Tee Pee Pushups

Maggie is now 5 months old. There's been so much change, I could not keep up with the writing!

At two months, I heard her cooing random syllables like ur, air, goo, boo, moo, ng goy, ng gay...

She started holding her head up on her strong arms for long stretches since July (3 months). By the end of August she started to roll over from belly to back, and then the last week of August it was suddenly belly to back and to belly again repeatedly! (4 months). At times she would just escape from the playmat area and end up on the hardwood floor! Around that time she was also grabbing at her hanging toys with purpose.

We started to use the Bumbo and the ExcerSaucer in September, though probably it could've been sooner. She loves to stand on her tippy toes and turn around and around to play with the different toys. She can play for upwards of half an hour there (while I remain in and out of sight to do chores) or even longer if we're together in the kitchen.

Now we're in Calgary and she's totally doing the combat crawl. Her legs are propelling her body somewhat forward. With her arms she can spin her body around on her belly to chase a toy. A couple of times I've seen her push herself up on her arms with her butt in the air like tee pee pushups. Of course she rubs her face on the playmat while moving forward a bit. It's so funny!

She also giggles hysterically while I say nursery rhymes line by line in a funny voice. Or make funny faces while we take turns laughing. She could be crying one minute but as soon as I appear or as soon as I give a comforting smile, she is calm or happy again. It's so amazing to see that we have a connection.

Free Stuff for Baby!

How to Save Hundreds of Dollars Every Year on the Things You Need Most, by Sue M Hannah

I found this great book and I borrowed it from the church nursery. There are a list of websites and phone numbers for coupons and free stuff, and a few recipes for homemade toys.

CLAY for Baby's Handprints or Footprints

Materials
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup water
large plastic margarine container

Instructions
1) Mix all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan
2) Heat on high heat until boiling starts
3) Turn heat low and keep stirring until mixture is thick and creamy and hard to stir
4) Remove from heat, cool it
5) Knead with your hands and place into containers, flatten the top
6) Baby places hand/ foot prints
7) Write name and date on the clay with a tootpick or pencil
(8) For hanging, poke a hole into the top section of the clay, tie with a ribbon after
8) Decorate with stones, seashells, marbles or mosaic pieces
9) Hardens over a few days
10) Another idea, roll clay flat with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Poke a hole in the top section, decorate etc. Baby's first Christmas ornament!

JIGGLE SOAP
Bathtime and Jello!

Materials
1 package gelatin (clear, unflavored)
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup liquid bubble bath
food colouring

1) In a small bowl dissolve gelatin in hot water
2) Mix in bubble bath and stir thoroughly
3) Optional, mix in a few drops of colour
4) Refridgerate four hours and cut into cubes
5) Store in the fridge until use

Other ideas: Fish in a bag! Triple the recipe, use blue food colouring to make "water" and pour into a plastic bag. Add a plastic fish or sea creature and refridgerate the bag for 5 hours. Jar of Jello Soap! Pour the soap into jars, make layers too,and tie with ribbons to make a cool party favor.

PLAY DOUGH
2 cups flour
3/4 cups salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cups water
large mixing bowl
food colouring

1) For colour, add food colouring to wet ingredients first
2) Mix flour, salt, vegetable oil and water in large bowl. Knead until smooth.
3) Store airtight in the fridge

OCEAN IN A BOTTLE
Materials
2-litre plastic pop bottle with a screw on lid
2 cups of cooking oil
funnel
Blue food colouring
glitter, metallic confetti and sequins
water

1) Pour oil into the bottle
2) Add blue food colouring
3) Add glitter etc
4) Fill to the top with water
5) Option, secure lid with glue gun or strong lid

Waterslide Dream

The other day, I awoke to the sound of Maggie giggling and laughing in her crib. She was contently on her belly, arms flailing and her head flipping from side to side as if she were slippling, sliding and splashing down a winding waterslide at a waterpark. Her eyes were closed and she was quite asleep but dreaming I imagine.

