Oh, Hi, I am Alive...Just Sleepless

More random thoughts:

• Aden & Anais muslin swaddles are most excellent! Actually - a good swaddle is priceless when it comes to calming a fussy baby who really is tired but whose arms and legs won't cooperate.
• Little One keeps getting the hiccups. Before meals, after meals, they just keep chasing her down.
• Little One has found her index fingers, but not her thumbs. Of course, it's only because her arms insist on smacking her in the face.
  
• We keep finding Cat the Elder in the Moses basket supplied by a friend who emptied out her house of baby stuff. Cute but not where he belongs.
• DH and I have incredibly generous friends and family. After the first 2 showers (last Sunday and Wednesday) our large (5x8) dining room table was fully covered by bags and boxes, the gifts from the 3rd shower (Saturday) had to go directly to the nursery and it took a long time for my Mom and I to go through and organize everything in the room. As for thank you notes, I have to admit to a bit of ostriching on the fact that those remain outstanding. I suspect that it would be a good idea to set a minimum goal of two per day and just get started on them.
  
• Of all the gifts, only 4 duplicate items - 3 Boppy's (2 identical, 1 different), 2 monitors, 2 strollers, and 2 of the same outfit from Gymboree (and the only outfits we received from there). I was thinking it was because the registry systems weren't updating properly, but then had a duh moment and realized it was probably because the purchasers didn't have the registry scanned at checkout.
  
• My Mom left this morning after being here off and on for the past couple of weeks. I predict there will be crying as DH and I adjust to life without a third pair of hands for baby care and dinner prep and the many many other very useful ways in which she has been helpful. (As compared to the MIL whose helpfulness was much less broad and much more what she thought would be helpful as opposed to actually being helpful. But it was very kind of her to de-fur one of the family room chairs. gah.)
• Yesterday was a busy day - the two week visit to the pediatrician* included having the last part of the scab on her belly button scraped off and having her frenulum clipped. She no longer has the little notch at the tip of her tongue and can reach her tongue farther out of her mouth than before - I'm hoping it helps with our attempts at breastfeeding, and should help in the future to prevent speech impediments. We also had to visit the hospital to have the the mandatory state testing (genetic level for 28 or so fairly rare diseases) redone since she had exceeded the max on one test by 3 points. None of the docs seemed to be bothered by that, but the state required that it be redone. So that was another heel prick. Poor baby. No wonder she was extra fussy and over-tired last night!
• DH and I took advantage of my mother's being here last night to have a "date." He picked me up after he got off work and our first stop was to get him a haircut since he was getting shaggy, and then we went to a swanky steakhouse and had a $90+ meal of two steaks and one glass of wine. Not someplace we will visit on a regular basis, but a very nice outing sans babe. And I didn't even feel the need to call home and check on her until we were leaving the restaurant. But I resisted. I knew my mom would call if she had had an issue - which she did not. Yay for sleeping babies!
• At last weigh in, I was under my pre-pregnancy weight by 3ish pounds (now that's moving into IF drug weight). Breastfeeding/pumping plus upset stomach from the iron pills are definitely contributing factors. Since I stopped taking the iron pills I have actually been able to eat again. Guess I need to call my OB's office and find out if I need to come in for an anemia check before my 6 week visit or not. In the meantime I'm trying to eat a diet heavy on those iron rich foods such as steaks and broccoli. Of course, my body isn't the same - squishy tummy, saggier boobs, wider hips - so I've found that even some of my larger pre-pregnancy clothes don't fit.
• Schedule is similar to that in the hospital - feedings at 2, 5, 8, and 11 round the clock. Moving to breastfeeding would really help with the 11PM, 2AM and 5AM feedings so that I could get back to bed faster than now when she has to be changed and fed, and I have to pump and then wash the pump parts before getting back to bed myself since even when all goes well, it takes the better part of an hour from the time she wakes up.
  
• When I'm most ravenous - 2AM when I'm up for the feeding. Thank goodness for Carnation Instant Breakfast (yes, I'm back on that), or as I'm starting to think of it: adult formula!
• Afternoon naps are very important to my well being. I hope to be able to continue them next week after DH goes back to work and I'm on my own during the day.
• Next week I'm also hoping to make at least one of the breast feeding support group meetings at the local hospital. Not easy since they start at 10AM, and after the 5AM feeding she and I usually sleep until close to 8AM and I have yet to master the less than 2 hour feeding/cleaning/shower and leaving the house.
  

So that's a sampling of what's going on around here. If Little One cooperates I'm going to try to get the rest of the birth story out next week. But no promises.


*Thought I had told you about him - after the stress of trying to find a different pediatrician with no notice last Monday, when DH and I went last Tuesday for the mandatory post-hospital visit, I was expecting the generic pediatrician - republican hair, middle-aged, and so on. Who we got is a cowboy boot wearing, shoulder length haired, two finger-tip missing and chin-hair stripped doctor with the same manner of the visual I was expecting. Definitely out of the ordinary but we've seen him twice now and I like him even better than I did after the first appointment. He's great with the little one and with me too, even when sharing some potentially scary news. Not going to share it, but it's a pretty common thing for preemies, so it should resolve itself as she grows, if not, then I'll really worry about it. For now though, nothing that can or should be done except wait for time to pass.