Aveline at Two Weeks

Aveline turned two weeks old this past Friday, and celebrated by going to the doctor for the third time. So far she has gone on the Monday following her birth for her first checkup, where she weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and they told us her jaundice was looking better and no additional tests would be necessary. They were slightly concerned by the amount of weight loss (though I read post appointment that bigger babies tend to lose more in their first few days), so we went to a second appointment that following Thursday morning for just a weight check, where she weighed in at 8 pounds, 9.5 ounces, so they were happy to see she was gaining back just fine. At two weeks, she weighed 9 pounds, two-and-a-half ounces (so not quite back up to her birth weight, but getting there -- and at 75th percentile), was 22 inches long (between 90th and 95th percentile), and had a head circumference of 13.75 inches (not sure where this falls on the charts).

She has had kind of a strange belly button. Her umbilical cord stump (or a sizable portion of it) fell off a week ago Saturday while at Finnan's fourth birthday party. It seemed kind of early, being she was eight days old, and most of what you read will tell you that the earliest it should fall off is around ten days. That evening, while I was attempting to apply some more rubbing alcohol to the area to continue to clean it out, I noticed a white area at the base of her belly button that really looked like an opening. It totally freaked me out and I had to have Jarrett take a closer look. He was not so sure what he was looking at either, so we ended up calling our doctor on her cell phone and leaving her a message. I was prepping myself for a trip to the emergency room. Dr. Owen called us back about 30 minutes later and we explained what we were seeing. She said it did not sound like anything we should be worried about and that it most likely just fell off a little too early and needed to continue to heal (and the remainder would eventually fall off too). Friday, at Avie's appointment, we had the nurse practitioner take a look. The white area had decreased a decent amount, but was still there in part, and she thought that Dr. Owen might want to go ahead and cauterize it. Sure enough, Dr. Owen took a look and decided that is what should be done. So she took a wooden stick that had silver nitrate on the end of it and just swabbed it in Aveline's belly button area. Dr. Owen assured us that it did not hurt the baby (and the baby did not cry, so I believe her) and that it should take care of everything. That evening when I was changing Avie's diaper, I freaked again. Her belly button now looked inflamed and oozy -- worse than it did that morning at the doctor's office. She still was not running a fever and the outer area of her belly button was not red (which is a warning sign of something bad), so we figured she was probably not in any real danger, but we called Dr. Owen anyway. She said it was likely aggravated by the silver nitrate and that we should put some hydrogen peroxide on it. If it looked the same or worse the next morning, we were to give her a call and she would meet us in the office. It did not look any better to us the next morning, so Jarrett took her into see Dr. Owen. In the end, everything was fine, but we are to continue applying rubbing alcohol once per day. Already it is looking a little better, but this has been quite the ordeal. Could it not just fall of normally and present us with a cute little baby belly button?

Aveline has been sleeping pretty well. Sometimes it is hard to get her down at night initially, and it seems that sometime between 11:00 p.m. and midnight is her preferred bedtime for now. I only seem to have to get up with her twice at this point, and last night I lucked out with a four-and-a-half-hour chunk of sleep at the beginning, and then another two-and-half hours after that feeding. All in all, I have been averaging between five and seven hours of sleep, albeit broken up, per night. I am tired, but surviving.

As Jarrett says, at this point she seems to "cry appropriately," as in when she is hungry, has a dirty diaper, or just needs some cuddling or help getting to sleep. We have had a few other fussy moments, but nothing too terrible. Unlike Elsa, she seems to like a pacifier, so that has come in handy during said fussy times. She loves her baths thus far, even though they have just been by-the-kitchen-sink sponge baths. And she has the biggest, numerous, and most fabulous sleep grins.

So far, aside from doctor's visits, Avie has been to the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods, Finnan's birthday party, the Oakhurst Garden, the First Annual Madison Avenue Soapbox Derby Race (which we were able to see from Kate and Tim's front yard), church, the Harvest Festival at Ms. Gabriela's, REI, Lenox Mall, Abbadabbas, DSW Shoe Warehouse (the last three all in search of a new pair of shoes for Elsa), and Farm Burger. And, of course, several walks around the neighborhood.

Jarrett's paternity leave ran out at the end of the week last week, and he is taking today and tomorrow as comp days before headed out of town on a work retreat for two nights. The lucky guy gets to go down to Florida and get massages and go deep sea fishing. He deserves it. Even with not feeling well, he has been a HUGE help, especially with Elsa and all the cooking. He cannot fool me now -- he is quite the chef! Really, though, he has always been a great cook. It's just been nice that he has had the time to actually plan out some meals and really take the time to cook them, even with all the dietary restrictions. My mom arrives tomorrow evening and will be here through Saturday, and then Jarrett's dad and Susan will be here Sunday through next Thursday, so I will not truly be on my own until after that, which is very nice. We shall see how things go after that! Even as it is, our house is a wreck and I am hoping to have someone come clean soon. Although it is severely difficult for me to live in a dirty house, I have done a pretty good job turning a blind eye and reminding myself that it is okay. Despite my lack of free time, extreme fatigue, and Elsa's difficulty adjusting, I really am trying to make myself enjoy these early days of Aveline's life, as I know they are fleeting.

And now, what you have all been waiting for, some photos of Aveline from these early weeks:

Going to second doctor's appointment

First bath

"I can't hear you!"