I let her sleep a little longer so I could sleep a little bit longer too! Yah, we often flip her over on to her belly if she awakens too soon in the middle of the night. We found that she actually sleeps alot longer on her belly, and even if she awakens, she stays quiter and more peaceful on her own.

The Jesus Storybook Bible; every story whispers His name.

In the wee hours of the night while breastfeeding, I’m always listening to the radio. Sometimes I catch the sermons on CHRI. But there was an extra special treat yesterday. There was an interview with a children’s author introducing her new book, “the Jesus Storybook Bible; every story whispers his name” by Sally Lloyd Jones. Wow! She writes every story in the Old Testament and reveals the hidden messianic prophetic message those words using words that every child can understand. She does not reveal Jesus’ name until it is actually given to Virgin Mary, but the way she finishes every story really keeps the kids hooked. They want keep listening to figure it out! For example the one about Abraham and Isaac finishes with words like “… and one day, another very special baby will be born as God’s most precious gift.” Or another story about the Tower of Babel, “… you see they were trying to build a ladder to heaven, but one day God himself will reach down from heaven to earth.” I can’t repeat her words the same way, but I was so touched that I stayed up to listen to the whole interview and I’m going to order a copy for my baby girl and one for a friend. Check it out on http://www.haventoday.org/

Day Routine Summary

I was determined to make each day as productive and action packed as I ever could. After my mother returned to Calgary and I was on my own, I knew I had to take care of my baby on my own, to resume all the household tasks, to keep up with my hobbies and social life. I started with establishing Monday and Wednesday as the chore day (laundry and vacumming etc) and writing down all of the other activities completed. However only “working” on certain days and playing the rest of the week was not quite practical. Of course there was no set schedule cuz everyday was different. I gave myself time to explore and develop a flow or routine naturally.

This has worked well for me, to dedicate the “first task” of the day to the study of God’s word. I’ve already finished reading the book of John and Acts, and I will continue with the rest of the New Testament. I’ve been journaling and also reading the Daily Bread, Blessed Be Your Name, and Thirsty. It has truly been revealed to me, “See ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

And obviously, feeding, playing, singing/ talking, changing and rocking Maggie are essential tasks, especially with the implementation of cloth diapers and IPT. She she naps and has been regularly sleeping by 8pm or so. Therefore I have a lot time to do my things!

Day Routine
* this task never changes

MORNING
*Always Pray
*Begin with the Bible/ Breakfast
Chores (laundry, vacuum, clean etc)
Correspondence (cards, email, journal, blog etc)

AFTERNOON
Music study
Nap optional
or Photos/ Scrapbooking
Prep dinner

EVENING
Music study
or Engineering discovery

Alternate Activies as required
MORNING
Playgroup
or Appointments
AFTERNOON
Shop
Walk
Workout
EVENING
Social

Maggie’s Day Routine (in 3 to 4 hour cycles)
Maggie wakes
IPT over the sink. (Awh-Shhhhhhh Shhhhhh and ANnnnng boot boot)
Nurses (about 25 - 40 min)
Plays or Listens to music (about 30 min)
Signals to pee (IPT)
Ten minutes later or at her next signal, poo and pee (IPT)
Keeps playing or gets cranky/ tired
Sleeps (one to two hours)

At nighttime, there is no playtime obviously. IPT is done only when she wakes, cuz it doesn't make sense to stay up to pee/poo right? So far I’ve been using up fewer diapers cuz she’s learning to pee/ poo in the sink and not the diaper!

Accidents do happen but it's totally ok, cuz I end up washing fewer diapers. My record so far is using the same diaper for 10 hours cuz she never made it dirty (fart stains are dry and ok).

Week 9 IPT

We decided to try something that was already natural for babies, called infant potty training. As you can see the common practise in North America, we are training the babies from birth that it's OK to pee and poo into a diaper, contrary to what the babies would rather do naturally... reference to the projecile poo incident! And then when they are toddlers, they are expected to unlearn this. The web references say it's about communication, timing and patience. http://www.timl.com/ipt/

Since we've already been washing her bum in the sink and while squirming and crying, there was always poo squirting, it's almost like we've been doing IPT already without realizing it. It's happened a few times that she's peed in the sink too. Now it's just associating those actions with a noise like "Annnngggh...boot boot" and "Awwh Shhhhh Shhhhhh" as the first step, then later on when I can recognize her timings, these words will become commands to release the muscles.

I started officially last night. The usual practise is a diaper change before feeding, which is usually preceded by a nap/ sleep cycle. So at 9pm it was very natural for us to take off the diaper and just wait for a poo and a pee, so we made the signal noises so she could learn to associate the actions with the words. She even peed twice! Brian gave her a bath and then we had the last feeding before the official bedtime. Well she woke up again at 1030pm so we thought maybe she had to go again. The diaper was still clean! So we did the whole procedure all over again and even reused the same clean diaper and put her back to sleep.

I mean, it's not possible to do this everytime especially in the middle of the night or when we're at the mall but they say even if it's done only part-time the early training goes a long way! The idea is to change the diaper often so she will learn NOT to be comfortable in a wet diaper, and we're using cloth so it's all easy to clean and hang dry! I'm glad I heard about these techniques early enough because I'm still within the window of optimum learning at 0 to 6 months.

Yesterday and Today

How I felt Yesterday
I was officially bored for the first time ever!!!! It was the most productive day in terms of devotions, two loads of laundry, cooking dinner, making soup, and even scrapbooking three pages and writing a bunch of letters and cards, (and of course feeding the baby at her demand, is given), and then walking aimlessly at Walmart and Futureshop. I called my Dad too. But I was sooooo bored, like what should I do next?

I guess all of these "productive" tasks have finally now become routine... well now I know what I am missing in my life finally, it's my work, like I mean real Engineering work, engaging my mind, troubleshooting technical problems or learning/ applying some kind of new technology. Maybe tomorrow I should build something or put something together. argggh!
Cooincidently it is the day that I did not play piano. usually a Bach Invention or Prelude and Fugue is pretty engaging. And maybe finally incorporating some real excercise would really help :)

I do thank GOd and praise him for putting me in this situation obviously, but I am also thankful I will only have to be at home fulltime for a year (or less) :)

How I feel Today
I went to the extraordinarybabyshoppe again and I borrowed a Hotsling to try out. I used it all afternoon and she slept like a baby (for real)! It ends up feeling like a hammock for her, and the positioning is just like it was for her in the womb I suppose. I felt really close to her for the first time in that way, like it was for me when she was inside my belly. Like I wanted her close to me like that forever. Well I have to return the Hotsling tomorrow but I am going to buy one for sure.

I did not play Bach today, but I did not feel bored at all today, maybe because I spent more time with her instead of rushing around being busy around the house! Everyday is a different day.

Week 7: Cloth Diapers

We switched to cloth diapers on Sunday! I bought 24 chinese infant prefolds and 4 whisper white bummis wraps from the www.extraordinarybabyshoppe.com
They’ve got a lot of neat stuff there besides cloth diapers – like the hotslings which come in a variety of fashionable colours and designs. tube tops to keep your tummy warm while breastfeeding that you can wear under regular shirts and a selection of fancy European wooden toys.

I wonder how many times a day babies really poo and pee. I’m going to guess countless times because there is no way to count every squirt and every pee. However, they do recommend that an baby should have 6 heavy wet diapers and 3 good loads of poo. They recommend changing a diaper before every feed for sure, and definitely as logically necessary in between. They do cry because of discomfort so… be nice but bear in mind there is no logical way to change a diaper everytime there is a squirt and I doubt it is necessary. So basic stats - we used about a pack of 40 diapers every four to five days. That would be $13.97 for a pack of Pampers from Walmart. The cloth diapers cost $30 for a pack of 12. I bought 24 diapers, plus 4 bummis wraps for $11.99 each. Knowing how easy it is now, I would’ve switched sooner.

