4 Weeks!

Yesterday, Mia had her 1 month visit pediatrician visit. She waited patiently for her turn, peed on the examination table while I was changing her diaper before taking her to the scale, and screamed bloody murder as soon as the pediatrician stepped in the door and didn't stop until the pediatrician left and I was able to get a few minutes in the room to feed her. This was our first time going out without a 3rd person to help out, so naturally, she wanted to make sure I looked forward to getting home. Anyway... Stats:

Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz

Length: 21 1/4 Inches

Head: 36 1/2 

Bump: Still there, but now starting to 

calcify which is supposedly good.

Baby Acne: normal, and my fault 

(my hormones make her break out)

Mia, right before Lola left.

As I mentioned, my Mom went back to China on Tuesday morning. I was totally dreading her departure, because it meant that I would be on my own to take care of this little bundle, but also (and scarier), Brian and I would actually have to make our own meals and go to the grocery store to get food for said meals. Read: learn to function as normal people plus take care of an infant all at the same time! Scary. I thought things were hard when I did not have to do this, and food magically appeared in the refrigerator and then magically appeared on the dinner table every evening. It turns out that I was slightly overdramatic about the whole thing, because things really haven't been that bad (so far, for the past 2 days). Chloe decided to make our first day on our own quite difficult, and decided to start acting like she's 13 years old and have accidents all over the house because of what the vet (Mia and I went there too, right after the pediatrician, and she was a perfect angel) thinks might be due to painful arthritis in her spine. She gave us quite the scare on tuesday night/wednesday early morning by waking us up in howls of pain. She's on some strong pain killers now and seems better, as long as we keep consistent on the doses. Not sure what will happen with that, but we have to wait and see if it gets better before doing more testing.

In other news, we finally made some definitive daycare plans. Mia will be spending the days with our friend Kate, who is currently staying at home with her own little one, 9 month old Ty. I had put the issue of childcare aside during my pregnancy, since I didn't want to make any plans without having met Mia, and then put it aside more when she was born because the thought of going back to work and leaving her with a stranger really stressed me out. But, this seems like the perfect solution. She'll be with someone we know to be a good person, and someone who is very loving to her own child. I am beyond relieved, and am much less nervous about what the next few weeks will be like. Now, I will spend my last few weeks juggling work from home and taking care of the baby, and do my best to enjoy the last days of 24 hour access to my little one.

After wednesday's adventurous morning going to the pediatrician and the vet, we are keeping it pretty low key today. We took a trip to Target to pick up some baby necessities. Mia let me get some work done this morning, and this afternoon (I even got to watch the Bachelorette during feedings/burping)! Let's hope she's as cooperative tomorrow, when we actually go into the office.

Mia's 3rd week

I have to remind myself that eventually, Mia will no longer be at an age that can be counted in weeks, but not this week! We don't have a doctor's visit scheduled until her 4th week, so I have no new stats to report, but I am fairly certain she will be breaking the 8lb mark when we do get there. We did have a few highlights this week.

She had the second part of her newborn screening on Monday. We left for Quest once she was soundly asleep from her morning feeding, and she tolerated the waiting room well enough, including the toddler who constantly came by to peer at her in the car seat. He made a few attempts at touching her, but I drew the line. I doubt it would have been acceptable for me to accost him with antibacterial gel, as I do with anyone else that approaches her. Mia got pricked in the heel by a very mean lady, who made her scream bloody murder. The worst part was that she had to make enough blood to make a few blots on a sheet of paper, so it wasn't over after the heel prick. She calmed down relatively quickly afterward, but that toddler might have started wondering what was going to happen to him once they got called in.

Last week, Mia started smiling in her sleep. It's normal for the baby's first smiles to happen during one of their naps, according to the baby book that I keep next to my bed like a bible. It is also usually a sign that her first real awake smile is on its way, normally before the baby turns a month old. As soon as Mia turned 3 weeks, I started telling her that she's only got one week to give us that smile, and it had better be directed at the person who wakes up with her a million times every night and produces her nourishment. But nooooo, it wasn't a question of WHO did she direct her first smile at, but WHAT. She smiled at... my dresser. TWICE. (She smiled at it again on thursday morning)

One of her nap-smiles!

Mia also made her first visit to my office. I have started working again since the beginning of this week, and although it has been really difficult to find the time to do much, I've at least managed to get a couple of hours in almost every morning. She only consistently sleeps in the late morning, and that is usually when I try to sleep too. I have made two quick pit stops into the office, but this was the first time that she accompanied me. My co-workers were very happy to see her.

Tonight's milestone: first evening away from the parents.  Brian and I are going out for sushi with friends and Mia is going to a party with her Lola (aka my mom). I am excited for it, but am thinking it will probably be an early night!

