Back at Home with Our Little Burrito

Smiling Rosalie

What a week! The past five days have been quite a whirlwind. After spending two nights in the hospital, we were discharged on Thursday and made our way home around 2pm. We are having a great time getting to know our little girl. So far we'd describe her as:

• Big-eyed, alert and curious when awake
• Petite in weight, but with long skinny limbs
• A very good sleeper - we have to wake her every 2-3 hours to eat (and we've slept through 2 of her night time feedings because we both didn't hear the alarm).
• Persistent - she keeps at it even when feeding is tough and agitation creeps in

We have a lot to learn about how to be parents, but are thus far loving it, despite the haze of little sleep. Rosalie is not super fussy, but the times when she has had her better cries, it has been in the wee hours of the morning. Funny how it turns out like that.

Below are a few more photos of Rosalie. I'm working on a post to describe the labor and delivery - don't worry, I won't get into the gross details - and will hopefully post that later for those who are interested. To close out this post, I'll just give an update on why Rosalie was in the NICU, her tongue-tied procedure and how her first pediatrician appointment went today.

Reason for the NICU

Rosalie was in the neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) for about a day because when they tested her blood sugar 2 hours after she was born it measured very low. She was also a little under weight for her gestational age, so that made them more concerned. Our labor and delivery nurse was great and tried to help us not have to send her to the NICU because the low blood sugar reading may have not been Rosalie's fault. It took 2 hours after delivery before I could feed Rosalie. But at the end of the day, it was probably better to be safe than sorry.

Her Tongue-Untie Procedure

While in the NICU they noticed that Rosalie's tongue is what they call tongue-tied which, "happens when the string of tissue under a baby's tongue (frenulum), which attaches her tongue to the floor of her mouth, is too short. If a baby has tongue-tie, her tongue can't move freely, and this can cause problems with feeding." The doctor said it basically means a tongue-tied baby has to work 10 times harder to get the same amount of milk. A simple procedure for fixing it is called a frenulotomy. A doctor snips the string at the base of the tongue (the frenulum) and it allows the tongue to more freely hit the top of the mouth, making feeding easier. The doctor performed this procedure the morning before we left, and Rosalie was a trooper.

Her First Pediatrician Appt

Today Rosalie had her first doctor's appointment. Her umbilical cord stump fell off right before we left for the hospital this morning, so the doc checked out her belly button which she says looks great. Rosalie seems to be doing very well. She's a bit below her birth weight -- she was 5 pounds, 14 ounces at birth and is now 5 pounds, 8 ounces - but it is totally normal for babies to lose weight at first. But because Rosalie was on the smaller side to begin with, we will return to the doctor every few days until her weight is back up. So the next appointment is on Monday.

That's all for now! Thanks for all the emails of congrats and thoughtful comments. ...Now for a few more photos:

Rosalie a couple of hours after birth

Rosalie in the NICU

Adam reading to Rosalie at home

Rosalie 4 days old with 6 week old cousin Isaac

Rosalie with our cone-head dog Heart