Sunday, February 27, 2005 7:40 pm

E-better
Boy, what a huge difference it makes when your baby stops crying the ENTIRE time between feedings. Her gas problems haven't completely worked themselves out, but they've gotten much better. Now she eats, fusses and cries for 10-15 minutes afterwards and then either farts or burps and falls right asleep...WHEW!!!! She still goes days between poops sometimes and then explodes (see below), but it doesn't seem to bother her as much as long as she can fart...and boy, can she...she's really a chip off the old block...:)

She was pretty fussy all week long, at least by the time I got home. She cried and cried all night and I felt so bad for H because she really didn't get any sleep and she was starting to get as fussy as the baby. I couldn't really do much to help because I had to get up in the morning and go to work all day, so I would try to take care of E-beth as soon as I got home, but after she screamed bloody murder for about 10 minutes with me, mom would come and hit me with that look like "okay, let me show you how to do it" and say "You want me to take her for a little?" Now, it wasn't like I wasn't getting any sleep, but what I was getting wasn't as restful as I need, so I was a bit cranky myself and often times felt like saying "Just because I don't have BOOBS doesn't mean that I don't know how to take care of our baby!!" But I knew that was just the sleep deprivation talking, so I bit my tongue and handed over the baby.

E-mommy
Friday night I had to go video tape the Msgr. Schnacky annual melodrama (the show where I proposed to H on stage two years ago...wow, was that really two years ago?). It's an incredible group of people, and everyone just has a blast, and H and I both miss being in the show this year, but we try to help out wherever we can when births and babies don't come along. Anyway, the show is halfway through the third act when my cell phone starts vibrating away in my pocket. I waited for the number to end on stage, shut off the camera, took out my phone, saw the message was from H and played it just to make sure there wasn't some horrible medical emergency. I heard her very exhausted voice begging me to "Please come home as soon as you're done over there"...insane screaming baby in the background..."she's been doing this for the last two hours and I just don't know what to do." So, I went home and spent the night in the living room with E-baby so H could close the bedroom door and get a full nights sleep. It felt great to be able to totally take over and not have her feeling like she had to come save me.

Yesterday H went out of the house to do some serious shopping. She started going through her shopping list that she started back in November (the last time she was able to go out shopping), crossed off stuff like Christmas cards and wrapping paper, added stuff like baby swing and diapers, and off she went. She was gone for about 4 hours and she came back so upbeat, happy and invigorated, it was fantastic.

I did the mommy thing again last night and I just can't imagine how single mothers can function. The body just doesn't do well without ever hitting REM sleep. By the third feeding, E-baby started fussing before the alarm went off and I woke up SURE that I had just finished feeding her and wondered why she was getting so fussy...until I looked at the clock and realized that I had been asleep for 2 full hours and had no recollection of falling asleep. If I had to do this by myself for 3-4 months (which is how long everyone is saying she'll be on this sleep schedule) I would go absolutely crazy...

Anyway, it's been a wonderful weekend, going into the week with a charged up wife, and less than completely cranky baby, a full week of work lined up...AND...tomorrow is her one month appointment! Which I'm pretty sure H is going to send me to by myself so she doesn't have to hear the screaming that will come with the immunizations...I can't say I blame her!! But, at least there you know why she's screaming and that it's only temporary.

Our baby loves tie dye

 

E-Sibling?
Hmmm...we originally wanted 100 babies up until last Monday, now we're not sure how people can handle more than one at a time! But we're still thinking about making a playmate for E-baby...:)...well, one with less fur than Skye or Mehitabel. Their latest trick is that Mehitabel will get up on the counter to steal the baby bottle pieces, but they're too big for her to eat or run away with (although I think she's taking the little rubber gasket things that keep E-baby from getting too gassy) so she knocks them on the floor, and then Skye proceeds to chew them up into swallowable sized pieces...So, now we cover up the drying bottles and pieces with a dishtowel, which seems to be working.

