Aside from the amazing developments that occur at this age, the other big news at 5 months is that Miss Zoe's hair has started filling in. Her male-pattern baldness is pretty much gone and her hair color looks brown in dark light and blonde in bright light. At the beginning and middle of January, she barely had any hair on the top of her head and by the time she turned 5 months on February 9th, it mostly filled in. The change happened so quickly and her hair continues to noticeably grow on an almost daily basis. Her eyes remain blue.
Miss Zoe, 5 months on February 9th
Excited about her giraffe, or maybe that her hair is coming in!
We don't have an update on Zoe's height and weight since there weren't any doctor's appointments last month. Thankfully, our little girl has been very healthy (aside from her sensitive skin) and continues to grow like a weed. We've transitioned her completely from the 6-9 month clothing to 9 month clothes. I thought she would be in summer stuff at 9 months, so I'm glad that we had some cooler weather outfits on hand from Rose (who wore 9 month clothes at 8-9 months, not at 5 months!).
I've tried to remain dairy and egg-free as much as I can, with occasional indulgences in chocolate candy or a bite of a non-vegan dessert. Usually when I indulge, we have to treat Zoe's face/skin with more lotion, or hydro-cortisone. I've continued to use a 0.5% hydro-cortisone to treat flare ups and we get by using just using Eucerin or Cetaphil most days. The cold weather in January and early February meant the heat was on and the air was fairly dry, so we had to lather her up with moisture often. We've also been sure to keep a humidifier on all night in her room.
Enjoying fresh air in the exersaucer
On the topic of sleep, Miss Zoe continued to nurse once or twice overnight through 5 months. For a stretch of time, she was doing well going to bed around 7:30-8pm. I'd usually give her a "dream feed" before I went to bed at 10:30-11:30p, and she would wake up between 3-5am for another feed. Most mornings, Rose's not-so-quiet voice would wake her up for the day around 7am.
Getting serious for the camera
We've been fortunate to have my mom in town to take care of Zoe during her 5th and 6th months so that we can delay day care until after the cold weather (and hopefully the flu and most germs) passes. With more one-on-one attention, my mom's been able to work with Zoe on sitting up, tummy time, and socialization. Zoe is a strong, but heavy girl with lots of rolls. She can sit up fairly well, but topples over when she loses her balance or if she reaches for something. We've started putting her in the exersaucer so she isn't laying down all the time. She plays for fairly long stretches of time before taking a break to rest her legs. She's also started transitioning out of the infant car seat and into the stroller seat in the running stroller and in the double umbrella stroller. She loves sitting up and seeing everything as we walk.
One of the first times sitting in the running stroller
We are starting to see Zoe's personality develop at this age. She is very attentive and loves watching her family, especially Rose and Darwin. Darwin's barks often startle her, but she is not scared. Rose's hugs and not-so-gentle ways also often startle her, but she is more accepting than I would have anticipated. She seems to love music and children's songs, especially those that we sing at baby story time at the library and those we sing at home. Rose is a great big sister who often sings songs to Zoe. When we are around groups of people, especially other children, Zoe loves to talk and participate in the discussion.
Zoe Talking at 4.5 months
Zoe giving her sister a big open-mouthed kiss
Zoe listening to her music at 5 months
Zoe is a very calm child who does not protest much, except when she is tired or hungry (or if we try cutting her nails - see comments below). She even tolerates wet and poop-filled diapers. On the topic of diapers, we are still using cloth diapers and have now transitioned her out of newborn/infant sized diapers and into the one-size, adjustable diapers. With two girls in diapers, and a bunch of diapers with stretched out elastics from two-years of use, I was getting ready to buy more when my mother came to the rescue and repaired the elastics on just about all of them. I did buy about 7 more since we do have both girls in diapers, but as Rose continues to work on potty training, I don't want to buy too many. Rose is in pull ups most days at school, so I have plenty of diapers for Zoe and only have to wash every 2-3 days.
