The baby, in sum, Day 9

1. Baby Helene is the cutest thing ever.

2. She is also doing fabulously, according to our pediatrician visit earlier this week. The hospital staff about scared us to death at checkout over borderline jaundice and almost 10% of body weight lost and you must wake the baby every two hours to feed her or certain doom will follow, and had me frantically squeezing breastmilk into the baby while we got teary and worried about just keeping her alive and well. Our pediatrician, however, was delighted to see that Helene was within 3 oz. of her birth weight only 5 days after birth, saw no signs of jaundice, assured me that I must have plenty of milk for her to be doing so well, and generally gave us a gold star for everything.

3. She is a rather petite little flower, as evidenced by the fact that most of the "newborn" sized things we have are just billowing on her. After our pediatrician visit, we decided to act like normal people and go to the Starbucks on the corner (coffee, dark, delicious coffee, that no longer gives me heartburn!). Seth was carrying the baby in a sling, and when I lifted her out with her legs dangling, her wee pants and her diaper just slid right off. So, there we were in Starbucks, with a half-naked baby just dangling over one of the tables, giggling hysterically and hoping that she didn't, ahem, excrete anything before we could get our act together and put some clothing back on her.

4. Helene is a good baby. So far, she only fusses or cries when something is needed, like a diaper change, or a feeding. She mostly sleeps. Sometimes she's wide awake for awhile, which kind of surprises us, because we are used to seeing her sleep peacefully when she isn't eating or being changed. My father in law keeps joking and asking, where is the real baby? This must be a robot starter baby who is just too easy, and the real baby will arrive soon.



5. Did I mention the cutest thing ever? And that I sometimes find myself with tears running down my face because I just love her so much, and the feeling just swallows me whole, like an ocean wave, and leaves me gasping with its hugeness?