A Novel Idea

Over a month ago while preparing myself for Millie's arrival a thought occurred to me. I couldn't recall a single instance for as long as I could remember where I would have had as many as two consecutive weeks of vacation with out having to go to some form of either work or school. When this realization hit me I took the time to ponder what that might mean. On the up side, it occurred to me that it would be nice to have that time to adjust to having a child to take care of, that the time off would be needed to provide care for Dana and Millie alike. Then another idea popped into my head. Dana would certainly be tired from the ordeal. Babies sleep a lot. This wasn't time that I was going to be able to get out and about because I would be needed regularly at home and so, with all that extra 'home bound' time on my hands, I went and stocked up on books to read so as to avoid boredom in the 'in between' times.

...and now that Millie has arrived and I see what all is involved, amongst all of the uncertainty that is new parenthood, there is one thing that is abundantly clear to me.

I was an idiot before.

Week 1 - Gram Central

Forgot to mention in the last post that we had Grandma Julie and Grandma Judy in for a visit today. It's been pretty cool getting to show Millie off to everybody and having their help will certainly reduce some of the tension that can come with having a lot of things to take care of while operating on only a few hours of sleep each day. So, it's a good thing they're around. I mean, I wouldn't want to get stressed and act like too much of a heel-prick or anything.

Week 1 - Home Girl

Amelie is home now. It took about 24 hours but we've settled back in. It's funny how difficult little things become when every three hours you've got to take a break to feed her. She and Dana are both doing well. Our first visit to the pediatrician today revealed a slight increase in her benihana so we're keeping an eye on that. They had to draw blood with a heel-prick (which come to think of it would be an interesting thing to call some one you didn't like and based on Mill's reaction to it, what ever it would mean in that context, it still probably wouldn't be good). They're supposed to call us with the results in the morning and depending on what the level is we'll either have to go back Tuesday or Wednesday. Otherwise she's doing well, she's getting the whole breastfeeding thing down and has even recently been awake for more than a minute at a time.

Week 1 - The Magic Carpet

It's looking more and more like we're going to get to take Millie home today. She passed her car seat test this morning. They make premie babies sit in a car seat for 90 minutes while being monitored to make sure their vitals don't do anything funny. Uncle Dave was around when Divya, one of our nurses (who we really liked), explained the process to us and she said that if Millie didn't pass the test that we'd have to use a carpet (she has a little bit of an accent). After she left, Dave said, 'that doesn't sound like a good idea, she'll roll all over the place. How is that better?' Dana explained that it was a 'car bed' and not a 'carpet.' Pretty funny stuff.

Week 1 - Does Suzuki Make Nurses?

Just wondering because last night we had the Korenza model. Just seem to recall Suzuki having a car with a name that sounded like that, the Forenza I believe. I don't think Korenza liked me much because I wanted her to explain to me why a small amount of condensation in the breast pump tube could so significantly reduce the suction. 'There's condensation in the tube' didn't suffice as an adequete answer for why condensation in the tube should reduce suction.

'Yeah, but why does that reduce the suction?'

'Because there's water in the tube.'

...never mind.

Last night seemed like kind of a long night. We had another couple of rounds of temperature problems and because we've had to keep her covered up and cozy as a result it's been hard to get her to wake up to eat. Her temperature is back into the 98 range though so maybe we'll be able to get her eating again soon. Talk about a Catch-22. Can't keep her body weight up enough to keep her warm so have to keep her bundled up at all times. Can't wake her up to feed her to get her body weight up because she's all bundled up. Silly Milly is just plain chilly.