Settling into a home routine

Lifetimes have passed since Friday night.  Epochs.  I don't even know where to start.  So I'll start with this glass of cheap red wine at my side: Elliott and Fiona and I went for our first walk since last Thursday.  We did so much walking during the pregnancy.  My body feels pretty darn good after the C-section and, as long as I keep taking my tylenol and ibuprofen every 8 hours or so, daily life poses little challenge as long as someone pulls me out of the couch and I don't forget I had surgery and try to limbo under dangling cherry tree branches (oops!).  

Before I have too many thoughts about recent events, here are some photos.

Goodbye snuggles with Uncle Jorge:

and Uncle Tuggy

Using Grammy-knit, arm-dwarfing socks to keep her from scratching her face during feeding.

Because she was born under 2,500 grams (this has started seeming strangely normal to me now) she underwent a "carseat test".  This entailed going on a practice make-believe car trip for 90 minutes in a carseat in the nursery while wearing an oxygen probe on her toe.  Carseats are rated for 5 pounds and up and we needed to make sure she didn't flop forward and close off her airway.  She has to sit on a towel, use two head inserts (pictured), and be flanked by rolled up blankets, but dog-gonnit, she kept her oxygen up.  Here she is ready to take a REAL car trip for 0.7 miles from the First Hill Family Medicine Clinic parking lot home to Union St.  Super cute.  

The syringing continues at home!  My milk came in Monday (day 3) like Ithaca Falls after a spring storm and we have more milk than we know what to do with --glad we got that mini milk fridge for her room-- so we're now breast feeding with a nipple shield (soft plastic sombrero that sits over my nipple, pokes her palate when she latches, and helps trigger her suck reflex and hone her aim; we'll wean this off as she gets stronger and more coordinated) for 15 minutes a side and then syringing 20cc of pumped milk.  She's eating like a champ and making her way back to her birth weight.  One sweet part of this routine is that Elliott and my mom can help feed her.  I need to pump every time for my own comfort so we have plenty of milk for Elliott to feed her in the middle of the night while I pump instead of waiting for me to produce the milk for THAT feeding.  This means shorter feeding routines during the night and smoother transitions back to sleep for all three of us.  

She's the one-eyed Fiona.  

We have a GoPro mount above the changing table for some daily snippet collection.  

These little terry cloth diapers fit her better than all the other cloth diapers we stock-piled in anticipation of her arrival.  

Just chillin' with Pop in the rocking chair.  They're an amazing pair.  I love this man so much.  As you might imagine, he's incredibly patient, naturally gifted at soaking up and fully engaging in the present, and infinitely understanding of what either of us might be feeling (ranging from superhuman elation to desperate fatigue to the intense need to eat NOW - as well as what Fiona is feeling :)).

Look at those eyes.  Jeez.  

It's so special that Fiona can snuggle with Grammy every day and hear her voice singing to her.

Here's a little video (not from the fancy camera; we still haven't managed to go through all our video from the hospital but I will!  'cause it'll be awesome.) of early baby life.  

The smallest gDiaper we have.  I had to walk away when Elliott put this on her because laughing hurt too much.  

Love to you all.  Thanks for your support, love, and for just keeping in touch.  We soak it up!

But for now there's a little girl rooting on a blanket on my lap so I gotsta go feed her. 

xoxo, liz, elliott, and fiona