Happy Halloween!

Daddy's little monkey.

Yesterday was "one of those days"

Yesterday was Mrs. Baylee's day to shine. The previous night she had the privilege of getting some delicious roasted chicken skins and pieces and yesterday she paid us back by pooping and puking wherever she could. This was runny-butt and smelly-brown-gravy-galore like I have never seen before. Obviously she tried to hide the fact by eating her own poop, but I think that made things worse because she puked that right back up shortly after. So now I had a lot of pukey-slimey to deal with as well, and this stuff was like right out of an Aliens movie, nearly impossible to scoop up, and a stink I cannot begin describe. I kept running around on my knees cleaning up spots only to discover new spots behind my back. It was never ending. Baylee was then sent outside until she was emptied out at both ends and only given water the rest of the day. Super effective biological cleaner "Anti-icky-poo" was liberally applied and a trip to Cosco to buy a carpet steamer will happen in the near future.

The Days FLY By!

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already!

We've had a rough week, sleep-wise, thus the lack of posts. We're trying to learn how to put Lucia down to sleep BEFORE she falls asleep on us. Pete's better at this, admittedly. She's so warm and cuddly, but if I let her fall asleep on me, I'm trapped until she wakes us, because if I put her down afterwards, she wakes up and gets all upset. The early part of the week was rough, with every day getting a little better.

So anyway, there's that. It's going well. Dr. Hello Kitty told us to do it this way, so it helps to have her endorsement. We saw her on Wednesday about the rash that Little Miss has; it's dry skin + baby acne. They tested it for staph just to make sure, since my c-section incision is infected (still!). Dr. HK said she'd call me if it was staph, but she was pretty sure it wasn't.

We bought a new baby carrier that I LOVE (see above - note her bunny feet) but unfortunately I overdid it yesterday with it by taking a walk with her. She was fussy and stopped fussing when I kept walking, so I kept walking. Big mistake: last night I was so sore in my back and abdomen from the pressure on the incision. It's very hard for me to take it easy; I'm high-energy and having to limit my activities has and continues to be tough. This is NOT how I wanted to spend my maternity leave.

Tomorrow I'm going to have lunch with a friend who works at Google; it's Halloween so everyone is going to be dressed up. Little Miss is going as a monkey. Afterwards, we're going to a Halloween party at Day One, the awesome center we've gone to for lactation support and general sanity. We'll be sure to take pictures!

One Month Old!

Wow, it's gone really, really fast in some ways. In other ways, it feels like we've always had her -- and I can't imagine not knowing her, what she looks like and everything. Not that we know her just yet -- we're still getting used to each other, as Pete wrote below.

I've been surprised by a few things the past month, like how little sleep I can get by without. I've been surprised that Pete is such an amazing caregiver (both of me and her) and knows instinctively what to do (without reading any of the baby books, imagine that!). I've been surprised by how quickly the days go by. I've been surprised by how difficult breastfeeding has been, and how really experiencing it for yourself changes your perspective on everything.

Everywhere I look now, if I see a baby or parents pushing a stroller, I think, they went through this too. They went through the roller coaster of emotions, the day-to-day mundaneness, the newfound closeness between the parents, the hope and possibility you dream of for your child. They all went through it. And somehow survived. :)

We've developed a pretty good working rhythm: we're up until 1 or 2 a.m. for the last feeding, then Pete gets up in the middle of the night to feed her. I get up around 7 or 8 to feed her, and he gets up shortly after to start his work day. It's kept the sleeplessness at a minimum -- hooray! We're so thankful we have a baby that likes to sleep.

She's been on an eating tear lately -- she's a bottomless pit. I can't keep up with breastmilk production, so we've had to supplement with formula. It has its pros and cons -- the cons being the cost and the fact that it smells horrible. The pros being it's really easy to mix up -- no need to heat up a bottle.

We're excited for the next months and years. It still feels like we're in bootcamp on some days (today's one of them -- she's been fussy all day) and other days feel so close to normal there are split-seconds that I forget we have a baby. I'm a little weepy writing this, thinking that she'll never be so young again. This feels like a very tender and precious time.

Pictures of the little miss today are HERE. Don't be alarmed by her rash, we've already talked to the pediatrician about it -- she's fine.

