Back to Work

Well Nadia and I went to school today. We left the house at 8:30am and didn't return until 5;00pm. Thankfully most days won't be that long. I was exhausted at the end of the day, and I think Nadia was also as I just put her down (easily for once) at 7:30pm. I am going to head to bed myself shortly once I feel certain she's really going to stay asleep. My meetings were on all different places on campus so I got a good workout with her in the sling especially as the campus is on a hill. I have to start by saying that she slept SIX HOURS STRAIGHT last night. WOOHOOO! I was soooooooooooooooo thankful! She slept from 9:45pm to 3:45am! Then she was up for quite awhile. I think it was 5:30 when she went back asleep. I felt badly as I had to wake her up at 7:45 to get dressed as I wanted to nurse her before I left at 8:30am. She slept in the car and slept through my first mtg (until 10:30am), and then I nursed her for 45 minutes before heading to a picnic with the students at 11:30am. After the picnic I nursed her again before going to the faculty meeting. She got fussy in the beginning so I gave her a bottle and after downing one ounce she conked out and slept the rest of the mtg. I wanted to nurse her after the mtg but people were coming to my office so I gave her more bottle. I left feeling totally drained. I guess it's because I was doing two jobs at once - caring for my sweet 8 week old daughter while also doing my job at work. That is tiring! I won't be teaching with her in the room, and that's a good thing. I forgot to mention yesterday in my "errands" post that although running errands is easier without her, I miss her when I'm running them alone. I really do. I love her so much, and it's hard to leave the house without her.

I probably looked absurd as I went into my office this morning as I had Nadia in the sling and then over one shoulder I had a bag with my work laptop computer and over the other shoulder the diaper bag. Then in one hand I had another bag (with a pack of diapers, pack of wipes, etc.) and in the other hand I was carrying the pack n' play. Yikes!!! Thankfully on the way out I only had Nadia plus 2 bags (diaper and computer). Hopefully Paul will finish his thesis this weekend so I can go back to leaving my laptop at work as then I'll only have one bag plus Nadia. The pack n' play fit perfectly in my office right in between my desk and the doorjam - the exact right size! At first I changed her diaper on a changing pad on the floor a couple of times (and snagged my nylons the first time on the velcro) but then switched to using the pack n play as I had the bassinet part in the top so I don't have to lean down too far. I left one (Steeler) bib there, one pack of diapers, one pack of wipes, one thing of diaper cream, one boppy (the "generic" one which isn't as nice as the real one that I still have at home), and one activity gym thing. She has a home away from home in my office. :-) I kept her bottle in the frig as well as her antibiotic. I changed her diaper 5 times in my office today so the janitor will have a treat when he empties my trash can, LOL. Thankfully I'm good friends with him. :-)

The first two photos were taken this morning to commemorate her first day of school. Monday is the first day of classes. The bottom photo was taken this evening. Mommy needs to do the laundry - all her newborn size sleepers are in the hamper. So she wore a 0-3 month size sleeper for the first time, and it fit! I bought this one 3 years ago. It's the only sleeper I've purchased. Hopefully she'll sleep as well as she did last night!!! That would be awesome as I am exhausted.

Errands

Well I used to prefer to do a whole bunch of errands at once rather than making several trips. I think with a little one though my preference might change at least when she's with me. Last week I had several errands to run -sign paperwork at the realtor, pick up special paper for Paul's thesis at Staples, get groceries at Weis, and pick up pizza for dinner. She did well with the first few errands, but by the end she was crying (screamed the whole drive home). At each place I transferred her from the car seat to the sling. Thankfully a guy at the pizza place has always willing to carry the pizza out to the car for me ever since I've had Nadia which is nice. Anyhow when I am with Nadia I think I need to limit the number of times I am transferring her in/out of her car seat. However, when her Grandma is babysitting and I am running errands by myself (like this week) then I'll try to accomplish as much as possible on one trip. It hit me last week that running errands must be REALLY a challenging task if one has more than one newborn. I always wanted twins, but while running errands last week I was thinking I wasn't sure how I could accomplish this if I had two seven week old babies.

Last week at Weis I had purchased 5 of a certain item because if you bought 5 they'd give you a $2 coupon or your next trip. That's the only reason I bought 5 packs of them. Well I realized right after I left that I wasn't given the coupon so I went back to the cashier who said I'd have to go to customer service. I discovered a huge line at customer service and decided it wasn't worth it with a fussy baby. I have changed! Before I was a Mommy I would definitely have waited in that long line for my $2 coupon, LOL. Nadia doesn't know yet that her Mommy is a penny pincher. She'll figure it out one of these days I'm sure. :-)

Last night seemed like it was starting out the same way as she only slept a little more than 2 hours the first stretch (and we were used to getting at least 4 hours). Thankfully though it "only" took me until 1:45am to get her back to sleep (75 minutes less than the previous night). That was not a fun time for Paul and I though (11:15pm-1:45am), but then she SLEPT until 5:30am. MUCH appreciated! And unlike the last several days, I was able to get her to go back down after I fed her. So I feel much, much, much better today. Yesterday I did get a lot of schoolwork done despite my exhaustion and headache, and Paul mowed the backyard. One new problem is that I am finding it harder to fall asleep during the day and night. Usually I am out within a very short time of hitting the pillow. That has gradually been changing. I am not used to napping and not used to my sleep being interrupted so much. Also I find I wake up frequently even when she doesn't (like during that time she slept until 5:30). I just don't seem to sleep soundly any more even when I am utterly exhausted. I just hope that she'll start sleeping through the night maybe when she hits the 12 week mark as it seems that's when it happens for a lot of babies. I have a busy day at school tomorrow so I am hoping tonight to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep.

I called the pediatrician today to see if we should bring her in as we think she sounds worse and she's been on the antibiotics for 3 full days now. They said to wait until her appt (Tues) when she's supposed to get her 2 month shots. Today is her 14th day of not feeling well. I really hope her congestion clears ASAP. It's painful to listen to her breathe. :-( Poor little Nadia.... She's asleep on the boppy on my lap right now. I think I'll transfer her to the sling and start packing. What a difference a few extra hours of sleep makes. I have soooo much more energy today!!! :-)

P.S. I cannot believe I didn't put this on the list yesterday. #27 She has SUPER kissable cheeks. I kiss her soooooooo many times a day. She also gets kisses from Daddy and Grandma. :-)

600th post

I started this blog in Dec 2006 to chronicle our journey to adopt 2 chidren from Ukraine, but God had a different plan in store - Nadia! From reading Joy's blog I learned that it's customary to share 100 things about yourself on your 100th post. I didn't do that. I am not sure if there are any other "traditions" as far as other posts (500 or 1,000 or whatever). Speaking of blogging customs, what is the usual way to answer questions posed through comments? I am not sure whether to post a comment with the answer or answer the questions in a future post???? Well anyhow in honor of the 600th post, I am going to list facts about Nadia (not 600 though!!!).

1. She likes to be swaddled from the armpits down when she is sleeping.

2. She sits in my lap ever so attentive while I play the piano or sing to her while I play the piano. It's a great way to calm her down if she's upset.

3. If she has to be somewhere other than someone's arms when she's awake, the boppy is her first choice and she definitely prefers the bouncer to the swing although I can't say she's a big fan of the bouncer unless she's really tired.

4. She smiles and laughs in her sleep - a lot. Her laugh is just the sweetest sound in the whole wide world (to me anyhow). I can't wait to hear her laugh when she's awake.

5. When she's awake she's in constant motion. Her arms are rarely still whether she's being nursed or whatever. Paul says she's going to talk with her hands like her Mommy. She also frequently sticks her tongue out, and if she's lying down while she's awake then she does what Paul refers to as leg lifts. I am not surprised by her level of activity given how active she was in the womb!

6. She rarely spits up, and if she does it's generally just a tiny bit on her chin. She has never spit up on her clothes. She spit up on my clothes once in the last 8 weeks.

