Happy New Year!

Elf's on the boob tube.

Josie's our little elf, and she's sleeping in the boppy. (Didn't know that word until this month).

It's a new kind of new year's eve, and I like it.

It's been one heck of a year and I'm excited for the next.

Happy holidays and may you all have a blessed, happy, and productive year.

Paternal post-partum bluish tinted days

I'm feeling a bit blue these days as I go back to work and away from the familial cocoon. I do like work; and I know I'll get over this in a few days. I just really enjoyed the two weeks of family time.

I spent an hour with Josie after work today and she was alert the entire time. Even changing her diaper wasn't too hard (she often complains a ton during changes). The doctor this morning said she's going to start getting fussy around two weeks -- haven't seen that yet, which is nice. She's doing great and I dispute everyone's notions that she's not doing anything at this age -- she's learning and fascinated by everything, from the way her own arms move to the shadows and lights on the wall.

She also looked really cute today.

A book and a walk...

Yesterday, I read a book to Josie for the first time. She didn't cry until the last page! The book was Good Night, San Francisco.  

Despite Josie's new habit of only sleeping when in contact with another human (and only for at most an hour at a time) -- Ilsa found the time and energy today to take Josie & Penny on a 45 minute walk today when I was at the office in the afternoon. I am proud of my girls!

Drive by Posting

I wanted to take the couple of minutes I have with both hands free to say thank you to all of our friends and family who have given so generously, both of baby-supplies and their time. There is no way we would have survived the lead-up to and days immediately following Josie's birth without my parents, no way we could have had such a nice Xmas week without Doctor's family, and no way I would have maintained my sanity during the first hard week without the support I received via email and Facebook. Things are still a little tough, as we continue to work out Josie's sleep schedule and as I continue to heal (albeit slowly) from the surgery, but hopefully I will be able to write back and individually thank everyone in the near future for all they have done for us. Sorry this post is a little incoherent, but that's what 3 hours of sleep per night will get you.

LOTR marathon

The sunrise was gorgeous this morning when I took the parents to the airport.

We're indoctrinating Josie to the Lord of the Rings trilogy this weekend. The family left late last night and today and we're taking the day off; no responsibilities other than keeping Josie fed & clean.

Josie enjoyed the family's visit; she was cuddled & passed around to all; the first grandchild for all 5 of her grandparents.

Merry Christmas

We are a happy family today. It's Christmas, Josie let me feed her last night from the bottle so Ilsa & I each got 5.5 hours of sleep, and we feel content, happy, well-fed, and warm.

Merry Christmas!!!

Home for the holidays

We had Josie's first doctor's visit yesterday, and getting out of the house wasn't half as bad as we'd feared. She was down a bit in weight again, although still within the 10% range from her birth weight. She ate during the visit, and gained about 30g -- so the doc thought things were probably just fine.

Later, we took Penny up to the vet and stopped back up in Marin and caught the sunset.

Great day!

Twas a very good day -- a relaxing day full of errands, making things better around the house, and eating with family (from a neat middle-eastern place called Good Frickin' Chicken). Josie ate well with less and less stimulation required to keep her going -- and settled into a some nice patterns of slightly longer naps and longer feeds.

She's clearly eating well, yay!

Some pics from today:

Home

We brought Josie home yesterday, and launched into errands preparing for Christmas and the Doctor's family being around. Dr. Grandpa (the Doctor's dad), Grandma Sue, Aunt Sarah, Grandpa A, and Grandma were all there for a pizza dinner from Little Star (mmmm) and some rounds of pass the baby. The Doctor forced everyone to use hand sanitizer.

The evening was ok; we're still learning to get the necessary steps of a Josie-cycle (nurse, burp, re-diaper, sooth) in the right order and in a shorter time (especially at night, to allow for more time for sleeping). A few funny things & pics:

* The Doctor felt her poo while holding her (infants poop rather explosively), started to change her, and she was still not done pooping, meaning the changing table cover, the new diaper, and her clothes were all covered.

* Ilsa overestimated the viscosity of Josie's mustard colored "output" and similarly soiled an extra set of clothes.

