Self-consciousness or shiny new toy?

Apart from eating, sleeping, and me and Chris, Rose is interested in two things: the mobile affixed to her change table, and the mirror hanging from her baby gym. We noticed her growing interest in the mirror a couple of days ago. No longer were her eyes darting flirtatiously around the various baby gym objects, now she was settling most of her attention on the red mirror swinging on her right. This morning, the entire baby gym session was spent looking at the mirror, and she even managed to roll slightly onto one side to get a better view.

All I can say is thank god we don’t have any child development books or Lacan for Dummies lying around the house, or I’d be studying them to determine how advanced our girl is.

I also uploaded a picture of Rose doing another adorable thing – hugging Chris like a koala on a eucalyptus tree. [Dave and Laura – note that Rose is wearing one of the outfits you sent us, and one of the wrist rattles. “What’s the time? Froggy time!"]

Who’s the baby?

We’ve taken Rose on a couple of adventures outside the house this week. On Wednesday it was Anzac Day (and our 9th year wedding anniversary), and we drove up to the Blue Mountains, which are about 2 hours’ drive from Sydney. It was a fantastic opportunity to take Titan (our new car) out for a spin on the open roads, to see the beautiful mountains shrouded in misty rain, and it was also a ceremonial occasion for Rose: her first breastfeed and nappy change outside the apartment, not in a health care facility. I don’t know if it’s due to my troubles with breastfeeding, or the fact that I’m a old school neurotic, but the concept of changing or feeding Rose outside the house has been intimidating. For starters, I’m still at the point where I need my breastfeeding chair, my special pillow, and my small table beside the breastfeeding chair kitted out with breastfeeding paraphernalia (e.g. breast pump and tv remote control) in order to breastfeed successfully. The truth be told, I’m also having to work very hard each breastfeed getting Rose properly attached. I won’t bore or horrify this general audience with the gory details of my cracked nipples and new condition – nipple vasospasm – but needlesstosay, breastfeeding is still tricky. However, I’m happy to report that I was able to feed Rose happily and successfully inside our car, looking out at one of the most glorious scenic shots of New South Wales.

We cemented this happy arrangement by taking Rose to the mall today, to have her passport photo taken, and to go grocery shopping. Again, I’m happy to report another successful outside breastfeed-and-change. It’s so crazy to think that these are our first steps into a larger world, rather than Rose’s.

3 weeks old!

Rose turned 3 weeks old yesterday, and I’m sure it’ll be a surprise to no one that we’re as in love with her as ever. It’s a truism that babies grow so quickly and we’ve certainly been watching and noting her changes. She looks a lot bigger than she was when she was first born, and the nurse confirmed this last week when she measured her and she’d grown 5 centimeters in length in 10 days! Her hair is continuing to grow and be prolific, but it’s getting lighter. It’s more mid-brown than the dark brown locks she was born with. She still doesn’t have much control of her limbs and her eyes, and often pokes herself in the eye or kicks out randomly. But she’s certainly been watching the world with more alertness, and has enjoyed spending time in the baby gym that dad bought her – watching the lovely shapes and colours. When she was first born she would mainly sleep and eat and not much else. For the last week she’s had two distinct awake periods when she doesn’t want to go back to sleep after a feed and is awake for a couple of hours. Fortunately, they’ve been in the morning (9am-12ish) and also in the evening (8-11ish), which has meant that she’s sleeping very solidly at night, often for a 5 hour stretch! Her awake periods are fantastic. She often wants to sit and look around, or cuddle and look up at you. Chris has been bathing her in during her evening awake period and has been loving watching her learn to kick the back and sides of the baby bath with her feet, while looking up at Chris with her big, trusting eyes. Truly magical!