Zoe continues to get breast milk exclusively and she takes about 16-20 ounces from wake up until I get home from work. When she sees me, she almost always wants to nurse. From 6pm until 7:30pm, I feel like all I do is feed her. I try to enjoy my time with her because I know it will go fast, but sometimes it is hard to do when I'm hungry, tired, and/or have a toddler that also wants my attention. I continue to be very fortunate to have a private office where I can pump whenever I need to during the day and I'm grateful that it seems I can pump enough to meet her intake during the day. With her sensitivity to dairy and eggs in my diet, I'm nervous about giving her too much pumped milk from the fall. I'm also nervous about starting solid foods. I expect Zoe might have more food sensitivities/intolerances than Rose, and we have not had to deal with food allergies before. At 5 months, we had not yet started introducing solid foods, but did have Zoe sit in the high chair to enjoy family meal time with us. She isn't a big fan of sitting in the high chair and usually wants to get out after a short time, especially at dinner when she is getting tired.
Sitting in the high chair, reaching for the camera
I'll end the post with a few Zoe-isms:
Zoe loves to cross her feet/legs. It's a habit she has had since the day she was born.
Zoe hates having her nails trimmed or filed. Just holding her finger brings serious protests. Because she often scratches at her face, I end up filing or trimming her nails several times a week. It is an activity I dread
Zoe can't contain her joy when we nuzzle her belly with our nose. She's also very ticklish under her arms
Zoe isn't much of a cuddler. At night when I nurse and burp her, she either rubs her face on shoulder, or pulls away to look around, unless she is exhausted. Only then will she lay her head in my neck.
Zoe is becoming increasingly distracted when nursing and wants to look at where sounds are coming from. Unfortunately, this is often painful for mommy since she doesn't always unlatch first.
My apologies for once again being a month behind schedule. I'll try to get the 6 month post up soon. There are lots of exciting updates to share from February! Stay tuned.
We have entered into the phase of significant developmental changes with Miss Zoe. During the month of December, she turned into quite the chatterbox. She loves talking to her family and her toys. When Rose is in the room, Zoe's eyes follow her wherever she goes, and she loves watching Darwin. She has become increasingly more attentive and reacts to our animated faces with great joy. I'm grateful that she has proven herself to be very tolerant of her sister's less-than-gentle ways, and that she continues to be very healthy and strong.
During her fourth month, we continued dealing with Zoe's skin rash and sensitivity on and off. We were in the northeast during early December and had to apply lotion and vaseline to her face daily, and sometimes several times per day because the air was so cold and dry. I stopped eating dairy after reading about the various causes of eczema in infants, which can include the mother's diet in breastfed babies. We did notice some improvement, but it was really difficult to maintain that diet while traveling, and especially hard over the holidays. The dairy seemed be be a major trigger, but there also seemed to be something else that caused the rash that I couldn't figure out. In addition to the dairy, I eliminated breads (because of yeast) and eggs. When I was off all three ingredients she did seem to do a lot better, but it is so hard to stay away from all of these when eating out. So many restaurants cook with butter!
We noticed the greatest improvement in Zoe's skin during the few days that we went to Hilton Head over Christmas. I think Zoe is trying to tell us we need to live at the beach! Her daddy is in complete agreement. During those few days at the beach, we cooked most of our meals at home since restaurants were closed. I was able to keep to a strict yeast, dairy, and egg-free diet. Unfortunately, when we arrived back home, she had a few more flare ups, making me question whether it was diet or environmental. It was so frustrating to not be able to control the rash, and to not be able to completely be in control of my food intake because of eating out on the last day of our trip. I also hated lathering her face with over the counter hydrocortisone cream, which seemed to be the only thing that would help clear her face when it was rashy. The worst though, was seeing her uncomfortable and itchy. We had to cover her hands with mittens because I just couldn't keep her nails trimmed enough or prevent her from scratching her head and face. Leading up to her 4 month doctor's appointment, her face was not only rashy, but raw from her rubbing, scratched up from her nails, and a little dry from the cold weather and forced hot central air.
