For the first month, I had lots of help. The first week, my whole family stayed in town and helped out with cooking meals and doing some tidying for us. When Cordelia was born, we didn't go anywhere with her for a while, but Phoebe was out of the house and keeping up with our activities from the beginning! We came home on Monday and on Wednesday we were dropping Cordelia off at school and then taking Phoebe to her 2 day check up.
They determined she was jaundice, so we kept having to go back to Kaiser to get her billirubin levels checked. We went back Thursday, Friday, and Monday, I think before they cleared her. It is no fun having them poke her little ankles to get all the blood, broke my heart! I guess she was in between, because they never actually treated her, just kept monitoring her until they were satisfied.
Instead of the bassinet, Phoebe slept in a little basket in our bed. The jaundice made her sleepy and she was a pretty easy going baby, right from the start. She would want to eat about every 2-3 hours, a pretty reasonable amount.
The day my parents left, the nurse-mom from my class came over and gave me a personal lactation consult! Awesome!
Along with taking Cordelia to school, we also brought Phoebe to Jason's office to show her off! Everyone loved how much she looked like him! We also made trips to the Japanese Festival and the OFS graduation picnic.
Phoebe had explosive poops and farts! She could shoot poop across the changing table!
After 2 weeks, Jason went back to work, just in time for his busiest time of the year: college move in. It was crazy, poor guy. That day, our electricity breakers completely blew out. It ended up being 24 hours without power and $5000 repairs bill. What an absolute nightmare. Also I had to take Phoebe to her 2 week check up with Cordelia in tow. My first time going out with just the girls.
To be honest, Cordelia did amazing. I had my expectations set pretty low for what it would be like, but it was so much better than I could have imagined. I felt like I wasn't able to give her enough attention when we were both home, but now that it was just me at home, she just hung out with me while I would take care of Phoebe, so I didn't feel as if I were not giving her enough time anymore. I am also so much better about getting out of the house with Phoebe now than I was with Cordelia-- with her it seemed infinitely difficult to get going. Now it is so much better! Also I was so busy, I didn't have time for baby blues!
I got lots of naps the first month too, which helped my sanity.
My mom and Rebecca came back at 4 weeks and stayed Monday-Friday, for more meal help and entertaining Cordelia with ridiculous games! It was great to see my mom with Phoebe--she was such a baby whisperer. It really encouraged me to try more ways to comfort her than just giving her the boob all the time. With Cordelia, she was such a huge comfort nurser, that was what I did all day long. Feed her, try and put her down, she would wake up, fuss, and be fed again! I felt like I couldn't make myself lunch! Phoebe doesn't get held as much-- good thing she likes her swing!! But that is the fate of the second baby! We have a different swing this time, from a school family, and Phoebe does very well in it!
On Saturday, Auntie A came up for the weekend! It was a short visit, but we were happy to have her!
Phoebe did not like baths at first, but she is getting used to them. I got a cradle cap shampoo, because with all that hair, I was not going to be running my fingers through all those yucky, scaly, bumps! It took 2 treatments, but after that she has been pretty clear!
Let's see…. now onto the 2nd month!
We took Cordelia to see Frog and Toad the musical, which has become an obsession. She is Frog and I am Toad. Phoebe impressed us by sleeping through the ENTIRE show, which was only an hour, but still.
We went to a lot of birthdays…. Elliot's was at the Little Farm. Cordelia fed the animals bravely! Elizabeth had a gymnastics party. We had a birthday dinner with Gillian and also went to Alyssa's house for her birthday. The following weekend was Penny/Rocky's joint birthday party at the Small World amusement park, and also the Ren Faire!
We were getting into a good routine of the days. We go to school or have morning activities, lunch, quiet time/mama-baby time, watch tv, have dinner and then bed.
Phoebe has had some fussy times, but her sleep skills are building up more and more. She fell asleep in her swing one night and slept until 4 am. I fell asleep on the couch and was shocked when she woke up! But she has continued to do decent nights with long chunks of sleep (with a few exceptions, like when we were going to Ren Faire and she could not be put down!)
No comments:
Post a Comment