Geek Habitat

Sara had her first pediatrician visit yesterday for her two week post-birth checkup. She is doing terrific — jaundice is a non-issue now, and we’ve been cleared to start weaning her off the formula supplements and exclusively breastfeed as we’ve desired from the outset. She has not only met but exceeded her birth weight (6 lb 6.5 oz.); as of yesterday, Sara weighs in at 6 lb. 12 oz. on a medically calibrated scale, which isn’t that far off from our rinky-dink home scale which we tallied her weight on as exactly 7 lb. She is now 19 1/4 inches long, up from her birth height of 18.5 inches. And her head size is 13 1/4 inches — she’s got a good melon on her shoulders. In every way, she is doing terrific, and yes, she is continuing to spoil her parents.

My 2-week post-op checkup was this morning, and while I didn’t get to see my OB (she was headed to the OR for an emergency C-section when I checked in), I did get to see one of the other terrific OB/GYNs in the practice. My two “burning issues” as it were are both absolutely normal. One — I have a minor urinary tract infection, thanks to the Foley catheter one receives if you have epidural or spinal anesthesia. Two — the painful, tender to the touch, area on my abdomen about 4 inches away from my incision? I hate self-diagnosis, but I was starting to think it was a hernia. It’s really just some deep tissue and muscle aggravation because that’s likely where they pulled Sara’s head (see aforementioned “big melon”) out. I remember my OB and the assisting doctor coordinating their movements to get her out of there, it’s just that with the epidural and drape obviously I didn’t have any idea the type of forces involved until now with the nagging, sometimes stabbing pain localized in that area. I’m supposed to massage my incision area when I take a shower and take it easy. In time, it’ll get better/less tender, and my bruising will go down.

I’m about 10 lbs. shy of my original pre-pregnancy weight (which was heavier than I’d have liked to be, but is still a good benchmark at the present time.) I put on 34.5 pounds during the pregnancy with Sara, and my all-time highest weight during the pregnancy (highest ever in my life, for that matter) was 190.5 lb.; my joints, especially my knees, still haven’t forgiven me even though the weight gain was on par with expectations and my OB never had any issues with it. My goal? 140 lbs. with good muscle tone. I know it’s doable because it’s what I settled at after my knee surgery and the resulting physical therapy. I still looked like me, but I had more energy and stamina, and I felt comfortable in my own skin.

I’m cleared to resume driving (yay!) and exercise at my discretion. My body will apparently let me know in some difficult to ignore ways if I do over-exert myself. I am very much looking forward to doing some walking with Justin and Sara, and not too long from now, resuming mountain biking and getting a road bike as well. Sara’s going to share in all our outdoor passions and pursuits, at least until she’s old enough to tell us she thinks they’re uncool.

Sara’s next checkup is when she turns 2 months old, and my next checkup is in four weeks (May 1st).

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s run errands for us since March 15, as well as those who have helped with various home improvement or baby preparation tasks (carseat installation, etc.) We love you and couldn’t do this without you! Today was my first trip away from the house by myself, as in without Justin and without Sara. And when you get right down to it, it was my first trip by myself since July when Sara began her journey into this world. It felt odd jamming down to music in my car and feeling a little guilty at the volume, only to realize, “No, you really are absolutely alone in this vehicle now.” Anyway, my thanks to Justin, as well, for letting me extend my time away after my doctor’s appointment so I could briefly visit with my parents, and on the way home, hit our Super Target for necessities (apparently, cranberry juice has become a necessity.)

Love to you all! Keep checking the Flickr feed. Justin’s adding photos as time and sleep permit.

The three of us actually left the house together today as a family! You have no idea how nice it was to drive around after 11 days cooped up in the house — even with the world’s cutest infant, that long a stretch is pushing it! Our first agenda item was to get Sara’s carseat checked by a certified carseat installer; thanks to Grandpa Blackburn’s carseat installation assistance, I’m pleased to say we passed with flying colors! Sara’s safe and cozy, and we can breathe a little easier knowing someone who does this more often than we do has checked it over as well.

Feeling emboldened by that success, we headed to (where else?) Babies ‘r Us to wander the store and buy some baby supplies — mostly extra changing table sheets and such that, now that we have the little whipper-snapper, we realize the error of our “surely ONE or TWO will be enough, right?” pre-baby thinking. Somehow, we also left with several outfits and other baby accoutrements, bringing our purchase total to just above $100.
Parents = Suckers… thanks, we got it.

Sleep is a commodity in short supply, but it’s more than made up for by our being absolutely smitten with Sara and amazed at her every time we look at her or hold her. She is changing daily, and while it’s a little sad in some ways (‘cuz she’s just so darned CUTE already!), it’s wonderful and exciting in many others. We don’t want her to rush growing up, but at the same time there is so much we look forward to doing with her and sharing with her.

For those following such things, here’s a brief rundown of our schedule the rest of the week:

• Sara’s first checkup (2 weeks old!) with her pediatrician: Wednesday, March 28
• My first post-op checkup with my OB: Thursday, March 29
• Sara’s original due date: Sunday, April 1

It’s 1:35 AM and our Sprout is sleeping soundly in her bassinet by the bedside. She’s been cluster feeding since 9:30 PM or so; I just finished breastfeeding her and giving her a supplement of formula. I’ve been giving the breast pump Mom bought me for Christmas a workout, but haven’t yet properly timed my pumping to yield a stockpile of momma’s milk that we can use for the bottle-feedings. We’re supplementing with formula on the advice of our pediatrician, to combat the jaundice/high bilirubin levels Sara came home with. I suspect after we see the pediatrician on Wednesday, we may be allowed to greatly reduce or eliminate the formula feedings and rely on breastmilk. Sara’s an ace breastfeeder, and we’ve had no issues in that regard. She’s spoiling us!

