Holden is a mighty boy.  He is now 22 inches long and weighs 9 lbs, 15 oz.  I knew he was close to 10 lbs!  All of that feeding is getting us some results finally!  The doctor had us go back to the hospital today to have his bilirubin levels checked again, just to be sure that they have dropped.  Holden is an old pro at having his heel pricked; he didn’t even seem to notice that he was having his heel squeezed for little drops of blood.  He is just so unbelievably mellow!  The doctor did express concern that he is still occasionally using the nipple shield to nurse.  Apparently, the shield can interfere with oxytocin release and can thus attenuate milk production.  We are doing our best to wean him away from the shield, but sometimes it’s the only way to get him to latch on.  We’ll get there eventually.

I went to the doctor today myself.  I haven’t had a primary care physician since I was a kid and was still seeing a pediatrician.  There were many years where I didn’t have health insurance, and once I finally got some coverage, I was fully entrenched in the pattern of not going to a doctor unless I felt like I was going to die.  Yesterday I discovered a massive bull’s eye type bug bite on my left leg.  It was unmistakable, and while I have had my share of bug bites, I’ve never had one quite like this one.  Of course, everyone around me started to freak out and insist I go to the doctor.  “It could be a bite from a tick that carries Lyme Disease, blah blah blah.”  Ordinarily, I don’t go to the doctor for bug bites (because that seems so silly), but because everyone was making such a big deal out of it, I relented and decided to go.  I found a doctor who would see me right away and of course he didn’t seem convinced that it was anything to worry about.  Yippee!  One less thing to worry about.  The doctor’s office did weigh me and I am 22 lbs. above my pre-pregnancy weight.  Ugh.  I can’t wait to be able to exercise again and lose that weight.  When I first moved to VT I was at the weight that I am now and it took quite a while to get my weight down to a reasonable level.  I am hoping that breastfeeding expedites the process so that I have more to wear than the few pairs of maternity pants and tops that I acquired during my pregnancy.  I have a coupon for a free session of postnatal yoga at the yoga studio where I took my prenatal yoga classes—maybe I should start thinking about exercising there once I get the OK from my midwife at my 6-week postpartum check-up.