Mia's 2nd week

Yesterday was Mia's 2 week check up at the pediatrician. I am happy to report that things are going swimmingly with her growth. Here are her two week stats:

Weight: 7 lbs, 12 oz (up 8 oz from her visit last week)

Height: 19 1/2 inches

Head Circumference: 35 1/2 cm

Mia at 15 days old

She is sort of all over the place in terms of percentile of her weight, height and head circumference, but nothing alarmingly low, nor high. She has lost her belly button stump, so her midriff is much more attractive than it previously was. She's got a very nice looking innie, and can start wearing dresses, bloomers and getting water baths rather than sponge baths. We've already been using her tub, but she'll actually be submerged starting tomorrow.

Mia's most fussy times are during our dinner, when she gets to lay nearby in her bassinet. She hears the dinner time animation and gets frustrated not to be a part of it, so here she is sitting on the table during our dessert on the night of my birthday. She has started making some smile-like faces, but we are pretty sure they have nothing to do with whether she is happy, but it's awfully cute anyway!

Mia's eyes are still a shade of blue/gray, and we are really hoping it stays that way, but we'll see. She still has the bump on her head from her extended time in the birth canal, but we are pretty sure it's starting to shrink. Hopefully it'll be gone by the time she takes her first plane trip to Chicago for the 4th of July.

My recovery is slow, but seems to be finally progressing. I only occasionally need my strong pain killers,  usually doing just fine with just my very strong dose of ibuprofen. Our night feedings are now about 4-5 hours apart, so my level of rest has been gradually increasing. Brian has been back to work since Monday, and thankfully, my parents are both still here helping out for a couple more weeks.

Tummy time! I can lift my head (briefly)!

Mia's First Days

Mia and I have been home from the hospital for nearly a week now. I am healing up fairly nicely, as far as I can tell, although I am still on my fairly strong pain killers. At this point, I really can't complain too much about my recovery speed, and my only frustration is that I still need the narcotics, which are preventing me from indulging in a glass of champagne.

Mia's second day.

Mia is doing very well. We are very lucky to at least be able to sleep for 3 hours at a time overnight. She fusses when we first put her down in her bassinet, but eventually she calms down and lets her parents get some rest. Brian is off work until Monday, so for now, we both get up every 3 hours. Brian first changes her diaper, and then I take care of the feeding.

Mia in her designer cardigan from Paris.

When we left the hospital, Mia had a slight case of jaundice, which is apparently very common in babies. She had also lost some weight, and was 6 lbs 9 oz when we came home. Of course, we were worried when her slightly yellowed skin didn't disappear quickly. Her first appointment with the pediatrician was a couple of days after we left the hospital, and we are happy to report that she no longer has jaundice, although her skin is still slightly yellow. We just have to put her periodically in some indirect sunlight and she pinks right up. She also put on a few ounces, and weighed 7 lbs 4 ounces. The pediatrician was very pleased that she recovered her birthweight and then some! I was pretty proud of myself for creating all that food! She goes back for another visit when she is 2 weeks old.

She makes faces.

Brian and I are also very lucky to have my entire family here with us. I was slightly apprehensive that it would be overwhelming to have so many people around while trying to get the hang of taking care of a newborn, but it's actually been very nice. We have yet to cook a meal or go to the grocery store since we've gotten home. Plus, Faby takes care of all the dirty diapers... just kidding.

Awkward Tito

Our little Swarley has had a bit of a difficult adjustment to no longer being the object of our cuddles, but he has come a long way since we first got home. He seems to be starting to get used to the idea that she is a permanent part of this household, and has taken to running to her whenever she cries. I think it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Trying to get a glamour shot for her birth announcement. Check your mailboxes for the finished product soon!

Mia's Birth Story

Mia Jennifer Caccamo
 7 lbs, 2oz, 19"
May 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

By now, I am hoping that nobody is learning of Mia's birth for the first time from this blog. However, Brian and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Mia Jennifer, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. For posterity, and other people's curiosity, I'd like to share Mia's Birth Story.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I had my final appointment with my OB. I had a morning appointment, but Dr. King was busy at the hospital again, so I didn't end up being seen until around noon. He did an exam, and found that I was about 2 centimeters dilated, but manually pushed me to 3 cm (which hurt like crazy, btw). He warned that I might have some mild cramping and bleeding.

After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's, my cramps started to become a bit of a nuisance, enough so that I decided not to go into work that afternoon and lay down. The cramps "progressed" and became what I would consider contractions around 3 or 4 pm, and I began timing them at 9 minutes apart around 5. I decided to call Brian at 6pm, so that I could catch him before he left for his softball game that night. I didn't tell him that my contractions had progressed from 9 to 8 minutes apart by then, but that I'd like him to keep an eye on his phone in between innings. No use in him rushing home if the contractions went away, like I expected them to.

