February 18, 2004

The first few days after bringing home a baby are always greeted with fatigue, smiles, and probably a few tears. Unfortunately our bodies are not programmed to turn down the estrogen after birth, and estrogen usually makes me a little bit emotional, okay, crazy.

Yesterday the hospital sent over an OB nurse to check out the baby and me and make sure we were doing well. After seeing that Bridget had lost some weight (within normal limits) and was a bit jaundiced (within normal limits) she called the doctors office and made an appointment for her to be seen by a pediatrician. Dominic had the car and was working and I freaked out just slightly. Once I calmed down I called the Doctor back and asked just what they were going to do for her. Turns out all they would do was draw a bilirubin level so that they would have a baseline if she got worse. Well, she was four days old yesterday, pretty much to the peak of jaundice. So I promised to sit in the sun with her. She wasn't experiencing any negative effects, such as lethargy or loss of appetite. In fact she's eating frequently! As for the weight loss, most of it she'd lost within 24 hours in the hospital. She'd lost very little since coming home, and my milk just came in yesterday (as evidenced by the giant rock breasts I'm suddenly sporting). So, after talking with me for a while the doctor was convinced that I wasn't crazy for not wanting to bring her in, and I did promise to call if there was any change.

Our Tia came by last night with frozen pizzas, ice cream, chicken, vegetables, and champagne. We celebrated our new baby (only a small glass for the breast feeder, don't worry!) with a toast and let Tia hold the baby. She's been so wonderful, I don't know what we'd do without her or Tio. This was my first baby not born in California, just blocks away from my parents house. Having Tio and Tia here made it a little more safe.

Piper seems to be fascinated by her new sister. I've almost tripped on her a couple of times as she's raced me to the bassinet to find out what's wrong with her baby. Once she actually had pulled over a chair and was trying to climb into the bassinet with her to give comfort. I'm not convinced that jealousy won't show up, but it hasn't yet and I'm grateful.

Reagan has been wonderful. I've had to remind him not to argue with me as I'm sure my patience level isn't quite what it usually is considering my lack of sleep and all. I do think I sleep better when Bridget's in bed with me, so we've been sleeping together, but there's nothing like a good stretch of uninterrupted sleep for a mommy's psyche.

I can't believe how perfect she is, and how much my heart has suddenly grown to include her. She's been in the world for only 5 days and I can no longer imagine a world without her.

I think we'll get back to school work next week. We'll see how I'm feeling. I think Reagan is ready. In the meantime I'm enjoying every minute with my kids.