Monday, August 3, 2015

Ada May - Week 1



At One Week Old:
Looking at the two girls together makes me appreciate the stage they are both in and realize how quickly things are going to change. It seems like yesterday that Cora was this small and now she is so grown up and I know that I will blink and Cora will be starting school and Ada will be as big as Cora! I am so blessed and thank God for the gift of these beautiful girls! 



Health
- Ada is really strong! She can break out of just about every swaddle I put her in but she doesn't sleep long periods of time without being swaddled. (The Perinatologist noted that she had really defined thigh muscles at 20-something weeks from the sono, that was quite accurate! She has really strong little legs!)
- Has great head control for a newborn, she's already trying to look around and will bang her head against my chest when I'm wearing her because she thinks she can hold it up. 
- She has lots of hiccups! She had hiccups about once a day in utero and seems to be following that trend now!
- I noticed very early on that Ada is a little cross-eyed. We've talked to our pediatrician about it, it's very common. It's a muscular issue and if it hasn't taken care of it'self by 4 months we will refer out to an optomotrist. Honestly it's already better than it was as she is opening her eyes and having longer periods of alertness, so hopefully it will clear up on it's own!
- She also has what appears to be a slightly herneated belly button. It's really minor and Pedi says that a lot of times they also clear up on their own. If it isn't by school age we'll look into getting it repaired. 

Nicknames
Squeekers (for the little noises she makes), Turtle (for the way she cranes her neck when rooting to nurse), Ada May.

Clothing
She is clearly smaller than Cora. She is in Newborn clothes and probably will be longer than Cora was. We are actually considering purchasing more NB size. It's been fun putting her in things that Cora wore and remembering how small she was (but never this small...).

Diapers
Newborn size disposables. When she's a little bigger we'll start using cloth with her but I don't own newborn sized cloth diapers.

Eating
Nursing isn't going fantastic... she just isn't latching well. I gave it one week then tried introducing shields which worked wonders for Cora. This time however, it just made the pain worse! Things are getting better but we still have some challenges to work through.

Sleeping
She will sleep one 3 hour stretch at night and a good 3 hour stretch in the middle of the day (usually from about noon to 3). Right now I dream feed her about midnight and then put her in the bassinet and we go to sleep. She wakes up between 1 and 2 usually, will have a quick nursing session and go back down (but won't stay asleep more than 10 minutes or so if in her bassinet) until 5 or 6 in the morning, nurse again and then again at 7 am.

She does not like her bassinet at all! I can't get her to sleep in it more than about an hour at a time. Her co-sleeper turned out to be a great purchase on a whim at last seasons consignment sales!


Our little Socialite
Miss Ada May's first week has been a busy one!


Thursday morning when she was just hours old we loaded up and went to my Dad's house. We didn't get to do an herbal bath at the birth center due to some complications after she came and I really wanted a bath (didn't feel up to standing in the shower) so we went to his house to use the bathtub (we don't have one). (I'll post about the birth story and associated complications soon)

Friday at 2 days old I had to follow up with the Midwives but life was super crazy because apparently all the babies decided they wanted to come so we also needed to get Ada's PKU through the hospital because the Midwives were so busy catching babies they couldn't see us. So we got our poor babies heel pricked and I saw a Nurse Practitioner after my appointment was rescheduled twice to make sure I was doing better from those complications.


Saturday my family gathered at my Dad's house to meet Miss Ada. This included my Great Aunt who she is named after!

Sunday we loaded up and went to see John's Mom & Step-Dad for them to meet Ada.

Monday we took Ada back to the Birth Center for her checkup that couldn't be done on Friday and that evening Sarah, our Doula, came for our postpartum visit. On the same scales she was weighed on at birth she was recorded at 7 lbs and 11 ounces (down from 8 lbs 1 oz).

Tuesday we took Ada to the Pediatrician for their version of the newborn check. They recorded her at being 7 lbs 13 ounces.

Wednesday we left Cora with my Dad while John & I took Ada to get  newborn pictures. John and I agree that we were more relaxed during the session than we had been since Ada arrived. I hadn't ever been to a photo shoot quite like that before, it was very calming!

By the time Thursday rolled around (1 week, 1 day) and John returned to work, it was the first day that we were just at home!

Likes
- She loves her swing. It is the only place I can get her to sleep other than my arms! Hates her bouncer on both the bounce and vibrate feature.

- Ada is quite the Momma's girl. She will cuddle and sleep with John some, but I think she likes being close to her food source!
-  I'm betting she is going to be a thumb sucker! She likes to suckle her hands.

Dislikes
Being gassy. Poor kid is pretty gassy. I'm probably going to have to start an elimination diet to figure out what is causing this. Cora was gassy too and I never figured out what was causing it, she just eventually outgrew it.

What's new?
Well, everything... but new during this first week is burping. For the first couple of days she wouldn't burp with her feedings. In fact she was really pretty ticked off when I'd try to burp her. We checked with our Doula and some babies don't need to burp in the early days because they're not really taking in much air. If I had bothered to read the discharge information that the Birth Center had given me in the first couple of days I would have found this same helpful info! Well now she is requiring a burping but is difficult about it. John is far more successful burping her than I am (which is opposite of how it was with Cora!) and he manages it by supporting her back and head and bouncing her off his belly. Sounds strange but works!
  

Mommy & Postpartum This postpartum compared to Cora has been much easier! There have been some unique challenges since we now have two babies but physically it's been a walk in the park in comparison. Part of this I believe is that I knew better what to expect, but there is no doubt that I'm also significantly less sore than last time.

Big Sister
Cora is doing really well with the transition to being a big sister! We were worried about how this would go and have been expecting some regression but have no idea where that regression might take shape. So far there hasn't been one! If she wants our attention (or even if she's across the room independently playing but wants us to look?) she has taken to screeching. Like banshee screech! I'm not sure how to teach her not to do this, so I calmly explain that we use our inside voices and tap her mouth - hopefully this will take care of itself.
 
She really seems to understand that "sissy" was in my belly and now is here. The night she came, when we picked Cora up at my Dad's house she pointed and said "sis". She has stopped giving my belly kisses (as she would do unprompted several times a day before) or lifting my shirt to pat my belly. The first night she had a crying fit, but honestly it was more of an "I'm overly exhausted" fit 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Ada Mayme

Miss Ada Mayme made her apperance on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 10:41 pm.
(4 days past her due date) 


We have been spending the last 10 days adjusting to life as a family of 4! 


John returned to work this past Thursday and it has been a whole new adjustment to life with both girls at home with me alone.


Life is really busy right now, but hopefully I will get the opportunity to write out her birth story and about her first week of life, but for now some pictures!