"S" days 22 to 24: Snowsuit FAIL!

Day 22: Wednesday, December 15th

Chris and I were feeling cooped up from the last few days of snowbound-ness, so we decided to take S outside to experience the resulting winter wonderland. First things first - bundle her up nice & warm!

The first snowsuit we tried was too small. Too bad - such a cute one too!



















Next we tried a super warm & puffy Winnie the Pooh number - too big! S began to express her displeasure at this point.



















Finally, we tossed her into a bunting bag which fit her juuuust right! Unfortunately S was still ticked off at us from the previous two failed attempts!



















After all the lead up, we only managed a few token pictures before we headed back in. Brrrr!!



















That evening, we hit up the two "R Us"es (Toys & Babies) for some birthday & giftmas shopping. You know you're firmly entrenched in a new generation when the vast majority of your holiday shopping takes place at these two stores!

Day 23: Thursday, December 16th

Today was Mom / Grandma Mary's birthday so we headed into K-Dub to celebrate at Great Grandma Catherine's place with some tasty Topper's. S charmed the pants off her grandma and GG with lots of gurgles and smiles! She proved to be so entertaining that GG had a fall as she turned to look at her on the way back from grabbing some more pizza, but luckily she fell "gracefully" and was just fine - whew!

4 generations - priceless! :)














Day 24: Friday, December 17th

We managed our long overdue visit with Maryana, Jeff and "Suds" who had finally gotten over the sickness they'd been battling. It was Suds' 2nd birthday so we got her a Melissa & Doug beginner pattern block set. (This toy rules! It has about 10 fun & colourful puzzles to fill in, and the many blocks can also be used on their own for less structured fun & learning. I'm totally getting one of these for S!) Suds had fun and quickly got the hang of things!














S of course got in some good cuddle time as well! She impressed Uncle Jeff in particular with her stylish argyle apparel.

"S" days 16 to 18: GSPrincess

Day 16: Thursday, December 9th

As we got ready to head out for my ultrasound, I discovered another milestone - I fit back into a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Yay! Creds to S on this one as she's become such a good little eater. :)

The ultrasound was fairly quick & uneventful. I had a technician who went by "mum's the word" so she didn't fill me in on anything during the procedure, but neither did she send me immediately for a debrief so I took this as a good sign. Following the ultrasound, we popped in on Grandma Mary for a short visit and ran a few errands.

Later that afternoon, I got a call from Dr. Schnarr's office requesting that I come in the next day to review results. Hmm - so maybe something did show up after all. Well at least we'd find out what it was soon if that was the case!

Finally, cousin Nick came by for Baby's First Beer. S chugged hers and was fussing about for another when we took this pic (don't worry - we're responsible adults and therefore limiting her to one at a time for her first couple months):














Day 17: Friday, December 10th

Today marked S's most elaborate outing to date! We hauled the UPPAbaby out of the garage for the first time, packed 'er into the van and headed off to Fairview Mall to get in some Christmas shopping. We figured that since we were heading out in the early afternoon, the mall wouldn't be too crazy. Wrong! Apparently it's common practice for last minute shoppers to take Friday afternoons off to get 'er done before the holidays. Oops!

Shuffling S between her car seat and the UPPAbaby bassinet in the snow and wind proved to be a bit of an ordeal, so unfortunately I didn't get a picture - boo! However we did get some good shopping done. I ended up scoring $160 of Body Shop merchandise for $40 due to the combination of a 2 for 1 Groupon and 50% off promotional wheel spin, so I went a little nuts. Anyone want any coconut body butter or satsuma shower gel??? I have a crapload, especially given we weren't able to participate in the Cameron Christmas (including the Ladies gift exchange). Our excursion also reinforced the fact that the UPPAbaby steers like a DREAM - it was perfect for malling about (aside from a few stores which were a bit too cramped w/ stuffs to navigate through.)

Following the mall, we hit up Toys + Babies R Us where we discovered the salvation that is the Parenting Room. A quick feed & change later, and S was good to finish off the day's tasks.

The last errand of the day was my OB appointment to review ultrasound results. Evidently the scan turned up a fairly large cyst in my vaginal wall. Dr. Schnarr thought this was a bit odd, but she checked me out and didn't feel it was anything to be concerned with. I did some research later that evening and it turns out that these cysts can happen following a vaginal delivery, especially when a lot of repair work is involved. They generally don't cause any issues and resolve on their own. All in all, not the most fabulous result to learn about, but evidently nothing earth shattering either.

Gramma and Grampa Campbell came over in the evening for a quick visit, and S was pretty fussy. Chris and I thought she might be gassy as she was crying quite a bit and doing some grunting and clenching. However eventually she fell into a good 4-5 hour sleep that's become her standard each night - whew!

