at the end of the 6th week

i have to say, these newborn days have been tough. not only because we have a newborn (obviously), but we have had:

• Shane starting a new job
• Moses home from daycare full time (I can't provide the mental, emotional, social, physical activity he gets at daycare, and it simultaneously breaks my heart [because he misses it so much] and makes me crazy everyday [because he misbehaves, acts floppy, and has attention problems at home all day with me]) 
• cockroach infestation treatment (requiring us, i.e. Shane, to pack all our kitchen and bathrooms and move them out of the area and to clean after returning)
• an unexpectedly extended time at Shane's parents' place (1.5-ish weeks), living out of bags and in transition is not really easy for me
• hemorrhoids (just me, not we)
• a UTI (again, me, not we)
• renovations/construction on our apartment (unannounced until they were actually starting to saw into the wall) 
• power tools, saws, sledgehammers, wood splinters, SO MUCH NOISE, Jude peeing on the carpet in the living room, children screaming and crying... it was kind of stressful
• mild mastitis (again, me)
• The ER visit and hospitalization for little E
• Wondering whether money would work out 

Lots of things were on our plate. It has been unusually stressful. I'm sure it'll get better soon...

Cry It Out (CIO)

I got to a point soon after the hospital stay (during week 4), where I was taking an hour to two hours to put Eden down to sleep. I was pacifying her with my pinky, bouncing her, patting her, rocking her, nursing her... only to put her down and have her fuss again. I even faithfully tried the Baby Whisperer techniques (which, over Thanksgiving weekend, only made me miss every meal we had together). 

So, beginning week 5, I decided to CIO. I know it seems early, but (1) we do have more than one child in this family, and it was getting really exhausting and pretty unmanageable to have to [unsuccessfully] soothe Eden to sleep 4-5 times a day, (2) I am not a very nurturing/soothing person in general, and thus, not that good at putting babies to sleep, and (3) as the Baby Whisperer says, start as you mean to go on, which means, don't start habits you're not willing to keep for years to come [and I wasn't willing to keep up the bouncing, rocking, nursing for very much longer anyway]. 

It's been almost 2 weeks now, and I've been keeping a detailed journal of how long Eden's naps, cries, eating habits, awake times have been. I was flipping through the other day, and Shane asked me what I was noticing. I honestly can't find too much of a pattern, I told him. He told me what he saw--that we have a newborn baby on our hands. haha... I guess so. :) 

These past few days, there have been times when Eden wakes up early from her naps a lot, or nurses every 2 hours through the night, and I'm guessing it might be a growth spurt type of thing. It's kind of hard to see with her, because she really is such an erratic eater, and there isn't a consistent every-two-hours pattern that I can see. But I guess it all comes back to trial-and-error. After all the books, schedules, and rules, it really is what I did with Moses too. Every child really is different.

The good news is that I got to go to bed early with Eden at 7 ish last night (she didn't cry at all going to bed--maybe we've been keeping her up too late!), and she did 3-4 hour stretches all night last night. It was a welcome change from the night before when I had to get up a whole lot between midnight an morning. It was tough. She's been nursing every couple of hours or so today, so hopefully that will help her sleep tonight too. Who really knows.

The actual crying it out hasn't been bad for naps. Sometimes she doesn't cry at all, and the most she cries for naps these days is about 20 minutes. Nighttime is the hardest, and she can cry up to an hour. That's some dedication. I'm going to start her bedtime routine at 5:30/5:45, bathe her and nurse her and try to put her down early tonight and see if that helps (since it did last night). I'll keep you updated.

her voice

i just love E's voice. i don't think i felt quite the same way about Moses's voice. but every time she coos or grunts, i am just in love! i'm just dying to hear more. and for now, it's a little raspy and rich--i hope it stays that way. oh, and she is overall much more of a solid, rough-and-tumble kind of baby. much more so than i would have thought. all throughout the pregnancy, i imagined she'd be some cute, petite little wisp of a girl, but i guess i was wrong!

she's also much, MUCH easier than Moses was during his newborn days. she cries considerably less and is quite easily comforted, though i'd guess she's also categorized as a "touchy" baby, like Mo. this means she is an erratic feeder (sometimes acting like she's forgotten how to eat), she wakes up angry at the world, she is very sensitive to changes and lights, and is overstimulated easily. once her needs are pretty well met, she is probably a "textbook" baby, which is great!

it makes me wonder how great it would be to get an "angel" baby. ah, life would probably be so so much less stressful. :) those must be the moms that say they absolutely love the newborn phase. i can't even imagine. i mean, i love this child, but i am really looking forward to about 6 months from now.

her 1-month well-baby checkup was on Monday, and she was 11 lbs 5 oz (94th percentile), 23 inches long (96th percentile), and 86th percentile for head circumference. it sounds like she is right on track to follow big brother's footsteps. :)

The 7 am feeding

I woke up and laid awake in bed starting at 6:45. I heard Eden stirring from about 6:55 or so, and she really woke up around 7:10, so that's when I fed her. I think she took a pretty full feeding, though pretty sleepy, and dirtied two diapers during the process (every baby likes a clean canvas), and then she was awake with me and family, and then:

- 8:00 swaddle, finish a conversation with husband

- 8:05 to 8:10 sit down, holding Eden upright on chest and patting back softly

- 8:10 put Eden down awake 

- 8:20 Eden was sleeping! Miraculous! 