By 2 am, we decided this wasn't a false alarm, and it was time to head to the hospital. After gathering some essentials, taking a shower, we headed to Spring Valley Hospital, car seat already installed. Mom followed us shortly afterwards. It was a very busy night at the Labor and Delivery, so I spent the first few hours of my hospital stay in a large triage room which lots of people would periodically walk through. I was at 4 cm dilated by the time I was checked by Cindy, my very nice overnight nurse. She had the exact attitude that I needed, especially since I was so nervous about getting the all the little procedures done (like the IV, epidural, etc.), and the fact that I was still not in my own room.

Dr. Hanson, my very nice anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural around 5 am. It was every bit as unpleasant as I expected, but Brian and Cindy coached me through and soon enough, I could only feel my toes. My contractions almost stopped once the epidural kicked in, so I was given pitocin after all to speed up my dilation. Cindy put in an internal fetal monitor, which is a little probe that gets stuck to the baby's head, and we had our first clue of what Mia looked like. Cindy had to put in two probes, because the first one got so tangled in her hair that the readings were not coming through!

By the time I was 6 centimeters dilated, they decided that I definitely needed to be moved into my own room. Since there still were no labor and delivery rooms, I was put in a makeshift room by adding the necessary machines/baby nursery/delivery table/bed with stirrups to a postpartum room. It was a bit crowded, but luckily, I wasn't moved again for the rest of my hospital stay.

Once I was settled in my new room, my day shift nurse named Haze started. Brian and I were thrilled to find that she was the nurse assigned to us, because she taught the birthing class which we attended a couple of months earlier. Haze has been a labor and delivery nurse for about 30 years. She was no-nonsense and efficient. Even though she was basically a 180 from Cindy, she was exactly what I needed as a coach during the actual delivery.

Around 4pm, after laying numbly and miserably in my bed for the whole day, I was finally 10 cm dilated. Mom, Brian and I asked whether Dr. King had been called yet, since we assumed he should be there before I start pushing. Haze said that Doctors don't get called until crowning, so we had a little work to do first. Dr. King had already stopped by to check on me a few times, since he had 8 women in various stages of delivery at the hospital at the time.

Apparently, I was unexpectedly efficient at pushing, because after about 30 minutes, Haze urgently called for Doctor King. When he still hadn't arrived 5 minutes later, Haze made a "NURSE DELIVERY" announcement into my call button and about 5 different people came rushing in to "catch" our little girl. Dr. King came in about 30 seconds later, welcomed by a crying baby. Unfortunately, Mia came out with one of her arms up by her face, rather than it staying down by her body as most babies do, so Dr. King arrived just in time to fix the damage. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.

Our first family photo!

At 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches, Mia showed everyone that she was quite a bit trimmer than she was expected to be. She also had a full head of dark hair, very chubby cheeks and an adorable round nose. Our new little family spent the next two nights in the hospital, to make sure Mia was feeding properly and I was healing well. I'll write more on her homecoming in a separate post soon!

7 Days and Counting

With less than 7 days left before I am going to the hospital, it's lucky that my Mom got here on Tuesday. It turns out that even in the midst of my nesting fervor, there were still quite a few things that we did not have. Swaddling blankets! Bath thermometer in the shape of a turtle! (to use in the bathtub in the shape of a whale, of course!) Baby lotion and shampoo! (to ensure that our baby does not lack the distinct baby smell!) Thankfully, I have only been going in for half days since the beginning of this week, and my Mom and I made an emergency trip to Babies R Us to fill up on the final essentials. Several hours and too much money later, my Mom is satisfied that it is safe for the baby to come back to our apartment. We also decided that this baby did not have enough knit/crochet items, so we had to make a quick pit stop at Michael's.

We are really starting to get excited about this baby's arrival... those little questions that we've all had from the beginning are finally going to be answered. Like every parent, we really wonder what she will look like. 1/4 asian babies are all over the spectrum in terms of coloring, from the very asian looking Jon and Kate plus 8 kids, who are in fact, only 1/4 Korean, to untraceable fair skinned kids with light eyes and hair. We'll find out in a week!

On a totally unrelated note, Chipotle has just surpassed its previous levels of awesomeness in my mind by picking my business card out of its fishbowl! My entire office will get free lunch at Chipotle on Monday! For ths first time, I am hoping NOT to go into labor until I can redeem this lunch for everyone.



Confirmed!

On May 27, I am to report to the hospital at 9am. That's in one week and one day. I guess I'm definitely not going to that hearing we have scheduled for May 27 at 10am!