Day 18: Saturday, December 11th

In the morning, I Googled gas in newborns and came up with a few tips:

• Keep her upright for a little while after a feeding
• Ensure she's getting enough hind milk (i.e. try to keep her on one boob longer before switching.)
  
• Watch my own diet (I have to admit I was guilty of enjoying a few spicy dishes for a couple days there, plus I was drinking a lot of chocolate milk for the calcium - babies can be sensitive to dairy.)

Dad & Linda came over in the afternoon for a quick visit and another game of Settlers. S employed a winning strategy once more and this time she helped ME win. Yay!



















That night, we headed over to Gramma & Grampa Campbell's place for the big GSP fight. Daddy dressed S up in her best game time gear:



















(GSP won, though unfortunately both S and Mommy ended up sleeping through the entire main event. Whoops! :)

"S" days 13 to 15: Frogs and Frenzied Feedings

Day 13: Monday, December 6th

Great Aunt Heather and Uncle Terry came over to meet S. They brought over Swiss Chalet for dinner and gave her the most adorable gift - a customized froggie from Build a Bear Workshop with her name and date of birth! I was obsessively into acquiring frogs when I was young (both real and collectible) so S's been receiving a few frog-themed gifts, but this one took the cake! I got a little teary when I opened it up. :)

Proud Great Aunt & Uncle:



















Froggie!



















It was a bit of a tough evening & overnight with S. She appeared to be ravenously hungry, but a number of times when I tried to feed her she got upset and fussy. She also spit up a few times. I've read that babies can go through growth spurts at around 2 weeks, so perhaps our little one was starting hers early!

Day 14: Tuesday, December 7th

Chris and I had planned to embark upon a sizely Christmas shopping excursion today, but we only made it as far as Walmart. I'd been feeling more cramping & pressure over the last couple days, my bleeding had increased and I was feeling physically weak, so I was ready to head home after just an hour. (S, on the other hand, slept like an angel the whole trip. I guess she'd pooped herself out the night before!)

When we got home, I called my OB and they made an appointment for an ultrasound. They wanted to check me out to ensure no "products of conception" remained kicking about given my recent symptoms. Shortly after this, I passed a blood clot the size of a golf ball! It was quite disturbing, but apparently large blood clots like this are fairly common in the postpartum period. The general consensus is that one should only be concerned when the clots are the size of a lemon. A LEMON! That's almost the size of a human kidney! Ahhh the lovely things our bodies go through to have kids!

I made another fascinating bodily discovery that evening. I was beginning to leak milk! This happened most prominently from the "unused" breast during a feeding, but I also noticed little spots on both sides when I heard her fuss just prior to another one of her meals. It's official - my boobies have fully morphed into udders!

And finally, some exciting news to end the day - Ange finally had her baby! He was born at 5:34 PM and weighed 8 lbs, 9 oz. So just one ounce heavier than S, and also born 10 days overdue (one day before a scheduled induction!) Methinks the two of them will get along famously! :)

Day 15: Wednesday, December 8th

This was our most challenging night / early morning with S since her first few days. She wanted to eat every hour or so until about 3 AM, but continued to be crabby and spit up frequently. She went through quite a few sleepers, lemme tell ya!

Despite the rough night, we felt pretty good the next day. My bleeding had subsided somewhat and I felt less pressure, which was likely due to getting rid of the clot. This was the first day in a long time that we stayed in and S didn't have any visitors, so we took the opportunity to do some chores and relax. I researched cloth diaper laundering techniques, which helped us arrive at the routine I described in my last post. I also unearthed my favourite childhood story book from one of the myriad basement bins and read a couple of the shorter tales to S.

That evening, S's birth certificate arrived via courier, less than a week after we completed the application. Evidently Service Ontario doesn't mess around when it comes to certifying a new human's existence!

....aaand finally, a li'l dose of preciousness to cap things off:

"S" days 10 to 12: Cuddles and Cousins

Day 10: Friday, December 3rd

S was lucky enough to have two of her grandmothers over for lunch - Gramma Campbell and Grandma Mary (or "Emma Mary", as she likes to call her!) Like usual, she snoozed for most of the visit!


























Mom brought over some donuts and in return, she allowed me to set her up with a Facebook account. :)

Chris and I had a pretty laid back evening, enjoying some good snuggles with our girl and relaxing with a couple episodes of Ally McBeal.