Zoe at 4 months
At that 4-month doctor's appointment we arrived without treating her face with any hydrocortisone so the doctor could see how bad it was. Thankfully, Zoe was given a clean bill of health otherwise, giving the doctor her full attention and showing off all her skills during the visit. We spent most of the time discussing what to do about the rash. The doctor swabbed the areas that were raw to test for bacteria, and gave us two cream-based prescriptions, a 2% hydrocortisone and an antibiotic, after we voiced our objections to an oral antibiotic. He said the skin was likely infected (needing an antibiotic and confirmed to be a staph, not MRSA, infection), and that we really needed to treat it with the hydrocortisone to keep Zoe from being so uncomfortable. In his opinion, it would be too difficult to figure out the cause of the rash. I had hoped we could identify the cause, but really didn't expect the doctor to have an answer. One of the most helpful suggestions we received at the doctor's office came from the front desk staff who suggested filing nails instead of using the scissors.
Within 24 hours of treating the rash with the antibiotic, it was significantly better. Instead of using the 2% hydrocortisone cream, I found a 0.5% over the counter (marketed "for sensitive skin") that seemed to work really well in combination with the antibiotic cream. I decided not to use the 2% after reading the medication information inside of the package that said no research had been done on children under 2. While I don't like that the 0.5% hydrocortisone also says not for children under 2, I feel a little better that it is not as potent. The doctor told us there would be no problems using the over-the-counter (1%) hydrocortisone long-term, but I will continue to use the minimum amount necessary to keep the rash at bay. We only needed the antibiotic a few days to clear up the rash, and used the hydrocortisone daily for a few weeks. Now, at 3 weeks since starting the medication regularly (and me continuing to avoid dairy and eggs, and sometimes bread), we only spot treat with hydrocortisone as needed.
Sweet Zoe enjoying a rest in the co-sleeper
As Zoe approached 4 months, and I started working in the office again, we transitioned Zoe from the co-sleeper in our bedroom to her crib in her own room. The transition was fairly easy, starting with a few naps in her crib to putting her down in her crib at night. We still swaddle her at night only and try to put her down sleepy, but awake. Sometimes she falls asleep while nursing and I am unable to arouse her before putting her to bed. We've also continued using the incline wedge since she seems to sleep better on the incline than flat on her back.
Her overnight schedule continues to be a challenge, and was especially difficult at the notorious "4 month sleep regression." I had read about it and thankfully only experienced one night where she woke to nurse every two hours on the dot (11:30p, 1:30a, 3:30a and 5:30a). At least it was over the weekend, when I could sleep in the next day! For the most part, Zoe goes to sleep around 7:30-8pm when Rose does, and sleeps until 6:30-8am with only a few wake ups. I always check in on her before I go to bed (10:30-11:30p), and will feed her if she stirs when I walk in. If she is sleeping deeply, I don't wake her, and sometimes get woken up shortly after going to bed. She has been waking up around 2am and/or 5am to nurse. The 5am is the tough one for me, and it is really hard when she wakes at both times.
Zoe gets serious in front of the camera
Zoe's eyes remain very blue and she continues to have a fair amount of hair in the back (with serious male-pattern baldness). She smiles so much, but gets very serious while I pull out the camera! She is a very sweet child, and still gets a little tired/cranky in the evenings around dinner time.
We continue to cloth diaper both Rose and Zoe, with both only using disposables at night. The disposables are great at keeping all the pee in the diaper all night (8p-8a) so I don't have to change Zoe when I wake up to feed her. Unfortunately, they are not as good as the cloth diapers at keeping poop explosions in. There have been a few nights where Zoe has pooped during one of her nighttime feeds and I've had to change her whole outfit when I just wanted to finish nursing and get back to bed.
At 4 months, Zoe is outgrowing her 6 month clothes. The doctor weighed her at the 65th percentile (14.2 lbs) and measured her at 23.5 inches, or 33rd percentile. I don't think her height is accurate, but I will confirm that her 6 month clothes are more tight than too short. :) She is such a cute chunky baby!
Having gone back to work in early January, Zoe now stays with my mom at home while Colin and I are at work and Rose is at school. I try to pump a bottle (or two) before I leave for work and about 3 bottles (all about 4oz each) during the work day. I have a freezer full of stored milk, but much of it was pumped before I went dairy, yeast, or egg-free. I think the first day I went back to the office, when Zoe took a full day's worth of previously pumped milk, was what triggered her really bad rash that became infected. I'm nervous about being able to meet her demand by pumping, and try to pump 3-4 times in the office. So far, no one has commented on my door being closed so often, and I've been able to pump a little extra on a few occasions. I continue to be grateful for a job where I have a private office where I can work as I pump.