I think this morning nap is affected by three things:

- amount of sunlight coming in through window (she's sensitive to light)

- amount of wake time needs to be under and hour (she's tired in the morning!)

- (maybe?) cluster feeding th evening before somehow affects the morning

That's what I have to say about that so far. :)  if I do all these things, she kind of becomes a textbook baby. Otherwise, sensitive and quickly overtired. 

From "on demand" to Babywise

We nursed on demand for about 2-3 weeks (so hard!! Sometimes we nursed every hour and a half, which means only about 30 minutes breaks for us between eating sessions!). We started babywise scheduling, and we were off to a bumpy start. Now that we're coming up on week 4, were doing much better and sometimes baby gets a 2+hour nap I during the day and great sleep at night! It's still rather challenging to put baby down awake and have her fall asleep, but I do feel like we're making progress, especially for those morning naps. The last sleep of the day is the hardest. I think I need to do some more reading...

The best part this week has been that Moses has been at Nana and Grandpa's, so I've been able to really concentrate on Eden and get her into a groove. I'm so thankful! She's most eating every 2.5 to 3 hours and has done a few 4 hour stretches at night. 

She weighed 11 pounds at her appointment the day before yesterday! To the doctor who tried her nasty guilt and fear tactics to get us to supplement with formula, I think the appropriate respond is: BOO YAH. 

So, newborn clothes are packed away! At her weigh in last Friday, she was 10 lbs 4 oz, so she's gaining a lot of ounces each day. Babies are amazing. Even the 3 month clothes aren't really that big on her! I think she's growing out of those swaddling outfits too. Just as well, sometimes I think she hates them. Plus, I wonder if she's just too hot in them. #sweatybaby

our second hospital stay

our first hospital stay, of course, started the day Eden was born and ended the very next day. just about one month later, we had our second hospital stay (this time 48 hours). the morning of Friday, Nov 21st, i took Eden's temperature because she was feeling warmer than usual (she had been feeling rather warm for about a week). 100.4. the cut off for when it is an emergent situation for a newborn. so, i went to the pediatrician, and they sent me to the ER at CHOA Egleston, and they administered all the necessarily tests in a situation like ours. little baby Eden got a catheter to collect sterile urine, an IV to draw blood samples (and for the later antibiotics and fluids), and a lumbar puncture (the nice way to say spinal tap!). i wasn't prepared for any of this when i left for the pediatrician. i especially wasn't prepared to not leave the hospital again until Sunday evening. it was all such a shock.

when they examined baby girl, they found a rash all over but (of course) no fever. but they still had to move forward with everything in case she had some kind of bacterial infection that (in such little newborns) could quickly become a life-threatening condition. they administered serious antibiotics, and even anti-virals for a potential herpes simplex infection. i'm praying that all these interventions don't affect her long-term.

from the beginning, all the nurses and doctors reassured us that it probably was nothing more than a simple viral infection, and in the end, all her tests did come back negative (PTL!). it's too bad it was all for no real reason, but i thank God that we did go, because if it hadn't been nothing, we would have been wrecked. we already love that girl so much.

overall the hospital stay wasn't so bad. the first night was great, with excellent care. i think it actually the best night's sleep i've had since E was born (because i think i could really rest knowing that staff were watching over Eden). the second night E and i didn't get much sleep because of a grumpy nurse and a tech who CHANGED A SLEEPING NEWBORN'S DIAPER. E, of course, woke up screaming. that was probably the low point in the whole hospital stay, to be honest with you. so, not bad.

also, they give free food to nursing moms. so. that's cool.

Shut tight

For the first few days of life, you kept your precious little eyes shut tight. I think they were partially swollen that way, but you also just kept them closed. I wonder if it had to do with how I kept my own eyes shut during labor and delivery. Your big brother was the same way. Now that you're opening your eyes more, we can see your pretty face. You are precious and all I want to do is kiss your sweet face. 

Also, I'm not sure if this is residual from being slightly dehydrated last week, but you seem to be hungry all the time. Please, if possible, could you give me a little bit of rest, little one? Even you can't stay awake for all these feedings. Let's rest a bit.