Day #4 (Thu., Jan. 7, 2010) – Visiting The Pediatrician
Here it is…the start of our first full day at home.
2:15am – I tried to sleep but with the screams of a baby it’s very hard. I guess that my wife has been up all night except for 30 minutes when Katie has slept. The pacifier is helping a bit, but I think she realizes that it’s plastic and not a real nipple. Here’s a question for the public? Is such a thing possible with such a small child?
2:30am – Katie is up again, and so am I. Surprise, surprise. I brought Katie to my wife so that she could feed, and once again, she fell asleep. Let’s try a different trick this time. Now that she has fallen asleep, put the pacifier in her mouth and transfer her back to the crib. Ah, that seems to work, at least she is not up and “mouthing” again. Let’s see how long this lasts…
4:00am – Katie is up and screaming. Her lungs are sure fine. I had to get her out of two sleepers to check her diaper, and was it ever dirty. This is the first time I changed a diaper here at home. We have a wipes warmer and a neat little dispenser to get rid of dirty diapers. A quick change and it was time to reload with more food from wifey.
4:20am – My wife said that she was hungry so I made her some of the hot ginger drink she likes and brought her some graham crackers with almond butter. She can’t eat it now, but will once Katie is done with her meal.
5:00am – I burped Katie and put her back to bed. Let’s hope my wife and I can sleep a bit now.
5:20am – Little Katie is up again. My wife is trying to sleep so I did my best to try and console the little one. She seems to realize that a pacifier is not a regular nipple. Is this possible at this age? I thought that I would try out the rocking chair that we brought into our room last night. To no avail. She’s back with my wife now.
9:30am – I was able to get a nice hour or so nap, and wifey the same. What a blessing a bit of sleep is…especially when you need it most. I’m the taxi driver Daddy who takes the customer Katie to the Restaurant Mommy. While the customer Katie is initially happy to see the taxi driver Daddy, this eventually gives way to drive faster taxi driver, faster, I’m hungry…
9:40am – I made the hot ginger drink that my wife likes along with some rye bread and raspberry preserves and a cheese omelet. She feels like she is going to faint from time to time from hunger, so I’m happy to help out in this way. Besides, what is a sleep deprived dad to do with his time anyway?
I sent an email to my wife’s family to let them know that all is well.
11:15am – Katie is up and feeding again. My wife showed me that she is starting to generate milk now (it is white in color as opposed to clear).
12:30pm – My wife and I are getting ready for our trip to the pediatrician.
12:45pm – My wife just told me that there is lots of pee in Katie’s diaper. Yippee!!! We’ve been wondering if she is peeing properly. She certainly has the pooping part down pat.
1:00pm – We packaged little Katie up into the car seat and are now driving her to her pediatrician appointment.
1:15pm – We arrived at the pediatrician and they made us fill out more paperwork. The pediatrician wants to see us on Saturday to make sure that the baby is getting enough nourishment. We then went to see the lactation consultant who gave us more advice on feeding the baby. She said that they don’t recommend pacifiers as there is a chance that the baby will get confused with nipples and actually start rejecting the mother’s nipple in favor of the pacifier.
3:30pm – We got back from the pediatrician and saw a nice little vase of flowers being hugged by the teddy bear. They were sent by my mother, sister, and brother-in-law. They are so cute and my wife really liked the cute little teddy bear.
4:00pm – I made a couple of organic beef cheeseburgers with whole wheat bread for my wife and I and we were both soon off to bed.
7:00pm – Wake up household, Katie wants to be fed!
8:45pm – I just got off the phone with mom. We told her how much we loved the flowers, vase and teddy bear, and she got to hear little Katie with the hiccups, then that powerful voice she has. I was going to call up my sister, but it was a bit too late.
8:15pm – My wife was hungry so I made her some white beans that we got from the store. She loved them.
10:46pm – I’ve just finished updating this blog and little Katie is letting us know that it’s time to focus on her again…
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) It’s great when the real milk comes…
2) An upset child can sure become the center of attention.
3) The importance of a pediatrician you like and can relate to.