the mcg family

A rare occurance from the last few days... I have free hands! Corban is in his high chair next to me eating a hodge-podge lunch, and Cate is sleeping soundly on her Daddy's chest (who is also sleeping), so I thought I'd take a quick minute and post real fast.
Things are going really really well here. We all seem to be adjusting fairly smoothly, but it helps that I have (another) wonderful sleeper, who is as content as could be when awake...so far. I think the Lord compensates for 5.5 months of puking, 2 months of contractions, and endless breastfeeding problems. haha. Even if she wasn't the easy baby that she is, I'd deal with it all anyway. :) She's just precious.. I am so in love with her!
Corban is pretty taken by her. He wants to hold her and kiss her and love on her... a much different reaction than I anticipated. He's doing great with her though. He calls her 'beebee' or 'kay' and on occassion 'beebee kay'. He gets so excited to see her or hold her though... I love it. He also seems about a million times bigger and a year older all of a sudden. I can't get over how big and thick he seems, how boyish and not babyish he suddenly is. And he's talking like crazy! He just repeats random parts of whatever you say, but is understanding so much and starting to get concepts and put things together. He said his first sentence today, which was 'Bless you, Cate!' Of course, it barely sounded like that, but he definitely repeated after me word-for-word. And he totally has 'please' figured out and is now using it in place of 'more'. I'm really glad about that one. :) He's at such a fun stage though, and really, he is a very good boy. Such a joy to be around.
Baby Cate is oh-so-sweet. I can't get enough of her. I could (and do) just snuggle her all day long! She sleeps a lot (duh), but has good bouts of alertness, and she just sits and looks all around, not fussy, doesn't require being bounced or walked or things like that. I know, I know, she's just 6 days old and this all could change, but for right now... she's a walk in the park. :)
You know what isn't a walk in the park though?
Breastfeeding.
(Sorry, boys- you may want to skip this paragraph). I was so confident that things would be easier this go-round, afterall, we had every problem under the sun with Corban. But, sadly, I was wrong. Things have been very very difficult. She was (and is!) nursing like a champ. She's not the problem at all. I had the lactation consultants check and re-check our latch at the hospital, watch her nurse, etc. to make sure things looked good. And they did. Everything was perfect. But before she was even 48 hours old, I was cracked and bleeding. Yikes. Fast forward a day, and I'm cracked, bleeding, and producing enough milk to feed an army. You think I'm joking? In less than 72 hours, I nursed her every couple of hours, only pumped for 5-10 minutes at a time (and pumped no more frequently than every 6ish hours and never at night) and have... are you ready for this?... 40 oz. of milk stored in my fridge! I know it's supply and demand, and pumping could just be adding to this over-production problem, but I've got clogged ducts galore and have no choice. I think I may have had the beginnings of mastitis, as I spiked a fever, was chilled, felt achy, etc., but it got better within 12 hours. And when I wasn't pumping, it was very hard for Cate to latch on, as I was so engorged, and then when my milk would let down, she would choke and cough and only nurse for a few minutes at a time. And she was spitting up constantly. I do think the end may be in sight, though. Or maybe we're at least turning a corner. I haven't pumped since 6a.m. (and I only pumped one side), (and it's 3:08) and I'm not feeling too miserable. Things seem to be leveling out though, thankfully.
I have her birth story written out in my journal.. you know, the pen and paper kind, and I do plan on posting it at some point, just not today. Things went incredibly though. We got there at 7:30, saw the doctor at 8:30a.m., which was when he stripped my membranes and sent me walking, and I had a baby at 3:32p.m. And I only pushed for 11 minutes! Ahhh.. just enough to whet your appetite. Haha. A much, much, much better experience this time around, for sure.
Anyway, both my kiddos are sleeping and so is my husband, so I think I'll follow suit. Have a good rest of the week!