Bath time, sleep time!

In the middle of the night, Paige peed all over herself while changing her diaper.  I stripped her down, wiped her down with a baby wipe, and swaddled her up with just her diaper on.  At 3 AM, I really don't care if my kid is dressed cute!! But she did look so cute when we woke up in the morning : )
Little power nap before her first bath!
Paige's belly stump fell off a few days ago, so we were able to give her a bath in the sink! She really liked it...

...until we took her out.  Please excuse the scariness of my appearance.  Two nights ago was awful.  It took a few hours to get Paige down for the night.  After her bottle at 10, she just didn't want to go to sleep.  I finally put her on my chest in bed, and got about an hour and forty-five minutes of sleep.  She woke up again at 2 to eat, and I put her on the breast.  She ate for a while, and we tried to put her back down.  At 5 AM, she finally went to sleep.  Then woke up again at 6:30 to eat again.  So add that up - I slept a total of 3 hours, and not at the same time.  Many tears were shed.

I started thinking:  I wonder how much milk Paige is actually getting from the breast?  It seems like she struggles and gets frustrated nursing.  So yesterday, I did an experiment.  I pumped every 3-4 hours and gave her bottles.  She ate like a champ each time (between 3 and 4 ounces), had plenty of dirty and wet diapers, and was just a happier baby than she had been the last week.  Then last night, she went down right away after her 10 PM bottle, and slept until 2.  David gave her a bottle while I pumped, and she went right back down until 6:30.  We got at least 6 hours of sleep last night, and I feel like a new person.  I feel like I have a new baby.  I am not thinking of this as giving up - because Paige is still exclusively getting breast milk...it is just coming from a bottle.  And if it makes for a happier baby and a happier mommy, well then that is just what we are going to do.  Pumping is easy and takes 15 minutes at the most, and I don't mind doing it every 4 hours.  It is important to me that she gets breast milk. Wow, that was long.  But my point is - every baby is different, and every mom has to find her own way.