Louisa aka Dolphin Girl

While it's normal for parents to think that their children are special, I'm convinced mine has super-human powers. I have given birth to a real-live Dr. Doolittle. As this video will show, Louisa can communicate with dolphins:



The video isn't that great (she's asleep in her sling), but the audio is priceless!

Outings

So far, Louisa and I have made two outings together, just us. She and I went to a Junior League Committee meeting yesterday evening (so Walter could cook my birthday dinner in peace and privacy) and we went up to school this afternoon. All of my colleagues were anxious to see her and appropriately complimentary ("What a beautiful baby!" etc). She did really well both days! I ended up changing a dirty diaper on my desk and doing a little breastfeeding in office (with the door shut, of course!), but both activities went well.

I have a picture of Louisa's emerging belly button (not for the faint of heart!), now that her umbilical cord has fallen off.


And I couldn't resist this photo. I refer to this one as her "senior class photo" pose. Doesn't she remind you of those stupid photos you had to take for the yearbook with the feather boa around your shoulder (if you were a girl--I don't remember what embarassment they had for the boys).


And, be on the look-out. I have been busy addressing envelopes and filling out birth announcements!

All grow'd up.

Louisa lost her umbilical cord this morning. I've been complaining for two weeks about how hard and scratchy it felt against my chest when I was breastfeeding, but that still didn't stop the pangs of wistfulness at her losing the last physical reminder of how I carried her for 9 months.



I guess that's my first lesson: no matter how many beers and cigarettes I give her to stunt her growth, I can't keep her from growing up.

Chubster

So, apparently the non-stop nursing that's been going on since Thurs afternoon has yielded results!

At her pediatrician's visit this afternoon, Louisa weighed in at 7 lbs 9.6 oz which is just 0.4 oz shy of her birth weight (7 lbs 10 oz). Rachel, our doula, said that they like to see babies return to their birthweight by 10-14 days after birth, so Louisa is right on track. Walter also noticed that the newborn size diapers are getting to be too small for her chubby little thighs.

The doctor said that her color continued to improve and that unless she started running a fever or had some other issue, he didn't need to see us again until her 2 month immunization visit on Oct 29th. Yay!

His only doctorly advice was for us to get some sleep....will do, Doc!

Come again soon!

Walter and I suspect that we have one of "those" children. You know the type--when you meet your child's teacher at the school's open house and s/he says, "Louisa is a joy to have in class. She's so well-behaved!" and you secretly wonder, "Do they have the right kid in mind??"

So far, Louisa has been remarkably well-behaved around guests, but I think Uncle Roland got a glimpse of what we regularly encounter before he and Aunt Lisa left for the airport yesterday:



Of course, it should be noted that she slept soundly through dinner and only got fussy when she woke up hungry (luckily after I got through eating). Walter made apple cider pork chops with oven-roasted veggies and fresh romano beans (bought that morning at the farmers market). We enjoyed the meal with a nice bottle of wine that Roland and Lisa gave us for our wedding (Conundrum 2001?). Very tasty!

Uncle Roland's Visit

Louisa had her first out of town visitors--Uncle Roland and Aunt Lisa! They really enjoyed getting to spend time with Louisa:

helping to change her diaper(s)


visiting with her

and doing calisthenics while she slept
(apologies for the fuzzy photo quality)



Of course, such a busy day meant that nursing took a bit of a backseat, so we had a long hard night. Nothing like 2.5 hrs of almost continuous nursing to put you back on the straight and narrow path of regularly timed feedings.

Wake-up time

Na-na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye!

Success! We had another pediatrician appt this afternoon (that would be #4 for those of you playing along at home) and we finally got the good news we've been waiting for: Louisa's jaundice is going away. The whites of her eyes are still a little yellow, but overall she looks pink and healthy and beautiful. I don't have the actual bilirubin test results (Walter answered the phone and didn't ask), but the doctor said that her bilirubin was "going down nicely." Her weight has also gone up: 7 lbs 3 oz.

So, we don't have to go back to the pediatrician again until next Monday afternoon for another weight check. I will continue feeding her like a sumo wrestler, but now I don't have the added intensity of jaundice hanging over me. And, best of all, that means that we can actually LET HER SLEEP (!!) for 4-5 hours at a time at night (if she sleeps that long), rather than waking her up every 3 hours to feed her like we've been doing since Friday evening.

As one of my colleagues, David, mentioned on the phone this afternoon, there is an upside to the constant stream of doctor visits (his son had jaundice pretty bad, too, when he was Louisa's age): we're now officially old hands at this traveling with baby stuff. The prospect of getting her in the car and going somewhere isn't a fear-inspiring prospect like it is for some new parents who get home and don't have to leave the house.