Day 11: Saturday, December 4th

Today was a big day for S! She got to meet her two cousins Hailey and Avery and her Uncle Jay for the first time, and visit with the rest of the Campbell clan as well! Chris picked her outfit for the day - not 100% colour-coordinated but she pulled it off! ;)



















Adoring looks from Uncle Mike and Aunt Anne-Marie!














First cuddles with Avery and Hailey! (The matching outfits and hair were a complete coincidence, if you can believe that!)














Chris and I with all the girls!














Snuggles with Aunt Tracey!














S was busy during the visit - she fed three times and needed four diaper changes! That's our good little growing girl! :)

Day 12: Sunday, December 5th

Another visit today - this time from Great Uncle Larry (or MrOnstett)! He came bearing gifts for S (cute little shirts, soft fuzzy blankets and a teddy bear) and for Dad (some Old Port cigars :). At first he was very hesitant to hold S, but we convinced him to pose for one picture! (See - he's a natural, but S was no more interested in the Old Ports than Dad was!)

"S" days 7 to 9: "Settling" into Parenthood

Day 7: Tuesday, November 30th

S, Chris and I had quite the lengthy outing today! We attended a New Mother Support clinic back at Grand River which was SUPER helpful - not only did we get additional reassurance that S was well nourished via breastfeeding (she was up to 8 lbs 2 oz prior to a feeding and then 8 lbs 4 oz following a 15 minute feeding - the Lact-Aid was taking us 4 times that long to get the same amount into her) but we also got some tips to make latching even easier ("hamburger" the boob when offering it to her) and nursing more comfortable (bring the other arm around to complete the cradle with intermittent rather than more regular compressions).

Following the clinic, S had her first shopping trip. We hit up the Baby Boutique to spend the $60 gift certificate we received when we purchased her UPPAbaby Vista stroller. There were some good specials so we ended up with a sizely bag o' loot - an additional HALO SleepSack for when she's a bit older (6 to 12 months), another change pad cover with a pretty flower pattern (which S picked out - she went "Ahhh!" when we showed her this one!), an extra hooded bath towel which matched the change pad cover, a monkey bath mitt and a "Buncha Farmers" stain remover wetstick.

Finally, we popped into Chris' grandparents place where S got to see Gramma and Grampa Campbell AND Great Gramma and Great Grampa MacDonald! Lots of photo opportunities ensued.

Gramma and Grampa Campbell:



















Great Gramma and Great Grampa MacDonald:



















When we came home, a huge box was waiting for us on the front porch. Our work had sent us an adorable toy cradle with a doll, a sleeper and a rattle. So sweet! :)

That night, we hooked S up with her first cloth diaper - a Bummis prefold with a "super whisper wrap" froggie cover. She's on the low end of the weight range at this point so they're pretty huge on her, but adorable nonetheless (if we do say so ourselves!)













 
 Day 8: Wednesday, December 1st

Happy 1st week birthday, S! :)

In the early afternoon, we took her to Dr. Irvine (here in New Hamburg) for her first check-up. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 5 oz (just 3 ounces back from her birth weight already!) and in the doctor's words, there were "checkmarks in all the right places"! Of course we had our fair share of new parent concerns (Her tongue looks white - is that thrush? What about that rashy looking area on her chest?) but the doctor reassured us that all was A-OK!

Aunt Becky and Uncle Paul came by for a visit later that afternoon. S got pretty fussy and hungry so they didn't stay too long, though Beck did get in some good cuddle time!














That night, Chris and I got to enjoy some relaxation with an episode of Ally McBeal (we're currently working our way through Season 2), and then he found the finale of America's Next Top Model (Cycle 15) for me. It was nice to have a bit of a break from 24/7 baby-related activities. :)

Day 9: Thursday, December 2nd

In the morning, we registered for S's birth certificate and then in the early afternoon we had a home visit from a friendly & gregarious public health nurse named Kathy. She asked us a bunch of questions and provided us with numerous baby & parenting resources (booklets, checklists, etc.). And finally, she gave us two thumbs up that S is thriving nicely and we're doing well as new parents (and that no, our home was not yet in a state meriting its own episode of Hoarders, despite our mild concerns :)

Papa Charlie and Nana Linda brought over an early dinner (delicious crockpot beef stew) and stayed for a game of Settlers of Catan. S learned the ropes quickly and helped Chris win!

"Build a settlement on the wheat port, Daddy!"



















Of course, there was lots of time for snuggles too! S and Papa had fun making faces at each other. :)














We ended the day with our first load of cloth diaper laundry. The prefolds appeared to launder nicely as per the instructions in the Bummis manual, but we'll see how things go after a few washes. Effective long-term CD laundering can evidently be quite tricky with a front load washer!

