Fruit salad revisited

Sadie was so cute and alert today I decided it was time to start playing with her and having some more intensive photo shoots.  I am scheming..... we'll start tomorrow. She is a little dolly after all.  If you saw any of Sophie's baby pictures, you'll know what I'm talking about.  That kid was posed in bags, pots, baskets, nekkid with little bows and in little fuzzy bear suits.  Poor Sadie.

Here's some family shots I couldn't resist posting.  Ollie and Sadie bonded today (I finally let him get his mitts on her).  He told me we should keep her forever.  I'm glad he said that because after the last couple of sleepless nights I was on the fence about that.

So the photo on top is Sadie at 63 days old and the photo on the bottom is Sophie at 3 days old.  Same hat.  I'm so pleased with my two little berries.

The four pound full-time job

Its amazing how in five days this tiny little person has become the boss of our household.  Small, but mighty indeed. She wakes up on her own every three hours to be fed and is getting better at taking her bottles if you can keep her awake for long enough to finish.  We practice breastfeeding a few times every day, and she will hopefully gain more stamina and patience for that.  Hopefully at some point I will be able to do away with the pump, but we are not there yet. We are still adding extra calories to my milk for her, which means she needs to be mostly bottle fed for now anyway.  The upside to the bottles is that Greg can help out a lot, and he has been great about evening feeds as well as whisking her away in the morning for her first breakfast.  For those of you familiar with Lord of the Rings, she eats like a Hobbit- first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies etc. 

Sadie has a lot of appointments right now to follow up on her health.  We have the public health nurse here a couple of times a week, vaccinations, eye and ear tests, pediatrician and family doctors appointments.  So as much as we feel like hibernating and staying out of germy public places, we are on the go every day.

There hasn't been a whole lot of time or energy for photography yet, but I admit I have been borrowing a little bit of Sophie's dolly equipment because it is just the right size for little Sadie. There will be lots of silly pictures for her to look at when she is bigger. The little bed was mine for my cabbage patch dolls and my mom saved it for grandchildren, though I don't think she expected they would nap in it!  Mainly Sadie snoozes in a bassinet in her little pink room.  I have it propped on a phonebook and leave a light on most of the time to resemble how she was in the NICU and she seems to like it better that way.

Eat, sleep, poop, repeat.  Just like a regular newborn.

    We are still doing lots of Kangaroo Care (skin to skin) with her to help her grow and she is not particular about who she snuggles with.  Sophie is thrilled to do some of these special cuddles and will sit still for any amount of time to hold Sadie.  She is a bit disappointed with how busy we are, and how infrequently we change Sadie's outfit (she'd like to try some doll dresses on her) but on the whole she is pretty pleased to have more access to her little sister.  Ollie mostly ignores her, aside from the occasional smooch, but he does seem to be quite taken with her at times, and happy that we are no longer leaving him to go to the hospital.

As for Greg and I, well, she has stolen our hearts.  We are feeling our bond with her strengthen each day and are enjoying watching her as she begins to wake up and become more alert day by day.  

This will be our first full weekend at home together.  I'm hoping for lots of napping to recover from all the long nights.  I can always hope right?

And then there were five!

This morning Sadie was in the process of acing her car seat test when we arrived for a visit.  The nurse asked why she was being discharged tomorrow and not today.  I said I wasn't too sure and so after it was confirmed by the doctor that she was indeed a 3lb 14oz superhero, she was unhooked from the monitors and cleared to go.  We plowed through all the paperwork, got the kids to the hospital and just like that we were on our way.

Sophie and Ollie were allowed a quick cuddle while Greg installed the base for Sadie's seat in the van.  Sophie wass dressed in her Neonatologist outfit (tiny nursing scrubs we found for her halloween costume) and was practically vibrating with excitement.  Ollie was very gentle with Sadie also, and then quickly got bored and began to explore the limits of the glider chair.  Time to go!

It was a quick and uneventful drive and we were still in disbelief when we pulled up to our house.

Sadie travelled like a pro and didn't make a peep the whole way home.  I was sitting beside her watching her breathe and making sure she stayed nice and pink!

And now here we are in our new reality as a family of FIVE!  Three little ones snuggled together at bed time made our hearts swell with love and pride.  It's awesome and terrifying at the same time.  I'm sure there won't be much sleep tonight as we watch over our little princess.  

We will keep you all posted on how things are going and how the little Sadie bird grows.

Not long now.......

Yesterday I went in to find a totally tubeless Sadie.  She has been taking bottles like a champion.  She may tire and need her tube back in for a couple of feeds, but so far so good.

Greg and I have not spent any time with her together lately because of his cold and all of our home jobs that have been keeping us busy.  We decided to take my mom up on her offer of a sleepover for the kids and head in to the hospital to give the wee birdie a bath.

Sophie and Ollie were quick to pack up their respective suitcases and head out.  Ollie's little case is full of balls; golf balls, bouncy balls, baseball, strange little red ball.  These are his precious things that he sleeps with at the moment.  And yes, those are pretty hair clips that he has.  It was his request.  Sophie's suitcase contains 2 dollies and their clothing and essential items.  Look, the wall behind them is not pink!

At the hospital, the weigh-in was a good one.  1685g, up 50g since yesterday. What a pork-chop.  The extra calories they are giving her are working.

Sadie was mostly OK with the bath though she would prefer to soak in peace rather than be washed.  Maybe it's the scratchy washcloths at the hospital.  Anyway, she was clean and smelling like a rose in no time.

She nursed, then was topped up with a bottle before getting cuddled to sleep by Greg.  We had her unplugged from the monitors for a couple of hours.  It was a bit nerve-wracking, but there won't be any monitors at home, so we need to learn to watch her, and pay attention to her colour and movements rather than her numbers.  It's looking more and more likely that she will be our full-time baby very soon.  I haven't had an official request to bring the carseat in to test her it it, but that will be the next step.  I have washed all of the Ollie gunge off of it and it is ready for a new passenger.

Today we are scurrying around trying to get a couple of rooms organized so that we can have a place to sit when she's home.  I have made cookies, vacuumed,  shaved my legs, caught up on the washing. I'm now trying to think of what else needs doing because my mental acuity and stamina might not be this good for some time after Sadie has arrived home.  I think I'm having some kind of nesting impulse like you get in the last weeks of pregnancy.  The timing seems about right.  I'm off to the hospital to see how she is faring today.

Look no O's

What a nice little face without the tubes!

Now we just need her to get rid of that feeding tube and we're gold!

Look, she gets her double chin from mommy!

Fifty days old today!

Sorry for the lapse in updates.  I needed a few days to catch up on some other things around here and to get to bed early so something had to be left undone.  Hopefully everyone had a chance to spend time with family and fill their bellies with delicious food as we did (twice) with our family this weekend.  I really enjoyed taking a moment to think about what I was thankful for, and not to get all Oprah on you, I need to do it daily.  I am such a fortunate person and have so much to be grateful for.  Thanks to the parental units for lovely meals and time spent together these last few days.  

We are in the midst of the great painting adventure here at the less pink palace, and if we can choose a colour and like it the first time we might be done by Christmas.  Today I will begin stripping the wallpaper in the master bedroom.  I feel badly for the people 30 years down the road who will be stripping the ultra-modern wallpaper that is popular right now.  I can't bring myself to put any up on my walls for that very reason, having stripped so much lovely vintage wallpaper.

It's snowing and the roads are terrible, so Sadie's nurse said to come in for her afternoon feeding since she will probably be sleeping through her 11:00 feed.  So we'll strip wallpaper and take a break for snowmen perhaps.  This crazy weather is thankfully going to change for the weekend (21 degrees on Saturday?) so we'll try to enjoy this taste of winter cheerfully.

Sadie is 1600 grams, or three and a half pound.  She's still gaining well and taking about half of her feeds by bottle.  She has been off her nasal prongs since about 4am and is so far doing very well.  I can't wait to get in there and see her face without the tubes.  She may need to go back to having a little whiff of air again if she gets tired, but she doesn't seem to need any extra oxygen. 

Her doctor told me yesterday that the feedings are the only thing keeping her in hospital at this point, so she figured maybe she'd be home by the weekend.  It would be nice to bring her home on a balmy day and not have to worry about her getting chilly on the way.  In the meantime, we will keep visiting her in her cozy cot at the hospital. I was telling my dad that it's a bit like being a grandparent right now.  I get to pop in for a visit, do a few of the glory jobs (feeding bottles, dressing, cuddling) and then leave her in capable hands and go home.  I guess it's all the lactating that sets me apart!  We're all healthy again, so even the boys were in to see her yesterday.  Ollie had his first chance to touch Sadie's head and said to me later "I not hit the baby".  I am currently honing the eyes in the back of my head.  

Back to work on the house for me.  With any luck we'll be in a little bit less chaos by the weekend if the tiny bird is ready to come home.

Proud Big Sister

Sadie was a good baby today.  Nothing new or exciting,  just a little more weight gain and a bit more enthusiasm while nursing.  She was tired later in the day when Sophie and Nana joined me for a visit so she wasn't very interested in a bottle, but Sophie was excited to help out anyway.  She just lights up around Sadie and was hoping to stay and watch her for even longer.  I had to bribe her away with the promise of brownies baked by Kendra and her little sidekick Ollie.  He was more involved in sampling than helping I believe.  

She is looking pretty cute these days and hopefully will be able to go tubeless in the near future.

I had mentioned in the last post that this would be a good time to fill the freezer in preparation for Sadie's arrival home.  I'm pretty sure the sleepless nights I'm going to spend staring at her chest moving will pretty much sap my desire to cook.  Popcorn for dinner is fun... once in a while.  Coincidentally, Greg came home from school with a whole bunch of home cooking from the families of his students.  We are completely touched by this and so grateful.  We clearly have many, many things to be thankful for this holiday weekend.  Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend.

(Greg now writing)  I haven't been in to see Sadie very much in the last two weeks as I have been fighting a cold.  I have been following the visitation rules very carefully to keep Sadie and the other babies safe from my germs.  Hopefully I will kick it in the next few days so I can be more involved in her care at these final stages of her time in hospital.  I also want to take a second to send a big thank you to all the parents and students who have been so kind and generous to our family!