Publish Post

One month ago today

Lucia was born one month ago today and we are still learning. She cant be reasoned with, she feels no remorse, but she is completely honest: her feelings can be read in her face, her opinions can be heard. Our problem is that she seem to have only one or two sounds for all her issues, dirty diaper, over tired, hungry, gassy stomach; she makes the same sounds. The solution ususally is to test for each of those issues and act accordingly.
Not much has changed on Lucia since day one, she is still pretty mellow, her appetite is strong and we keep adding milk to her bottles. If I were to eat as much as her, relative to her size, I would be having 4 cartons of milk every 3 hours. No wonder she is complaining about gas.

Four weeks old!

Lucia is four weeks old today! How quickly it's gone! We're doing well; experimenting with taking things out of my diet that upset her belly. The latest offender is citrus -- even very small amounts upset her stomach. And chocolate (sadly). Otherwise, she's very happy and content.

We watched The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD this week and both agreed it was life-saving. Literally. It teaches you how to soothe a crying baby, and man does it work! The shushing especially -- apparently it mimics the sound of blood rushing through the placenta. She goes from melting down to instant calm in seconds. Seriously. It's pretty amazing.

Today I'm going to the park with Josh to take the dogs for a walk (and the baby, oh and us too). I'm feeling better every day, though still prone to overdoing it, so I'm headed down for a nap now.

We'll post more pictures on Sunday, her official one-month birthday. Until then...

Thank YOU Kate!

This is a long overdue post to thank Kate, my stepsister, for flying out to spend the weekend with us and basically keep us glued together. She arrived Oct. 3, when Lucia was still in the NICU, I was still out of commission and in need of assistance to do basic things like oh I dunno, take out the trash and make breakfast.

She arrived and stepped right in to help out; taking care of Lucia and helping us shuttle over to the NICU to see Lucia, running errands to get more baby supplies, and helping us assemble a kickass thank-you platter of muffins, scones and goodies for the NICU staff.

On Lucia's first night home, as you might remember, both Pete and I had to go to the ER for separate ailments. (HUGE thanks to Josh for taking Pete to the ER and then coming back over to hang out with Kate). Kate not only took care of Lucia, but was three steps ahead in terms of troubleshooting. She was generally a lifesaver. We really couldn't have made it without her. Thank you so much Kate!

Hi there!

So maybe not on the colic -- she's just been uncharacteristically fussy, but was much better last night. We're trying everything we can to keep the fussing to a minimum and to keep our girl happy. Here's a picture of her last night hanging out with Pete. Look at that belly!

She Might Have Colic

Miss Lucia might have colic. We've entered a fussy few days of existence, where it seems like her belly is hurting. We're researching as much as we can, trying not to blame ourselves, and trying most of all not to lose our minds when she screams continuously and can't be consoled. Oy.

New Pictures of Little Miss Hansen

Enjoy!!

We Are Sorry!

We likely owe you an email, call back or thank you card. We are sorry. We're a little overwhelmed.

Bath Time is Fun Time!

Doctor's Visit!

Today Lucia had her first doctor's appointment with Dr. Hello Kitty. We actually really liked Dr. Hello Kitty a lot, she was extremely, extremely thorough and explained everything that we might be experiencing or seeing with Lucia's behavior and physical appearance.

The greatest news is that she weighs almost 7 lbs -- up HALF a pound since THURSDAY! Woo-woo! She's an eating champ! We're really excited. She's developing the slightest start at a Buddha belly, which is adorable.

We're heading to the doctor for me to have my incision checked tomorrow, then to the lactation consultant for (hopefully) some great help on breastfeeding. Lucia's still refusing the breast, but eating from the bottle obviously...

Practicing Neck Control

So Veddy Sleepy

How cute is this outfit?

No it's not a life raft, she's holding on to the nursing pillow we have. We let her sleep on her stomach (while watching her) in the afternoons. She's a big fan.

Update!

Where'd the week go? Here's the update!

We went to the Newborn Club Monday and Thursday. It was a bit frustrating to receive conflicting breastfeeding advice, but the good news was that BOTH times Lucia's weight was up and she's doing great.

We learned some lessons this week on running errands: 1. learn how to collapse stroller and *practice* LOTS before an outing. 2. always bring a change of clothes for Lucia, plus a bottle, plus several clean diapers, and multiple pacifiers. 3. Do not plan on trying to do several errands, as my energy is still a 4 out of 10, and diminishes quickly after stressful outings.

