I have no idea how long it will last, but Anna is definitely a very mellow child. She sleeps through everything – dogs barking, Carrie squealing…and, now, her first bath!
She did wake up once I toweled her off and made her hair all crazy!
First Bath
Anna
First Sit & Knit and Finished Sweater
I didn’t think to get out the camera so there’s no photographic evidence, but Anna came to her first Sit & Knit tonight at the shop. I dressed her up in the cutest little green dress with a fuzzy sheep on the front. She pretty much slept the whole time, and I actually had (just) enough hands-free time to weave in the ends and sew the buttons on her sweater:
Here’s the project page on Ravelry, but here are the vital stats for those not on Rav (yet).
Pattern: February Baby Sweater (Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac)
Yarn: No Two Snowflakes Bellini
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm
Size: There’s no sizing information in the pattern, because, as EZ states, “babies come in all sizes”. I’m thinking it’s around a 6-9 month size, which should work with sleeves rolled up starting when it gets cool next month all the way through spring.
I plan to make a matching hat and socks, and I should have plenty of yarn left for a pair of socks for Carolyn too! (I just have to actually find the time to knit them all…
2 week well-baby visit
Vital stats:
17 days old
7 lbs, 11.5 oz
Well, I apparently make heavy cream instead of milk. Carolyn did this too, though, and weighed almost exactly the same at her two week visit, so I guess I just tend to grow small babies and then fatten ’em up quick after they’re born. :)
But really, I can’t complain about the cute little dimpled elbows or the chunky little thighs!
Due Date
Today was Anna’s official due date, but instead, she’s been here for nine whole days – most of which have passed by in a sleep-deprived blur. Good thing we’ve been taking pictures!
What’s In A Name?
A word about Anna’s name. Anna is mostly just a name we liked, although it does have some family ties. Catherine is for my grandmother (my mom’s mom) who turned 80 the day Anna was born. Depending on which baby name dictionary you consult, Anna means “joy” or “gracious”, and Catherine pretty much universally means “pure”.
And since I never did write about how we chose Carolyn’s name, I’ll do that now too! Carolyn is also a name we liked, as well as being sort of a combination of my parents’ names, Carl and Karen, and my godmother’s name, Linda. Sylvia is Denis’ mother’s name. Carolyn means (again, depending on which dictionary) “song of joy” and Sylvia means “forest”.
Sleep is Overrated
It’s amazing how quickly I can adjust to not enough sleep – just last week I really needed 8-9 hours to feel rested (granted, those were not uninterrupted hours, what with baby pressing on my bladder!) but now that I’ve had two nights in a row where I got 6 hours with just one nursing session partway through, I nearly feel human again!
Besides, who needs sleep when there are tiny fingers to admire?
First well-baby visit
Vital stats:
4 days old
6 lbs. 3.5 oz.
(Discharge weight from hospital 2 days ago: 6 lbs. 2 oz.)
Anna got her first shot today – they start the hepatitis B vaccine series at birth now, but we wanted to discuss that with the pediatrician first instead of getting it done at the hospital. And everyone was pretty impressed that Anna was already gaining weight back. (Actually, me too, because she’s already pretty fast and efficient at nursing, so I wasn’t quite convinced she was getting enough!)
Welcome, Baby!
July 12, 2008, 4:27 AM
6lbs, 5 oz
18.5 inches long
So I wasn’t too far off in saying that it would be good if she came after dance camp ended last Friday! I woke up at 12:50 AM on Saturday, and felt like I might be having “real” contractions, but I waffled a bit about whether to wake Denis up. After another couple, though, I woke him up and he started timing them…at 3 minutes apart lasting a minute each. The midwife thought we could probably think about heading in – although I was still half convinced they were going to send us home with a false alarm. So Denis threw some stuff in a bag (I never did get around to packing) and we called my mom to come over and stay with Carrie, and the doula to meet us at the hospital. We got to the hospital shortly before 3 (if I never repeat a car ride like that it will be too soon), and we were holding our baby an hour and a half later.
I managed to not only have my VBAC, but there was no time at all to even consider pain medications (I hadn’t quite made up my mind on that part) and so it was about as different from Carrie’s birth as it could have possibly been. I was up and showering not even two hours later, and we came home last night, after just spending 36 hours in the hospital. We could have stayed a second night, but we wanted to get back to Carrie, and get some rest – since hospitals are about the least restful places you can stay in.
So far everyone’s doing great. We’re going to have to make some adjustments, but overall Carrie is beyond thrilled to have her little sister and just wants to hug and hold and kiss her all the time. I’m incredibly sleep deprived, so I’m going to go feed the small one again and try to get a little sleep before she wakes up and wants more!