As yet unnamed!

One of Noemie's Quirks and various updates

Perhaps all babies do this but as we have no experience of other babies we find this kinda strange about Noemie. She goes from smiley/sleepy/content to screaming for her bottle in less than 3 seconds. Of course it then takes a few minutes to get the milk out (she has a mini fridge in her room as we got tired of running down to the kitchen 2 floors down to get the milk) and then to warm it up in the bottle warmer. By this point you would think we were torturing her or something. Glad the neighbors have a baby as well so they probably don't even think twice about the crying. She will then eat like she hasn't eaten in days and when she is halfway through, we stop and burp her. She'll then cry while being burped as she wants to keep eating. So, the bottle goes back in her mouth... or we try and she grimaces at us, thrashes her head from side to side, bites down on the teat (so glad I'm not actually breastfeeding when I see her bite down, lol) and then grimaces some more. Take the bottle out and she cries so you put the bottle back in and she repeats her grimacing/thrashing. After a few tries she'll eat and look at you like "Why don't you people understand that I'm hungry? Why didn't you give me the bottle sooner?" Before we figured this out about her we would stop feeding her as we figured she was full. 10 minutes later she would be hungry again so we would feed her and it drove us nuts. Now we know better and we will sit there and keep shoving the bottle back into her mouth until we are sure she is done (usually she will smack the bottle out of her mouth while keeping her mouth firmly shut so you can't get anything in there and milk just ends up all over the place). My parents were watching this over the weekend and they looked a bit horrified that we were trying to force feed her and that maybe we were hurting her. Then when she would finish her bottle they just realised it was just her feeding routine! Such fun.

She had her kidney scan yesterday where they inject some dye into her veins and then scan her for 20 minutes. That was a blast. She screamed for the first 15 minutes as she was on her back, not being held and had a restraint around her stomach to stop her falling off the bed. She was just about asleep when it was all over. Typical. Today we go back for a consult with the pediatric surgeon who saw Noemie when she was back in the NICU to go over the results of her scan. In other news, we're waiting to hear from the Brompton about her heart surgery date. We got a letter confirming she is on their waiting list and we were a bit surprised by this as we thought we would just be given a date and she would go in but I guess as it's not an emergency situation this is normal. We talked to our cardiac nurse and found that this means she is on the list but that if another patient who is due for surgery is unable to have surgery for whatever reason, they do down the list so they don't waste the operating slot. This means we could get a call at anytime and be given maybe 1 week's notice... or 2 days notice (or perhaps even less) about when her surgery will be. We have a follow up routine scan next week anyway and so long as her status has not changed we're not too worried about the actual date of her surgery as we know it will happen sooner than later. I just hope we do get at least 2 days notice. Imagine if they rang up at 7am and asked us to bring her in at 9am that day. That would suck big time but I guess we don't really have much choice in the matter as it has to get done.

We found a solution to her hating her pram and crying the entire time she is in there. We use her carseat with the adapter for the Bugaboo and she can see out and see us and is not flat on her back so she is happy. We did this yesterday and she smiled most of the way to the hospital and slept most of the way home. It's not ideal as babies are technically meant to lay flat as much as possible but there is no point in having her upset. The longest she is in the carseat is about 30 minutes at a time anyway so not a big deal. It does crack me up to think back to how we had all these ideas of how we would do things before she was born though. We had planned to put her in her own cotbed from the first night home... which turned into we'd use her moses basket in our bedroom just in case she stopped breathing due to her heart to she is now sleeping with us in bed. She sleeps on her front 90% of the time as well... but chances are the SIDS people will turn around in 5 years time and say it's actually safer for babies to sleep hanging upside down and not on their backs so it doesn't really matter how she sleeps now. We thought she would use the pram on her bugaboo for the first 6 months as recommended... turned into she is in her carseat in her bugaboo. We were going to 100% formula feed her... she is now 100% fed on breastmilk that I express a gazillion times a day like a cow and Kirk still refers to me as the milk truck. Based on this, I think a lot of the books out there, the classes you can take, etc., are all pretty pointless. Your baby will tell you how it's going to be.

A Mommy and Noemie photo

It seems like Noemie is getting into some sort of a routine these days. She eats every 3-4 hours, usually wants a snack 30 minutes after each feed and then sleeps or likes to look around the room for a bit. She definitely knows night time now so that is working out well. If we could get her to sleep in her own bed we would be sorted though chances are we would miss having her on us all the time. We're both definitely enjoying the cuddle time with her. We went out for a walk today and Noemie decided she really hates being in her pram. She's not being held for starters and she also can't see much other than the sky which is probably kinda boring after a while. So, while Kirk pushed the pram with our shopping in it, I held Noemie and she was very content and alert the entire time. We went to Waitrose and she was just totally curious, looking all over the place with her eyes wide open and head held up on her own the entire time. I think once we can use the Bugaboo as a stroller (with the seat) rather than as a pram she will be fine as she can face forward and look around.