* Ilsa's parents made a welcome sign for Josie!


* Josie just after her triumphant discharge weigh-in, up two percent from her previous weighing (about 1.75 % of her body weight!):

Going home!!!

J is up nearly 2% in weight, bilirubin is done, and we are going home!!!!

Another night...

We're staying another night. Josie's weight is still near 10% down from her birth weight and the pediatricians here are conservative and want to measure her again tomorrow. Coming in tomorrow would mean waiting in a waiting room with sick kids & parents in the pediatric urgent care; staying means they can weigh her easily and no waiting and a scheduled followup (short waiting) on Monday. Also, we can utilize the knowledge set of the folks here for breast feeding and what not. Leaving today would have been leaving a day early, so we're in for the full four nights allowed/suggested.

We're sleeping when Josie sleeps, so good night!

Good day continues; another successful set of meals!

We're eager to get home and start working out how having a baby is going to change our lives instead of being in the hospital cocoon. Jen, a friend of ours, sent cupcakes. Yay for cupcakes! Some pics from today:

Mommy smells good.

I am ready for my close up.

She usually sneaks a hand out of the swaddle.

Rodin? Of course I know him.

We're probably going home today

Josie has gone up in weight for the first time and it looks like we might go home today! Yay!

Amazing human body parts

So, in the image above, the white plastic looking thing? It's part of the umbilical cord, made from the fetus's DNA as part of the placenta. It gets hard like this when it is clamped, I guess. Pretty amazing. Click on the link to see more detail.

A note from Josie

My parents are seemingly not very bright. The rules for keeping me happy are simple! When I'm hungry, the nipple should already be in my mouth. A few seconds later destroys the ambience, and I let them know. When I have to burp, I should already be on daddy's leg being gently burped (and not too gently, dad, I'm not made of glass!). When I'm tired, I should be swaddled tightly and left alone. My diaper should never be dirty.

Got it? Manage this, and you'll never hear my increasing range of ear-splitting sounds. I'm proud of a few of them you haven't heard yet -- so when you mess up, I'll get to use them. He he he.

Fun thoughts of the night

Some random thoughts & observations & a few pics:

* Josie has a callus on her knuckle where she's been sucking on it. The Doctor still has calluses on his pinkies from when he was a kid and when he slips into kid mode while asleep.

* It's hard to believe that she's not even two days old. I already feel like she's redefined me, us, and our futures.

* She had her first non-blood-relative visitor today:


* She slept very peacefully today:



* Her feet seem long.



* She has been eating for 90 minutes out of the first 5 hours of her third day. This might be the "feeding frenzy" the books talk about that is designed to help Ilsa bring in the milk. Evolution is cool.

More pics from day 2

We actually got to sit down for lunch together today! W00t!!


Ilsa snapped some pics of the Doctor today....

She was born on a dark and stormy night

More view shots from the room

The rooms at UCSF for labor and delivery are terrific. They have great views; they are large, and they are seconds away from a crack neonatal emergency team and an OR. We found out the utility of that the hard way; it was a constant source of reassurance for me, anyway, as we went through everything. We liked the view, too.



For a standard delivery, there's an infant care area already stocked and ready to go. The apgar tests are done there and anything else that the baby needs.



This little machine was the contraction and baby heart-rate tracker. We watched it and it was addictive in the best times and scary in the worst. When it was audio based (external monitors), the signal would get lost about once an hour or so. For the internal one that was screwed into the baby's head, it seemed to have a much lower error rate. The system is also connected throughout the hospital so that Ilsa's mom could watch the baby's heart rate until it was born.



We can see Marin from our room!

Pictures / Yellow slippers

I'm going to post some pictures from before, during, and after Josie's arrival into our world.

Ilsa fell once a few months ago when walking with my parents; she slipped on a hole in the sidewalk and landed on her rear. A few bruises, no real harm done. She told the staff at the hospital, however, and they were required to make Ilsa wear these yellow grippy slippers and a yellow wristband. Also, check out the hardware on her wrists!

Shower

People underestimate the shower. Wow, what a difference a shower can make. 'nuff said.

As a bonus, here are some more pics: