(no subject)

[pulchria2345]

As I sit here, with my daughter asleep on my chest, I look at the clock and realize that in twelve hours, she will be a week old. It's amazing how far she has come in seven days. We went to the pediatrician today, who said she was doing great. She weighs five pounds twelve ounces, which is less than her birth weight but still expected. She still is a little jaundiced, but with sunlight and breast milk (AKA lots of dirty diapers), she's improving daily. We go back in ten days to make sure that all is still well. But when I think of how scared the first four days of her life were, it's such a revelation that I can sit here with her now. In the NICU, the rules of touching her were so strict....alcohol wash every time I touched her, fierce scrubbing upon entering the NICU (with soap that I was allergic to), "hands on" time that meant only for an hour of every three could I touch her, and so many more rules that I just freaked out when they said I could take her home. I don't think I've ever been more scared than on the way home that day. She fell asleep, and I continually checked to make sure she was breathing. And that day, I was actually scared to touch my child....for fear that I would hurt her. And now, she's here and healthy. She's starting to sleep at night, and I wake her every two or three hours (depending on how well she's eaten at the last feeding). Adjusting wasn't an easy process for either of us....after the constant chimes of the NICU and restricted touching, home seemed a strange environment, I think, and she had to let loose some steam. She cried for most of the night whenever I put her down. I talked to Dr. Fernando today, who said that it was in part due to the change in environment and also due to the fact that during pregnancy, nighttime is when babies could stretch out and play.
Her accomplishments for the week:
-ability to breath on her own
-ability to breastfeed
-finding her fingers (and loving to suck on them)
-an hour and half ride home from the hospital
-lots of dirty diapers