Two Days Old

Hmm.  What to do when your baby woke you up at 3:00am, ate and calmly went back to sleep at 4:30; however, you, not so calmly could not fall back asleep?  It's 7:00am now and I'm still wide awake.  Looks like a nap is in my near future.  In the meantime, ...blog it.

Norah is 1 month old!  Stay tuned for her current and the first of many monthly photos.  I hope to post this later today.  Similarly, we had new official newborn shots taken when she was 12 days old.  We are still waiting to get those photos from our photographer.  However, we did receive the disc of photos taken in the hospital by Bella Baby Photography.  I'm happy to share these with you today in a little slideshow I threw together.  For fam, the album has also been posted on SmugMug and you can order prints there if you want.  Norah was just two days old!

 

 

 

P.S. The results of the baby poll were updated sometime ago but I forgot to post about it.  Congrats to the overall winner, Annika, who guessed accurately by assuming her cousin would also be overcooked! :-)  Scroll back to the baby poll post and click the link for it, you should then be able to see the results and rankings for all the guesses.  Thanks for participating!

 

Om Nom!

Admittedly I am a bit behind on my blog posts.  Thus, there may be one or two coming today depending on how much time I have before the peanut starts screaming for more food.  Speaking of food, let's start with that...

Feed Me Seymour!
No, I'm not going to write about the delicious tiramisu my sister brought over a week or so ago, albeit it was divine.  Thanks, Auntie Laura!  I'm also not going to go into details about my love and longing for some iced Starbucks right about now, even if it is decaf.  I'll save those musings for another day.  What I would like to document on this family blog is our current challenges of finding the perfect sustenance for little Norah's discerning palate. 

It's been a long hard road over the last few weeks since being discharged from the hospital.  We have been struggling with the social messaging of "Breast is Best" and the fact that Mama's milk is insufficient.  Due to any number of reasons, most likely the extreme edema/swelling I had post long-labor followed by surgery, I did not get any milk whatsoever until well into Day 9 after Norah was born.  The peanut was starving and before we even left the hospital she had lost more than the acceptable percentage of body weight.  They allow up to 10% loss within the first week and she was down by more than 13% when we were discharged at 3 days old.  We have had no choice but to supplement her diet with formula. 

We have been working with the Post-Partum/Breastfeeding Center at Evergreen and they have been great.  We've been to see lactation consultants 6 times in the last two weeks and have tried tube and syringe feedings, deep tissue massage, pumping, tea, herbal supplements, medication for the edema and now we are trying a new medication to increase prolactin, the hormone that promotes milk production.  We have also been referred to Occupational Therapists at Seattle Children's for evaluation of Norah's latch and tongue.  We do not think she is tongue-tied but she may need some tongue training to help with proper milk transfer. 

The feeding process has been incredibly frustrating.  What seemed like a relatively easy pregnancy has now turned into a very difficult first few weeks with the newborn.  When we were doing tube and syringe feedings our whole process of meal time was taking close to 2 hours and then Norah would be hungry again 15-30 minutes later.  This was very taxing on Mama and Dada because it meant no rest for the weary.  We have since switched to a bottle for premies and that seems to reduce the time for the process down to about 1 hour and 15 minutes but it is still a lot to handle.  It's helpful when David isn't working that he can do the bottle and burping while Mama pumps but it's still a lot.  We are hopeful with the new medication, more time for swelling to reduce and the upcoming evaluations that we will get to a full supply of breastmilk and be able to wean little one back off the formula.  However, if it doesn't work out at least we will know that we tried absolutely everything possible! 

Growing Strong
Breast may be best but not starving the baby is better!  Luckily, peanut is perfectly healthy and growing strong.  She was born at 7lbs, got down to 6.2 and at our last appointment on June 14th she was up to a big 'ol 7.8!  When she was born so small we had to buy a few more newborn sized outfits because all of the 0-3 month clothes were swimming on her.  She is slowly starting to outgrow a few of her sleepers and the puffy cheeks she had at birth are back in full force.  Whether it's breastmilk or formula we are happy that she is healthy and growing and changing every day.

Capture the Peanut
Many pictures are coming soon including pro photos taken in the hospital by Evergreen's contracted Bella Baby Photography.  We also had our official newborn shoot at 12 days old with Photography by Karensa.  We will be posting these shots in the coming days/weeks once we get them from the photographers.  However, Mama had a chance to do a makeshift photo session of our own at 1 week old and here are some of those shots.  Additionally, for the fam, a few albums of these and shots from the hospital have been added to SmugMug.  Enjoy!

 With Grandma's Hand-Knitted Blanket and Hats

Tiny Hands

   

Our Favorite Shot of Norah and Dada at Home

Welcome Norah Genevieve Braun!

She's here!  We were induced the morning of Sunday, May 26th and after 34 hours of labor and an eventful c-section we welcomed our healthy little peanut to the world. 