I think using cloth diapers is an environmental solution cuz there is less waste thrown into the trash, and also the materal is made of all natural fibres so there is less irritation. People even say that potty training is easier with cloth diapers. I can see why, because they do get soaked and wet a lot faster.

I am changing her diaper more frequently because of that. There could be three explanations 1) cloth diapers don’t have that kind of technology that absorbs high volumes of liquid into the specialized synthetic materials. I remember that a really wet Pampers or Huggies feels like a hard squishy jello because the liquid has filled all the spaces in the absorbent core. 2) maybe she just pees more and that’s why. 3) I’m not wrapping the cloth diaper in the most efficient manner. Regardless, washing is pretty easy. I decided to only do laundry on Tuesday, (Thursday), and Saturday and it’s been working out!

Here are some steps
1) Fill wash bucket with HOT water
2) Grab a soiled cloth diaper and scrub away poo with brush under running COLD water
3) Toss the scrubbed cloth diaper into the hot water and soak until washing machine is available (not too long though)
4) Place cloth diapers into the washing machine for a rinse and spin cycle on SMALL and COLD/ COLD.
5) After rinse/spin cycle finishes, add detergent and run a regular wash cycle on SMALL and HOT/ COLD.6) Dry them completely in the dryer, or at halftime, hang them outside in the sun.

Week 3 - 5: My Mom Takes Good Care of ME!

I was really happy that my mom came to visit. She stayed with me for three weeks and we spent alot of quality time together. She cooked for me and did all the chores around the house. My main job was to just feed by baby, rest, recover and even play piano and do scrapbooking. My dad joined us for the last week too. It was really awesome watching him hold his very first grand daughter and paying so much attention and singing to her.

I did a quick search on google using the words - chinese ginger vinegar post partum
and I got quite a few hits.
http://www.citytv.com/vancouver/news_23706.aspx

I've taken an extract from this article below... but yah, I think it's partly the food but moreso the moral support from my mom and Brian's mom, cuz culturally that is the primary role of the mother of the new mother, to come to my house and take care of me and my household while I am busy taking care of my new infant.
In this way, I spent so much time with my mom, chatting, watching her cook and clean, and just seeing a super woman do all these things and have time to read, check email, go shopping.. and I realized, wow it is possible, I can do this too. So I guess I've been lucky and I never really got the blues. The baby never stressed me out, but I think it was more Brian. Not on purpose, but I think I myself was struggling with my new identity and how to balance the responsibilities and expectations of being a mother and a wife. I was probably just too sensitive or I gave myself too much pressure or read too deeply for hidden meanings... and I exploded at him and cried. I can only count three times when that happened and I've been fine since, so I'll just blame it on my hormones.

http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8f033e/8F033E06.htm
4. Foods Thought by Mothers to Promote Milk Secretion
There were four kinds of foods that mothers perceived as their first choices for improving the secretion of breast milk:
a. Concentrated soups made from pigs' legs or tail bones cooked with either beans or peanuts or from fish tails boiled with papaya or coconut. Forty-five per cent of the mothers in this survey said that these white, milky emulsions were effective for them .
b. Just after delivery, or at the beginning of breast-feeding (these mothers begin nursing shortly after delivery, thus providing their infants with the anti-infective protection of colostrum), a concentrated soup is made from pigs' legs boiled with ginger in vinegar without water. Sometimes hard-boiled eggs are added, or rice wine is used in place of vinegar. This soup can be preserved for a long time and thus may be eaten daily in different amounts after heating. All mothers claimed that they like to eat this soup, and 23 per cent of them suggested that, in their experience, it was quite effective in promoting milk secretion.
c. Salt-preserved marine fish, including small fish that are often eaten with the bones, are a very common food in this sub-tropical part of China. This food provides animal protein and many minerals and was reported to stimulate the mothers' appetite. Fourteen per cent of the mothers emphasized its effect.
d. Some mothers use traditional Chinese herbs such as the seeds of the wolf-berry (Lycium chiensis), the danggui (Ligusticum actilobum), shouwu (the tuber of fleece flowers), and weishan to make soup with fish, meat (pork), or poultry. These medicines are recognized as tonic drugs, because they are expensive and not all the mothers can afford to use them.

