Elly's first month

 Newborn Elly in the hospital with Grandpa.  She hasn't had her bath yet, so her hair's a little messy.  The hospital was nice about postponing her bath so that we could have lots of bonding time.

Our stay in the hospital was a little longer than normal due to my not having had antibiotics at least 4 hours prior to her birth.  But thankfully they let us go the evening of our second day there so that we didn't have to stay another night at the hospital.  It's so hard to sleep with nurses coming in and out at all hours of the night.

Elly was very healthy from the start and only had a little jaundice.  Poor baby--they kept monitoring her bilirubin levels, and so they pricked her little heels about 6 times in the end.  She was not a happy baby for those times.  Because of the jaundice, the doctor wanted me to supplement a little to get the bilirubin out of her system faster.  I was very sad to have to bottle feed her, but I soon got an SNS to supplement her to allow her to get her supplement while breast feeding.  I worked with a lactation consultant also because of lots of discomfort, and the consultant was hugely helpful.  I also discovered that Elly was gaining really well and super fast, and that I probably didn't need to supplement her in the first place.  But such is the way with doctors--they always err on the side of caution.  Anyway, she has been such a good nurser that she was 7 lbs. 13 oz. at her two week appointment.  A full 13 oz. up from her birth weight.  Go Elly!  And I happily only had to use the SNS for a very short time, and she is solely breast feeding now.  Such a huge relief and feels like quite a feat after pumping all of Peter's milk for ten months of his life.  When I told the lactation consultant I pumped for that long, she told me that she'd never heard of anyone doing it for that long.  I thought it was more typical of women to do it that long, but I guess I was wrong.

Peter's present from Elly upon her arrival.  He was VERY excited to have this special train set, and I think it has distracted him a bit from the very big transition of welcoming a new addition to our family.  Peter was sort of an indifferent big brother in the beginning, not really knowing what to make of his little sister.

 Grandpa and Elly on her 2nd day of life.  Dad has been great at helping out with both Elly and Peter.  Elly has not been the best sleeper by any standards.  In the beginning she wouldn't sleep unless she was being held, but thankfully she will go down now.  After the first week or so, I realized that she has a little acid reflux problem.  So that means I have to keep her upright for about half an hour after she eats before putting her down.  Also, she has a dirty diaper just about every hour of the day and night.  This causes some diaper rash issues which also affects nighttime sleep.

So because I have to change her diaper every time she wakes at night, burp her for half an hour afterward, then she only sleeps for an hour and half at best in her little co-sleeper bed when the cycle begins all over again.  Sometimes she I have to change her twice in a waking, and then she's so awake it takes me an hour to get her to go back to sleep.  Ew.  I think I average about 4 hours a night.  It is not getting better, and I have been sick three times in her first month of life.  And that's with my dad helping me out during the day.  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive when he goes, but I sure am so grateful to have his help while he's here!

 Daddy with Peter and Elly. 

 These items were a gift from the people at Chris's work.  They are all very soft and cuddly.

 Two weeks old

So little!!

 A gift from my in-laws.  So funny!  But I must admit I do sort of feel like I have superpowers for being able to nurse her. 

This is about one month old.  Notice her chubby cheeks!

Peter has started to take an interest in his sister.  He enjoys pointing out her toes and nose.  And he's started saying goodnight to her before bedtime.  I think she's winning him over.  :)