Nora: 0-2 weeks

I thought it would be interesting to try and take the same picture I took all pregnancy with baby on the outside!  So here we are, with Nora at a week and half and about her birth weight (probably just a bit over).

Things are going pretty awesome around here.  We have been busy and accomplished a lot (new baby, moved into a new house, emptied the old house, Joseph started first grade), but I have also made sure to take the time to heal and enjoy little Nora.  Of course, there have been some rough moments, but all in all I am completely amazed at how smoothly all these transitions have gone. 

Here is a little update/survey type thing, adapted from other blogs, that I may or may not continue with…

Personality:  Things have been so very different this time around.  Who knows what accounts for this—changes in me, being a second child, not being separated from me in the NICU, or just Nora being Nora—but from the very beginning she has been much more laid back.  She has slept quite a bit and is rarely very fussy.  For about the first week and a half pretty much all she did was sleep.  Now she is starting to have more alert periods, and sometime can get a bit upset, but she still doesn’t compare to Joseph’s hours of constant crying!

Physical: Nora weighed 9lbs even at birth and measured 22 1/2 inches (Joseph was basically the same: just 3 ounces more and exact same length).  She was 8lbs 10 ozs when we left the hospital, then back up to her birth weight about a week later.  At her two week check up yesterday she was 9lbs 10 ozs.  Obviously Brad and I do not make small children! I was a bit taken aback by Nora’s appearance in the beginning, since she had some minor bruises, lots of blotches, and a huge bruise on her head from the vacuum.  Since Joseph was born via c-section he was almost completely unscathed.  But Nora has healed very well—the hematoma on her head surprised everyone by disappearing in a couple days!  Her blotchiness also went away very quickly.  Other then the imperfections from her trip out, Nora looked pretty much identical to Joseph.  So much so that we all kind of thought of her as another little Joseph. Now when I look at her I am starting to see differences and to see more femine aspects.  Her hair is a bit less red then Joseph when he was born and her eyelashes and eyebrows are lighter as well; they are so fair you can barely see them.  Her eyes are blue at this point, whereas Joseph’s were so dark you couldn’t tell what color they were.  In my opinion, she is one cute baby!

Eating habits:  Nora took to nursing right away.  I was sooo happy to be able to nurse as soon as she was born.  I honestly hadn’t thought much about breastfeeding—just assumed I would nurse and remember how to do it.  Very luckily this is pretty much what happened.  For the most part it was like riding a bicycle; it all came back to me quickly.  I was very laid back about it all and that was pleasant (since I’m not really that laid back about too many things relating to infants…).  My milk came in Monday (after she was born Saturday evening) which was pretty quick, and definitely contributed to her being such a happy baby.  By the time we left the hospital that afternoon everyone it seemed had commented on how she pooped like a one week old!  No wonder she gained her weight back so easily!  She is an extremely efficient nurser, she doesn’t nurse for long but clamps on and gets a lot of milk quickly.  I am not paying that much attention to how often she nurses, but it probably averages every three hours or so, more often during the day and less often at night.  She also adores her pacifier and I am kind of trying to cut back on that, without much luck.

Sleep:  I might regret saying this, but so far she has been amazing.  I actually feel like a mostly normal human being (as compared to the zombie I felt like for at least Joseph’s first 3 months).  She loves to sleep.  The main thing she gets upset about now is if she wants to sleep but keeps getting woken up (our house can be a bit noisy sometimes!).  Her amazing sleeping during her first week (when I was recovering and we were about to move) was like a gift from god. Oh I hope and pray that she continues to be a good sleeper.  Even a decent sleeper.  Just better the Joseph, please!!!

Nicknames: Noranator, Noni, Baby, Little sis, Sister, Zibby, Norabelle.

Mom stuff:  As you can tell, I am generally feeling pretty awesome.  I was initially a bit surprised how hurt I was and how little I could do right after the birth (I had clearly romanticized the birth process a bit) .  But I think I am healing well—I feel mostly normal at this point.  I’ve lost 20+ pounds so about 15 more to get to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Somehow all along in this pregnancy I have been much more at ease with the changes in my body and that has continued postpartum.  I know I still have a tummy and I try to conceal it a bit, but I’m not too worried! I’m pretty in awe of what my body managed to do.