Sisterly love for the camera
A couple of friends of mine on Facebook posted a beautiful piece about appreciating each moment in time as it comes. I knew the first three months would be difficult and will admit I looked forward to their passing. But now that Zoe is sleeping a little longer, engaging with us, and sitting up more independently, I want time to slow down. I know life doesn't work like that. Days, weeks, months, and years pass quickly. I want these milestones and these memories to be recorded, which is why I write the blog. But I need to remember to balance documenting the milestones with enjoying them as they happen.
The big news with Miss Zoe is her growth. She is growing like a weed and the statistics prove it. In just one month Zoe nearly gained two pounds and one inch. At her one month visit, she was 9lbs, 3oz and 21 inches long, putting her at the 52nd percentile for height and 54th percentile for weight. It didn't take long for her to outgrow her newborn clothes (length-wise). I can't say I'm surprised at her growth...Zoe eats like a champ! Not only does she nurse often, she takes big gulps and seems to eat quickly. Thankfully, I don't have any problems producing the milk she needs, and she is often satisfied after a full feed.
Her schedule is fairly predictable. She wants to eat every 2.5-3.5 hours most of the day, and generally nurses more often (like every 1-2 hours) in the evenings (dinner until 10:30p bedtime). She's been fairly consistent with a 10:30pm feed, a 1:45-2:45am feed, and a 5:15-5:45am feed. Like her sister, she sleeps well in the mornings, sometimes going 4 hours. She does great going out and sleeps well in her carseat. She also generally likes to swing and has no problems sleeping through the various noises in the house. I'm surprised when she sleeps through Darwin's barking and Rose's loud chatter (and poking and prodding).
Unlike Rose, Zoe is not as fussy during the evening witching hour. It could be that I nurse her much more in the evenings, or it could be her personality, I'm not really sure.
During the day, we've been trying to keep Zoe in the main room(s) of the house with us, or with her car seat shade open if we are out, and I've been swaddling her only at night. She often fights the swaddle, unless she has already passed out when I put her in it.
Another characteristic of Miss Zoe is that she is extremely vocal. She squawks and grunts more than any baby I've ever heard (not that I've heard many). Both the midwife and pediatrician commented on how vocal she is. She'll make all types of noises for 15-20 minutes sometimes when she's waking up. Unfortunately, Colin is a light sleeper, so her noises keep him up much of the night. I can sleep through some of the early ones and start getting myself ready to feed her when they get louder and it seems like she is almost awake.
During Zoe's first month, she got to spend a lot time with her Avo (my mother), and we had visits from Vovo (my dad) and grandma and grandpa (Colin's parents). She's gone to a few story times and has been out and about quite a bit. She'll often come grocery shopping or run errands with me while my mom or Colin stay with Rose. In some ways she is easier to care for than Rose. I can pop her in the moby wrap and run errands with only the occasional stop to feed her (every 3 hours or so) during the day. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much in the evenings because Zoe wants to nurse so often. I'm hoping that the evening cluster feeds are preparing her to sleep longer at night.
Rose still loves her sister, showering her with kisses and showing Colin how to hold her when he appears to be doing it wrong. Whenever Zoe cries, Rose yells "mommy, Zoe crying." She has also started suggesting "Zoe milk" - that I need to nurse Zoe to stop the crying. We've been trying to redirect her to practice what we do with Zoe on her babies. Sometimes it works and other times she still wants to help. I can't put Zoe in the swing when Rose is around because she wants to push the swing and she does it pretty hard. We also have to be careful when Zoe is in the car seat or on the floor mat. Rose often wants to pick Zoe up to hold her.
During Zoe's one month appointment, she received a clean bill of health. She doesn't appear to have any problems hearing or with her development. Over the past few days, I have noticed her really focus on our faces like she can see them better. She's also been following the cars on the musical mobile above the changing table. Going into her doctor's visit, we were concerned about a very severe-looking rash on her face, but were relieved to have a confirmation that she just had a bad case of infant acne. She also has significant cradle cap, which Rose also had. After almost two weeks, the acne appears to be disappearing, with a few spots still on her neck, but the cradle cap remains.