The week in review

We’ve had a fairly uneventful week at “Rancho Rose”. Actually, no scrap that, there has been a bit of drama. Here are the highlights:

• On Sunday it was Chris’s birthday. His first birthday as a dad! We went to Coogee beach to show Rose the Pacific Ocean, and had a lovely walk along the promenade.
• On Monday the early childhood nurse visited and declared Rose to be “healthy and cute”. She’d put on even more weight than last week. Apparently I’m feeding her like a champion. A slightly wounded champion, however, due to painful cracked nipples.
• On Tuesday our washing machine broke down. Pause for second and consider if there could be one device more used by a couple with a young baby? Then imagine the tears and so forth that accompanied this event.
• Also on Tuesday, the stump of Rose’s umbilical cord dropped off!
• On Tuesday night Rose broke her habit of sleeping for 4-5 hours a night and was awake from 1am until 6am. Needlesstosay we looked like the walking dead on Wednesday. Even more so because we didn’t have clean clothes.
• Apart from looking like the walking dead on Wedesday we also managed to get up for another 9am breastfeeding clinic. It was a huge struggle to get there, but I’m so glad we did. Breastfeeding is a pretty terrifying endeavour at the best of times – it’s painful and tiring and you’re never quite sure if you’re doing it right. It’s fantastic to have these clinics to go to for advice and support.
• Wednesday and Thursday nights Rose slept like a champion, back to her 4-5 hour night sleeps.
• Thursday we walked up to King Street in Newtown. I can’t tell you how fantastic it is to get back into society and do normal things, like going to a cafe and having a coffee and cake. Yippee! Also, the repair guy arrived and fixed our washing machine. Since then we’ve been on a washing binge of epic proportions. It’s amazing how a few days with a baby creates mountains of dirty clothes.

I’ve also added some more photos to our online photo album. There’s a couple of really cute ones showing how big and cute our baby has got in the last week. Also, there’s a nice shot of our Rose when she’s had too much to drink.

Out and About

Over the last few days we’ve started venturing out of the house on walks. On Thursday we headed for nearby Sydney Park, an urban space that’s been converted from a 19th- and 20th-century landfill and brick works into a beautiful large park with wetlands and even it’s own minature bike track, complete with working traffic lights.

Rose seems to love the front pack, which Chris has been wearing as I’m still to frail to carry anything heavy. Both times she’s happily gone to sleep and we’ve been able to saunter about enjoying the glorious late-summer weather in Sydney.

More ambitious outings, involving the stroller and the potential for feeding or changing nappies outside the house, is a bit more intimidating. We’re very settled into our routines at home, it’s a bit daunting thinking about feeding Rose in a cafe, or remembering to bring all the right paraphrenalia to change her in a public loo. I’ve heard that you get used to knowing which shops, cafes and department stores have the best parenting facilities, but to me it’s still a completely unknown jungle out there. And what if she freaks out and we’re half an hour’s walk from home? I’m sure my confidence will grow, but for now it’s baby steps.

–Sarah

Old lady

Rose is definitely an old lady in a young baby’s body. She makes the most amazing facial expressions where she screws her face up and looks annoyed. I keep imagining her thinking “Those damn kids!” She’s also started smiling a lot, although she often does it when she’s waking up, and not when she’s looking at you, so it might just be an involuntary spasm of the facial muscles.

We had quite a big day yesterday, Rose and I went to a breastfeeding clinic at the Early Childhood Centre in Glebe in the morning from 9-11am. I’m learning more and more every day about living with a baby, and one of the frustrating things is that you have to organise outings like a military operation. Because it was important to breastfeed at the clinic, I had to time her feedings from midnight the night before, and all through the night, so that she would be hungry by 9am. It was totally exhausting, but the clinic went well. Apparently Rose is back to her birth weight (all babies lose weight in the first week or so, and then gain it back within a few weeks. It’s fantastic that she has made up for that lost weight so quickly), and that feeding is going well.