7. She rarely is quiet. When she's not crying she is making all sorts of other squeaks and sounds. Sometimes she sounds like a little mouse. She gets the hiccups a lot and to me they sound like "ribbit" "ribbit" so sometimes I say she's like a little frog. Paul doesn't like it when I say that as he doesn't think frogs are cute (but mice are?). She makes many sounds in her sleep as well. I think I had the monitor turned on in my bedroom maybe 1-2 nights once we were home and then I realized every little sound would wake me up and I can hear her crying without the monitor. Actually the same goes for the living room downstairs. If she's wailing I can hear her without the monitor. So we don't use the monitor too much. I would get even less sleep than I do now if she slept in our room (more than she does anyhow - sometimes she does sleep with us a little). As it is with her in the other room I still sometimes wake up when I hear her and then I peek in and see she's still asleep and go back to bed.

8. She's not big on pacifers. Brands like Nuk are immediately ejected from her mouth. Sometimes the Soothie ones help to comfort her, and she is getting a little better at keeping it in her mouth. Most of the time however they are of no assistance in calming her. Sometimes she sucks on her fist but that's usually more a sign of hunger than anything else.

9. She's only been in the Snugli once, but it worked well (for Paul) that one time. I've used the sling with her many times and as long as I am walking (or at least standing) they work pretty well most of the time. I am not sure how we'd survive a trip to the grocery store without the sling because

10. she doesn't like the infant car seat. Sometimes she falls asleep in the car and other times she screams the entire trip. However she does not like to be in the car seat in the house. She again went down to sleep easier last night in her crib (rather than the car seat we'd been using).

11. She's grown a lot in the last 8 weeks. We were using both "layers" of the head positioner in the car seat and now she's "graduated" to only using one of them. She's outgrown some clothes (in length) and others that were too long before now fit her or are getting small as well.

12. She loves to have her back rubbed. Patting works as well at times, but I think she likes it being rubbed the best. It can calm her when she's upset and definitely helps to put her to sleep.

13. She's much calmer with me than with Paul particularly with things like diaper changes and having her nose aspirated.

14. Her eyes are still blue so maybe they're going to stay blue like her Daddy's?

15. Her hair is still brown, and it didn't fall out thankfully (I know that happens with some babies). It's actually grown quite a bit and is filling in more and more. I can't wait until it's long enough for things like pigtails and such! :-)

16. Her belly button is still DEFINITELY an outie...like I've never seen before. I don't know where she got that as Paul and I have innies (even at 36w pg, LOL).

17. She used to wake up crying immediately, but lately she wakes up and is happy for a little bit before she starts crying and she doesn't usually go to a scream immediately unless I take too long to come get her.

18. She's also outgrown her first bathtub (this small pink basin from NICU) and she had her first bath in the BIG tub (using a bath cradle I bought 3 years ago) on Saturday. She usually enjoys her baths (which wasn't true at first).

19. We usually give her a bottle about once a day (usually 4 oz) and she doesn't like it if it's cold (as in straight from the refrigerator). We need to at least warm it up by holding it under warm running water. She has no trouble switching back and forth between the bottle and being nursed.
20. Nadia's favorite places to nap are on my chest or on the boppy on my lap leaned up against me. To get her to nap elsewhere generally requires over an hour of effort. So the last nap Mommy got was on Sunday which means I've had a bad headache the last couple of days. Last night I got less than 5 hours of sleep as she was up from 11:30pm-3:00am and then only slept until 5am. I really, really need a nap today and/or more sleep tonight. I had planned to do some packing or mow the backyard today (which hasn't been mowed in 7 weeks since my mom did it last). I mowed the front yard once, and Paul mowed the front yard once in that time frame. However I feel so awful I don't think any packing or mowing will get done today.

21. Nadia was born w/o any eyelashes. They started to come in slowly while in the NICU. Since then they have grown longer and gotten darker, but they are still nothing like her Mommy's. Even as an infant I had long, dark eyelashes (while my hair at that point was blonde).