Bad news--I think my USB card reader has died, so I have photos and video, but I can't upload them to my computer until I get a new one. I'll try to rectify that situation tomorrow (there's an Office Depot nearby). Besides, I need one of those hands free bluetooth thingies for my cell phone anyway, so perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone tomorrow.

We have our second postpartum visit with our doula, Rachel, tomorrow. Will let everyone know how that goes--she's going to help assess our (mine and Louisa's) efforts to master breastfeeding.

Jaundice

Louisa's jaundice is getting better, but not as fast as her pediatrician would like. Her bilirubin test this afternoon was 14.6 (or 14.8--Walter and I can't remember the exact number?) which is down from the 17.1 it was on Saturday (or the 17.3 it was on Friday). So, we are to continue the foie-gras feeding technique and the fiber optic light thingie until her next appt on Weds afternoon. Her doctor would like her bilirubin to be in the single digits, so we've got a ways to go.

The foie-gras feeding is also working, albeit slowly. Her weight today was 7 lbs 0.8 oz which is up from the 7 lbs 0.5 oz of Saturday. Her doctor did say that once they start to gain weight, it really shoots up, so hopefully that process will happen soon for Louisa.

In the meantime, her daddy and I are pretty exhausted today from our long night last night. She woke up around 7pm while I was trying to finish dinner and we weren't able to get her down until around 10pm and that was only for a few hours before she was up again around midnight. And on it went...

Here is your picture of the day (or your Daily Show "Moment of Zen"):

Blood Types and Bathtime

We had a better night last night as Walter and I figured out how to care for Louisa with the fiber optic light thingie strapped to her back. She went down quicker than she did on Friday night (which is not to say that last night was w/o its frustrations, but was better than the night before).

And the pediatrician's office called this morning--they found Louisa's cord blood and her blood type is O+ (just like her mother's). As her daddy noted, she can go running in the street randomly accepting blood from anyone w/o any worries (universal blood donation recipient). We will find out tomorrow if the phototherapy and foie-gras feeding techniques are working to lower her jaundice levels. Walter and I both think she looks pinker and less yellow, but that could be parental wishful thinking??

And, we gave her a sponge bath this afternoon after her lunchtime feeding and before her afternoon nap. I think her umbilical cord is just about ready to fall off (which would be nice b/c the skin-to-skin contact during breastfeeding is NOT helped by something hard and scratchy). But, until it does, we have to give her "spit baths" (as my Paw-Paw would say). After it was over, we wrapped her up in a hooded towel and shot these pics for the grandparents:

Second verse, same as the first....

We took Louisa to the pediatrician this morning (who knew they were open on weekends?). Sure enough, we had the same experience with the scale that we did yesterday--poopy diaper, peeing on the scale, poopy diaper while waiting for the doctor in the exam room. As Walter noted, "if she's ever constipated, we know where to take her."

Dr. Lucien (one of Dr. Bullen's partners) did another bilirubin test on her this morning and advised us to continue keeping her on "ze German fiber optic thingie" all weekend until our appt with Dr. Bullen on Monday afternoon. He called later with her bilirubin results and said that she was a little less jaundiced than she was yesterday, so hopefully that trend will continue.

To help with the jaundice, Walter and I have been treating her like a sumo wrestler: feeding her like a goose being prepared for foie gras and then letting her sleep. Our goal is to produce as many poopy diapers as possible since her body's primary method of eliminating bilirubin is through what some folks delicately call "elimination." A side benefit of this is that her weight should start to go up as well, so we can hopefully avoid the advice to supplement breastfeeding with formula (NOT something we want to do). I think that part is working--she's already gained 1/2 an ounce since yesterday morning.

She'll be welterweight material in no time....

First Pediatrician's Visit

Louisa (aka SuperSchwarm) went to the pediatrician for the first time today.

They checked her weight which meant that we had to strip her down til she was nekkid. That little process revealed a VERY poopy diaper (fun, fun!). Then, when she was on the scale, she peed all over my hand. The nurse said that her weight was 7 lbs (or down about 8% from her birth weight).

Then, we went to the examination room to wait for Dr. Bullen. While we were waiting, we got to experience yet another poopy diaper. Dr. Bullen said that her weight was fine, that they don't worry until the weight loss is greater than 10% and that since my milk came in yesterday, he suspected that she'd be gaining weight from here on out. He wanted to know how often she was eating and how many wet/poopy diapers she had and was pleased with the report we gave him. He also thinks her right foot is doing well and straightening out nicely. He looked at her eyes and mouth and said they were fine.

