Georgia: Week 1

As we approach two full weeks with this little creature, a few things I want to document. I'm sure this won't be a regular feature as soon as she starts sleeping less than 21 hours a day.

Really, half of our first week was spent in the hospital. I wasn't very hesitant about signing up for a repeat c-section as my first experience seemed relatively easy (with, granted, no point of comparison). I do like that we got to spend 3 full nights in the hospital - I really needed it for about a day and a half, then we had time to just be there and get used to Georgia and she to us. She had a lot of frustrating feeding issues that I also feel like we made progress on the day we left, Sunday.

(these are all Instagram and iPhone pictures - better pictures to come. The phone is just so convenient!)

Our first night home was good (I think? can't honestly remember). It WAS nice to have the four of us under the same roof for the first time in days. Ellen's normal school schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Erik was able to take off the whole week, which was really nice. And quiet. He got up and took Ellen to school on Monday, per our normal routine, and kind of winked at her teacher and said he was off to work. Ellen stomped her foot, pointed her finger and told him to get home and take care of her mom and baby sister! Erik was super helpful (if not bored - he offered to run multiple errands to get one tiny thing) and it was so nice to have an extra set of hands on Ellen's first two "home days", along with lots of visits from grandparents, aunts and uncles, of course.

She was happy, happy all week to get home and snuggle baby Georgia (which looks mostly like smothering her with her whole body). Only once did Ellen comment on the size of my belly (why is it still big?) and asked if I was sure there wasn't another baby in there (yes, I'm SURE). Last night she stared at me and said, "Your eyes look weird. Like, bloody." Thanks, sis, that's called TIRED. She also called me Molly almost exclusively when we first came home from the hospital, which now has mostly reverted back to Mom / Mama. Oh, we also instituted a "responsibility chart" because I need more things in my life to keep track of. She has a long list of responsibilities and gets smiley or frowny faces depending on how the day went, then money at the end of each week as a reward to save for something special. The jury is still out ...

I wish I had more to say about Georgia B (that's what I call her all the time. Why? Who knows ...). She is a dreamy baby, sleeps well and eats well. Despite our significant feeding struggles at the hospital, she really turned a corner and now feeds much better than I remember with Ellen. And faster. She doesn't like to burp, nor do I like spending time burping babies, but it doesn't seem to phase her much and she isn't spitty at all. I swaddled her for bedtime the first several nights and she fought it, fought it, fought it. I ALWAYS swaddled Ellen for every nap and bedtime and I wasn't quite sure what to make of this development. Georgia had her hands in front of her face during every ultrasound and she continues to relax that way. In the middle of the night I dug out a warm sleep sack and a pacifier and it seemed to do the trick. Surprisingly, her hands in her face didn't wake her up. Last night, though, was a different story ... more to come on this scenario. I know you are perched at the edge of your seat in suspense.

As they say, the hours inch by and the days fly by ...