Pleased to report she is no longer stuffed up as we've stopped supplementing with formula. It means working overtime for me though so I am exhausted. We have an early-ish start tomorrow as well as she has a scan on her dilated kidney at the hospital where she was born. Then we have to go to the health center for her weekly weigh in so we will be running all over the place. Not sure how we will get around though as it's all walking distance but not if we have to carry her while pushing the empty pram! Perhaps we can try the Baby Bjorn and see if that's a compromise. Am sure she will let us know what she thinks. Kirk think she is just like me-- head strong and stubborn and throws a tantrum when we don't get our way. Maybe that's the case and that's fine as far as I am concerned. Has never been and still isn't a problem for me :::grin::: More worrying is how she looks a lot like Kirk in the photo from today. Luckily she is only 7 weeks old so has time to grow out of it.

Pooooop!

Poor little Noemie has been stuffed up the last few days and we've been a bit worried about her despite reading stuff that says it's not uncommon. She seemed a bit less interested in eating and was straining a lot. We had stopped adding formula to her feeds for a while and then decided it was better to add a bit so she would get used to the stuff so we could put her on 100% formula after her surgery. Well, we're re-thinking that now or will look into a different formula to try out though the one we are using now (Aptimul) is meant to be the best one to prevent constipation, etc. This photo was taken moments after she cleared herself out. We were all sitting in the living room with Noemie on Kirk's lap and we had to do a nappy change before we all passed out from the fumes filling the living room. How such a little lady can make such a mess it beyond me... and I'm thankful her Daddy doesn't mind changing her as I nearly puked just standing in the nursery with them. Speaking of puke, I experienced my first wet baby burp this morning when she chugged too much milk too quickly. I had put her over my shoulder to burp and got more than I bargained for. I just leaned over to the side so it landed on the carpet rather than all over me though while screaming for Kirk to come rescue me. I survived the ordeal as it was just milk and Noemie didn't see bothered by any of it. I was just pleased with myself that I didn't drop her on the floor and run out of the room shrieking or something.

Noemie loves her Daddy

I was sorting through Noemie's 0-3 month basket of clothes yesterday while Kirk was feeding her and we found this "I love my Daddy" playsuit. It's newborn size so we were worried she might not fit into it and she hadn't even worn it yet as we forgot we had bought it for her! Luckily it still fit her though I don't think the length was quite right as it looked like she was wearing 3/4 length trousers! It looked cute nonetheless so of course they had to pose for photos on the sofa. (Can't wait until we get photos that aren't on the couch or on the bed!). Heather I had to laugh at your comment about when would we see a pic of Kirk smiling. I have to say I'm not sure I've seen too many of them mainly as he's not good at smiling on command. Usually the photo has to be a candid shot where you catch him off guard and in mid smile. Think we had some from our wedding. When he smiles on command the photos never turn out very well and he sees them on my computer and says "don't put that on your blog". I think in this pic he has a semi smile though! I think we should've had an adult size playsuit made for him with "I love my daughter". It would've made a great pic! Ok.. maybe not.

Finally feels a bit cooler...

but I am back to my annual comments of how archaic this country is not to have proper air conditioning. We have that little unit from Homebase that I bought last year when I was convinced I was melting so I am sure we will be using it soon as Noemie takes after me and gets really fussy in the heat. I do love the summers here in that the days are longer and sunny and people actually seem happy for a change. I just hate feeling hot and uncomfortable in my own home.

Noemie was cooperative for a few minutes this afternoon so I managed a few photos. Love her blue eyes and will be disappointed if they turn brown. She'll still be pretty but I think the blue eyes are more striking than brown would be. The yawn photo is a bit misleading though... she has barely slept today and is more interested in what's going on around her as well as testing her lungs to make sure they still work. Either that or she is preparing to audition to sing in the opera with a high pitched wail. The other pic is from the other night when we bathed her and Kirk wrapped her up in her giraffe towel. Will have to take another photo with her in her bear towel. I can see a few LOs being done with these photos.

I know I'm the Mom so I think our baby is gorgeous...and I'm glad she is photogenic as it makes for loads of photos to scrap with, considering how much stash I have been buying lately! Need to do some pages before I buy more stash I think :)

Hottest day of Noemie's life (so far)

Can you believe she is already 6 weeks old? It was really warm today so she got to wear a short sleeve vest and nothing else (other than the diaper of course). We put a sleepsuit on her to go to the hospital as we didn't realise how warm it was and the poor thing was not amused. She's gained some more weight so is now 4.1kg (just barely over 9lbs). Everyone was commenting on how much she had grown as they hadn't seen her in 3 weeks. Had her follow up heart scan and nothing has changed which is good. The hole in her heart (the good defect!) is no smaller so there is still no urgency for her surgery. However, they anticipate it will be in about 2 weeks time as there is no reason to wait that much longer. We're waiting for the letter from the surgical team to let us know what date they have booked. We figured it would be in early June so we weren't surprised at all though we are of course dreading it but realise she will feel so much better afterwards.