22. She also was born w/o any eyebrows. She has some light brown hair there, but she's had a lot less progress with those compared to her eyelashes.

23. She really likes the taste of Tylenol and Amoxicillan.

24. Her hands get ice cold when she sleeps in her crib even if the room is really warm and she's dressed in layers, long sleeves, etc.

25. She makes the cutest facial expressions even while sleeping. She dispays quite a variety!

26. She loves to arch her back although that isn't good while nursing.

I look forward to learning many more things about Nadia in the coming days, weeks, months, and years ahead!

8 Weeks old

Nadia is EIGHT weeks old as of today! Last night wasn't a good night as she slept 3 hours the first stretch and then was up every hour after that and got up for good rather early. The one upside of last night was that she went to bed very easily every time. We had her sleep in her crib. I am not sure if that is why she went down easier. I am not sure which is better though to have her sleep longer stretches and have it take so long to get her down or shorter stretches but easier to go down. She's still very congested. Today is day 13 of frequently aspirating her nose. She loves the taste of the antibiotics but is still learning how to swallow it - some of it is "ejected" although not intentionally as she really likes the stuff! Her Grandma came up today to babysit her while I went shopping for 90 minutes.

Doctors Appointments

I called this morning and asked that Nadia be seen by a doctor even though she doesn't have a fever as today is her 12th day of being very congested, and we haven't seen any improvement. Actually she sounds worse. So I had my ppm appt at 11:00 and then took her to be seen by a pediatrician (not her usual one) at 11:30. My appt was very informative as I had it with the OB who delivered Nadia. I asked her if I was pg again if I should just automatically have a c/s. I figured if my pelvis wasn't big enough to deliver a 6lb 2oz baby that I probably couldn't deliver any baby. She said that my pelvis wasn't the problem. The problem was Nadia's head wasn't in the correct position. She said they weren't able to put the vacuum on her head in the normal place as her head was at an angle off to the side. She said they were trying to shift her position with the vacuum, but they were not able to get her in the correct position. The doctor said that in fact it took her 2-3 attempts to get her out during the c/s. She said usually the baby's head is located right near the incision, but Nadia's head was not there and they had to move her to even be able to deliver her by c/s. She apologized that this information was not given to me sooner. I said there was so much going on there at the end that it was understandable. So although it doesn't change anything, I admit I feel better knowing I have the accurate info. There was a part of me that was wondering if it was my fault somehow; although it took some training by the nurse to get me pushing correctly, they said I was doing a good job, but since I pushed for 4 1/2 hours and didn't get her out a little part of me kept wondering if I did something wrong, if I had done something differently we could have avoided a c/s. Well that "guilt" is now gone now that I realize it was due to how Nadia "presented herself" as the doctor said. She said it was unlikely that if I was pg again that the next baby would do the same thing and that I would not necessarily need another c/s. Well who knows if I'll ever be pg again, but just in case I am glad I had this conversation. The first thing I noticed when she came in was that she is pg herself. She told me she's due on Halloween. She said my incision looks good. It's still bright red, but it's now flat.

Then I took Nadia to her doctor appt (less than 5 minutes from my OB's office). Between the two appts and the driving time we were gone a little less than 2 hours and Nadia was crying most of that time. She now weighs 8lb 10.5 oz so she gained 2 ounces shy of 2 lbs in 3w 3d. She'll definitely be over 9lb at her 2 month check up next week. They didn't measure her length, but I am positive she's grown that way as well. The doctor checked her ears, throat, and lungs and said her lungs are clear. He gave her an Rx for antibiotics which Paul is picking up right now. Hopefully these will help her start feeling better soon. I can't believe she'll be 8 weeks old tomorrow! Last night she slept for 4 hours, was awake for 2 hours, and then slept a little less than 2 hours. So she's now had a few nights in a row of only sleeping 6 hours which is less than usual for her.

