Happy Valentine's Day

So far...

I guess it went OK with the first night of the routine.

Grace slept from 7-10, 12-3:30, 4:30-7. Then we took a morning nap from 9-10:30. She's been taking little mini naps since then, which is good because it's giving me a chance to get ready to take her to the hospital. I've found that with a baby to get ready as well, I can no longer get ready and leave the house so easily. It takes me hours to get myself organized, get her fed, changed, bundled up, and out the door on time!

Must run. Hopefully this is the last blood test she'll have to endure for a while...

On the road to a routine

Grace is almost four weeks old and so far I've been winging it as far as bedtime goes. She's been going to bed when I feel like it -- so selfish on my part! It's been hard because sometimes she's ready to sleep when I am, but often she is not. She's sometimes wide awake!

Finally I can see that I need a bedtime routine to get her sleeping comfortably at a good time. It will be good for me, too, so I can get to know her signals better, and also so I can have a bit of free time. This is what I'm trying out now:

5:30pm - Keep Grace awake and active; give her a small feed if necessary

6:00pm - Bathtime (every other day)

6:30 - Feed

7:00 - Bedtime

after 7:00 - Sarah's time to eat/do other stuff

10:00 - diaper check/change; feed; Sarah's bedtime

Tonight is the first night for this routine. We didn't do too bad. She was sleeping by 7:10. She woke up crying once 15 minutes later and I went in and put my hand on her without talking or eye contact. She's sleeping now, so I hope this is working. I think it'll take a couple of weeks to get us both used to this, or else we'll have to alter it or try a different sort of routine.

This just in...

Grace likes baths!

I didn't like giving Grace sponge baths (when her cord was still attached), but since being able to give her real baths, I really enjoy bathing her. She seems to like it as well. Now if only husband could get used to doing it. I want him to have that time with her since I'm always feeding her...

Tests good

The latest blood test came back and Grace's thyroid level has dropped quite a lot. The doctor said it looks like she won't need medicine. It's still a little higher than normal, so we're going back for another blood test in two weeks. It looks good.

Grace has been really good. I mean, I'm tired as heck, but she's not a crier. When she wants to eat, she lets me know, I feed her, she drops off to sleep or looks quietly around. The only challenging bit has been that she seems to like to wake up around 11 at night and then do a marathon feeding session 'til around 2 or 3 am or until she's ready to go to sleep. Any attempt to interrupt this long meal will result in crying.

I can't believe she's nearly 3 weeks old already. I can see her growing. She has more fat around her neck and thighs, and her hands and feet are noticeably larger. I can't tell for sure, but I've also noticed that in her alert time, she seems to be "seeing" more. She looks at people when they speak and she even looked at a toy curiously the other day. Her strength is growing too. She can hold up her head longer each day.

Yet again...

Yet again, I post about Grace because she is now the centre of my attention. I feel a bit like a hermit these days, but I'm actually having fun staying in and taking care of her. It's too cold to take her out anyway.

We had to take her to the hospital on Monday for another blood test. The test they did right after birth came back a bit strange on the thyroid levels. They mentioned hyperthyroidism.... I'm trying not to get too worried about it just yet. Results are in Thursday morning, so I'll deal with that then. But it was nice to get her weighed and see that she has gained about 10 ounces already (300 grams). She definitely eats enough, so I'm glad that's not a worry. It's great to see her get fatter and fatter.Getting ready to take her to the hospital: I feel a bit out of the loop these days not being online as much and not keeping up with the world in general, but as I said, I'm enjoying it. Friends have been dropping by here and there, which I really appreciate.
Sad news: Toto has to go away for a while. Her behavior is not an issue. In fact, she's perfect around the baby. She doesn't bother with her much at all. A couple of time she came over and sniffed her and gave her a little kitty head rub. The problem is ventilation in these Korean apartments. There are no vents or air ducts. And to prevent Toto from coming in and sleeping with us, I have to close the bedroom door at night. But that puts us in an air tight concrete box for the night. It's not good for breathing or air quality. Luckily, one of my good friends is going to come to get her tomorrow. Her boyfriend babysat Toto before, so they know her well. They're going to keep her for a while until I decide what to do. It's so strange that all along I was worried about the cat's behavior around the baby, and it turns out the apartment setup is the problem. Poor, poor Toto...

Have to show off...

Grace is sleeping now, so I'm posting a few pictures. As the days go by, it's slowly getting easier to take care of her, although I probably won't be on anything resembling a routine for at least a couple more weeks. She eats every two hours (or more) so I'm kept pretty busy. Although I'm hesitant to say this so soon, she seems like a good baby.

Welcome Grace

Born January 7th at 4:45 pm. She's 3.37 kg and 50.4 cm long.

+3 days

Well, I didn't think I'd make it this far, especially with having a bit of a scare at 30 weeks with the baby dropping. Everyone keeps saying it looks like I'm carrying really high, so I think this baby has changed her mind.

The doctor will allow me to go over by 2 weeks max. I hope it doesn't come to that. She recommended getting out and walking, so I may just have to take her advice, whether it's comfortable or not.

Yesterday I visited my friend, R, for afternoon tea. It was great to chat about our babies who will be born soon. She's around 38 weeks I think.

...5 a.m. this morning I get a text message that she's in the hospital having her baby -- just 10 hours after I saw her! So strange! I can't help but be a little bit envious, but I can't wait to hear all about her experience.

Here I am yesterday at 40 weeks 2 days. Thought I should take a picture since it's the first time in a while I had gotten out of my sweats, put on makeup, and dried my hair. I call it "Overdue, overtired, and overweight."

0 days?

Ah, it says zero days... no big deal. I'm totally prepared for this to be over with. I have an appointment tomorrow (40 week appointment!) which may give me a clue as to when this will be over.

I decided since I can't sleep I should post these pictures of finished projects. Who knows -- I may not have time to if baby decides to come soon.

My Bella's Mittens turned out OK. They're from the movie "Twilight," which I'll probably never see, but I thought it was a cute pattern. I eliminated the long cuffs though, 'cause I thought those could get annoying under a winter coat.

Also, I crocheted up this ultra easy scarf with the Noro yarn from Dongdaemun. I did a pretty crappy blocking job because I don't like sitting on the floor anymore, but at least it's done and will be wearable as soon as it's dry. Toto likes to supervise these things.But it's hard work...

I'm hungry.