You know, some dads are afraid of their babies, especially when they're newborns. Not Doug! He never really acted like he was afraid to hold Lila and he's pretty much fearless now. He's been making her "dance" since she was just a few weeks old. It's the funniest thing ever! Every time he does it (or when i watch the video we took of one of her dances) I laugh until I cry. If you visit, you should request a show!
Also amusing is the fact that Lila has a receding hairline. She's losing her newborn hair, which is not surprising. It's just funny that she's losing it from the front first. I thought it would come out on the back of her head first, where she rubs it around on the bed. Anyway, I'll be interested to see if she gets bald and stays that way and/or what it will look like when the new stuff grows in! :)
30.9.05
28.9.05
Here's a story that's in keeping with my ability to injure myself in random ways: Yesterday, when Lila and I were leaving my appointment with the counselor, it was *absurdly* hot outside. So rather than put my child directly into the oven that was my car, I started the engine and got the air conditioner blasting and left a back door open to let the hot air out.
Then she and I went to stand in the shade for a few minutes while the car cooled down. Unfortunately, I managed to stand in an ANT BED! I'm sure it was an amusing sight for anyone watching as I started to hop around and try to get the ants off my feet (i was wearing flip-flops). Thankfully, Lila was in her car seat and I only found one ant trying to make its way up the side. That ant quickly lost its life and my child and I relocated. Darn ants!
Then she and I went to stand in the shade for a few minutes while the car cooled down. Unfortunately, I managed to stand in an ANT BED! I'm sure it was an amusing sight for anyone watching as I started to hop around and try to get the ants off my feet (i was wearing flip-flops). Thankfully, Lila was in her car seat and I only found one ant trying to make its way up the side. That ant quickly lost its life and my child and I relocated. Darn ants!
26.9.05
Well, really, Lila's not doing much different this week than last week. She's still the cutest baby ever though! She's still working on discovering her hands and feet. She's really good at winging them around, but that's about all so far. She'll realize they are part of her body soon. I can't wait to see what she does then!
I've been playing "This Little Piggy" with her, but I can only remember about half of it... We also put some sock rattles on her last night, but the rattles are so quiet that she didn't even notice. She's making lots more noises these days too! When she starts 'talking', she makes the cutest squealing and cooing noises - and the occasional shockingly loud yell. Oh, she had a First yesterday. She was on her belly and she picked her head up and turned it the other way! Go Lila! :)
I've been playing "This Little Piggy" with her, but I can only remember about half of it... We also put some sock rattles on her last night, but the rattles are so quiet that she didn't even notice. She's making lots more noises these days too! When she starts 'talking', she makes the cutest squealing and cooing noises - and the occasional shockingly loud yell. Oh, she had a First yesterday. She was on her belly and she picked her head up and turned it the other way! Go Lila! :)
23.9.05
21.9.05
Okay, I'm feeling a bit better this morning, thanks to antibiotics and Tylenol, so I'll try posting again...
Lila is getting smarter by the hour! She can track people with her eyes now and will watch someone walk across the room. She's also started showing an interest in mobiles and brightly colored toys. Her favorite "toy", however, seems to be the accent cushions on our couch. They have lots of colors and shapes and she loves to stare at them and talk to them.
Her neck is getting stronger and stronger too. She can hold her head up for several seconds at a time when she's upright and she can *almost* pick her head up and turn it the other way when she's on her belly. She really doesn't care for spending time on her belly. She'll put up with it for a few seconds and then get frustrated with her limited mobility and start fussing. Gotta work on those muscles though!
Lila is getting smarter by the hour! She can track people with her eyes now and will watch someone walk across the room. She's also started showing an interest in mobiles and brightly colored toys. Her favorite "toy", however, seems to be the accent cushions on our couch. They have lots of colors and shapes and she loves to stare at them and talk to them.
Her neck is getting stronger and stronger too. She can hold her head up for several seconds at a time when she's upright and she can *almost* pick her head up and turn it the other way when she's on her belly. She really doesn't care for spending time on her belly. She'll put up with it for a few seconds and then get frustrated with her limited mobility and start fussing. Gotta work on those muscles though!
20.9.05
19.9.05
15.9.05
Lila has continued to initiate her family members with bodily fluids. I got the poop. Doug got the projectile spit-up. Irene got pee. I don't think she actually managed to hit her, but Lila tried to pee on her Grammie twice. In case you didn't know, little girls can pee straight up in the air too. My mom got spit up in an interesting place. She was forcing kisses on Lila so she spit up and it went down Grandmama's shirt and into her bra!
Scroll down for a couple of new photos. :)
Scroll down for a couple of new photos. :)
9.9.05
Here is a more detailed account of my labor and delivery, for those who are interested:
I woke up around 5:15 a.m. with what I was pretty sure were contractions. I waited for an hour or two to make sure they were regular and not going to stop before I woke Doug up. The contractions stayed at around 7 minutes apart for the whole morning and we just waited around the house for them to get stronger and closer together. Around lunchtime, while we were watching a movie, they suddenly got further apart and more sporadic. I was worried that the contractions were stopping and that it wasn't truly labor. However, I got up from the couch a few minutes later to go to the restroom and my water broke!
There was no doubt that that's what had happened because it was quite a big gush! I called my doctor's office and was told to go on to the hospital. So, we finished the movie we'd been watching, grabbed our bag, and left. Once I got to the hospital, the contractions became more intense and frequent. Doug was with me and my good friend Ellen. As the labor went on, the contractions got harder and harder to deal with and after I'd been having them for 13 hours, I decided I wanted an epidural. It wasn't what we'd planned on, but I felt like I'd put up a good effort and was confident in my decision.
After the epidural, I was in much less pain, naturally. I could still feel a lot of pressure though, so I knew when I was having a contraction. I was at 6 cm when I got the epidural and within the next few hours I rapidly finished dilating to 10 cm. It was finally time to start pushing. The doctor told me what I needed to do and we got all set up and ready. Pushing is really hard work! I didn't get to do it for very long though. Once I started pushing, Lila started showing signs of distress and we had to make some quick decisions about what to do next.
First, her heartrate dropped during the pushing. That is actually normal, but the part that was worrisome was that the heartrate did not come back up to normal once the pushing stopped. I had to take a break and lay on my side for a while before her heartrate came back up. Once it did come back up, it was actually too high. They think this was because I had a fever (had an infection in my uterus and spiked a fever just before pushing started) and it was stressing out her system. The doctor said that I probably had another hour to hour and a half of pushing left and she didn't think Lila could tolerate that.
So, we decided to do an emergency c-section. They prepped me and prepped Doug and whisked me away to the operating room. Since I already had an epidural (and i was even more glad at this point), all they had to do was turn up the amount of pain medication and wait for it to take effect. Once I couldn't feel pain in my abdomen anymore, they brought Doug back into the room and started the procedure. To be honest, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever been through! I was worried about the baby and I was freaked out by what was being done to my body.
I couldn't feel pain, but I could feel pressure and tugging. Even though I was draped and couldn't see what was taking place, I knew that I was feeling myself being cut open and my insides pushed around and a baby pulled out! On top of that, I was having tremors from the anesthesia (that's normal) and it was very disconcerting. Anyway, terrifying as it was, everything went smoothly and my baby girl came out at 10:51 p.m. Healthy and beautiful. The cord was wrapped around her neck, so that was probably the reason for the initial drop in heart rate during pushing.
After the doctors cleaned her up and checked her out, Daddy got to hold her and then they brought her and laid her on my chest. It was such an overwhelming moment that I don't even remember what I was feeling. After just a few minutes, they took her away to the nursery (daddy went with her) to check her out some more and clean her up while they closed me up. It felt like a lifetime that they spent sewing me up, but once they were done I was taken to the recovery room and we were all brought back together. The anesthesia started to wear off and the exhaustion set in. It was quite an ordeal!
I woke up around 5:15 a.m. with what I was pretty sure were contractions. I waited for an hour or two to make sure they were regular and not going to stop before I woke Doug up. The contractions stayed at around 7 minutes apart for the whole morning and we just waited around the house for them to get stronger and closer together. Around lunchtime, while we were watching a movie, they suddenly got further apart and more sporadic. I was worried that the contractions were stopping and that it wasn't truly labor. However, I got up from the couch a few minutes later to go to the restroom and my water broke!
There was no doubt that that's what had happened because it was quite a big gush! I called my doctor's office and was told to go on to the hospital. So, we finished the movie we'd been watching, grabbed our bag, and left. Once I got to the hospital, the contractions became more intense and frequent. Doug was with me and my good friend Ellen. As the labor went on, the contractions got harder and harder to deal with and after I'd been having them for 13 hours, I decided I wanted an epidural. It wasn't what we'd planned on, but I felt like I'd put up a good effort and was confident in my decision.