The professor that Paul is a TA for is away at a conference this week. So Paul gets 4 days off in terms of TA training (his prof will do training on Friday). They are having talks every day at lunch time that the new PhD students are supposed to attend, but I suggested to Paul that he should ask for permission to be excused since he'd be driving 3 hours RT for a 1 hour talk. So he decided to stay home today and work on the revisions for his thesis. He's going to go tomorrow as he's also going to attend a group meeting of one of the two research groups he's considering joining. It worked out well that he was home today as the radon people came before I got home from the doctor appointments. They're installing the radon mitigation system right now.

Associate Professor

Well yesterday my promotion and tenure became effective. I have no idea why they became effective on a Saturday given we only work M-F. Yesterday and today I have been doing some work to prepare for the fall semester; it was the only thing I couldn't do prior to Nadia's birth as they only gave us access on August 1. I finished 3 of 5 classes (one is just an independent study) and hope to finish the other 2 before I go to bed tonight. My goals for this week include to start packing, start exercising, and get caught up on writing thank you notes. I am so amazed at how many people have sent us a card and/or given us a gift. When I stopped in my office on Friday there were 3 more gifts - two from nursing profs on my hall and one from the union president and office manager. Those gifts included a beautiful white sweater cape, onesies, shoes, headbands, and a t-shirt and socks from our school's bookstore.

Tomorrow I have my ppm visit at the OB's office. I asked for my appt to be with the OB who did the c-section (and vacuum attempts) as I want to be able to ask her a few questions. I had one prenatal visit with her. I plan to weigh myself with Nadia and without Nadia at the doctor's office so I can find out how much she weighs. We tried doing that at home with our scale and it seems she's over 9 lbs, but we aren't sure how accurate that is. I am very curious to see how much she weighs. The second photo here is from July 15 and the third is from today. In the second one the sleeves are rolled up and you can see there was a lot more growing room in that sleeper than there is now (3rd photo). She's definitely longer & heavier!

Friday night she slept 5 1/2 hours straight the first stretch which was great, but then she only slept 30 minutes total the rest of the night which was not good. Last night she slept 3 1/2 hours the first stretch and after I nursed her 45 minutes she slept 2 1/2 hours. Then she was awake from 4:30-8:30am and then slept 45 minutes. Thankfully she went back to sleep easily at 2am last night (which didn't happen the night before). However getting her down for the first stretch has taken a long time every night for many days. I'd say the shortest it takes to get her down is 2 hours and the longest is 4 hours. She took one nap in her car seat today, and it took Paul over an hour to get her down. She falls asleep but wakes up soon after being in the seat and it's back to rocking her to sleep again, etc. I hope once she feels better that it's easier to get her to sleep for both naps and for bed at night. I was very grateful Paul got her down as I slept both during the time he was working to get her down and the time she was sleeping as I was totally exhausted. Friday is really my first day back to work even though classes don't start until next Monday. I hope I can start getting more than 6 hours of sleep a night before I go back to work.

Sling

The outfits shown in yesterday and today's posts are size 0-3 months so thankfully we are getting some use out of some of them before the weather changes. These were both gifts from a Canadian friend I've emailed with for 5 years (thanks, Krissy!).

Well I am very grateful for the sling (thanks, Mom). Since Nadia isn't crazy about the bouncer or the swing, I am very glad she is usually content in the sling as this enables me to get housework done, go grocery shopping, etc. Today she was in the sling while I was at work. It seems it takes me about 90 minutes to get myself showered etc. plus nurse her etc. This means until we move I'll need to get up at 6:00am MWF and then 5:45am after we move. Last night she went down at 9:30pm, and I got at least 6.5 hours of sleep between then and 6:15am when I needed to get up. I used to get 8-9 hours, but today I proved I could function at work with less than 7. I'm going to send her doctor a message to let her know today is the 9th day of needing to frequently use the aspirator on her. I hope she feels back to normal soon!!