Week 3: The Milk Spray Gun

It was our first Mother's Day and it started as a regular afternoon feeding. I guess my milk just comes out super fast cuz occassionally, within the first five minutes, she usually pushes off sputtering or coughing a bit, sometimes with milk coming out her nose too. Oops. Anywayz, this time when she pushed off my breast, there was a fine and steady stream of milk that continued to spray out like a tiny water gun! It was sooooo funny cuz it was the first time I ever saw that, so I laughed hysterically until Brian came running upstairs to see what was going on. At the same time, I tried to aim the milk stream into her gaping mouth, but she kept squirming so I missed and it kept hitting her in the face. If only I could've captured that moment on Funniest Home Videos!

Week 2: The Projectile Poo

It actually happened! Everyone talks and jokes about it. But it really happened to me on Wednesday May 2. Like I was changing her daiper at 5 in the morning, like any regular day. I just had her legs up in the air a bit too high. I had the old diaper out of the way, prepared to install the new and clean diaper. She farted, basically a warning shot. The next thing I knew, there was a full load fired a high velocity that hit the side wall of the bathroom, and the semi-solid-liquid dripped down behind the toilet. There was a lot of it! Remember that baby poo isn't like adult poo so I guess it's less gross. Baby poo is yellow with little bits like curry or mustard with seeds or curds. Yah I had to clean it up all by myself cuz everyone else was sleeping.

Labour and Delivery

Summary of Week 1
Actually amazingly, by the grace of God, it’s been a pretty smooth week so far! I think I’ve got the three hour rhythm pretty much established. Of course my mother in law was here last week to cook, clean and take care of Brian and me so that my only job was to take care of my own body and my baby. She and Mrs. Fong made me a lot of those Chinese soups and dishes that I have to eat like Chicken liquor soup, Fish and papaya soup, ginger fried rice, and lotus seed- red date- longan dessert. Then in a few weeks, maybe when you come visit me, I will be eating the “pork hock ginger and vinegar” thing so you can have a taste too!

I’ve had quite a few visitors already. Nothing too overwhelming but people are very kind and generous to bring us dinner and lunch, and even eat with us too. I even let them fold laundry _with me.

SUMMARY
In a nutshell, I went in for induced labour Friday April 20. The doc said my baby was small for gestational age and plus the expected growth wasn’t there for the final weeks. I listened to your advice and recommendations from others before us, and I went with the epidural. Margaret was born on Sunday April 22 at 2:37pm 5 pounds 48 ounces.


OBGYN APPT
The doctor actually asked me to come in on Friday April 20 for Induction. He said my baby was small for gestational age, which was not a big deal cuz I’m asian, but he was more concerned that the growth in the final weeks was not there. He explained that typically it shows the placenta is not supplying enough nutrition and that the baby should come out and be breast or bottle fed. It was not a real emergency cuz that was Wednesday.

So Thursday was exciting for me cuz I knew that was my last day as an expectant mother with all the time in the world I could ever want for myself alone. We had a BBQ lunch with Dave, Jen and the girls; I bought a few nursing tops at Thyme and spent the afternoon at St Laurent to pick up a few things at Sears and Baby’s R Us. Looking back, there was so much more I should’ve done, like scrapbooking or fixing up the garden. Time is so precious!

