5 Weeks Postpartum and Counting

My baby is now almost 6 weeks old and I wish time would slow down a little!  My Dash is no longer a newborn, but an infant.  Not only is she past the 4 week mark, but she's growing leaps and bounds and getting stronger.
If you're familiar with safe practices for infants, you know that one of the biggest rules is to keep the crib free from stuffed animals, blankets, etc. The reason for this is that babies can suffocate if their faces get smushed up against items in the crib. It is the same reason why quilted/padded crib bumpers like this aren't recommended.

I don't remember my other daughters wiggling in their sleep as much as Dash does. However, they were also in a much smaller bassinet until they were 3-4 months old. Dash is in her crib, where there is plenty space to wiggle around.
And wiggle around she does!  Even fully swaddled I can put her in one place in her crib and when I go get her a few hours later, she's moved over a foot.
Swaddling is necessary to get her to stay asleep, but she's a Little Houdini and manages to get both of her hands out at least a little bit. On a few occasions she has succeeded in getting an entire arm out of the swaddle. I'd love to see just how long it takes for her to wiggle out, but I never catch it.
Last Monday she had her one month well-baby visit at the pediatricians' office. She weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, which puts her average weight gain over her 2 week check-up at about an ounce a day.
An ounce that comes straight from me. I love that!
Sunday, March 1st, we blessed our baby. As I had mentioned in this post, I really wanted to do the baby blessing outside of Sacrament meeting. We were given permission a couple of weeks ago to do so, which also would allow several out-of-town family members to participate via video conference.
I am so very glad we decided to do it at home! Had we not, there would have been a mad scramble to do it that way anyway! We had an ice storm blow through that left traveling to church precarious, so the bishop cancelled church for the day.
In addition to the two families we had planned to include using various video technologies, we had 3 others join in when they couldn't make it to our home. One family was home with a stomach bug and since they'd accidentally shared it with another, she was "home," too. This third member had travelled all the way from California to be a part of the baby blessing and I felt absolutely awful that she couldn't be here to enjoy it, but I also couldn't risk the baby and I catching the virus. When an infant gets a pukey bug, IV fluids are almost inevitable. I went through that with my first daughter when she was 5 months old and my milk production never fully recovered. This early on, and with mastitis to boot (keep reading because I'll talk about this), I couldn't risk it.
The last to join was an extended family member in California. Almost every person present had their phone connected with someone else to participate. It was quite a site and a photo of it would have been pretty amazing, but inappropriate to take given the sacredness of the event.
In my home was my husband and daughters, my father and his wife who were in from California, one of my husband's sisters and her husband and 3 children who travelled 5 hours to be here, my uncle and aunt who came up from 3 hours away, the bishop, my parents-in-law, and our "best man". My home is small, so we were packed in pretty tight!
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, I noticed I had a clogged milk duct. It was tender, but not too sore. Dash managed to nurse it down pretty well but by mid morning it had swollen again. I noticed around noon that the underside of my breast, where the clogged duct was, had turned pink and was getting warm. Try as I might, I couldn't seem to get the clog to clear and by 6pm, I was in a significant amount of pain and my poor breast was bright red and hot to the touch. It looked something like this but much darker:

Not Mine, but a random internet photo to give you a sample

I knew I needed medical intervention when the headache and body aches set in and I could no longer converse with all of my house guests so I asked my step-mom if she would come with me to Patient First. She agreed and we eventually made it out the door with Dash and drove carefully on the ice to Leesburg. I saw a physician's assistant, and the look that flashed across her face confirmed what I could feel: mastitis!
Unfortunately, the only pharmacy open later on a Sunday night was 10 miles up the road, so we slowly made our way there to pick up my antibiotic.
It was quite a trip but very nice to have some "alone" time with my step mom. She'd been visiting for just over a week but we hadn't had much time together to just talk. It was comfortable, in spite of my hyper-focusing on road conditions!
I am thankful that modern technology allowed so many of our wonderful families, family that prayed for us each day over the last year and a half, to be apart of such a special event in our lives. And to each of them (and others who didn't participate yesterday) I say a heartfelt

Thank You!