Random Thoughts, Pt. 2

This past spring when I was working hockey playoffs, I was on the road for about eight weeks, spending about 6-7 days at home during that stretch.  Living in Seattle, it was impossible to get home between games when we were working every other day, but my producer lives outside Boston, and since we spent a lot of time working on the East Coast, he was able to get home a little more often.  The first time I saw him after a visit home, I commented that it must've been nice to sleep in his own bed and get a good rest.  He said he was up in the middle of the night feeding the baby, his youngest of four.  I said, "You're home for one night and your wife makes you feed the baby?  Doesn't she know how little sleep we get on the road?"  I get it now.

Amanda and I have been extremely lucky to both be spending as much time at home with Lily as we have been.  She'll probably go back to work around the end of January, and I'll probably be the stay-at-home dad, traveling some on the weekends.   But if I had been working regularly, or if Amanda had to go back to work sooner, I don't know how we would have done it.  I suppose we would have managed, but I really don't know how working families take care of newborns, particularly when there are already other kids at home.   So much for my plan of tapping in to my bank of sleep stored up from college.

Meanwhile, Lily is doing great, but the reason for my thoughts above is how fussy she can be at times, and how sometimes she won't sleep unless one of us is holding her.  At times she sleeps like a dream, like right now, she is sleeping next to me while I write this, and Amanda and Pearl are asleep upstairs.  Last week she weighed 6lbs, 2oz (I've been lax in my updates), and should be around 6 1/2 lbs or so by now, and we hope to get her weighed in the next day or two.  She is on the verge of outgrowing her preemie clothes and preemie diapers, and is now taking about 2.5 oz of food per feeding.  Our recent cold weather has kept us inside more the last few days, but as previously  noted, she is quite comfortable in Amanda's sling.  Although it's probably a bit soon, she's had some tummy time and is beginning to push herself up a little bit and turns her head already.  And as Amanda likes to say, she found her voice.  When she's hungry, she lets us know it.

But enough of my ramblings, here's some recent pics.

Don't Forget To Breathe.

Update: We weighed her this evening at 6lbs, 9oz.

Lily, 12/15/08

Finding her voice

Lily and her Mom

Pearl gets her licks in

Just chillin'

Pearl's new best friend

Lily and her Dad

D-Day

Today is the day we were waiting for.  Until eight weeks ago, that is.  Today is Lily's due date, and the little pooper is eight weeks old exactly.  We won't be able to weigh her today, but two days ago she weighed 5lbs, 14oz, and has been gaining roughly an ounce a day, so we are guessing she is right around 6lbs today.  I don't think we ever would have guessed when she was born that she'd be six pounds by her due date, but as they say, they grow so quickly.

In the last week, Lily has taken to walking.  Mostly in a passive role.  We took her for a few short walks in her stroller, and more recently Amanda has been using her Moby wrap.  A Moby wrap is basically a big piece of cloth they sell you at an exaggerated price because it has a logo on it, but it let's Amanda carry Lily hands-free, and we've been able to take some longer walks with both Lily and Pearl.  One big happy family.

Lily on her due date,  12/6/08

Lily in her Moby wrap,  12/6/08

Lily, Amanda, and Pearl, going for a stroll  12/6/08

So today is Lily's due date, eight weeks since her birth, and four weeks since she's been home.  She's now taking about two ounces of food per feeding, almost double since she's been home.  We still have to feed her every three hours or so for another eight weeks, until we can see if she's ready to sleep longer.  She has quite a library of books, most of which she's read already, and an already well documented wardrobe.  Now that she's "officially" here, she can't wait to meet you all and say hi in person.

Don't Forget To Breathe.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Not to be trite, but we have a lot to be thankful for this year.  Lily is rolling right along and doing better and better by the day.  She was weighed this morning and sometime in the past few days has broken the five pound barrier.  As of this morning she is a whopping 5lbs, 6.5oz., and 17 inches.  She is now up three pounds since birth and well more than double her original 2lbs, 6.3oz.  She is starting to fill in a little and has some rolls here and there (nothing like her dad, but I had a head start).  In the past week or so, Lily has been awake more after her feedings, and is beginning to look around and track a little bit.  During our home visit with our community health nurse today, she described Lily as the lowest risk of the high risk babies she sees.  Her stroller just arrived today, so we're looking forward to her first venture to the outside world, so far she's only heard rumors.  We are also ever thankful to Gramma Roz, who has been here the past week and allowed us to get gads of sleep.  Thanks mom, and Happy Anniversary to you and Dad!

When we were in the hospital speculating when Lily would come home, I said if she were home by Thanksgiving I'd cook for three days.  Yesterday was Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cheesecake, today was Cornbread Stuffing, and tomorrow is Green Bean Casserole, and then we feast!

