Being Momma G: Day 59

We may be turning a corner with Sean and the night feeding routine.

And of course, because I said it out loud, I've probably now jinxed myself.

Sean was much better with the night feeds last night, only waking twice for milk. The first time, at 2.30am, I brought Sean into the bed, fed him and popped him straight back into the bassinet, all without him waking or really stirring. I wasn't as successful with the 5.10am feed though. The little guy woke up just as I was putting him back into the bassinet, and had a hard time resettling - I was too tired to help him resettle properly, so Jonathan took Sean into his arms and let Sean fall asleep again on Jonathan's chest.

Jonathan was working from home this week, so he had to be out of bed and in the study ready for work by 6.30am, at which time he gently placed Sean on the bed next to me and went to work. When Sean woke just after 8am, we went to the lounge room and had a proper feed in the feeding chair. We had an appointment for Sean to see Dr Arnold the paediatrician at 10.30am, so after Sean's feed, Sean and I had a bit of quiet playtime while waiting for Jonathan to finish work at 9am.

Jonathan and I took turns to get ready, and all 3 of us were ready to go by 10am. We arrived at Dr Arnold's rooms right on time; unfortunately, Dr Arnold was running about half an hour late, so our carefully planned morning was going to have to adapt to the small change. Sean was due another feed around 11am, so we went ahead and fed him just before 11am to ensure a happy baby during Dr Arnold's thorough examination.

Dr Arnold was very happy with Sean's progress. Sean had gained 1kg since we last saw Dr Arnold a month ago and now weighed approximately 5kg. Sean had grown 4.5cm as well, and now measured 60.5cm. Dr Arnold increased the reflux medication, and was of the view that we could stop the medication by the end of March (or the current supply, whichever comes first). As Sean was still afflicted by a skin rash, we asked for some advice on how to deal with it. Dr Arnold was quite sure that Sean had developed a sensitivity to the free bottles of Mustela baby wash and baby lotion that the hospital gave us, causing Sean's skin to break out in a rash and be covered in pimply spots. Dr Arnold recommended that we switched to using the QV bath oil and AVEENO Baby Daily Moisture Lotion, and if Sean's skin did not improve in the next month, he would give us a referral to a dermatologist.

Take that, nurse Catherine from the West Ryde ECHC! If the paediatrician did not think Sean's skin was anything more than a sensitivity to the bath products, then she shouldn't have made me panic like she did last week. Grrr!

We made another appointment for Sean to see Dr Arnold again in May, and left Dr Arnold's rooms to go to Chatswood for our next appointment of the day - meeting Elaine and Maya for lunch.

Elaine is the wife of my second cousin David, and Maya is their beautiful daughter. They live in Malaysia and Elaine and Maya were in Sydney to visit Elaine's family and to attend Elaine's brother's wedding. Even though David and I are related - David's father is Uncle Charlie who is my mum's cousin, I'd never met him, nor Elaine nor Maya.

David and Elaine and Maya had visited Sydney on a number of occasions over the past couple of years, and each time, we had tried to arrange to meet for the first time. Finally, today, we are going to meet Elaine and Maya, and Elaine's baby bump who is expected to join us in May.

Elaine's parents live in or near Chatswood, and they were quite familiar with Chatswood Chase, so we arranged to meet them in front of Rossini in the food court. Sean was ready for more lunch, so I fed him while we waited for Elaine and Maya to arrive, and they did just as Sean was finishing. Elaine's mum Mrs Tan also joined us and it was lovely to meet them all!

Mrs Tan and Elaine both gave Sean a red packet - so generous. We on the other hand had nothing for Maya, so we hope to be able to take them all to lunch when David returns for Elaine's brother's wedding.

We had some lunch and chatted. Elaine looked fantastic for someone in her last trimester, we got to play with Maya who was so so so cute! The conversation flowed easily, as even though we'd never met, we had been friends on Facebook for the past 3 years. All too soon, it was time to part ways, and after a quick photo, we said our goodbyes with plans to meet up again when David was back in Sydney.

After lunch, Jonathan and I decided to extend our outing so to as ensure Sean got a little bit more sleep. We walked around Chatswood Chase for a while longer before heading home for Sean's next feed.

Sean slept well after the 3pm feed, and again after the 6.30pm feed, which allowed me time to cook dinner - yummy rissoles which Jonathan and I both enjoyed.

It has been a lovely day. We have another outing tomorrow; all 3 of us will be going to Mothers Group, and it will be nice to introduce Jonathan to the lovely ladies. We are going to try again to get Sean's 6 week check up done by Catherine, so hopefully, with Jonathan being with us, she will finally do the check up after all.