The Goodwin Baby Blog: new baby

Well, we've made it a week! Jason ended up with 5 days at home with his new family--his 3 personal days flowed right into the weekend. He was great with keeping Nate occupied while Amelia and I found our breastfeeding rhythm. They went to the Bass Pro Shop with Papa (and came home with strawberry fudge); HEB for groceries (and came home with a balloon for Mia); the garden centers around the neighborhood to pick out colorful perennials for the back fence, herbs for the garden and two small trees for visual interest. They actually found Amelia variety tomatoes, too! The boys planted the namesake vegetables and the rest of the greenery Saturday afternoon (see photo of Nate watering his sister's tomatoes).

Sunday, we were planning to make our big family debut at church; but I woke up not feeling quite up to the challenge. My milk came in Saturday night (yes, "Elsie" is back). I don't know if that drained my energy reserves or what. We opted to stay home and not push our luck.

On Monday Amelia had her post-hospital, 3-day well visit with Dr. Grant. My MIL, Jeanie, came down for the morning to watch Nate. She even took him to Jim's Restaurant for a special corn dog meal and cinnamon ice cream! (He'd really wanted to go to Jim's Sunday night for supper for some reason; so she scored big Granna points!)

Here are Amelia's well-baby stats:

Length: 20.75 inches (a bad measurement at the hospital, or she's grown an inch already!)
Weight: 8 pounds, 4 oz (back above her birth weight)
Head cir: 13.75
A slight touch of jaundice, but within the range of "normal"
Her first shot...Hep B

Yesterday was my first official day alone with the two kids. It was an extended day, too, since Jason had the night call shift on his pediatrics rotation and didn't make it home until 7:30. I rallied my inner super mom and got everyone ready for MOPS by 8:45 (including a shower for me and a second morning feeding for Mia!) I'm glad I went. It was nice to wear real clothes (as opposed to the maternity shorts and nursing tanks I'd been wearing all weekend) and chat with the girls! I really wanted to go to get Nate out of the house and into his "normal routine" (if normal even exists anymore). Amelia stayed in her sling the entire time (even for her feeding), so anxious, well-meaning hands were kept away from her until next MOPS meeting--I promised they could hold her next time! We made decorative flower pots and planted some annuals. It will be a test to see how well I do nurturing two different things at the same time! I thought it appropriate that one of the Bible verses available for our flower pots was 1 Peter 2:2, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."

We are home!! Jason and I arrived home with Amelia Thursday afternoon. We were very happy with our stay at Methodist, but it's nice to be home. (The one thing I missed last night was the option to have the nurses take Amelia down to the nursery so Jason and I could catch a 3-hour block of sleep!) Last night went well. She's a good feeder--a natural nurser from the moment the delivery nurse laid her on my chest after birth--latch and suck; my kids seem to know how to eat!

We had several visitors in the hospital (which was a change for us. Nate was born on a weekend so the grapevine didn't spread the news as quickly and he was born overseas in Okinawa, Japan so it was a little hard for family to just stop on by.) Of course Bill & Jeanie (Amelia's Granna & Papa) were there, later Nate came up to meet his little sister, several members of our church dropped in to wish us well, our neighbor who works at Methodist, and Wendy and Charles who are on their psych rotation--so they had nothing but time Jason says! Now that we're home, we've had many more visitors (some bearing hot meals, flowers, gifts or well-wishes)--mostly friends from medical school and our great neighbors.

To answer the 3 most-commonly asked questions:

How did you find the name Amelia? It's the name that we picked out for Nathaniel if he'd been a girl. We both liked it (which for those of you who've gone through the naming process as a couple know is a feat in itself). It means "industrious, striving." Of course we like that; but I think the fact that both of us were pilots in that phase of our lives influenced us a little more (you might have heard of an aviatrix named Amelia Earhart!) ;) When we first shared the name with Nate, he couldn't quite say Amelia (he's much better now). He would say "A-meeya;" hence bestowing her nickname, Mia. Grace is a family name--my great aunt's name on my mother's side.

Who does she look like? When she was first born, I thought she looked exactly like her big brother, Nate. Now that she's unfolding a little more, she definitely has her own look. I think she'll also be a good blend of both me and Jason. She seems to have my darker skin tone with Jason's long eyelashes and his mouth & chin. We'll see if she gets his dimples, too!

How are things going? (tied with, "How do you feel?") I think so far (and I almost hate to type this), she's an easy-going personality. When she was born, the nurse exclaimed, "That's not a cry; we need to get this baby to cry soon." But the shrieking, wailing cry expected in the delivery room has yet to surface. I know babies don't wake up to the world for a few days and even then can pull a fast one on you for a few weeks--changing their needs & personalities overnight; but I would currently label her "easy-going" (if I were into labeling, that is). Sleep--eat--poop--change--repeat...what's to be fussy about?
As for me, I'm a lot more sore "down there" than I remember being after my first delivery. And the uterus cramping back down to size while I'm breast-feeding...ouch! I'm glad a girlfriend warned me of the increased cramping the second time around. The pain is about a 4 on the hospital's pain scale--right up there with my early labor contractions on Wednesday! Oh, and suddenly it's not so fun to have hard, laminate floors. I could use a donut cushion (like those hemorrhoids pillows). We'll see how I feel mentally once the sleep deprivation catches up with me; but so far, I actually feel like I might pull this two-child-parenting-gig off (or at least fool them for awhile).

Nate loves his baby sister. He's very cooperative at diaper changes (he gets to pick out the diaper--he seems to like Baby Oscar and Baby Grover), he lets Mia feed when "it's time for her breast milk," and gives her lots of hugs and kisses (unfortunately he's a three-year-old brute and doesn't understand his own strength). We're trying to tone down the lay-your-full-body-weight-on-top-of-her hugs. I'm waiting for the tide to turn, but don't want to focus too much on what might happen!

Here are some cute quotes from Nate: