First Week

Delphine vs. Cordelia: A comparative analysis

Well, more of a list, really.

• Cordelia isn't hairy like Delphine was -- she has hair on her head, the barest suggestion of eyebrows, and maybe a little tiny bit of black fuzz on her ears. The hair is the same as Delphine's, though, straight and black.
• Cordelia's nose and chin are narrower than Delphine's, but she has the same eyes (Blake's).
• Cordelia says "Nah"; Delphine said "La".
• Cordelia has narrow, elegant fingernails; Delphine has short, square nails like Blake and I. We think Cordelia's come from her Baba.

Baby Mysteries

Breast milk: goes in white, comes out yellow. Where does the yellow come from?

The Story So Far

The day after we came home from the hospital was Cordelia's third day of life, and the day the midwife came to see us. While she was examining Cordelia she heard an arrhythmia. I know a lot about a lot of medical conditions, but I didn't know anything about arrhythmias; I didn't know whether it was nothing to worry about, or something huge, so I kind of averaged it out and freaked out averagely.

We immediately went to a pediatric cardiologist down the street (I love this neighbourhood). She did some tests and said it was a premature ventricular contraction originating in a lower chamber of the heart. The premature contractions only occurred occasionally, and never two together, which means it's probably nothing to worry about. She sent us home with a 24-hour monitor and instructions to call back in six weeks -- it was at that point that I pretty much stopped freaking out altogether. She gave me a list of medications that I shouldn't give Cordelia, mostly cold medicines, but other than that we can treat her normally, and the arrhythmia will probably go away on its own.

Today (day eight) we took Cordelia to our family doctor for a retroactive referral to the cardiologist. The doctor listened to Cordelia's heart and didn't hear anything abnormal, so it may have corrected itself already.

Apart from that excitement, everything has been very normal so far. We had a little problem learning how to nurse (mostly I had forgotten a few techniques from last time) but now that's pretty much figured out, and Cordelia is churning out the appropriate number of pees and poos every day. She mostly slept and ate for the first week, but now she spends a few minutes at a time awake and alert.

She sleeps for four hour stretches at night. She sleeps in our bed, mostly because I am too sore to get up in the middle of the night. I'm not sure if we will keep her in our bed once I am better; it worked really well with Delphine, but I was also really happy when she moved into her own bed. We will probably keep Cordy in with us at least until she is old enough to not need to nurse at night.

I'm not doing so well. I had a setback in my recovery yesterday when my incision started bleeding. It's not supposed to do that. I called the midwife and she said I am doing too much, I should take it easy. I have been reduced to pretty much invalid status; all I do is sit and nurse the baby. Blake tends to me and does housework. It's weird and annoying, but I have been reading a lot. I think I might have gotten better today, if it hadn't been for the trip down to the doctor. Hopefully tomorrow I can sit all day and I will improve more.