We also noticed before bedtime that S had developed little "breast buds". A quick Google revealed that this was in all likelihood due to Baby getting hormones from Mom through breast milk, which is quite common. Something to watch, in any case!

"S" days 4 to 6: the Way to Milky

Day 4: Saturday, November 27th

Happy 35th birthday to Daddy! I felt my milk starting to come in slowly overnight, but there still wasn't enough to feed her fully, and latching continued to be a bit hit & miss. Add to this our growing exhaustion levels and lack of 24-hour support and it was definitely a challenging day! We alternated breastfeeding with Lact-Aid, and supplemented with formula for a couple feedings. I pumped after every feeding as well to help my milk come in.

Tracey and Don (Chris' dad) came by momentarily to see S. Don wasn't able to visit her in the hospital as he was staying with Chris' Grampa MacDonald, who was alone as Gramma MacDonald was undergoing knee surgery in Owen Sound. Sharyn (Chris' mom) was there with her so she wasn't able to see S during her first few days either.

S only had one poo and one pee the whole day, so we were pretty concerned about this. We called Beth and New Mother Support at the hospital to get some tips, and to arrange a meeting with Beth the next day (along with our postpartum appointment with the public health nurse).

A few positive notes from the day - I got S to feed successfully on the right side (up until this point we'd only really had success on the left), her cord stump came off (quite early, but it looked healthy so we were grateful rather than concerned about this!), our Kawaii diapers arrived (!!!!!!!!) and Chris gave S her first home sponge bath!

















Day 5: Sunday, November 28th

I woke up in the morning and felt that my milk had fully come in - yay! My breasts were definitely larger and tender, but not overwhelmingly so like some of the horror stories I'd heard. That said, my milk might have been a bit less plentiful because of our difficulty feeding during the first couple days. As such, I planned to continue pumping for another day or two to help things out.

S had a really good feeding that morning on both sides and Chris and I were beginning to feel a lot more optimistic. At our postnatal appointment, the public health nurse Monica thought S was doing well (and in fact, she'd already gained back 2 ounces from her discharge weight, putting her back up to 8 pounds). The remaining concern was the lack of wet & dirty diapers, so we were really hoping to see more of these shortly! We had been planning a home visit with Beth, however we discussed our progress with her and we'd made such great strides that we mutually decided we didn't need that extra step at this point. Instead, we celebrated with Starbucks lattes and called it a day! :)

On our way back home, we stopped back in on Don and Doug (Chris' grampa) for a quick visit. That evening, S "broke the seal" and had 6 wet diapers in as many hours, as well as a big poop! What a relief! (Pun partially intended.) Funny how these are the things that excite you when you become new parents. ;)

S and I also discovered the side lying position for breast feeding which she seemed to prefer on the right side in particular, and Chris gave her her first REAL bath. She loved it!

















Following her bath, Mommy and S enjoyed some nice skin to skin time...
















...then we wrapped her up like a burrito and got some shut-eye! (On a side note, the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe RULES!)
















Day 6: Monday, November 29th

Grandma Mary and Great Grandma Catherine came over today for a visit. S slept the whole time in her adorable cow outfit. :) Great grandchild #18 for Grandma C!






































S continued with lots more wet and dirty diapers today, so we took a risk and made it a 100% booby day - no more Lact-Aid! This was evidently a good move as she appeared to be fully satiated at the end of the day - yay!!

"S" days 1 to 3: First Visitors and Latches

It's hard to believe that S is already 11 days old! I'm starting to appreciate the sentiment we've heard from so many parents to enjoy our little one while she's young as "they grow up so fast!"

On this note, I decided to fully document S's first month on a daily basis, as there is so much learning and growing during this early period and we wanted to capture all the experiences and milestones (along with lots of pictures of course!)

Day 1: Wednesday, November 24

Following S's birth at 8:19 AM, Chris and I spent a good 3-4 hours holding and cuddling her close. She spent most of this time crying and sleeping, and didn't enter into the quiet, alert period which many babies do soon after birth. I wasn't able to get her to breastfeed either. We assumed this was probably because of the stress she underwent having to be immediately whisked away and suctioned, but it was still early so we weren't too concerned. Beth stayed with us for a couple hours as well, which was nice.

S's visitors started to arrive shortly after noon, beginning with Chris' sister Tracey and my mom. Tracey physically entered the room first, but turned down the first hold as she said she couldn't hold her before her grandmother. :) According to Chris, Mom "looked like she was going to have a seizure" when she first entered and saw S ("...but at least she was in the right place" he added). Look at the proud Grandma!


