E-Screaming
After an hour or so of soothing, talking and singing (oh yeah, lots of singing...sometimes it works), it turns into earplugs, headphones, heavy duty hearing protection...how many decibels loud is a jet engine?

E-Sleeping
And she falls asleep, and all is well in the world...:)

Blue skies...oh, and be sure to check out how H is selling off all my really cool stuff...:)

 

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 10:23 pm - Happy One Month Birthday!!!

Although the past few days seem like they've been longer than the past four weeks. Our delicate little flower has been making the loudest noises in all varieties. Between her belching, farting and INSANE crying fits, she's quite the little music box. I don't mind any of it except the crying and squirming. She gets the most uncomfortable looks on her face and I feel so bad for her. Often times, there's nothing that helps her out except for a boob, which pretty much excludes me. I've been trying to tell H that I'm here for her and willing to do anything to help, but sometimes there's nothing I can do, which makes me feel a bit frustrated. I'm sure the lack of sleep on both our parts doesn't help. It would have been nice if my new job started in 2-3 weeks instead of this week. But, like H said, "She's SO worth it." And really, how long could these all day / all night fits last? Right? Please?

 

Monday, February 14, 2005 10:19 pm - Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

The Feeder
This girl can EAT!!!! It seems like she's been eating, burping or pooping all day long! She's now gotten to the point where she starts to fuss whenever we put her down unless she's really out. And just when you think she's asleep (like right now, as I type one handed and she's resting on my chest while I burp and hold her with one hand - amazing what you learn to do with one hand), you look down at her and she'll crack one little eye at you as if to say "Don't even think about putting me down."

I had two great job interviews today and got two job offers, so it was great news to bring home, although that means less time helping out at here. But both offers are temporary contracts, not full-time postions, and the one I'll probaby take is more flexible and will allow me to work from home occasionally. It's just absolutely amazing how things work out sometimes.

I can see where it could become easy to try to take care of things that have to be done (laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, job, etc.) while trying to "fit in" taking care of the baby. But, I've got to remind myself that E and H are the most important things in my life right now, and it's easy to do that by doing something that is so rewarding and fills me love like focusing on her and just soothing her on my chest until she falls completely asleep. I just went in and put her in her little carrier seat next her mom, both of them sound asleep...I've never been happier.

Sunday, February 13, 2005 1:09 pm

E-diapers
Wow! This little girl sure can go through diapers! I got up around 7:30 this morning because Elizabeth started making little fussing noises. Not really crying, just letting us know that sometime, in the near future, she was going to blow if she didn’t get some liquid satisfaction. Since H had spent all night getting up every two hours to breastfeed, I told her to keep sleeping and I would take E-baby into the living room and feed her. Now, I always start by changing her diaper, which is invariably dirty after two to three hours with no maintenance, then a quick burping, and onto the bottle she goes.

We’ve discovered that we need to keep her body upright (head above the belly) for at least 30 minutes after each feeding, or the contents quickly come back up, and then she’s hungry again, and the whole process starts over. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that she consistently decides she has to poop about halfway through the feeding. Generally, we leave the diaper alone until after we pass the 30 minute mark, but I took her to the pediatrician yesterday, and our doctor told me about yelling at her husband after he let their baby stay in a dirty diaper after feeding because the baby went to sleep and he didn’t want to wake her. So, not wanting to feel like a horrible husband and father, I decided to try to change E-beth after her halfway through feeding poop.

Remembering that I had to keep her upright, I decided to spread the waterproof changing pad out on my lap, propped my feet up on the coffee table to create an incline on my legs, and started the changing process. It went pretty well. She’s already taught me to keep a clean diaper under the dirty one as she loves to pee as soon as the dirty diaper is removed, and I’m getting pretty good at grabbing her little feet while I manipulate the diaper and the wipes because she also likes to put her feet right into the dirty diaper, which never turns out pretty. So, I got her all changed and started burping her with no loss of her breakfast and was pretty proud of myself when… ppphhhhhhttttttttt…What the?!?! She just filled her brand new clean diaper!! Again!!! I figured I would get her through the rest of the bottle before changing her again. It worked out as smoothly the second time, but I’m sure she’s just suckering me in for the time I’m dressed up for a job interview and decide to pull the changing on the legs trick and she’ll explode all over my nice white button down and silk tie…

