt Taranaki in the background

Mount Taranaki

Sleeping like a starfish

Still in a good mood even after a long car ride

 

After spending a few days at the family reunion in Taranaki we all loaded up our cars and drove to Taumarunui to go on the Forgotten World Adventures Tour (Hazel included). Golf buggies on rail tracks took us along the forgotten world railway, through old pitch black coal tunnels (where we could see glow worms on the tunnel ceiling) and through the lush New Zealand country side.

We arrived back in Taupo on the Monday and took Hazel out for her first time on the boat the following evening. We caught 3 good sized trout and threw the small ones back, all while enjoying a beautiful sunset. Hazel was no trouble and the gentle rocking of the boat sent her straight to sleep.

Some people call the first three months of your baby's life "The Fourth Trimester" as your body goes through another huge set of adjustments and changes just like during the pregnancy. Getting your baby into the world safely is the first step, getting your baby fed is the second and figuring out what else your baby needs is the third but it doesn't stop there. Over the last three months my body has (almost) returned to normal, but it has been a long process to get there. My milk supplies have now balanced and I don't leak any where near as much as I used to, as my body knows how much my baby needs now. My sleeping schedule was all over the place in the beginning but we are now into a much nicer routine. My hormones have not been affecting me and my anxiety levels have returned to normal (low). We have settled into a good routine and I feel like we are winning at this parenting thing. Although, don't worry, I have been told that as soon as you feel like you've got it sorted, Baby will change things up. So I am not feeling too smug, but I am ready and waiting for Hazel to through me a curve ball, but keeping my fingers crossed that we'll make it work. 

Three month stats:

Height: 58.5cm

Weight: 5830g

Sleeping: 7-9 hours at night! Woohoo! Then she will have another long 4-5 hour nap first thing in the morning, and as the day progresses the naps get shorter.

Eating/Feeding: 150-220ml

Sizes: 0-3 Months (000)

Milestones: Much the same as last month, but she now likes to talk to herself (babbles and coos) while in bed or in her stroller. She has also discovered her hands and will occasionally stare at them and is starting to reach out to grab things.

Nicknames: Darling, Gorgeous, Honey Bee, Poppet, Hazel Mazel Mouse, Miss Madam.

Likes: Smiling at us, watching her mobile spin, getting her nappy changed, looking at the world map on our wall, getting a bath, me singing to her

Dislikes: Waiting for a feed, feeling left out while taking a nap.