January 31 Doctor Day

     After an extremely trying night, we were glad to go to the doctor this morning. The appointment wasn't until ten, but after our debacle last time, we were up and getting ready much earlier. We were actually ready about 30 minutes early.
     We got to the doctor on time and were called back right away. It was great to be on time. Dr. Grier is lovely and spent a long time with us. We talked a lot about her crying, gassy, up-all-nightness. I actually teared up when she said that there was something that we could try. Prevacid. I was so joyful that there is something we can try; I'd been preparing myself to hear that we could do nothing. We also talked about her sleep habits, her propensity for rolling herself over, the weird ways that my hormones are affecting her through the breastmilk, and when we can take her for a stroll in her stroller. Dr. Grier patiently answered all of our questions, and then we were off.
     Unfortunately, Eric had to go to work immediately after. Luckily, Katie had driven Lily and I to the appointment, so she drove us the the pharmacy afterward. I went in while Katie sat in the car with a very fussy Lily. The pharmacist put in the prescription, and . . . our insurance didn't recognize her yet! UGH! I could have paid cash for the prescription. . . but at $200.00, it was ridiculous!
     We went straight home after the disappointing pharmacy stop. I spent thirty minutes on the phone with an extremely helpful insurance customer service rep. By the time we got off the phone, the entire thing was set up and we could get the Prevacid.
     A lot of this afternoon was spent napping and recovering from the previous night. We didn't get much accomplished, but rest is important!
     At 3:30, Nanny Tara arrived. I was so confused by what time it was, that I was bewildered as to why she was here. She took Lily and sat in the recliner with her for awhile, rocking her. Felix, who had been napping in the chair, refused to give up his spot and so shared the chair for a while. 

     6:00 was very exciting. Eric was home and it was time for Lily's first dose of prevacid. Eric and Katie made the dissolved suspension and we gave it to her with a syringe. Then, was time for the main event: Eric's first time to feed Lily!!!!!

     I was so excited to watch him feed her for the first time, but a little nervous that she wouldn't take to the bottle. She was a rockstar!!! She ate greedily, and by the end had milk spilling down her face. She pulled back very happily. Success! Success for Lily and success for Eric!

     This is a picture of what my wonderful, sweet, kind, thoughtful husband bought me to commemorate the birth of our daughter. It is so beautiful. I really do have the world's best BEST husband! I love him so very much!

January 30 First Time Outside

   
     V-I-C-T-O-R-Y-! Lily slept like a sweet little tiny human last night! It was a beautiful, amazing, terrific thing! She woke up to eat and be changed, then after a little rocking, went back to sleep. It was so peaceful and lovely.
     After the 8am feeding, Tara took Lily downstairs and I got back into bed with Eric. It was so nice to lay there for an hour and talk and cuddle and have a little quiet time. Again, Lily was so sweet and peaceful. She read a book with Nanny and played in her swing.
     This morning Eric and I were able to get quite a bit done in the house. I did quiet things that I could sit down to do, such as updating the 2011 book with Lily's birth and first bath, etc. Eric did some kitchen things and we had breakfast together while Tara napped with Lily. It was a lovely morning. After her next feeding, Eric and I took Lily for a very brief walk out on the porches. We didn't stay long because it was raining and we didn't want her in the damp air, but we did want her to go outside for a minute. We walked her from end to end, sat on the swing, and looked at the yard. She had her eyes open the whole time and looked around, taking everything in. After a few minutes we headed back inside and Lily had another little nap.

     Her Pappy came over this afternoon for a little visit. She sat very contentedly with him for the longest time! She just loves her grandparents!
     This afternoon was fairly quiet. We had a few visitors. Lindsay brought over some dinner that she'd cooked for us. That was really great. Nana came by for a short visit. She'd been to Cayman's birthday party earlier in the day. She gave Lily a full report on what happened.
     Mimi also came back. She is going to spend the night with us. Yay! Lily (and her parents) love when Mimi stays over.
     Today Lily had her first supervised tummy time. We put her in her pack and play and held her alligator mirror for her to interact with. When it looked like all she wanted to do was sleep, we propped her up on the boppy pillow. She looked all around and looked in the mirror, which also plays music. She seemed a bit bewildered by what we were doing, but played along for awhile. All in all, this was pretty successful. 

    
      Again tonight, we are hoping for another restful night. Tomorrow we have a doctor's appointment. Eric will be meeting us there from work. I feel bad that he has to go to work, come back to BR, go back to work, then back to BR to come home, all on his first day back to work. However, I am so proud and happy that it is important to him to come to her appointment. He is the best daddy! He read this book with Lily tonight. By the end of the book, she was asleep. Sweet success.