E-laundry
We’ve gotten all sorts of advice about washing baby clothes. Some people told us to wash all the baby’s clothes separately and to use special detergent. Other people told us we could wash all the clothes together as long as we use a mild detergent. We’ve decided to wash all the clothes together and use our regular detergent. We figured that if our baby suddenly turned red and bumpy all over that we’d look into different options, but it seems to be working fine so far. It’s amazing how much clothing, blankets, and spit up cloths such a little person can go through in a few days. It’s generally not enough to merit a complete load for her, and if we waited for a complete load, she’d probably have to spend a few days in one very milk-covered outfit. One piece of advice we were given that we are heeding, is that you shouldn’t use fabric softener with baby clothes. No problem, except that now all of my shirts and pants are coming out of the dryer with baby clothes stuck all over them. At least they’re clean baby clothes, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I go into a job interview and they pull a burp cloth off my clean sweater.

E-pets
The dog and cat don’t seem too interested in E-baby yet. The cat will occasionally stick her nose in the baby’s direction, but she doesn’t seem to have the desire to curl up on the baby and use her as a heating pad, which is good. Skye is pretty unconvinced that she’s something to merit his attention. She doesn’t smell like food, we don’t let him nose around in her diapers, so there’s no poop to eat, and she hasn’t started moving around much yet, so she’s not really worth herding. We keep a close eye on the pets when they’re in the room with her, and we keep Skye fenced into the kitchen most of the time, which is working fine. The only embarrassing thing about the pets is all the hair. When I was stripping Ebeth down at the doctor’s office the other day for her weigh in (up to a hefty 5 lbs., 14 oz.) I noticed that her little yellow receiving blanket had dog and cat hairs all over it. I hadn’t really noticed that before, maybe because everything else in our house is so covered, it doesn’t really show by comparison. That wasn’t too bad, but I couldn't believe it when I took her diaper off and noticed cat hair in her diaper!! I tried to pull it off and roll it up quickly before the doctor noticed, but wasn’t sure I was successful. It wasn’t like it was just one hair or something, it looked like the cat had been sleeping on the diaper before I put it on her, which seems impossible since we leave the diapers all folded up until right before we use them, but who knows. The cat could be sleeping on the changing table at night, and when we’re not looking she could be coughing hairballs up and sticking them in diapers for safe keeping.

E-daddy
Anyway, it’s been a busy few days, I’m trying to get my resume together and re-design my website to add new samples and give it a new look. I had two interviews on Friday and have two more on Monday. The freelance work keeps lining up, and I'd really like to do as much of that as I can so I can stay home as long as possilbe. H is spending all her time feeding and trying to catch some sleep when E-baby stops fussing.

 

I’m trying to help out as much as I can with dishes, laundry, dinner and diapers. All in all, we’re very happy...and very busy.

 

We often find ourselves trying to figure out how we would do this if I was still working, or, GOD FORBID, if we had twins! I don’t see how people survive. I was talking with my mother the other day, and asking how she did it by herself with my brother when our dad off in Vietnam and she said she spent many nights in the rocking chair with him and both of them just cried and cried…One thing for sure, parenthood sure makes you appreciate everything your parents did for you. I find myself thanking my mom and dad LOTS for everything that I either didn’t remember, or just took for granted…so, remember that, and go thank your parents!!

Blue skies!!