The only problem that bothered Dr. Bullen was her jaundice. We had to go down to the laboratory and have some blood drawn to test her bilirubin levels. He called later this afternoon and said that they were high, so a medical supply company delivered "ze German fiber optic light thingie" that she's supposed to lay naked on all night. We are to go back to the doctor's office tomorrow morning at 9:30am to see if her jaundice is any better.

So, currently we have AlienBaby.

Videos

Here are a few quick videos I uploaded into  google video yesterday afternoon:

in the hospital on Tuesday


the snuffles when she's sleeping on this one kill me (also in hospital)


laying on our bed once we got home


Will keep shooting short ones with my digital camera and posting them to my google video account.

Stay tuned!

Arrival.

In hindsight, cankles were the least of my worries on Sunday.

My water broke around 7:30ish that evening--but not in a big gush, more like a series of trickles that had me confused (was it pee? was it amniotic fluid?). When the contractions started around 10:30pm that evening, things suddenly came into sharper focus. Walter and I called our doula, Rachel around 11pm when it became obvious that it was indeed amniotic fluid and even if the contractions were just Braxton-Hicks, we were having this baby in the next 24 hrs.

We decided to labor at home for a while, to see if the contractions got stronger and more regular, rather than going in to the hospital right then and possibly risking induction (which brings about its own set of complications). I managed to hold out until about 3 am (when my contractions were lasting for a minute and a half and were about two and a half minutes apart) and we left for the hospital (after frantically throwing things in the car) around 3:30ish after calling Rachel to meet us there.

In triage, they assessed me and said that yes, indeed my waters had broken and I was about 3 cm dilated. (that pissed me off b/c I was certain that I was more dilated than that!) Given my positive Group B Strep test a couple of weeks ago, they admitted me so that they could start the IV antibiotics. After triage, Walter says we got to the labor/delivery room about 5:30am.


I have to confess that I'm like an accident victim, trying to put it all together after the fact based on what other people tell me. I was SO out of it and not paying attention to anything but me at that point.

On Rachel's advice, I tried sitting in the shower and letting the hot water hit me for a while which helped and then got out and sat on the birth ball, all the while doing the long slow breathing they taught in childbirth class. About 7:15 (Walter thinks) Rachel suggested trying the shower again with Walter letting the water hit on my lower back (which was starting to ache at that point) while I tried some standing positions. That worked like a charm!

By the end of my second trip in the shower, I was bending my knees, wanting to push, and having my stomach contract like a dry heave with each contraction. After it was over, Walter said that he could see the baby's head move down as my butt changed shape. Pretty freaky.

Rachel suggested that we NOT have the baby in the shower, so I got out and got on my all fours on the bed with my head pressed into a pillow and my ass in the air. The nurse assessed me and said that I was 10 cm and the baby was at +1 station in the birth canal. This was approximately 8:45-9:00am. We were fortunate that our obstetrician, Dr Gillot, was on duty that morning, so we had a doctor there that we knew and trusted.

After about 45 minutes of the hardest pushing in my life, Louisa Marie-Josephine Schwarm popped out and changed our lives. All 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20.25 inches of her. Her official due date was August 25th, so she decided to arrive two weeks early.



There's lot more to share, but someone needs to be fed and her parents need some sleep!


Will write more later.

Cankles and Belly Shots

Since SuperSchwarm has dropped, I have had issues with swelling in my feet and ankles. A particularly enthusiastic bout of cleaning (nesting kicking in?) today brought about these:
.

And, you can see that I am putting my feet up and resting while my darling husband is outside working in the backyard


And before anyone gets worried, I don't have pre-eclampsia. No swelling in my hands or face, no blurry vision, no headaches, no high blood pressure, etc. Just swelling that becomes harder and harder to prevent as time goes on (and the baby slips further down?). It doesn't have to do with salt consumption either, just with baby positioning. Our childbirth class instructor was re-assuring another mother in our class (whose due date is mid-Sept) and whose feet/ankles have looked like mine for the last month or so that mothers who have swelling like that are usually the ones who lose weight the fastest after delivering their babies. I hope so!

Walter and I did discover a neat trick with my pregnancy belly on Friday night though:


Apparently, I have a convenient shelf for drinking glasses and plates. Maybe that will help prevent the food falling between my boobs phenomenon...?

New Doctor

So, Walter and I met our new OB/Gyn this morning, Dr. Gillott. He seems like a good guy--we like his friendly, upbeat attitude. He's supportive of natural childbirth, wasn't put off by our hiring a doula as labor support, and very upfront about what to expect as far as labor and delivery go at UCDavis Med Center. He was quick to explain that the Women's Clinic is a private practice affiliated with UCDMC and that either he, or one of his six partners, would be delivering SuperSchwarm while an OB/Gyn resident observed (as opposed to at the Resident Clinic where a resident would be delivering the baby while the Doctor watched). I especially like the continuity of care and knowing that I'll be seeing the same person for every visit (and hopefully at the birth).