Yesterday, Justin and I weighed ourselves with and without Sara in our arms; both measures yielded the same results — Sara weighs 7 lbs! This is notable because when she was born, she weighed 6 lb. 6.5 oz., and upon discharge three days later, she weighed 5 lb. 14 oz. Weight loss shortly after birth is common in newborns, especially exclusively or primarily breastfed babies (since mom’s milk doesn’t come in for up to 72 hours). However, since we had those jaundice issues in the hospital and for the first couple days at home, we felt like we had an incredible shrinking baby. She was very tired and difficult to rouse for feedings, and she was content to sleep and not eat. She never lost more weight than the doctor’s were concerned about, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. So to have her not only regain her birth weight, but surpass at around eight days after her birth is pretty keen in our book.

Sara has lost all vestiges of the jaundice and, correspondingly, she has become more alert. To Grandpa Moore’s delight and relief, she is finally opening her eyes more often and keeping them open. Grandpa Moore was starting to wonder if her eyelids were painted on or sewn shut because Sara had never had her eyes open during his visits. Justin and I were beginning to think the same thing, and wondering when we’d finally get to look into our little one’s eyes for more than 1/2 second! So far, her favorite visual stimuli are to look at people’s eyes up close and watch the butterfly mobile we have in her room. She also seems to watch our tuxedo cat, Norton, whose contrasting black and white fur seems to attract her attention if he’s “in range”.

Late last night, Justin bought this new momma a new laptop — an Apple MacBook (white)! I join the already full ranks of new Apple MacBook owners in the family, including my brother, Thomas, and Justin (photos of his box-opening experience) . Even my mom bought a new laptop recently — in her case, a Dell Inspiron, to replace a structurally deficient older model Dell laptop whose screen had already come off twice (once under warranty, and most recently, again after “repair” and out-of-warranty.)

Anyway, three new laptops in the family have a way of making you take stock of your current hardware… especially if you’re using your laptop most of the time lately because, during pregnancy, it was more comfortable than sitting in the hot computer room, and now that there’s a newborn in the house it’s just easier and saner to be in the same room as she is. I can’t wait to have a Mac again. In 2001, I blew a sizable chunk of money on a Titanium Powerbook G4. I loved the machine, and still have it (dead battery and all), but the fact remains it’s a 400 mhz processor. Dinosaur!

Justin’s MacBook, which we bought in late February, is dedicated to our photography business, Moore Photography & Design. In addition to being used on Justin’s freelance writing and photography assignments, it’s invaluable for portrait client consultations and post-portrait session proof reviews.

My MacBook replaces an older model (same as my Mom’s former system) Dell laptop, which I’ll soon be selling either to friends or on eBay, along with various GPS units we’ve upgraded from. Old geek gear financing new geek gear… gotta love it!

There was more I was going to post but I’m nodding off and, since Sara’s sleeping right now, that is what I need to be doing too. (I have the night shift tonight since Justin so generously let me take several naps on Sunday.)

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!

Just a couple Sara videos to share:
Sara chillin’ in her Pack & Play (No sound)
Sara discovers a mirror

All three of us got better sleep last night — Justin and I did so because we are learning there is total truth to the “sleep when baby sleeps” advice; Sara slept better because we dressed her in something warmer than just a short-sleeved onesie last night (Thank you, Mom, for the baby clothing blitz so Sara has some footed “warmies” and extra newborn onesies!) Sara slept soundly except for feeding and diaper change requests last night, thanks to comfy more appropriate nighttime attire.

We knew parenthood would be a humbling and immensely rewarding experience which forced our emotions to run the gamut, and it has met our expectations in this regard. We have already had passionate, emotional discussions about the state of our little girl’s poop, whether or not she’s wetting enough diapers (and other philosophical questions, such as “But is it wet enough?” and “What is wet, anyway?”), whether or not she is sleeping too much (she is; excess bilirubin, which causes jaundice, apparently also makes little ones excessively tired), whether or not she is getting enough to eat (a very touchy subject, especially for a newly breastfeeding momma), etc. We have rearranged the magnets on our refrigerator, such that we have contact info for several registered nurses, my OB and others who can help us through the gauntlet of new baby questions and conundrums. We have already talked to our pediatrician once, and are following his advice to help run the bilirubin through Sara’s system faster by breastfeeding and supplementing after that. She is doing great, but we definitely want to kick start her system so she doesn’t have to fight this jaundice-induced lethargy much longer. For one thing, we really want to look into her eyes more than we get to!

How strange and yet wonderful to receive the 38 week edition of the BabyCenter.com email newsletter I’ve been sharing with friends and family, and look over and see Sara sleeping after a successful feeding and her first bath since coming home. She is awesome and she is being SO good to us… Justin and I are convinced she knows just how clueless we both are and is having pity on her poor folks and being the most utterly sweet baby.

Check our Flickr feed for the latest photos. Justin’s been adding some periodically:
http://flickr.com/photos/wildtexas/sets/72157600002775429

Sara has two domain names but I have not put any websites or content out at those addresses yet. Pretty soon, I’ll at least set them up to redirect to a new Sara section of GeekHabitat.com, or maybe just the existing Parenthood one.

Love to you all! A thousand apoligies if Justin or I have been lax in responding to any emails you have sent. We will be working through our backlog of emails soon. I just now got a chance to pick up my laptop and boot it up.

- Shannon, Justin & Sara (the gorgeous baby girl formerly known as ‘Sprout’)