We also learned some lessons on sleeping and eating. Last night Lucia went a whole four hours between feedings, which felt absolutely amazing. We credit the NICU for training her to do this -- they had her on three-hour feedings, we just added on a bit.

My incision is healing nicely, thanks to Pete's re-dressing of it twice a day. When we vowed to love each other through sickness and health, we really really meant it. I never thought the love of my life wouldn't bat an eye at cleaning out an incision of mine.

I really can't believe she's 2 weeks old already. The past two weeks have been such a blur.

Experimenting with Eating and Sleeping

So we've tried to extend the time Lucia eats as much as possible; the general rule is every 2-3 hours, but Lucia is a snoozer, and rather than wake her up and force feed her at exactly 2 hours, we're experimenting with seeing how and when she wakes up on her own (about 3 hours).

We've also experimented with feeding her as much as she wants, which has been a bit problematic twice as when she eats around 4 oz, she spits up some. 2 oz = restless baby in 2 hours. 3 oz = just about right.

So the experiments continue. Here's a funny picture of her in her bouncy seat. She does her Houdini magic act and unravels her hands from her swaddle in record-time, and MUST have her hands free for feedings. She's a character already!

Pictures of the Day, and Some from Other Days Too

Kate's excellent suggestion on Sunday was to take baby for a walk, just down to the pool and back (read: a very short walk) and sit outside for a few minutes.


Here's a shot of me with my mom today:



Lastly, here's a video of Lucia just staring at the camera. Enjoy!

Sorry for the Delay!

Yes, I know we're behind on pictures and blogging. We are sorry! Here's one of my mom, who arrived yesterday. She's sharing overnight feedings with Pete (thank god) and being a general god-send. Hooray!

More pictures to come soon, I swear.

A big thank you

We would like to send a big thank you to Jennifer Arton for helping us taking care of Mrs. Baylee, she went above and beyond to clean up around the house which was a big pleasant surprise.
We are also tremendously thankful for all the help we have received from our family members who came 3000 miles to be with us. We could not have made it without them.

First Night Home, Definitely Eventful

I debated blogging about all of this, cause frankly it's just more drama and we really, really can't believe it all went down like it did, but here goes:

Kate made us a fantastic dinner. Pete got choked. For a long time. Could not get the food out of his throat. Josh took him to the ER. About three hours later, they got home. The food finally moved down and the problem was resolved.

While he was gone, I noticed my incision was seeping liquid. Really creepy liquid. So I say to Kate, um, look at this and should I be concerned. We call the advice nurses at Kaiser. They review all of the medications I'm taking and basically freak out that I'm taking Tylenol and Vicodin. I was told to take Tylenol instead of Motrin because Motrin does a number on my stomach. The nurse on the phone freaks and calls Poison Control, then says I need to come into the ER right away for an accidental overdose. And maybe I should get that incision checked.

So Pete literally walks in the door from the ER, and I say, can you take me the ER? We get there, and THANK GOD KATE WAS HERE, cause she took Lucia and called pediatrics to make sure my breastmilk wasn't toxic, and then called my brother to have him come back over because Pete has the car with the car seat, and if they have to take HER to the ER, then they'll need a way to get there.

So they do some weight calculations (thank god I'm still retaining tons of water) and talk to Poison Control, and decide that I'm fine. The amount I had taken -- even if I took it over ONE dose -- it still wouldn't be toxic. However, upon inspecting the incision, they decide that it's definitely infected and they debate admitting me. But I plead my case, that I've got a newborn fresh home from the NICU and I promise to take the course of antibiotics and Pete is given detailed instructions on how to re-dress the wound. They draw a giant area around the redness with a permanent marker and tell Pete that if the redness moves past that area, then we have to come back in.

We got home at 5:30 a.m., just in time to freaking pump milk, make something to eat, and feed Lucia before heading to bed for a few hours. Pete's fine, I'm on the mend, and we're SINCERELY hoping for a ho-hum normal few days of having a newborn. You know, sleeplessness, forgetfulness, etc.

Kate leaves in the morning and my mom arrives tomorrow. We go to the doctor at 9 a.m. to check her weight and visit with the lactation consultant. I'm hoping they're more helpful than the lady last week.

