Three Weeks

Today Lorelei is Three Weeks Old!

It's been three weeks since Lorelei came into our lives and we continue to learn more about her every day. We've been trying to determine exactly what color her eyes are. What do you think?

Andrew and I still find ourselves looking at each other in amazement and saying "I can't believe we have a baby!" Sometimes it seems completely natural as we're getting into a routine for some things. But other times, like when she's quiet or sleeping, I forget that we have a baby until I look over and "wham" there she is... a baby. This little person who is completely and utterly dependent on us. For everything. For the next several decades. Oh My Goodness, what have we done! But then the moment passes and I settle down and pick her up to feed her, again.

The weather continues to be very cold and lately rainy, so we haven't taken her outside. We haven't taken her anywhere except the doctor. I'm sure she'd be fine, but she just seems too little and fragile still to take her out visiting or on errands. She still seems too new to chance getting a cold or flu or anything. Maybe next week.

The breast pump has finally arrived, so as soon as we learn to use it, I can start stockpiling milk. That means that Daddy can give her a nighttime bottle so that Momma can sleep! It also means, that I can leave the house for longer than an hour and not constantly worry about being back to feed her since she's not yet on a very predictable eating schedule. I am looking forward to when she regularly eats every 3 to 4 hours. Hell, I'll even take every 2. Feeding her in 45 min intervals this time, 1 hour next time, 50 mins next, etc makes me feel that all I've done for the past 2 weeks is sit on the couch with a baby attached to my boob. I know this is normal, but it's a change for me. :) Good thing she's so cute.

Andrew has been so wonderful these past 3 weeks. He always asks what he can do to help me, or just does it. He has been great with making meals and bringing me drinks. And he's developed a talent for cuddling her to give me a break or to keep calm long enough for me to finish my meal before she loses patience with waiting to be fed. It makes me so happy to see how comfortable he is with her and how happy she looks snuggled inside his flannel shirt against him. I feel so fortunate to have such a loving, caring husband and that Lorelei has such a loving, caring Daddy.

This past week's big adventures included:

1) Clipping Lorelei's nails. I'd been putting this off because I'm a chicken. Her nails are just so tiny! We have a nifty nail clipper with a magnifying glass, but I found that it made it harder to focus ... the nail was magnified, but "off" somehow. I waited until after I'd fed her and she was warm and sleepy and then I snuck up on her (grin) and started clipping those tiny little nails. Some of them were still surprisingly soft, and for the most part it went well. She was sleepy but awake and didn't pull away, even when I clipped a little too close and made her bleed a little! :( I felt so bad! My baby's first "injury" and I'd caused it... but she didn't seem bothered at all. We pressed it with a tissue and it stopped bleeding right away and is already healing up well. I'll do better next time.

2) The first "tummy time". Baby Girl has been trying to hold her head up more frequently this past week. When she's awake and in a good mood she likes to be held mostly upright against your chest so she can push back a little with her arms and look all around her. I thought this was a good time to start tummy time, so yesterday afternoon and put her down on the couch and grabbed the camera. Look at how well she did! She's so cute and getting so strong! I took several pictures in high speed mode so the next series of pictures (that I'm not posting) show her gradually dropping her head and then dissolving into crying. She wasn't terribly fond of tummy time for longer than a few seconds, but she'll get there. :)

 

3) Our first (failed) attempt at a tub bath. Lorelei's belly button scab fell off last week so we had clearance from the doctor to give her a tub bath this week. However, we realized we'd neglected to purchase a baby bath or other large tub. We tried sitting her in the little pink tub the hospital gave us for the sponge baths, but there wasn't quite enough room, so we went back to doing a sponge bath. Lorelei wasn't crazy about either method. We'll have to get a bigger vessel and try again next week. Also, I have to figure out how to get a few pictures of this process, but there never seems to be enough hands! We have learned that the stay dry crib mattress pad keeps the bed from getting damp (our bedroom is the warmest room in the house), and that you need lots of extra towels because lots of crying leads to poo. The hooded bath towels work great for wrapping her up all snug and warm afterwards to calm her down before dressing her. She has the cutest little belly button now. I'll have to get a picture of that too.

4) Introducing Lorelei to vitamin D drops and the funny faces that ensued. I will definitely get pictures the next time we give her these. Dr. Bero  prescribed vitamin A, C, & D drops once per day. They come all together in a syrup-like substance that smells intensely of cherries. You're supposed to fill up the dropper to 1 cc and squirt it in her mouth or food or bottle. Since we're exclusively breast feeding, it had to be her mouth... this is easier said than done. It's a little hard to get a baby to open her mouth on cue. I did eventually push her jaw open a little with a finger on her chin, and Andrew stuck the dropper in and squirted in the vitamins. Lorelei closed her mouth, went through a rapid succession of surprised and "yucky" faces, and the syrup came oozing back out of her mouth. As I wiped up her face she kept opening and closing her mouth and poking her tongue in and out as she scrunched up her eyebrows. The second day we gave her vitamins, Andrew just squirted a little bit at a time, further back in her mouth. The first squirt she actually swallowed, but the next two she mostly oozed out. We'll get the hang of it soon, but if this stuff tastes as strong as it smells, I'd spit it out too! I feed her right after to get the taste out of her mouth and she seems to appreciate that. :)

Well that's it for this week from the Lonsbary household. Thanks for reading!