Aspirator

 

I feel badly for Nadia. Today is the 8th day of me aspirating her nose. She's still very congested. Last night she had a hard time going to sleep, but finally Paul got her down at 10:30. She slept until 1, and then she slept from 2:15-5:00am. This morning she's been napping a lot. Yesterday she would only sleep on me. She's been super clingy. If I put her down to go to the bathroom she screams. I assume it's because she doesn't feel well. She still doesn't have a fever, and she's still eating well so that means the doctor doesn't think she needs to be seen. I guess there's nothing they could do for her. It's hard to watch a little baby be sick. It's especially hard for Paul when he hears her struggling to breathe. I hope she feels better soon!!!

Wow!

Dr. M said that Nadia is at the age where she won't have as many poopy diapers. She said as long as she has 1 a week that's ok. She went more than 24 hours w/o one and then made up for lost time with a huge one around 5am today. She woke up screaming and it sounded like a poopy diaper scream, and I was right. I'm learning! She's still very congested so I keep using the drops and aspirator regularly. She went down at 7:30pm and slept until 12:45am which was great, but the rest of the night didn't go well. Hopefully her congestion will clear up soon; it's been a week now.

There are over 60 new PhD chemistry students at PSU this year, and Paul was one of only 2 assigned a 400 level lab (TA). He ran into the grad student who was his "host" at the Open House in the spring. Seth asked Paul what his TA assignment was, and when Paul told him, he said "Wow." I am proud of my hubby that he did so well on his entrance exams!!! We are glad his commute RT will be an hour less each day starting on 9-24.

The first photo was taken 7-4 and the second 8-12. She's growing like a weed! :-)

7 weeks old

Nadia has still been congested, and ever since last Thurs I had been wondering whether I should call the doctor or not. Her only symptom was a stuffy nose (no fever). Well she was a lot fussier yesterday (not just at naptime/bedtime like she had been for a few days but all the time) so I called the doctor. Her pediatrician asked me if she had a fever (no) and was she still eating well (yes). She suggested we buy "little noses" (saline drops for the nose), aspirate before every nap and every feeding, and have Nadia sleep more propped up (like in her car seat). So we bought the drops, and Paul's mom was a dear and went to the Walmart down near them and then drove up to our house with the battery operated nasal aspirator I had on my registry but hadn't received or purchased. I should have ordered it a few weeks ago! Nadia hated the regular bulb syringe. She did sooooooooo much better with this new aspirator. It's well worth the price, and I recommend it to any of you who have wee ones. Also, the temporal thermometer (which I did receive as a baby shower gift from my registry) is wonderful as well. She hates having her temp taking at the doctor's office but doesn't mind this one at all. So I suggest that parents of young children will appreciate owning these two things!
We gave her some infant Tylenol last night for the first time (1/2 dose). I am not sure what did the trick - having her sleep in the car seat, the Tylenol or the more frequent aspiration (after using the saline), but she SLEPT. YAHOOOOOOOOOO! She went down EASILY at 8:30pm and slept until 12:45am and went down EASILY at 1:30am and slept until 5:00am and then I nursed her for about an hour and she's still asleep right now (almost 2 hours later). This was by far the best night in a very long time. Actually it might qualify as the best night ever! We put the car seat in her bedroom and that was her bed. I do plan to call the doctor back this morning though as although the sleeping went much better, her new symptom is that she's stopped pooping. Her diapers have been either only wet (soaking so that's not a problem) or wet with the tiniest bit of poop. Definitely a big change from usual. So we'll see what Dr. M tells me this morning. I am not sure if she'll want us to come in or not. I feel so badly that Nadia doesn't feel well. Poor little girl!

She is now SEVEN weeks old as of today. I can't believe how much she's changed in that time. She's definitely gained a lot of weight and also grown quite a bit in length based on the fact she's outgrowing some clothes. That sundress that she wore last week was 0-3 months so some 0-3 months stuff is starting to fit although the bottoms still are way too big. She has a little waist. You could fit at least two Nadias in most of the 0-3 month size bottoms, LOL. It's funny because she seems "so big" to me and then I think of the babies who are 10 lb + at birth, and to those parents she probably still seems so small. :-)