I can't really tell if she is losing more hair, but she definitely still has a significant bald area on the top of her head. Her eyes are a deep, rich blue, so Colin and I predict she will be a blue-eyed girl. You can't tell from any of the photos. I probably need to take one in the sun/outdoors with natural light. Only time will tell us what colors her eyes will be. Now that she is filling in, I think she looks less like a Miller. We aren't sure who she looks like now. Her face is much fuller and her arms and legs are filling in a bit more slowly.
I'm again grateful for a healthy girl and look forward to the next four weeks. Hopefully they will include longer stretches of sleep, resolving acne and cradle cap, and some first smiles. We just have to get through any fussiness, which is supposed to peak at 6 weeks.
Here are some pictures from weeks 2-4. The final picture is the most recent from this period. Who do you think she looks like?
Zoe at 2.5 weeks - still fairly scrawny
At 3 weeks she is filling in and the baby acne starts
Rose trying to help daddy with Zoe
Out to dinner with the family
Rose likes checking out Zoe's toys, even though it's Zoe's 1 month birthday
Zoe at 1 month
All dolled up, but not too happy
Startled by the flash
1 month photo shoot with the giraffe Aunt Karen gave her
It's difficult to sit up when you are only a month old
Baby acne resolving, cradle cap and male pattern baldness in full effect
Zoe Lucia Miller
9/9/15 at 3:35am
6lbs, 11.1oz and 20"
I left many of you in suspense about Zoe's birth story with a vague announcement on Facebook regarding an unplanned home birth. The short version of the story is that I was laboring at home, waiting for contractions to get closer than 10 minutes apart and had called the midwife about 3am to let her know I was in labor and to seek guidance. We decided to wait 30 minutes since they were intense, but still far apart. During one of my contractions, right around 3:30am, I felt the urge to push and thought it was my water breaking, so I rushed to the bathroom. Sure enough, my water broke and out popped the baby's head, followed by the body. Thankfully, I felt the head coming out and grabbed it one with hand and her body with the other, avoiding her fall into the toilet or onto the bathroom floor! I guess you can say I delivered my own baby hovered over the toilet in our half bathroom and received post-delivery assistance from Colin and my mom, followed by the Cary fire department and EMT, and later by the hospital labor and delivery team.
Now that the experience is behind us and everyone is okay, the story is pretty amazing. At the time, it was a stressful and adrenaline-filled night.
The week leading up to my due date was a little stressful as I tried to wrap some things up at work and we had family visiting on their way to and from Disney. Since Rose was born three days early, I thought that I might be early with my second baby too. I asked her to wait until the Labor Day weekend so I could leave my work a little better organized. And, I wished she would wait until after our family (of 4 adults and 3 kids) made their trip through Cary. I didn't care as much if she came before or after their visit, but I definitely didn't want to go into labor while they were with us.
On Tuesday afternoon (Sept 8), around 4pm, our family departed for upstate New York and I had not yet gone into labor. For most of the day, I had been experiencing stronger Braxton-Hicks contractions, but I was on my feet most of the day, walking to and from the local playground (about 3/4 mile each way) and helping with meals, etc. I don't know if my body held out until the stresses of hosting were over, or if I finally started paying better attention to my body, but around 6 or 7pm, I had my first painful contractions that stopped me in my tracks. After putting Rose to bed, I downloaded the contraction timer app on my phone, and while doing a little work and watching the Brazil-US soccer game on TV, started timing the contractions. I didn't really think there was any pattern to them, but with the timer, I realized they were about 10-12 minutes apart. The labor was so different than my labor with Rose, so I didn't take it that seriously. The pain was centered in my lower abdomen, and didn't radiate to the back at all. With Rose, I had painful back labor for about 18 hours.
Colin went to bed around 10pm, my mom around 11pm, and I went around 12am, not expecting to sleep much. Surprisingly, I slept about an hour or hour and a half before waking to much more painful contractions. At 1:30a, I started timing contractions again. For about an hour, they kept coming about 10 minutes apart. I'd have one or two contractions that would come a little closer (like 7 minutes), but would then go back to 10 minutes. Around 2:45a, I called the midwife's answering service to check in, and the midwife called me back by 3am. She asked what I wanted to do, but I didn't really know. The contractions were very painful, but I assumed labor could continue like that for awhile. In hindsight, I do recall a few contractions being so painful that I wasn't sure I could do labor without meds again. I should have realized this was the transition period and that I was getting close.