She's Home, We're Exhausted

THANK GOD FOR FAMILY. Let me just say it again. Kate has been a superstar, taking fussy Lucia and feeding her after a (another) failed breastfeeding attempt and meltdown, and letting me nap for THREE HOURS. God love her. My brother Josh came over tonight too, and has been a great help.

It was great to bring her home. Really great. She's sleeping in the bassinet now and I'm so thankful I don't have to go back to the NICU to see her anymore. We brought the NICU staff a huge platter of muffins and scones to thank them for everything. They rule.

Baby is coming home !!!

More good good news from California, baby is scheduled to come home tomorrow and we are going in at 10:30 am to pick her up.

She is finally eating her full meal of 60ml from the bottle and is also practicing breast feeding with great success.
Aunt Kate arrived today and will be of great help when we finally bring Lucia home.

Update!

They're increasing the amount of breastmilk she's getting each feeding, instead of every other feeding. She'll be up to 60 mL tomorrow, which is about 2 oz. We're so excited that things are going well. We saw her tonight and she's eating like a champ. Hooray!

Relieved, but Exhaustion Hit Today

This was the only picture we took today. Sure, she did lots of cute things, but darnit, we're too tired to take any pictures.

Lucia has kept down all of her feedings. They're increasing them by 5 mL every other feeding, and simultaneously decreasing the amount of IV nutrition she gets. Currently she's hooked up to three IV bags, 1 is like baby gatorade, full of electrolytes, another is fats (soybean oil, we found out), and the other is just for basic hydration. As soon as they can take her off the IV, we can bring her home (possibly this weekend -- we're excited but are trying not to get too excited just in case). We're going to try to feed her at the breast tomorrow; cross your fingers for us. The other times we tried this Lucia basically threw a fit. We have a strategy for tomorrow though.

Since I haven't been able to feed her from the breast, I've become a PRO at pumping breastmilk on the go; the NICU has a breastfeeding room and I quietly slip in there just before Lucia's feedings so I can give her fresh breastmilk. I can see why some women don't breastfeed; it's hard to get up every 3 hours to pump or feed. At least with Lucia she's cute; the breastpump = notsomuch. Then again, the breast pump makes for 15 minute sessions, no question. Lucia tends to dawdle a bit when we're feeding her on the bottle. But washing the pump parts at 3 a.m.? I won't miss that.

I've finally learned to keep ahead of the pain with the pain medication. If I don't, it basically steam rolls right over me. I was taking the minimum dosage at the maximum time span, and was basically miserable. I think I have it figured out now though.

My stepsister Kate arrives tomorrow; we can't wait to see her. I asked Pete if he was thankful we had help coming in, he said yes definitely. He has been a CHAMP; driving me everywhere, taking care of absolutely everything without me asking and basically being a super hero. I know he's ready for a break.

EVEN MORE Great news!

She kept down all of her feedings overnight! So that's 6 feedings now. She only threw up half of one of the feedings, and that was before the Zantac was started at 6 p.m. last night.

I am thrilled beyond belief. Pete is asleep (I got up to pump), but I'm tempted to wake him up to tell him. Hopefully our little girl will be coming home very soon.

Thank you SO much for all your prayers, thoughts and well wishes. They seemed to have worked!

Fantastic News!!

Lucia has kept down 2.5 of her 3 feedings today of breastmilk. We are out of our heads excited. The doctor started her on Zantac last night (ironically, I started on a prescription-strength Pepcid myself yesterday for wicked, wicked heartburn). The doc thinks she has acid reflux, and while it's not normally seen in newborns, it's likely what she has.

Our fingers are crossed that our Little Girl will be home with us soon. HOORAY!!!

Wednesday update

I think Heather really appreciated sleeping in her own bed, she told me several times it felt good.
We arrived at the hospital this morning to see how Lucia was doing and hear if the doctors had any diagnosis and how they would treat her stomach issues.
We were informed that they would give her a 15ml of breast milk every 3 hours and that they would take her off the antibiotics and give her something that will make her stomach less upset instead.

We bottle fed her the 15ml and was happy to see she kept it all down and was wide awake. We could tell she was searching for more food so she got quite upset when we tried to lie her down in her little aquarium.

They are taking so good care of her at the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) that I don't think we really have to go back there until they kick her out.