Norah Genevieve Braun
Born Monday, May 27, 2013 at 4:11pm
Weight: 7.03lbs
Length: 20.8"
10 fingers, 10 toes :-)

We were discharged from the hospital the afternoon of Thursday, May 30th.  The whole family has been recovering and enjoying our first few days at home.

What's in a name!?
We picked Norah because it was Mama's favorite from the beginning.  We felt the name was classic but liked that it isn't super popular or in the top 10 names for the year.  Throughout the pregnancy we went back and forth on whether we liked this name because it seemed to be climbing in popularity.  In the end though it was one of the only names we could agree on and after she was born we knew that it would fit her.  We liked the version with the "h" because it is less likely to be considered shorthand for a longer name.  It is also the same spelling as the Norah that sings our first dance wedding song.  Genevieve is Gina's namesake and paternal grandmother who passed away way too young.  This name represents our connection to family, the Italian heritage on Gina's side and we hope a continued sense of tradition and spirituality.  There were many family names in the running but ultimately, Genevieve was the right fit for Baby B.

Adventures in Labor
This the part of the blog post where those of you who may be sensitive to labor details turn away.  Here's a link to some funnies about being a new dad that I shared with David earlier today, click here and stop reading if you don't want to hear too many details:http://daddy-newbie.tumblr.com/, or just scroll down to see the pictures below and skip the text.   

So we were induced...it wasn't ideal but we tried our best to push the date back as far as possible.  Norah was already exercising her stubborn side and refused to join the world on her own.  We had pitocin and got the labor going.  Things proceeded slowly through Sunday but we were walking the halls as much as possible and making progress.  Once we knew that they would not automatically put us on a time table once the water broke, we agreed to have the water broken in the hopes to further kick start the labor.  Things picked up overnight and Mama opted for some pain relief.  The epidural was wonderful.  Things continued to move along after receiving the epidural and by 7am Monday morning it was looking like the birth was imminent.  We had progressed pretty fast up to 7 and we decided to go ahead and call in the family to be present because pushing could have started in just an hour or so.  Then we got checked and stalled.  Not really sure what happened but the progress slowed all day Monday and we were fighting to keep going without going into c-section.  Baby and Mom were both champs - both heart rates were fine under all the stress and there were no major health concerns.  We tried to fend off the c-section talk as long as possible since baby was still doing OK.  She was, however, slightly rotated the wrong way.  The epidural was actually pretty amazing as I was still able to move my legs and try different positioning.  We tried changing sides, kneeling, sitting up to utilize gravity, etc. to help baby rotate to the right position.  This got us all the way to 9 and 1/2 by Monday evening but it was a long, slow day.  When we finally stalled out at 9 and 1/2 and could not push through the last bit to get to 10 we agreed to entertain our option of c-section.  After discussing the risks/benefits, taking into account that large heads can run in the family and that the Dr. said she would not utilized a vacuum or forceps during delivery because of the amount of stress that had already been put on baby's head given the length of our labor, and lastly that we expected baby to be above 8lbs given our last ultrasound we agreed that at this point c-section was the less risky option for baby. 

The whirlwind -
The minute we agreed to c-section the whirlwind came busting into the room.  So many nurses and doctors and in what seemed like a few seconds they had me consented, on the gurney, David in a scrub jumpsuit, all our bags packed onto a cart (we weren't expecting to change rooms so that was interesting) and we were off to the OR.  Cut to the chase - we had surgery, baby was born within the first 10 minutes of the surgery and I think I balled my eyes out with tears of joy when I first heard that little cry.  She was healthy, incredibly alert, pink, and anxious to feed immediately out of the womb.  Ravenous.  She had quite a cone head from being stuck for so long and we were surprised that she weighed in at an even 7lbs.  I got to kiss her little face and David held her during the rest of the surgery.  Then, the rug came out from under me.  They gave me morphine which I knew would make me nauseous and it did, then my heart rate dropped too low - the anesthesiologist told the doctors to stop operating and they made some adjustments to get my heart rate back up or something.  I had blurry vision and could not focus on David and baby at all.  It was pretty scary.  David said there was some organ outside my body during this time but we aren't sure what organ exactly.  Fun.  After a lot of discomfort, pulling, etc. I got put back together and we made it back to our new room (near the NICU on the ante-partum floor).  We had had a baby and major surgery!  Good times.  The first thing we did once settled into the room was to try to feed little Ravy (Ravenous).  Then we welcomed our families to meet the new addition! 

Norah had her first bath with our wonderful nurse, Trish.  She got wrapped up like a burrito and we all settled in.  Welcome, Norah!  We love you more than words can say and can't wait to watch you grow!

 

Bath Time with Trish

 

Dada's First Diaper

 

With Mama

Peanut is showing off her old-man hairline - dark hair but not as dark as Mama's

 

Grandpa and Grandma Braun

 

Nonna (who had a raging sinus infection), Poppa, Auntie (Zia) Laura

 

Tiny Peanut in Her Going-Home Outfit

Slumped Over Ready for Car Ride Home