I was struck by the very different office culture between the Women's Clinic and the Resident Clinic. Our appointment started on time, we were able to schedule the remainder of our prenatal visits all at once (unlike at the Resident Clinic where we had to schedule one at a time), and we didn't have to fight (or pay!) for parking in the parking garage located in the building's basement.

Most importantly, SuperSchwarm had a strong heartbeat, my abdomen measured in the normal range, and s/he was squirming around a bit as we waited in the lobby for our appt with Dr. Gillott. He noted that the movements that I should be feeling now are more twists and wiggles than the big movements as the baby has started to outgrow his/her habitat. Mostly, I just feel hiccups (at least 2-3 times a day!) and that darned foot under my right rib. He also noted that it would be impossible for SuperSchwarm to follow in my footsteps and tie a knot in the umbilical cord now, that there wasn't enough room. Whew! That puts my mind at ease.

He said that next week once I was 38 weeks, they would do a cervical exam to see how dilated/effaced I was which would give them a better prediction of how soon SuperSchwarm will make his/her appearance. (has anyone started a betting pool yet??) I asked him if he had any idea how big the baby was and he said that if SuperSchwarm makes it to his/her due date, then we could very well be looking at an 8 lb baby. I've been telling Walter that there's a lot of baby in there--maybe now he'll believe me!



We also pre-ordered our baby announcements this week from a letterpress company in Massachusetts. The owner/operator is printing our envelopes and shipping them to us asap, so we can go ahead and stamp/address them before the baby arrives. Once we know the relevant details (date, time, weight, length, name, etc), then she'll print the announcements themselves and ship them to us. Afterwards, Walter and I can stuff envelopes in a sleep-deprived haze. I think everyone will like them--we think they're really adorable (and sum up our parental attitude pretty well right now).

Nursery Pictures

The long-awaited nursery pictures have arrived!

Walter and I have finished painting the walls, ceiling, closet doors, and changing table.











We have assembled the wooden cradle my grandfather built for me waaay back in 1975 (with a few modern adjustments).



We have sourced, ordered, and received the custom-made cushions for the rocking chair (ordinary rocking chair cushions were all too short!).



We found curtains and curtain hardware that we liked at IKEA and hemmed them to fit the window, leaving us extra fabric to turn into something else (suggestions, anyone?).




We also found shelving and hung it high enough to keep little hands away from them, but hopefully also not within head-whacking distance either. The shelves that we put up hold childhood mementos, photos, etc. The two knit animals are actually rattles made from old L'eggs pantyhose containers and the baby blocks are ones my mother made when I was little. They help contribute to the 70s nature of it all, don't you think? Our thought is to move a wooden bookshelf (that my father built in HS woodshop, I believe) that's currently in the guest bedroom under the shelves to hold children's books eventually.


Someone at work asked Walter what our nursery theme was....and we have no idea other than I guess perhaps 70's inspired egg yolk? We just picked colors we liked and used furniture that we had or was given to us. We have two chairs in the room right now because the leather chair was displaced by the piano in the living room and we weren't sure where to put it. I think it might be useful for breastfeeding though since it does have an ottoman (which I've read is key to staying comfortable). The rocking chair will be useful for rocking to sleep, too. The cradle is currently in the nursery, but we are planning on moving it into our bedroom for the first few months to make those nighttime feedings a little easier. So, it's all a matter of figuring out what works and rolling with the flow for a while. Eventually we will replace the cradle with a crib once SuperSchwarm is big enough, but we don't know when that will be (yet).

The chest of drawers was in our bedroom until we got our new dressers this past winter. It is packed with baby clothes, baby blankets, cloth diapers, burp rags, etc.

We also bought a children's storage thingie at IKEA and put it in the closet to store cradle sheets, lovey blankets, etc. for now and toys, books, shoes, etc in the future. Yes, the anal-retentive parent has labeled the pull-out bins!


We also currently have a bouncy-seat in the nursery, but I think that will be carted all around the house and my office this fall.


On the advice of friends, we are also trying out some "kitty air freshener" or feline pheremones that are supposed to make Dido like the room better. As you can tell from one of the cradle pictures above, she does enjoy sleeping on the ottoman and the chair during the day when it's dark and cool.

And I don't let Walter tease her when she's in the room, so hopefully she'll view it as a "safehouse" or "panic room." And, we've been letting her sniff all the baby stuff and mark it to her heart's content. She is NOT a fan of the bouncy seat (even with vibrations and music), nor does she enjoy being swaddled.


Now, all we need is that baby to complete the decor!