Uneventful Day

Hi everyone,

It was a pretty quiet day down here, which is just fine with me. This morning Josh and I went over to the NICU for Willow's 9:30 feeding, and I nursed her again. She didn't do quite as well this time but still pretty good. She'd suck a few times then sort of nod off, then wake up, suck suck, nod off. All that sucking is enough to tire a baby out! After that, Josh had to take off to head down to Hastings for Uncle Tom's funeral, which is tomorrow. I went and got a haircut (no, I didn't get a "Mom 'do" as Josh was worried about) and then went back to see Willow again. We just hung out and snuggled for a couple hours, I read her a couple stories, she had a good poop, I changed her, and that's about all the news for today. Oh, Willow is 4 pounds, 5 ounces now. Yesterday she was 4 pounds 4 ounces.


One thing I love about the "big girl bed" and how stable Willow is, is we're much freer to interact with her on our terms. When she was in the isolette, we'd always have to assk the nurse if it was OK to take her out, was she stable enough to be held again, then they'd have to take her out, get her situated, get you situated, and hand her to you. Then later they'd come over and be like, "it's time to change her diaper; do you want to do it?". Now, we can go in, take her out ourselves, hold her as long as we want, and if she needs a diaper change, we just do it, no need to ask. Of course we still have to tell the nurses we did it because they do keep track of how many times she poops and pees, but that's OK. It's all good practice for bringing her home, where there won't be any nurses to guide us. I just can't wait for that day. The thought of being completely responsible for Willow's care freaks me out a little, but I know it's going to be OK.

Before all this happened, I was very pleased with myself for (unintentionally) timing my pregnancy so that my 3 months of maternity leave would be during the months of June, July and August. I had visions of having the whole summer off of work and going on long walks with the baby every day with my friend Ruth, who has the summer off because she's a teacher. Well, my leave will still be in the summer but unfortunately it won't be 3 months. I've used a little less than a month so far, and depending on how much longer Willow is hospitalized, I'll use some more during the next few weeks as she learns how to nurse. I hope to have more than a month left by the time she comes home. We'll see. The 12 weeks of maternity leave the government guarantees full time workers is a fine amount if your baby is full term, but it's not really enough if your baby is 3 months early!


Anyway, I'm just rambling now, so I'll leave off here. Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa S. are coming down again and I'm heading back to Houghton. Good night!