With the midwife, we decided to wait 30 minutes for another check-in. In those 30 minutes, I got back into bed and Colin helped me breath through the pain. I had one contraction that made me push, so I did, and then a second made me feel like my water was about to break, so I pushed a little as I made my way to the half bathroom on the main floor. With Rose's bedroom next to the upstairs bath, and my mom sleeping in the master bedroom, the half bath was the best choice. Once I got to the bathroom, I pushed more fully and felt a huge gush of water as my water broke. I also felt something else and when I reached down, I felt my daughter's head. This is when the adrenaline kicked into high gear and I popped up off the toilet and reached my second hand down to catch the body.
Yes... it was crazy, and I am so glad for productive instincts. I immediately called for Colin, who was upstairs already getting dressed because he had assumed it was time to leave for the birth center. In his version of the story, he heard my slightly distressed call and started walking to the stairs and then heard a baby cry and flew down the stairs. As I stared down at the baby in my hands, I was concerned about getting her to breath, so her cry was very welcome. As soon as Colin arrived, he pulled the umbilical cord from her neck and went to get my mother. I kept her close to me as my birth team got me towels and grabbed the "what to do in an emergency" fact sheet that I had packed in our bag. Colin called the midwife and gave the phone to my mother, while he called 9-1-1 and received instructions from the dispatcher. I was helped down to lay down on the floor, my mom got a shoelace for Colin to tie the umbilical cord, and the first responders arrived within 5-10 minutes or so. At the time, I didn't realize it, but Zoe had a "true knot" in her umbilical cord, which Colin noticed and loosened when he pulled the cord over her neck. Based on my Google research (and not confirmed by any medical professional), this could have been a problem, especially if labor had been long.
When the fire department arrived, they checked my vitals, Zoe's vitals, and cut the umbilical cord (after asking me if Colin wanted to do it). Colin was busy throwing a barking Darwin back in his crate, and I knew he'd prefer the "professionals do it". With our stable vitals and a cut cord, the firefighters said there wasn't much left for them to do, so they passed us over to the EMT team, who got me up to the gurney and into the ambulance (because they said there was nothing they needed to do since we were stable). The trip to the hospital was leisure (no lights/sirens) and only about 10 minutes. Colin followed in our car with our "go-bag" and my mom stayed home with Rose, who slept through all the commotion.
The scene at home when first responders arrived
Leaving home on a gurney, keeping baby Zoe safe and secure
Arrival at the hospital around 4:30am
During the ~30 minutes the first responders were attending to our needs at home, the two concerns I had were the delivery of the placenta and giving Zoe skin-to-skin time to encourage successful breastfeeding. I'm so glad I had a natural childbirth with Rose and knew what to expect or at least what to do. I asked my mother to massage my belly/uterus, and kept Zoe close to my chest while at home, and then offered her the breast as soon as I was able to maneuver it on the gurney. The time it took from the first responders arrival to arrival at the hospital did feel like a long time, mainly because I didn't know if there would be negative consequences if the placenta remained in the body too long. Thankfully, Zoe latched very easily and nursed about 15-20 minutes during the transport to the hospital and another 10-15 minutes while in labor and delivery.
Once in the hospital, the labor and delivery nurses attended to our needs, gathering information as they waited for the arrival of the midwife. Once the midwife arrived, she guided me in the delivery of the placenta, gave me a few stitches where I had a slight tear on the same line as I did with Rose, helped break up a few clots behind the placenta, and massaged/checked the uterus (all of it very painful). During this time, Zoe was weighed, measured, and checked, while Colin took some video footage (of her and thankfully not me!). With both of us receiving good news on vitals and overall health status, I think Colin and I finally were able to breath more easily. I was cleaned up and given a hospital gown, and Zoe, Colin and I were all given admission bracelets. We had to stay in labor and delivery for two hours (starting from when my vitals were taken at 5am) before we could be transported to a maternity room. In those two hours, we had vitals taken and my uterus massaged/checked every 15 minutes. It was not a comfortable or relaxed continuation of the night.
