Week 3 updates continued

Another difficult time is when the baby wakes up shortly after being put down in her bed (from being held or rocked to sleep by the caretaker). This happens often during the day time which renders the caretaker to be held hostage by the baby. This happened last night since 5:30 am until I was relieved by my mom who arrived at 9 am. Needless to say, it was a rough and annoying morning and boy did I need my make-up nap from 9 am to 11:30 am. The other nap that I usually take is mid day from 4-5 pm. The other day I experimented with forgoing that afternoon nap and that made get really tired by 7 pm. I am thankful for my mom who can help watch / feed the baby while I nap and also prepare meals for me.

On a positive note, when I am feeling restful and content, I am really enjoying my baby girl. I look forward to times when I get to hold her while nursing. A feeling of excitement and happiness overcomes me and I can't help smiling at this angel that I get to call my own.

Week 3 updates

As of Sept 24, baby Allison is 3 weeks old! We can definitely see that she is growing bigger. Feeding time in general is noticeably easier now that she doesn't fall asleep while feeding like she used to.

Night time feeding has gotten a lot easier due to several possible reasons. 1) We started using this straitjacket, err, SwaddleMe outfit which has velcro tabs to secure the tightness in place. The logic I think is that if/when she wakes up slightly, her body won't move around too much as to fully wake her up. 2) I moved her from sleeping in our room to her own room, so that I get up to feed her only when I hear her cry for real, as opposed to the noise she makes before the real cry that I used to respond to. Waiting for her to cry works because a) I'll know she really is hungry whereas the other noise could have just been b/c of something else which she might have gone back to sleep on her own b) crying means she wakes herself up and wants to feed, as opposed to me "bothering her" while she was sleeping. The problem I had before was that while feeding in the middle of the night, she would not eat enough and would cry hysterically because she wants to go back to sleep.

Lately, she has been behaving really well. Less hysterical crying, more calmness. Perhaps it's because we are getting more familiar with her and know better how to take care of her (feed/clean/rock to sleep) before she gets to the hysterical state. Of course if we don't do what she wants fast enough, she gets hysterical. The harder times are when she still cries even though we have done all that we can think of (at which we then resort to a pacifier). During the day, she wants to be held, which makes sense for a newborn. Also, I'm pleased that I figured out a way to rock her to sleep that she responds to - hold her tightly on her side facing my body, one hand under her, supporting her neck, and one hand over her, supporting her bottom + walking around. The natural bounce in my step reminds her of when she was inside my womb while I was walking.

Sometimes, she'll sleep for a 4 hour stretch during the night, which is great. One time, I got a 6 hour stretch, which is unbelievable for a newborn! Right now I am doing everything on demand and wonder how I/she will transition to a schedule based routine.

I love how she looks like a little person in pants :)

Lee family photos

Splish splash

On Sept 21, we gave baby girl her first water bath. This is something that first time parents generally get nervous about because, since babies can be wriggly with water and soap, the chances of the baby slipping into the water can be high and dangerous. However, our experience was not too bad, due to the fact that the baby bathtub we have has a sling designed for newborns to rest on. The baby really did not slide on it so she was able to sit pretty tight while we cleaned her with a wet towel, soap, and warm water. It also helped that the whole visiting family (total of 7 people) was around to provide helping hands.

First cousins

On Sept 20-21, first cousins from the Nguyen side of the family finally got to meet. After months of anticipation built up, Alyna from Florida finally got to meet baby Allison in NYC, and she loved it! Alyna is a great cousin; she helped to change her diaper, feed her, and play with her. She has also handed down many clothes and toys =D

This is going to be a start of a beautiful cousin-ship :)

I love how Alyna is always ready with her arms in position to hold her :) 

Reflections

Many times during the first week, Tom and I would remark to each other how we can't believe that we have a daughter, a child, a baby.. and that this precious bundle that lays before us is actually ours. We are loving her size (so tiny), her grunts (lol) and her facial expressions, whether intentional (grimace) or unintentional (smiles, laughs during sleep). We are so thankful to God for this gift and we hope that we can be good stewards of this living creature. We want to enjoy every moment and be flexible, not taking things too seriously and also to value the more important things in life. I personally look forward to seeing her grow and how her personality will develop. Lastly, we are thankful for our family and friends who will journey with us and help raise this child because it does take a village.

Lazing about