   

January 29 Oh, What a Night!

     In a new game called "Man vs. Baby", there were three adult contestants and one baby last night. BABY WON. OMG, how can any one person cry so much??!?!? She started crying at midnight and continued through the day today. Thank God for friends and family who are helpful and willing to take turns with her. The worst part is not the lack of sleep, but that she looks so sad, in pain, and helpless. I would give anything to make her happy, but it is a seemingly impossible task.
     After I feed her, she has a few minutes of happy time, followed by hours of off-and-on screaming with her little legs and arms flailing about and her eyes wide and pleading. I can't wait for our Monday morning doctor's appointment. That doctor will certainly be getting an earful.
     It was noon before Eric, Tara, and I gave up and came downstairs. Tara had been with her for a while, as she'd taken Renita's place for the weekend. Katie and Renita came over to offer support and reinforcement. I don't know how parents with a limited support group handle this!

     Today was spent mostly recovering from last night. Lily slept a lot. A lot of times, she sleeps in our arms, but today we put her down for most of the day. We knew she was tired and wanted to give her a chance to sleep alone without us. It was very successful as she slept for most of the day without any interference from us whatsoever.  I had planned to take her outside for the first time today and walk her around the porches and the yard. Ah well, there's always tomorrow. In the meantime, Eric had a very productive day working to create our garden. (Here's Daddy extracting a huge aloe plant)

     Lindsay visited us today. She brought us a king cake, thanks for that!
     Lily didn't stay away long enough for Nanny and Tara exercise time. Again, maybe tomorrow.
     She did get a bath today though. She has some dry places on her skin around the top of her diaper. I wanted to lotion her up really well, but needed to get her clean first. Again, not so super impressed by the whole bath thing. Maybe when she can have an actual tub bath. Her umbilical stump looks very close to falling off. It's pretty wiggly and unconnected in places. It's not as gross as I thought that it would be, but it's no treasure either ;)
     I should mention that this baby LOVES her arms! If I swaddle them, she masterfully removes them one at a time and waves them all about.

      Tonight we are praying for a more restful night for everyone involved! Poor baby Lily's tummy! Tara is staying with us again. Hopefully we'll all get some rest...

   

January 28 Meeting More New People

     Oh horrible gas! Weaning mommy from constant Lily supervision was postponed last night due to a really horrible several hours of gas. From 10-2:30 Lily cried her little eyes out due to gas. Ugh! Why has no doctor created a cure for this awfulness?!? If it weren't for Renita, I would have lost my mind this week. She has been amazing, taking turns with Lily, sitting up with her for hours, talking to her, etc. Mimi is the only reason I've gotten any sleep at all.
       This morning, Layla and Lauren stopped by for a little visit. They sat and held her for awhile and Lauren stroked her little hands and face.

        After they headed out for a lunch, Lily had her lunch and enjoyed her swing for a while. She loves that thing! She's so tiny in it!

     Nana and Donna came over after they got off of work around noon. While they cooked and hung out, I pulled Lily's swing over near the couch and Lily and I napped together. This was part of the Wean Mommy campaign.  I thought that if I could sleep with her near me, but still have others around that weren't sleeping, maybe this would be a good experience for me. It was! After about ten minutes of over-vigilant listening, I was able to fall asleep and sleep pretty soundly. Our first real success with co-sleeping!
   This afternoon Mama Sandra came over to meet and visit with Lily. She loved her! We sat in the living room and visiting for a while with Nana, Donna, and Renita. It was a lovely visit. Lily was very awake and alert. So was her bottom - farts galore! My goodness this itty bitty baby could power a new biofuel engine with all of her farts and burps! She would make Rory proud!

January 27 A Pink Day

     Another mostly successful night for Miss Lily! Her mama just needs to get with the program and learn that not every gurgle, squeak, or rumble means certain catastrophe! Mimi suggested that I begin putting her in the nursery at the last morning feeding when it's not so dark and scary, then gradually backing up the nursery time to earlier feedings. I think that this may be the ticket. Wean mommy.

     She had a good bit of awake/alert time this morning. She spent most of this time looking out of the window and getting some sunlight. When she is alert, she is really really curious about her little world. Smart baby in the making!
     We had another good napping session this afternoon. She and I cuddled up in the recliner and watched tv. Well, I watched tv and Lily sleeping...