Arrival in Labor and Delivery
Zoe's check up in Labor and Delivery
At 7:30am, we were finally transported to the Maternity room where I would spend the next 28 hours. We were very clear with the maternity unit staff (nurses, doctors, midwives, etc) that we wanted to spend the least amount of time in the hospital as possible. We were told that Zoe wouldn't be cleared to leave until her 24 hour labs checked out, so we knew the soonest we could leave would be Thursday (9/10) mid-late morning. I did my best to walk around the hospital unit and keep myself occupied. Sleep was difficult on the uncomfortable bed and was always interrupted by hospital staff or a baby that needed to be fed. As the day progressed, I got more tired, and unfortunately did not sleep much the night I spent there. Zoe apparently needed to cluster feed every hour from about 1am-5am. When we both were in our best sleep Thursday morning, we had lots of hospital staff visits.
Maternity room
Maternity room mid-morning
Zoe fills newborn pajamas lengthwise, but is a bit skinny
Our birth plan was to deliver at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center (WBWC) in Chapel Hill like I did with Rose, and we expected to stay 6-8 hours. In that plan, we didn't expect to have any visitors since our stay was going to be short. With a 28 hour stay at the hospital, we decided to have Rose come meet her sister in the hospital. When we were first offered our choice of hospital transport with the EMT team, we checked in with midwife to see if there would be any benefit that made going to the hospital in Chapel Hill worth it. Since there is a hospital just 10 minutes away from our house, and it seemed we were all doing ok, we decided to go to the closer hospital so that Colin and my mom could easily swap out or check in/out as needed. It meant we'd be on our own and separated from the WBWC team since they do not have hospital privileges at the hospital closest to us. On Thursday afternoon, my mom brought Rose to visit her sister for a little bit and at the end of the visit, I sent my team (Colin and my mom) home to sleep for the night. I knew I could call on the hospital staff if I needed anything overnight, and I needed my support team rested for our arrival.
Rose meets Zoe
In the video, Rose first points out that Zoe is making "bubbles" and that she is a "baby" and her name is "Zoe"
On Thursday morning, Zoe was cleared by the pediatrician after her labs checked out and I was easily cleared by the hospital midwife. The pediatricians had been concerned about how much cord blood Zoe may have received since we weren't exactly sure at what point the cord was completely clamped/tied off. They also noted a 5% weight reduction, down to 6lbs, 5oz, which was within a normal range. By 11am, after fixing some issues with the car seat fit, we were packed up and ready to go. I'd had enough of those four walls, not-so-tasty meals, and poking and prodding by hospital nurses and nurse aids. Colin and I were tired, but ready to start our adventure as a family with two young daughters.
Colin holds his youngest daughter as I prepare to leave
Very tired, but ready to go home
As we arrived home, Rose and my mom were also outside. Rose was so excited to welcome her sister. We also brought Darwin outside to meet Zoe as we did with Rose 19 months ago. Colin had brought one of Zoe's baby blankets home the night before, so Darwin did get to sniff her scent before meeting her in the driveway.
We had our first walk on Thursday afternoon, and it's amazing how some fresh air and movement can really do wonders for the soul. Even with a newborn baby who wants to eat every few hours, we all slept so much better once we were back at home.
On Friday, we continued our care with the WBWC team and had a home visit from the nurse. Zoe once again passed all her tests with flying colors and Rose had a great time showing the nurse the new baby and observing all that transpired during the visit. We'll have another check up with the WBWC team in Chapel Hill at 2 weeks post-partum and then will start Zoe's care with her pediatrician at one month.
Rose carefully observing how the nurse checks our Zoe
As I said before, I am glad I had a natural childbirth with Rose so that I could react with some confidence in delivering and caring for Zoe as she was born. I'm grateful for a husband who was quick to act and offered as much support as he possibly could, and am grateful my mother was around to help us, clean up after we left, and care for Rose during our extended hospital stay. I echo Colin's sentiments in that I'd prefer to never have to be responsible for the birth of a baby again.
I look forward to all the adventures Miss Zoe has in store for us and know I will recount her birth story many times over the years. It is truly unique and her own, that's for sure.