However, for the last few nights Rose has been quite unsettled, and we’re learning to deal with a bit of sleep deprivation. For three nights running she’s woken up at 3am and not felt like going back to sleep until 6am. Last night, she didn’t want to go to sleep after her evening feed at 10pm, so I stayed up with her rocking and nursing her until she drifted off at midnight. She also woke again at 3am for three hours. All this has been counterbalanced by the fact that she’s been sleeping non-stop during the day, and I’ve been having to wake her for feeds. The usual recommendation is to let baby decide when she’s hungry, but she should also be feeding 6-8 times a day, and I need to nurse regularly to keep my supply up. The only conclusion is that the adults of the house are clearly sleeping at the wrong time! The books don’t really have much of a solution to offer, other than to “ride it out” – she’s way too young to be able to instill a routine with her. But it’s hard not to be grumpy and cranky about all the hard work we’re doing in the middle of the night!

Why did no one warn us how much work it would be?

Just kidding, of course, because everyone warned us about how much work it would be. It’s funny, though, I never anticipated that every single minute of it — including the times when she’s been crying for several hours and we’ve run through our entire repertoire of calming devices (baths, feeds, swaddling, etc) and nothing has worked — would be so enjoyable. Even being woken several times a night is not too bad. Every time I look at Rose I feel this giddy, overpowering feeling of love and happiness. Call it hormones, call it “giving life to another human being and sustaining their growth with food from your body”, call it whatever you like, it’s pretty damn amazing.

Our first few nights at home have actually been remarkably calm. For the first two nights Rose slept for 6 hours from 10 until 4am, then woke for a feed, then went back to sleep. Last night she slept for 5 hours, then woke up for a feed and then wouldn’t go back down. I crashed out for more sleep while Chris and my mother-in-law Anne cuddled and soothed her until the next time for her feed, at 7am. This is where it’s fantastic having a third pair of hands around, there’s always someone else there to “tag in” just when you’re feeling weary. Apart from the few hours of crying and inconsolableness a day, most of the time Rose feeds and sleeps, and seems quite calm. I certainly wasn’t expecting this much “down time”. (I say this cautiously, knowing that the situation can and will change at any time. Still, the general principle is that things at the moment aren’t difficult at all.)

Another unexpected thing is that you can see her develop and change every day. We’ve noticed in the last 24 hours that she’s much stronger. Chris has been noticing her wriggles on the change table have turned into much more forceful kicks. And when I’m feeding her, she’s started kicking on the back of the chair. And throwing punches. Punches! Of course, they’re still undeniably cute, weak, feeble and uncoordinated punches, but punches nevertheless. She’s also been feeding like crazy. The Australian baby care manual, “Baby Love” by Robin Barker, says that babies don’t need to feed for more than 20 minutes at a time. Rose has been feeding for 40, 50, and 60 minute sessions! I wonder if she’s going through a growth spurt. But then I also argue with myself that her whole life is a growth spurt, and that Rose knows what’s best for her, and that over-thinking everything with a baby is a somewhat dangerous hobby. But so far, things are going great!

– Sarah

Anecdote

I don’t know if I’m ever going to get through the herculean task of writing up everything that happened at the birth, and our 5 days in hospital. However, I was spurred on my Delwyn, who told me to start noting down anecdotes from the experience. Here’s one for starters:

In the operating room, after Rose had come out and was away from Sarah, maybe having the cord cut, or being wrapped up warmly, Sarah said, “This is hard!” to the only person around her, the anaethetist, JB. He said, “Are you in pain, or is this conceptually hard?” I said, “Yes! Conceptually hard!”

Rose Ursula

We welcomed Rose Ursula into our lives and into the world on 11.55am on Monday April 02, 2007. It’s been an amazing few days, and we’re absolutely overjoyed at how wonderful our little girl is. Early indications speak to a calm, gentle temperament. I don’t have much time to write now about how everything happened, but I did want to get some photos online for everyone to see. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/essellgee/sets/72157600052737590/

(If you would like high resolution versions for printing, let me know.)

The facts

Name: Rose Ursula
Weight: 3.855 kilos
Length: 50 centimetres
Gender: Female
Birthday: April 2, 2007
Time of Birth: 11:55 a.m.
Birth City: Sydney, Australia
Birth Hospital: Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Astrological Sign: Aries
Chinese Zodiac: Golden Pig