INDUCTION BEGINS
Friday the hospital called me in around noon. They gave me a dose of Cervadil (it’s inserted inside with a string attached) to dilate the cervix. I watched Star Wars and TV all day at the hospital. There was a woman in the next delivery room just down the hall who was screaming in terror, like the sound of absolute anquish and murder, like someone was cutting her leg off. It was pretty scary to me, so I just turned up the volume and just hoped that I would not end up screaming like that. Even walking down the hall, there were women in various stages of labour, walking the halls and pausing through contractions and having their backs rubbed. It was like, woah!

IT'S NOT PEE
Without much change, they gave me another dose at three in the morning Saturday. All day Saturday, I just chilled with Brian or chatted with the nurses assigned to me, Sue and Tasha.. I wanted to leave and go shopping or play piano, but of course I couldn’t. By Saturday night 8pm, they were discussing if maybe I should just be sent home. So before they inspected me I went to the bathroom. The string came out and a whole bunch of liquid that was not pee came out too!

MONSTER TRUCK ON MY BACK
Then of course my doctor (who happened to be on shift) and the resident inspected me and decided that I should start with the Oxytoxin drip. Actually I already had small menstrual like cramps since dinner time so they just got more intense. My midnight I was in the kneeling position and rocking out every contraction. My best description is that back labour felt like I was getting run over by a monster truck every 5 minutes. I think they were quite regular already. It got really intense as you and anyone who has gone through it before would know. There was a really kind nurse, Anna who helped me through all the contractions and she held the wireless monitor to my belly the whole time. I guess it was bearable cuz I wasn’t crying but when I found out I was 4 cm dilated, that was around 5am I asked for an epidural which really shocked Brian cuz he wanted me to tough it out. Well maybe cuz I was relaxed so my contractions kinda stopped while I waited for the anesthesist to come. At 6am I had one epidural shot, that the resident congratulated herself and said it was a perfect shot. It was so “cool” literally!

SILENCE OF THE HEART
BUT after she left then things started to get kinda hectic. Well everyone remained calm and professional but they all moved around really fast all of a sudden. They asked me turn on my right side, and when I couldn’t move fast enough they moved me but somehow the beat on the fetal monitor just dropped real low, so they reached inside and put on a scalp clip on the baby. The beat slowed down even more and at one point it stopped!!!!!! When silence becomes the scariest sound in the world. I was so scared, yet calm cuz I thought maybe it was just a bad sensor. But I started praying real hard. Then they put an oxygen mask on my face and told me to breathe! But I was already breathing! And the nurse told me that she was going to tickle the baby’s head to see if the heart beat would start up again. Well luckily it did, but it was sooooo slow and finally became as steady as a metronome. Apparently fetal heartrates are supposed to be variable as the baby goes through it’s own variable activities, and being completely steady is actually a sign of distress. I became worried that I messed up my body cuz of all the IV’s they put into me. She said I had rolled over onto the cord, and that if they have to do an emergency C-section they would have to move and do a lot of things really fast and they would not have time to explain everything to me. And that I would have some forms to sign. At that point, as you may recall, your body is getting the shakes, from the shear force of the contractions that of course my body was working on, but because of the epidural I could not feel the pain. It was the weirdest feeling to be in the greatest pain known to womankind, but not have to feel it.

PRAYERS
I felt very much afraid, and I called Lisa to pray for me. I probably made her extremely worried cuz I only left a cryptic voice message without any solid details. I was afraid to move cuz I didn’t want to mess up anything! At shift change there was a new nurse, Natasha and I finally got the guts to talk to her and she told me I probably felt like it was my fault cuz the epidural cuz everyting all happened at the same time, but in fact they were indepent events. Can you believe I asked her, if I could move?