This afternoon when Noemie fell asleep in my arms I decided to try putting her down on the couch to see how long she would last. Woo hoo..... nearly an hour! Hope no one from the SIDS foundation reads my blog though as she's not meant to be laying on her tummy. I sat next to her on the couch the entire time though to make sure she didn't stop breathing, other than when I got up to take pictures of her of course! I also cut her fingernails on one hand but the other one was underneath her so I will have to trim them another time. She held my finger at one point so I snapped a pic of that as well. The picture of her feet was taken this evening while Kirk held her. They were watching AC Milan kick Liverpool's ass so a good time was had in our household. Not that we really care about AC Milan... we just really aren't Liverpool fans. (Sorry Tracey if you read this post!!!)

Time to go give Noemie a bath and then I am going to bed early as I've only slept 5 hours a night for the past two nights.

Definitely a Daddy's girl

Taken moments after a nap (laying on Daddy of course). Aren't they so cute together? We went out for lunch at TGIF today and Noemie did surprisingly well. She started crying as soon as we got there but was fine once we took her out of her pram so she could look around. Afterwards she didn't do too well but we realised it's because her pram must've been like a furnace on this hot day. We need to figure out how to fit the sun canopy tonight as the fleece cover is not the best thing in the heat.

This morning we tried putting her in her cotbed after her breakfast and that worked for about 10 minutes. Then she cried so we let her get on with it for 5 minutes but she just cried louder so I picked her up and she was fine. So I put her down again and she was fine for a few minutes and back to crying. We've tried letting her cry it out but she just gets louder and cries harder and doesn't stop until picked up. She's fine so long as she is being held so maybe she is just one of those babies that needs human contact constantly. Maybe it's a NICU thing as she wasn't given much attention in the early days and is making up for it now? I think as we're both home for the next few weeks sleep won't be an issue as we can trade off so we will let her just be the way she is and we can get her into a routine once she is out of the hospital and home for good. I guess we can look at it as it's nice to have a baby who "needs" us so much!

Today's cuteness

Before I left for my 6 week postnatal check up, Kirk had just finished feeding Noemie and put her in the moses basket to see how she would do. She spent about 10 minutes just laughing and chatting to herself and stretching. It was really cute and I think we need to get the camcorder out soon so we can capture some of it rather than just taking photos. I converted this picture to black and white as I had the lighting all messed up when I took the photo.

Had a really rough night last night. Noemie had a few of her naps disrupted during the day so she was overtired last night and freaked out as a result. Nothing would settle her, we took turns and were ready to tear our hair out. Finally she settled on me while I was sitting on the nursing chair so I didn't dare move. I slept there from around midnight until 5am when I woke up cold and barely able to feel my body. I climbed into bed with her and she woke up at 6am so thankfully Kirk took her and dealt with her so I got 2 hours of sleep. I snoozed a tiny bit in the nursing chair with her but was too scared to drop her so it wasn't exactly great sleep. The lack of sleep hasn't been that big an issue, we both just wish she would be willing to sleep even a few hours on her own. No idea what she will do in the hospital when it's not an option for her to sleep all day and night on one of us. Wonder if we should start training her now? Will ask when we see the Drs on Wednesday.

Butts and Poo

My UKS teamies will appreciate this post. For the past nearly 2 years our team chat has often revolved around the topic of poo in various degrees. Usually it's all started by K3 who has 3 (cute) kids so has experienced her fair share of poo I am sure. I remember always thinking I never wanted to be the Mom who talked about her baby's poo but here we are... and I'm talking about Noemie's poo and butt.

First, her butt is pretty cute don't you think? I think most baby butts are kinda cute but they often look so large with the diaper. For the record Noemie's butt is nowhere near this large in reality, it's the diaper. It does amaze me however, that something so cute can produce some stuff that is not so cute. We had to ask if it was time for larger diapers once again but if we went up to a size 3 we would lose the baby in the diaper. Not sure where all the poo comes from and it certainly looks like nothing she is eating. I mean, milk is white... her diaper definitely isn't. Can't wait until she is potty trained... any day now right? She is going to be 6 weeks old on Wednesday so it's about time she grew up and stopped pooping in her pants!

Baby Swing

OK it may be time for us to try a baby swing (I am going to have the biggest baby sale on ebay in the future with all these things we're buying in the hopes of Noemie giving us a little break!!!). Which baby swing is good to buy? I've looked on kiddicare.com and there are quite a few so I would like to know which one anyone recommends. Doesn't have to be from Kiddicare, can be from anywhere.

I get the feeling that once she is home from her heart surgery we're also going to have to buy a crib for our room. I doubt we will feel comfortable putting her in her own room for a while until we are sure she is ok and the moses basket won't be ok when she is 3+ months. She won't even sleep in it now anyway though Mimi has been looking at it with interest lately.