Friday, February 11, 2005 1:57 am (yes...am)

I'm writing this one handed while holding and rocking the baby, so it may be short, but i figured it wouldn't be a very good blog if it wasn't updated fairly regularly.
It was a pretty slow day. It's getting easier for me because Elizabeth is doing more breast feeding and needs less supplemental formula from a bottle. So the daddy boob is being phased out. Of course, that means that Heather has even less time to answer emails, recover and basically keep herself from going crazy from being in the house for the past three months, and looking forward to at least a few more weeks of it. I almost feel bad when I go out to the store during the day, but that usually subsides a bit as I set the pack of maxi-pads and vagisil on the checkout counter.
The baby is doing great. She's fussing a bit more often, but seems to be satisfied by the breast...she really is her father's daughter...she's got my gas too...I suppose its in the ghenes.
Wow. She got fussy, gassy and spit up a bunch of formula...nice...I'd better tend to her until she gets to sleep...Here are some pics to keep you occupied...

Tuesday, February 8, 2005 9:11 pm

Wow, first entry...I originally thought of starting this blog to chronicle the advances of Elizabeth Michelle Piper until she can take it over herself. I figure that will be a year or two at the rate she is growing and advancing. Every day she opens her eyes for longer and longer periods of time, and last time we went to the pediatrician, she was maintaining her growth rate of 2 ounces every day. The way I figure it, she'll weigh 45 pounds after the first year! Okay, maybe I'm a bit of an optimist, but c'mon, she's our first, we can still dream.

Tomorrow is Elizabeth's two-week birthday party. I'm not sure how many of her friends will be coming over, but I'm sure we'll bake a big cake and let her play in the frosting. Or, maybe we'll just try to switch off on the feedings so each of us can get 4-5 hours of solid sleep.

It's been an amazing two weeks since Heather's belly was sliced open and our daughter was pulled out, suctioned off, given shots and had some really slimy gel rubbed into her eyes. Don't even get me going about the little tube they jammed 4 feet into her throat. I'm still not sure where all that tubing went, even after going back and watching the video several times.

One of our neighborhood families stopped over the other night to see the baby, and the husband was telling me about a great game I missed out on during the c-section...name that internal organ. He actually played it with the doctor while his wife was lying on the table with her innards spread out on her chest. Major surgery is really an amazing accomplishment that makes you realize how fragile life is and how absolutely incredible the human body is...and the sorts of things that can be accomplished with anesthetics. Which reminds me of the moment when I was standing in my scrubs outside the operating room waiting for them to tell me that my wife was ready and I could come in, when the doctor who ended up performing the surgery came up and asked if I was the anesthesiologist. I wasn't quite sure how to respond, but I figured honesty was a good policy with a man about to slice open the love of my life.

Anyway, after 5 very long days in the hospital trying to figure out how to keep my new daughter from screaming bloody murder each time she woke up to trying to figure out where to get my next meal at a hospital that seemed to forget that there were two people involved in this whole pregnancy baby thing, we finally got to come home.

I spent the first two days trying to help Heather out as much as possible as she was pretty sore from being turned inside out and then trying to figure out how to get life giving fluid essential to our baby's existence to come out of her chest. So, I did lots of diaper changes, swaddling, formula warming, feeding, bottle and nipple washing and breast pump assembling and disassembling, all while being extremely sleep deprived. Really, much of this behavior reminded me of my time in basic training in the Army...the midnight reveilles, assembling and disassembling weapons, cleaning equipment, making beds...lots of similarities. I certainly won't make any comparisons between my wife and my drill sergeants; I've got a little more sense than that. Anyway, after two days of that, I was almost looking forward to getting back to work where I at least knew what was expected and what to expect. One of my friends at the office who has two kids did warn me that my wife may express some jealousy at the fact that I actually got to leave during the day and interact with people who did more than eat, sleep and poop (although I do wonder about some of them).

Anyway, after three days back at work, I got laid off! I was in good company, there were 6 other employees who ended up leaving with me, and it's pretty par for the course for the company we were with.

So, now I get to spend my time helping my wife, taking care of my daughter and fixing things around the house. It's been absolutely incredible, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm lining up lots of freelance web development work and multimedia projects and have no worries about my employment future. During my time at the hospital, I realized, once again, that the most important things in the world are family and friends and now I get to spend my time with them.

Well, I think that's a good enough start for now. I'm off to snuggle my baby. Blue skies!!