8 days old

Today we went back to St. Luke's hospital for Juni's hearing test. She passed! Only one ear had passed when she was tested last Wednesday (when she was one day old), so we needed to go back to repeat the test. We were told that it is common for babies to have amniotic fluid in their ears right after birth and so that is probably why her right ear was "referred" to repeat the test. The picture above is our sweet Juni while the test was being done.

I haven't had time to blog lately because I've been nursing Juni or eating or sleeping with every spare minute. We had a scary couple of days at the beginning of this week because Juni hadn't pooed in a few days and then we learned at her doctor's appointment on Monday that her weight had dropped a little too much. By then, my milk had finally come in fully and she'd started pooping again, so the doctor said to keep up with the feedings and to keep track of her number of feeds, pees and poos, and we go in again tomorrow for another weight check.

We love her soooo much and are enjoying every minute with her. Even the scary minutes. She is the best.

Video message from our East Coast friends

Our friends Karen and Peter made a video for Juniper on the day of her birth. Click on the link below to watch it and you'll see their twin boys, Johnny and Henry, sending a message for Juniper.
http://tinyurl.com/65r3mh

4 days old

Bob took this cute picture today. We went for a walk to the grocery store this morning. Our first family outing.

Last night for the first time I was unable to soothe Juniper with my touch or a feeding, which is all that was needed for the first 3 1/2 days of her life. I was tired and when I couldn't get her to stop wailing, I started crying myself. Bob ended up taking over and he used "The Happiest Baby on the Block" tips to sooth her and it worked. He was great, and he gave me a nice break. Today he has been taking more turns holding her and soothing her during the times when she's not feeding. He enjoys hanging out with her! And he's great at using the soothing techniques.

Here's some pictures I took today:

daddy sock, baby sock

Hi everybody. Daddy here. I did $21 worth of laundry today. Now we are all caught up until tomorrow. Jen's milk came in at 4AM and Juniper finally got some serious zzzzzs, so we got a few hours of sleep too. Juni had her first spit up as well. Life has been busy around here but the best time in our lives. I've taken on the job taking care of all of Jen's needs, so that she can really be present to Juniper's needs. I think it has been working. These two are enthralled with one another.

eat.sleep.rock.repeat.

I love this picture of Juniper that Bob took this morning. She'll make a great singer. This is the shirt she was wearing when we took her home from the hospital.

Today I gave Juniper her first sponge bath. It went more smoothly than I thought it would. It helped to nurse her while I washed her hair with a washcloth. It was great to see all of her perfect, tiny body parts and to clean the crevices in her tiny ears. She has ear lobes--unattached earlobes--which neither Bob nor I have so I'll have to investigate the families to see where she got those. Her ears are so pretty.

June also received her first chiropractic treatment from Dr. Hicks today. The doctor said she is in great shape. She's well aligned and has great muscle tone and strength for a 2 day old baby. Here's a picture of part of the exam/treatment with Dr. Hicks who made a house call for us today.

I also got an adjustment which felt so great! It was my favorite adjustment ever out of the 8 years I've been seeing Dr. Hicks. My body apparently has gone through a lot of stress in the past 3 days. Dr. Hicks gave me some tips for better posture while breastfeeding. Bob was able to sooth Juni while I got my treatment in the other room. Don't they look sweet together?

We are home

We left the hospital at about 5:30 pm yesterday (Wednesday). We were home by 6. We were welcome to stay another night at the hospital, but decided we would be more likely to get rest as needed if we were home without all the vital sign checks and visiting from various health care professionals. I'm so glad to be home! Don't get me wrong, I really appreciated all the support we got at the hospital. We got the perfect amount of help, and were ready to leave. Since Mom (me) and Baby were passing all the tests with flying colors (I was told that I was healing quickly), they had no problem with getting us ready to go home. Juni was examined by Dr. John Liou, who we'd met at the hospital tour when he gave a talk about newborn care. We like him and it was nice to see a familiar face. I asked him about the "stork bite" on Juni's forehead. He told me that it is called a nevus flamus and it will most likely go away once Juni's skin grows thick enough to cover it up. He gave us the okay to take her home and said to take her to see our pediatrician on Monday. A nurse lactation consultant visited us and spent a good amount of time teaching breastfeeding tips. She guided me through a trial run of three positions for feeding: the cradle hold, the football hold, and the side lying position. Her help was great and it was good to practice the holds because I've used them all and more throughout Juni's young life. (I didn't sleep much last night as she is nearly constantly rooting for food, but the side lying position allows me to rest a bit and feed her at the same time.) The lactation consultant told us that the second night with a newborn is much harder than the first night because the baby gets very hungry since her reserves are running low and yet the mom's milk hasn't come in yet, just small amounts of colostrum. She was right! Last night was a challenge. But I LOVE it. Juni has been unable to sleep on her own ever since we got home. She's been sleeping on my lap as I type this but now she's awake again...

Pictures from labor and right after the birth