I love…

6.5 Weeks

• Gummy baby smiles
• Floppy arms & legs of a full, satisfied and relaxed baby
• Her clean baby scent
• When she snuggles her head into my neck
• When she sleeps on my chest
• When she’s snuggly, awake (and quiet) on my chest
• All the different sounds & gurgles when she “talks” to me
• Watching her sleep
• When I lift her lion king style, she really does look like a kitten
• Her little fingers and toes
• Her little fingers holding mine…yes I know it’s just reflexes right now
• Her soft soft skin (minus the baby acne)
• All the different facial expressions she doesn’t know she’s making
• The happy expectant look she gives me when she knows she’s going to be fed
• The tired old man look she gives when I’m burping her
• Hearing a good belch after a feed

Love you NessNess! Muah.

 

Day in the Life

First week ::

12am : feed baby & change diaper
1am : sleep
3:30am : feed baby & change diaper
4:30am : eat something and then sleep
7am : feed baby & change diaper
8am : drink something and then sleep
10:30am : feed baby & change diaper
11:30am : trying to get baby to nap
1:30pm : baby finally napping and you want to as well but are also really hungry so you eat and then sleep
4pm : feed baby & change diaper
5pm : remember to brush your teeth and then sleep
7:30pm : feed baby & change diaper
8:30pm : start eating dinner, feed baby & check diaper
9:30pm : feed baby & check diaper
10:30pm : finish eating dinner, feed baby & change diaper
11:30pm : feed baby & check diaper
12am : start all over again

I don’t think I managed to shower until day 6…sacrificed some sleep for that.

Things are better now, 6 weeks later ::

12am : feed baby & change diaper
1am : sleep
5am : feed baby & change diaper
6am : drink something and then sleep
9am : feed baby & change diaper
10am : eat a bite of breakfast or drink some milk, brush teeth and then sleep
12:30pm : feed baby & change diaper
1:30pm : try to get baby to nap, trying to eat lunch
2:30pm : still trying to get baby to nap, still eating lunch
3:30pm : feed baby & change diaper
4:30pm : baby finally napping so you finish lunch and also nap
7:30pm : feed baby & change diaper
8:30pm : start eating dinner but baby is fussing and not sleeping
9:30pm : feed baby & check diaper
10:30pm : finish eating dinner, feed baby & change diaper
11:30pm : feed baby & check diaper
12am : start all over again

Now during baby nap times I can either nap or eat or shower or check email or do laundry or cook something…whether in the morning or afternoon. But I have to get one good nap in myself to function else I’m exhausted. Supposedly babies can happily & healthily sleep through the night (8hr+) by around 7-10 weeks and that’s my goal! Crossing my fingers.

Her Name

I confess, I was more prepared to have a boy. Everyone, even strangers on the street, was saying I carried like I was having a boy. Of course we knew it was still a 50/50 chance either way but we started to believe maybe people were right. So a boy name was pretty much set on. Girl names however was still in the short listing process.

And then we had a girl!

Indecision ensued. For about three weeks.

During those three weeks we would repeat our short list of names aloud over our little girl and see if she responded to any in particular. For one name we got a “wtf” facial expression so that name got crossed off. Another name got no response so that was dropped too. And then we tried to see if the names rhymed with anything off-colored or if it would be easy to make fun of. (We’d want to raise her to be confident and secure in her identity that she wouldn’t care if there was some name calling anyways.) One name Skywalker liked more than I did. Another name I liked more than he. But finally…we decided on Anessa Grace.

Anessa…like Vanessa…but without the V.
We came across the name in a “familiar but unique” list of names online. It had a nice ring….and it matched our criteria. It’s a variant of Agnes which means “pure”. We thought of the verse “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God” (Matt 5:8) and really want our daughter to recognize God and find joy in Him in everything. My sister also shared afterwards that the Hebrew meaning was “favored” or “grace”. This was neat because her middle name is Grace. We pray she will be gracious and graceful in personality…so it’s doubled in her name. And surely we can never be short on receiving or extending grace.

So far, she is living up to the gracious part in how we’re still learning and figuring so many things out as new parents. She’s been a really good baby. God is gracious! PTL!

I didn’t know…

• One side effect of getting an epidural is shivering, teeth clattering and your body shaking. I was shaking so badly.
• After delivery, the swelling in your nether regions will be bad enough to move your anatomy to different places.
• A hospital discharge requirement is that you be able to pee on your own…don’t take this for granted. Also don’t take for granted that you can hold your urge to pee.
• Just because the stitches have dissolved and the wound is closed doesn’t mean the flesh under the stitches is healed. Careful how you get on and off soft surfaces…like your bed.
• You will bleed for a month afterwards.
• Choices like “Should I eat or sleep” will be about as complicated as things get….choose sleep by the way.
• You show all the water you’ve retained with super swollen feet. Think club foot and cankles.
• You will then lose a lot of water from your body post partum. Peeing & sweating tons. Tons. It could also be all the ginger I’m eating as part of the Chinese confinement diet.
• Your hips will still be loose and wobbly…not sure how long it takes for the ligaments in your pelvis to return to normal.
• Getting carpal tunnel is super common after having a baby from the stress of bending your wrists holding/carrying/burping/patting baby all the time. I don’t have it yet…but I can feel the soreness!
• About cluster feeding….it’s where the baby is super hungry and feeds hourly for a stretch of time before finally going to sleep. It’s exhausting. But, I’m thankful she does this before midnight.
• Between breast feeding, which burns a lot of calories a well as help your uterus return to its original size faster, in combination with sweating lots, I’d only be 8 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight….and have done nothing but eat, sleep, feed. Woohoo! BUT…I do have this soft belly that can almost be tucked into my pants.

Anything else you Moms learned after having a baby? =)

Apologies…

…for disappearing the last few months.

It was hard to think through my daily, and all-day mind you, fog of nausea and semi-narcoleptic tendencies. Or rather, my thoughts were mostly questions of how women could enjoy this time. I thought pregnant women glowed? Yes, bun’s in the oven — Skywalker and I are expecting!

Things were progressing smoothly then at exactly week 7, everything…like everything…tasted terrible. Especially meat. And I LOVE meat. So I was pretty sad when I went to cook chicken/beef/pork/lamb/fish and found I couldn’t handle the smell or taste. Meat smells and tastes like death. Even if it’s marinated…I taste the marinade…and the protein texture in my mouth that still tastes like death. *gag* And garlic? *double gag* I had also developed an incredible sense of smell. I could be taking a walk outside and smell that someone had just opened a can/bottle of Coke somewhere. But all the scents added to the nausea. Especially food scents. So I really didn’t want to eat much…but hunger made the nausea worse. Which meant I had to force stuff into my mouth and stomach. I breathed mostly through my mouth that first trimester. Happily, the nausea fog cleared in the second trimester…and while meat still isn’t the tastiest to me, I can stomach it.

On a more positive note….hearing the heartbeat for the first time was pretty incredible. Hearing it the second time is still pretty incredible. There is a new LIFE inside! My body is helping sustain a little human right now….a whole new individual being is in there!! And now, I’m just starting to feel little butterfly swooshes and swipes inside me. That I get to be part of this miracle is a gift of grace in itself. It’s an amazing feeling that fills my mind and heart with wonder.

Ok, answers to questions everyone asks:

Due Apr 29
Week 17
Gained 8 lbs total so far
Don’t know the gender and leaning towards being surprised
Doesn’t matter whether boy or girl…healthy, happy baby is all we ask for
Haven’t picked names yet…any tips on how to narrow things down?