Feeling the Pressure

Well, it's been a week since Ivy was released from the hospital, and we are loving having her with us 24/7. Everyone tells you that having 3 kids is a lot different than just having 2, and man are they right!! For the most part things are going well. The boys are happy to be home, and sleeping on schedule once again (hooray!), and Ivy basically sleeps through the night. During the day things aren't quite as smooth. My days feel consumed by Ivy's eating needs. It takes so much more time to bottle feed than breast feed. I don't know why people who choose to bottle feed decide to do that. Maybe I am just lazy! She has a pretty strict eating schedule consisting of 57 mL (just under 2 oz) of breastmilk mixed with pregestimil every three hours. I first feed her with a bottle and on average she will drink anywhere from 20-40 mL at a time, the rest goes into the feeding tube that goes into her nose and down to her stomach. I am also still pumping, which feels like the most unrewarding job ever! My milk supply is rapidly dropping as it becomes harder and harder to find time to pump with three needy kids following me around all day. I am down to once at night and once in the morning, very sad! I am trying to work in one more in the middle of the day to build it up a little more, but it is so hard while Scott is at work. Anyway, other than that things are going well, and we are loving having all our kids together. The boys just love their new sister, they are constantly bugging her by kissing her, rubbing her head, endlessly trying to stuff her paci in her mouth, even if she is sleeping or doesn't want it. They are really cute and sweet. Life is good.