A lot of thoughts raced through my head. I think God was testing me. I truly believe God wanted me know that I was completely in God’s hands. I sang the words of Psalm 56:3-4 over and over again in my mind. "When I am afraid I will trust in you, in God who's word I praise." I realized, with the heartbeat gone for a few seconds, if I injured my baby in any way, I realized that I loved my child so much that I would be willing to give my Engineering job to take care of him or her. I just let go and decided that everything belonged to God. Eventually I called Lisa back and I asked her to pray for me. I know she enlisted the prayer support of a few other women and it really gave me strength and comfort when I needed it most.

SLEEP
I guess due to that stressful episode, they had taken me off oxytoxin and started back from the beginning. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, nurses had come in whispering among each other and checking out whatever they were looking at between my legs and on the sheets. I heard them say that my contractions were all over the place, sometimes two minutes and seven minutes apart, bleeding too much and blah blah blah. So basically I was worse off than I was the night before! At that point, Brian called his mom and she asked how I was doing. She had no clue whatsoever what is an epidural. In her days, there was no such thing. She kinda asked me a funny question, but I suppose from her perspective it makes sense. “What do you mean, it hurt too much and you needed medication? It’s supposed to hurt…. Now what? How long will it be now?” Of course it frustrates me when people ask me questions I cannot answer, but I know she only meant well.

I didn’t know I had a catheter inside, so I remember asking the nurse, what do I do if I need to go pee? She was like, don’t worry about it, you have a catheter, it will drain from your bladder.

I guess prayers really help! At some point when I felt things were more stable, I pretty much felt so much peace I fell asleep and same with Brian. Then at noon, I was awakened by the sensation of a regular and strong back ache. I asked Brian to check the contraction monitor and we were surprised to learn that it was indeed regular at 2 or 3 minute intervals. I called the nurse back cuz I think they had given up on me.

TIME TO PUSH
She checked me and said, woah you are 10cm!!!! That’s a miracle. I can spare you the rest of the details cuz we all know where babies come from and what happens with pushing.

So I started pushing pushing more like around 2pm and I was pretty lucky cuz Maggie was born at 2:37pm 5 pounds 48 ounces! Brian was very supportive the whole time, holding my legs up and comforting me. Yes there was tearing, but the doctors were wise enough to make an episiostomy (an incision in the you know where to allow a controlled tear).

THE FIRST WEEK
The first two days in the hospital, I learned how to change a diaper, how to bath a baby, and how to breastfeed (collustrum). The first night was awesome cuz babies just sleep for the first 24 right? The second night was rough cuz it was hard to “latch” and then she would just fall asleep! I walked the hallway almost alnight with her in my arms. I had sent Brian home cuz I figured, what the heck, we’re doing cluster feeding, it’s not like he has breasts to feed her. I prayed, I sang memory verse songs and praise songs in the TV room with her. The nurse probably sensed I really needed the rest, and plus I was worried she was getting enough food, which would defeat the purpose of bringing her out early. She suggested that she would supplement with a bottle so I could get some rest. It was a great idea and I cried, not cuz I was sad or defeated, but just glad to have some assistance.

They gave me an appointment with the lactation consultant the next morning, maybe cuz I had a troublesome night. And as if an answer to my prayers, at dawn Brian came back. He seems to have a calming effect on her. When I fed her again, of course I asked for the nurse to come and help me, but it was like my milk had arrived! From there it was all pretty smooth. Feeding her at home was pretty smooth! Praise God. The first day at home it was just the same getting her to stay awake! I did the waking up every three hours thing even overnight.

Friday was the first checkup with the doc, and her weight was already on the upswing! Friday afternoon we went back to the hospital for the LC appointment. The nurse, Sharon congratulated for doing well. I asked her a a lot of questions and she showed me how to keep the baby awake and swallowing without having to unlatch, change her clothes and change her diaper etc. She also showed me how to hand express into a little bottle and collect a bit after each feed to make enough for one feeding that Brian could do.

I’m really thankful I don’t have any bleeding or cracked nipples (yet) nor any fever or blocked milk ducts. Well… I suppose there aren’t any teeth yet in the first three months!

The Projectile Poo in Week 2.