Enjoy your first Thanksgiving, Lily!  Too bad they don't make turkey flavored formula.

Don't Forget To Breathe.

Pictures of Lily

Just a quick update and some new pictures.  Zantac is our new best friend.  Our pediatrician gave us a prescription for Zantac the other day and it has helped tremendously.  Lily has a lot less discomfort and is sleeping much better after eating.  She also met her other Gramma yesterday when my mom came in for a visit.  Gramma Roz accompanied us to her follow up appointment with the nutritionist, where we were able to get her newest stats: 4lbs, 13oz, and just under 17 inches.  

And now, here are some recent pictures... Enjoy.

Sleeping Beauty    11/14/08

Pretty in Pink    11/19/08

My girls    11/19/08

Tell it to the hand    11/19/08

My mom, my wife, and my daughter    11/20/08

Gramma Roz and Lily    11/20/08

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful    11/21/08

Proud Gramma    11/21/08

Don't Forget To Breathe.

Random Thoughts, Pt. 1

Since leaving the hospital, Lily has been weighed three times.  Her last day in the hospital, 11/8, she weighed 4.3.5. 

11/10  4.4

11/13  4.8

11/17  4.9

We're told we shouldn't worry about the slowing in weight gain, it's probably due to environmental changes, adjusting to life out of the NICU.  There could also be minor discrepancies in the scales being used.  Either way, we're not too concerned (at least the me of we isn't).

After a recent post where I said I sometimes worried in the middle of the night if Lily was still breathing, I got a lot of good advice and stories of similar feelings.  I no longer have to worry about that, as Lily's reflux and gas are now constant reminders to us that she is still breathing.  Those of you with kids may stop laughing now.  Those of you who don't have kids yet, bookmark this page and re-read it when you bring your newborn home from the hospital, then we can all have a good laugh.  Lily's has been a fussy little baby of late, and sometimes takes a good hour to an hour and a half to go back to sleep after eating.  My sleep bank has been readily depleted, hence the shortage of recent posts, but I'm enjoying walking around in a zombie-like state and finally having a legitimate excuse.

We have received so many gifts, Lily now has more clothes than I do.  We may never have to go shopping for her again.  Seriously.  Thank you.

Time to go mix up a fresh batch of formula.

Don't Forget To Breathe.

A Birthday Wish From Lily

Happy Birthday Gramma Roz! You have always been one of my two favorite Grandmas. I hope you have a great birthday and have a nice dinner at Beau Jacks. I can't wait to meet you next week! Keep in touch, you're just like family (daddy told me to say that).

Oh, and Gramma, Don't Forget To Breathe.

At Home With Lily

We've been home four days and still haven't found the owners manual.  We have found a little routine, however.  Maybe you're familiar:  Sleep, cry, change diapers, feed, repeat.  Lily spends most of her day sleeping in the bassinet next to the bed or kangarooing with Amanda.  Amanda spends most of her day hanging out on the bed next to Lily's bassinet or kangarooing with Lily.  I go to Starbucks, walk Pearl, run errands, feed Lily a few times a day, and have even been able to get back to the gym recently.

After all the practice we had in the hospital with the nurses support, we were pretty sure we were ready to take care of Lily, until our first night at home.  After her first middle of the night feeding, we couldn't get her back to sleep.  Typically, she had been falling asleep within minutes of eating, now that we were home, not so much.  We (and by "we," I mean Amanda) eventually did get her to sleep, and have been figuring out some of her idiosyncrasies as we go.  She seems to have a little reflux, which is common in preemies, and we discovered that if she is put down on an incline it bothers her a lot less.  We have since found that it's even better if she is on an incline while she eats, rather than lying flat, and have been having good luck with that.

While it's great having her home and not having to go the hospital everyday, there are a few things we got used to that are hard to give up.  While Lily was in the NICU, we had a ritual of calling first thing in the morning to see what her weight was and how much she had grown from the day before.  Now that we're home and don't have a scale accurate enough to weigh her, we'll only find out her weight once a week or so, and after obsessing over it for four weeks, it's a long wait.

We also got used to having Lily monitored 24/7, so it was a bit disconcerting to get home the first night and not be able to see her heart rate at any given moment.  I'm o.k. during the day, but at least once a night I have woken up wondering if she's still breathing.  So far she has been every time.

And of course we miss the nurses.  Not only  were they amazing with their care and wealth of information, but we became friendly with a few of them.  There have already been numerous times when I would have liked to consult one of them for one thing or another, it's difficult to give up a crutch once you get used to leaning on it.

Well, it's nearly midnight and I'll probably have to feed Lily in an hour or two, so...

Don't Forget To Breathe