     This afternoon was quieter than the last few have been. Renita, Tara, Eric, and Mary went on their walk in the neighborhood, and picked up Curtis who was out riding his bike. Then she had Tara Nanny-time with a little help from Great-Nanny (Mary). They had exercise time and caught up on the reading that they missed out on yesterday because little Lily was just too tired. They finally read "Five Little Pumpkins".

     Tomorrow is Friday and Nana will be by to spend some time with Lily. It's also the last workday that Eric will be home with us. This makes me and Lily sad, but we're very grateful that we had this week together at least. It is hard to believe that exactly one week ago this evening I was admitted to the hospital in labor. Tonight at 1:35 am, Lily will turn a week old! Time flies when you're having fun. Sleepless, wonderful, delicious fun!

January 26 A Very Sleepy Day

VICTORY for LILY!!! She slept last night! We only had very small bouts of tummy unhappiness and she got lots of sleep. Unfortunately, I was unable to relax and calm down and every whimper that she made demanded my immediate attention. Thankfully, her Mimi (Renita) took her for a lot of the night and I slept then. I can't imagine her sleeping without an adult in the room, so suggestions to just "put her in the nursery" aren't well received. She's only six days old for goodness sake! She obviously needs adult supervision at all times! What if she needs us? What if she gets lonely? or sad? I know, I am a neurotic new mom.... that's ok for now.
    Her Daddy got up with her this morning and let me sleep in. That was the theme of the day, "Mommy and Lily sleep". That's pretty much what we did! It's strange that I am up for the day at whatever time, but then spend a lot of the day either napping, bathing (and soaking to recover more quickly), feeding, or pumping. After that, it's nighttime again and back to bed. I really don't know how we would manage without Eric and Mrs. Renita here!

     Katie cooked us a turkey today. Now we'll have dinner and lunches for a while. Another delightful treat.
     The big finale for the day was a little tub bath. As with the first tub bath, Lily was not all that impressed. However, until the umbilical stump falls off, we have to sponge bathe her. I'm excited for an actual bath for her!! And apparently, sometimes you don't learn your lesson the first time. We wrapped sweet Lily in a lovely white, fluffy towel. And..... she pooped in it! LOL, she definitely has a sense of humor! Tara videoed this bath, and I edited it with Eric's help. Enjoy!

     Today's mental and physical exercise time would have featured "Five Little Pumpkins". Sleepy, sleepy Lily slept through what would have been exercise time. Maybe tomorrow.....
     Leah, Mom, and Donna stopped by for a little visit. They got to hold her, but she would not wake up..

    Maybe tomorrow will be a more awake kind of day. . .

January 25

            

     Last night Lily cried from 10-2! Luckily, after that we got the gas under control and she ate and slept peacefully. Thank God! When she cries so emphatically, it breaks my heart! Her cries have an "L" sound and sounds like, "lileeeee, lileeeee!" She kicks her tiny legs, curls up and flails her arms and fists. When she looks at me with her big, pleading eyes, it kills me! How do parents do this??

     Night-times are very exhausting times these days. Usually, Eric and I share the duties. When it's time to feed her, I get myself ready while Eric gets Lily ready. He brings her to me, I feed her, he burps her, I wrap her, and we all go back to sleep. Last night the alarm went off for the 3am feeding. I nudged Eric and asked if he was up. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up."

"You going to get her?"

"Yeah," but Eric doesn't move.

"You sure?" I ask, doubtful.

Then he reaches to his side, carefully and sweetly hands me a preciously cradled package . . . his C-PAP machine mask! Seriously?!?? I couldn't do anything but laugh. 

"Never mind, babe. I got this." I did that feeding by myself...  :)

            Today has been a very peaceful day. Katie came over around ten and made us a wonderful brunch. After brunch was nap time again. Lily tried out her swing. Teeny baby, we had to prop her up with a blanket again to make her tall enough to sit in it properly. We let her swing while I napped and her dad took care of other house things. He has been absolutely amazing. He has assumed the role of Daddy whole heartedly. He never hesitates to get me whatever I need, changes diapers, burps, cleans, freezes breast milk, cleans up messes, and more. He is such a great dad already and its only been five days!
     After nap time we watched a movie on the couch. Lily “watched” from her Daddy’s chest. Beautiful sight! 

           

     Today was another first. I was in the bathroom after feeding Lily and Eric was going to change her. I was out of the room when I heard, "Oh no! Oh, it's getting everywhere! Stop! Oh, MAN!!" You probably guessed it, Lily was peeing all over the changing table and herself! She really got him good!

     Today's Nanny and Lily reading time featured "Little Pea" with, of course, exercises. Lily seems to really enjoy this time and attends and makes lots of faces and noises.