Aunt Tracey got to spend some time with her next:
















 Soon after, Aunt Becky, Paul, Papa Charlie, Nana Linda, Aunty Maryana, Uncle Mike, Aunt Anne Marie, Cousin Hailey and Aunty Ange came to visit her as well. What a day! Aunty Ange was just about due to have another little one of her own!























Pictures of all S's visitors can be found in my FB album.

Once the last of our visitors had left it was about 8:30. I tried to nurse S a bit more but I still couldn't get her to latch, so I expressed some colostrum and fed her a few drops from my fingers. One nurse named Mary was able to get her to latch momentarily but she was just nibbling and not really feeding in a nutritive fashion. The nurses said the expression and finger feeding should give her enough nutrition for her first day, but that we'd really need to work on things the next day. Chris and I spent a lot more skin to skin time with her that night and I believe we managed about 3-4 hours of sleep. Chris also ended up changing about 4-5 meconium diapers the first day as well, so at least she was eliminating well!

Day 2: Thursday, November 25

S and I started the day with a 9:00 AM breastfeeding class conducted by a lactation consultant named Brenda. About 4 other mothers & babies joined along with us. I was starting to feel frustrated and anxious as a couple of the other mothers were able to nurse their babies right away but we were still having such difficulty. Brenda came over and tried to help me latch S. She latched for a few seconds but then came off and was quite agitated. Brenda told me she'd come by our room a bit later for more dedicated support.

Chris and I dedicated the rest of the day to getting this nursing thing down. When Brenda came by we had our first pseudo-successful session. S stayed latched on for a few minutes and she was swallowing, which was great progress! I still felt the various positions to be quite awkward (especially in my own state of recovery) but was starting to get the hang of things. I also started using a breast pump to encourage my milk to come in. Another nurse named Jennifer helped us later in the evening. S still wasn't getting enough so Jennifer showed us how to use Lact-Aid, a device consisting of a syringe and feeding tube. Expressed breast milk and/or formula can be fed to Baby through the tube via your finger or as a supplement while Baby is latched on the breast. We tried both methods, and S seemed to take better to the finger feeding so we fed her a few times this way. We used expressed colostrum and ended up supplementing with formula as well. I was really hoping we didn't have to go this route, but S was hungry and the most important thing at this point was to get her some food!

All in all, Day 2 was quite exhausting, though it did end on a positive note. Sometime late at night or very early the next morning (can't quite remember), S was hungry and the oh-so-determined Mom in me took over. I got her to latch and do a small feeding on my own! It was very empowering and left me hopeful that we would get the hang of things after all!

Day 3: Friday, November 26

Sometime overnight, one of the nurses came in to do S's hearing test (she passed) and evidently give her a bath as well, as she was clean when we woke up in the morning. We managed a couple more tentative feedings with her, both on the breast and via finger Lact-Aid. We also watched a couple videos - Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding and the hospital discharge video which covered various topics from fever to postpartum depression. The staff wanted to ensure we had a nursing plan for her once we were discharged, so we met with Brenda once more. The plan was to nurse her when we could, pump after nursing and use the Lact-Aid device with either expressed milk or formula when necessary to "top her up". We were to also diligently track all feedings and wet & dirty diaper changes over the course of her first week. We felt pretty good at this point - we were getting there! Right before we left, a couple assistants came in to take S's blood for her PKU and hypothyroidism screening test. She wasn't a big fan of this!

We finally completed all the paperwork and were all set to leave at about 4:00 PM. It actually felt sort of bittersweet leaving the hospital. On the one hand, we were finally taking our new daughter home, but on the other, we'd no longer have the 24/7 support from the hospital staff who had been so wonderful. This was more than a little bit intimidating!

Here's a pic of Daddy getting S ready for her first car ride back home to New Hamburg! She slept the whole way, as expected. :)
















When we got home, we immediately brought S upstairs to our bedroom to start getting all "nested". We had her bassinet all ready to go, and got out extra pillows, blankets and our various nursing accessories. Then I spent some nice skin to skin time with her, and Chris and I shared an emotional moment as everything was just starting to truly sink in. We were parents!!

The evening brought some additional concerns & challenges as S continued to sleep for 3-4 more hours. We were hoping to feed her within an hour or two of getting home, but we couldn't rouse her! Eventually we called Telehealth, and the nurse told us that if she didn't eat for 6 hours we should be concerned. We were at 5ish hours at that point, so we continued to talk to her, apply cool wash cloths to her forehead, etc. until she did eventually stir and we got her to do a few good feedings....whew! Looks like she has procrastination tendencies like Mom! ;)

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Dad's up with S right now having some post-nap play time. She'll be hungry in a few minutes, so time to get ready for a feeding! More "early life" posts to come!