Daddy's Turn

Well Mommy and Nadia have been seen by plenty of doctors and nurses the past 12 days. Today was Daddy's turn. Even though Grandma was the one who did the yard work this week (she used a riding mower for the first time and also weeded our flower beds), Paul somehow got poison ivy on his arms. He hasn't had it in a few years. He is very careful to wear gloves and such to avoid getting it as when he gets it - he gets a very bad case of it. The only thing he did outside was show my mom how to use the riding mower; so it is a mystery how he got it. He has been using Calamine lotion and taking Tylenol Allergy and such but hasn't gotten much relief. It's mostly on his arms so he's been trying to be careful not to pass it on to Nadia or myself. The doctor gave him some steroids and said he shouldn't hold Nadia for a week. EEK! I am overwhelmed by this.

 

I forgot to mention earlier that the glider was delivered on Wednesday afternoon. I slept on the couch in the living room on Tuesday night since it hadn't arrived yet, but I slept in our bed and Nadia slept in her crib on Wednesday night since I could make use of the glider for nursing. It is VERY comfortable!!! I will take a photo of it later. Thank you, Mom and Dad (Christmas gift)! It was supposed to be delivered 3 weeks after we ordered it. If that had happened, it would have arrived before Nadia even though she came 24 days early, but the timing still worked out well since we were in the hospital longer than expected.

Her early arrival meant the summer session wasn't quite over when she arrived. I taught Monday night and then 2 hours later my water broke. The last class was to be on Wednesday night as well as the final exam so on Wednesday morning I made arrangements for someone to proctor the exam. My department chair said my students could be let out early (only take the exam that night). I emailed the answer key as well. Thankfully the exam was multiple choice. Many times I give essay exams and that would have been a nightmare this time! A secretary emailed me the results (graded by Scantron), and I was able to post the exam and attendance grades (which I had to do from memory as the attendance sheets were in my office) on Blackboard using my laptop in the hospital room (thank goodness for wireless internet access!). The grades had to be submitted to the Registrar by noon on Wed. Normally I submit my grades the first day they can be submitted (which would have been Friday in this case). However, this time I didn't finish until about 2 hours before the deadline. Thankfully my GA helped with grading some papers, but I was frantically grading papers and calculating course grades on Wednesday morning. Thankfully now I can take a few weeks off. Technically I am "off" for 8 weeks, but I hadn't quite finished my "to do" list since Nadia came earlier than I expected. However nothing is due until August 15 so I can definitely take a few weeks off of schoolwork and just be a FT Mommy for now.

One of the 4 lactation nurses I worked with in the hospital called me yesterday to check on how things were doing. I told her about the pediatrician wanting Nadia off the shield. Amy said I shouldn't push it until Nadia's weight was going in the right direction. She said if I pump 2-3 times a day that will compensate for the problem the shields can cause. So yesterday I resumed pumping. I am trying though to get her to nurse w/o the shield as much as possible though (at least during the day - my patience at night is much less). She asked me to come in on July 14 so they can show me some tricks for getting her off the shield.

Yesterday my mom left about 7:30am. Later that morning Paul and I made our first shopping trip with Nadia. She did fine as she slept the whole time in the sling. I didn't fare as well. I went to the baby section and was buying diapers, wipes, Balmex, etc. while Paul was picking up some odds and ends - a light bulb for the lamp in the nursery, etc. Then we did some food shopping together. Part way through the food shopping I started to feel AWFUL - ankles killing me, dizzy, hungry, etc. We had been there about 30 minutes. We planned to go to Sears next to get her some clothes in newborn or preemie, but I knew I had done enough so we just went straight home. The most important purchase we made was a second swaddling blanket. The first one had been stained the day before and she didn't sleep AT ALL in the pack n play when we were w/o a clean swaddling blanket. This led to a very rough night on Thursday night. I got at the most 3 hours of sleep that night. The first swaddling blanket came from BRU where there are many choices of colors and patterns (hers has butterflies). Walmart only had one choice - white with yellow dots. I bought it, but I admit I would have preferred ANY other color as yellow is not what I want to see on her while she still has some jaundice! We didn't end up buying any clothing. Paul had bought her 2 preemie size outfits on Tuesday night - a yellow one (again I am not really wanting to put her in it) and one from a boy's rack (dinosaurs). I had to use the dinosaur one today. It's not feminine. Blue is a good color for her, but I am not wanting to dress her in something that came from the boy's rack, LOL. Oh well. It does fit her perfectly (preemie size). Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll be up to another shopping trip - maybe Sears? to buy a few more outfits in either newborn or preemie size as mostly I just have 0-3 months and up and they are WAY too big on her. I believe one of her cousins will approve of her outfit today as Susie LOVES dinosaurs! :-)

The swaddling blanket did the trick again yesterday, and I had zero troubles getting he to nap in the pack n play yesterday. Last night was a little rougher than the day time but WAY better than the previous night. However that was due in part to the fact that Paul held her awhile which won't be an option tonight. :-( Hopefully Nadia will have a good night since I'll be on my own.