After the epidural, I was in much less pain, naturally. I could still feel a lot of pressure though, so I knew when I was having a contraction. I was at 6 cm when I got the epidural and within the next few hours I rapidly finished dilating to 10 cm. It was finally time to start pushing. The doctor told me what I needed to do and we got all set up and ready. Pushing is really hard work! I didn't get to do it for very long though. Once I started pushing, Lila started showing signs of distress and we had to make some quick decisions about what to do next.
First, her heartrate dropped during the pushing. That is actually normal, but the part that was worrisome was that the heartrate did not come back up to normal once the pushing stopped. I had to take a break and lay on my side for a while before her heartrate came back up. Once it did come back up, it was actually too high. They think this was because I had a fever (had an infection in my uterus and spiked a fever just before pushing started) and it was stressing out her system. The doctor said that I probably had another hour to hour and a half of pushing left and she didn't think Lila could tolerate that.
So, we decided to do an emergency c-section. They prepped me and prepped Doug and whisked me away to the operating room. Since I already had an epidural (and i was even more glad at this point), all they had to do was turn up the amount of pain medication and wait for it to take effect. Once I couldn't feel pain in my abdomen anymore, they brought Doug back into the room and started the procedure. To be honest, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever been through! I was worried about the baby and I was freaked out by what was being done to my body.
I couldn't feel pain, but I could feel pressure and tugging. Even though I was draped and couldn't see what was taking place, I knew that I was feeling myself being cut open and my insides pushed around and a baby pulled out! On top of that, I was having tremors from the anesthesia (that's normal) and it was very disconcerting. Anyway, terrifying as it was, everything went smoothly and my baby girl came out at 10:51 p.m. Healthy and beautiful. The cord was wrapped around her neck, so that was probably the reason for the initial drop in heart rate during pushing.
After the doctors cleaned her up and checked her out, Daddy got to hold her and then they brought her and laid her on my chest. It was such an overwhelming moment that I don't even remember what I was feeling. After just a few minutes, they took her away to the nursery (daddy went with her) to check her out some more and clean her up while they closed me up. It felt like a lifetime that they spent sewing me up, but once they were done I was taken to the recovery room and we were all brought back together. The anesthesia started to wear off and the exhaustion set in. It was quite an ordeal!
7.9.05
Doug and I have now both been initiated by Lila. Doug got some projectile spit-up a couple of days ago and I got pooped on this afternoon. It was really quite gross. Thanks to that incident, she's on her third outfit for the day. The first one had to go because she let so much milk leak out the side of her mouth while she was nursing that it soaked the shoulder of her shirt.
I think the pooping was payback for all the time we spend sitting around laughing at her while she's working on poots and poopies. She makes some very funny faces and does a lot of grunting. It's not very ladylike, but it's quite amusing! The spit-up adventure was a protest against being burped, which she hates. She growls and tries to throw herself off the shoulder or lap (depending on how we're burping her)!
I think the pooping was payback for all the time we spend sitting around laughing at her while she's working on poots and poopies. She makes some very funny faces and does a lot of grunting. It's not very ladylike, but it's quite amusing! The spit-up adventure was a protest against being burped, which she hates. She growls and tries to throw herself off the shoulder or lap (depending on how we're burping her)!
4.9.05
Lila watched her first UT football game last night. Well, technically she just nursed in the same room as the game and then fell asleep laying on my chest. She seemed to enjoy it anyway. Hook 'em! :o)~
She is a good nurser and she's growing like crazy. There is no doubt that she's getting enough to eat. It usually takes a baby until it's 2 weeks old to regain its birth weight, but she was there by just over one week. A baby usually gains about one ounce per day starting at five days old. She was gaining two ounces per day for a while there. I don't know about now, but she has another doctor's appointment on Wednesday and we'll find out then. Maybe all that eating will make her little bum fill out so her diaper will quit sagging and showing her plumber's crack!
She is a good nurser and she's growing like crazy. There is no doubt that she's getting enough to eat. It usually takes a baby until it's 2 weeks old to regain its birth weight, but she was there by just over one week. A baby usually gains about one ounce per day starting at five days old. She was gaining two ounces per day for a while there. I don't know about now, but she has another doctor's appointment on Wednesday and we'll find out then. Maybe all that eating will make her little bum fill out so her diaper will quit sagging and showing her plumber's crack!
2.9.05
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