Geek Habitat

This is an awesome time in our lives. Justin and I can’t remember a time we’ve laughed so hard so often, or found ourselves so lost in another soul’s eyes, as we do right now with Sara. Justin pegged it yesterday when he told me, “I could just sit/stand there and watch Sara sleep for hours.” She’s absolutely gorgeous, and she continues to be so very good to us.

Sara’s more alert and active when awake now, thanks to one full day following our pediatrician’s action plan for flushing the bilirubin from her system as quickly as possible (every 3-4 hours, breastfeed to point of refusal, then supplement with 2-3 oz. of expressed milk and/or formula.) She only cries when there is something she needs — a diaper change, a nursing session, or some skin-on-skin contact/cuddling. And although she’s not typically a pacifier lover, when she gets really worked up (she snorts! and sounds like a goose honking! hehe) she takes to the pacifier readily and is immediately consoled.

She is absolutely an ace breastfeeder, despite all the “wrong things” happening in the hospital — having a C-section, so she couldn’t be laid on my bosom within an hour of birth; my typical lack of any coordination or manual dexterity whatsoever; and hospital cock-ups that kept me from seeing Sara for nearly 8 hours after she was born (I’m still pissed about that, and unclear on how it happened. It unfolded in such a manner that every hour we’d get an update that she was in the Transition Nursery having her respiration monitored, or that she was en route to the normal Nursery “any moment now.” And I couldn’t visit her because I was on 6 hours of bedrest post-op… grrrr!)

She keeps us endlessly entertained and full of laughter, even though these are often at her expense, eg. hiccups, sneezes and farts. I wouldn’t have believed or admitted it before Sara arrived, but there’s something really funny about newborn farts. And the hiccups are adorable, even if after awhile our parental mode kicks into high gear and we end up trying to console her because it seems like they’d hurt and get really frustrating… we know they don’t hurt, but the crinkles in her forehead sure seem to indicate they’re starting to piss her off!

I know they say at this stage they’re completely involuntary, but her smiles are to die for. We’re in trouble when she can lay a smile on us at will… those things are high caliber, precision accuracy weapons guaranteed to melt our hearts!

We love you, Sara! Happy one week (and one day) birthday, Chicklet!