Vaccines and other mean things

Moxie had her 8 week round of vaccinations. She got one in the mouth and two in each thigh. Poor thing. Mom cried about as much as Moxie did. We took some pictures to show how truly pissed Moxie was about the shots:

Dr. Strider

While Jess was prepping for surgery--here's what Strider was doing: 

Need a hug?

Double Double Chin

To add to the last post, here's the record of use of the Infant weight-finder:

The vertical axes are both weight, the left in pounds and the right in ounces.  The horizontal axis is in holidays.

The red data points are on the left axis and they are the weight of Moxie.  The green and blue data are two ways of calculating "weight gain per day" and are on the right axis.  Moxie gains about two ounces a day right now, so we expect her to weigh about 730 pounds for prom.

The other lines are trend lines with accompanying equations, purely an aesthetic consideration.

Additionally, if we label the left axis in constant dollars million, the right axis in gumption and horizontal axis in proper fractions, this graph is also a perscription to getting our country back on the right track.

Weight Watchers

Moxie was 8 lbs but dropped all the way down to around 7 lbs before we were discharged. Her weight loss, while something all babies do, was almost double the average. Breast fed babies always lose some weight. There's a space between birth and mom's milk coming in, usually a few days, where babies live off fat stores and thus lose weight.

Did you seriously think I would dare
to put a snarky caption on any photo
of my mother-in-law?
(guest captioner: ZSMD)

Each night, well morning--2 am, the nurse would come and take little Moxie to be weighed. She would leave snuggled and sleepy and return upset and crying. Each time the nurse had bad news. The first night she lost 9% of her weight. That night they brought a bottle of infant formula and a nipple. That first night was scary. We didn't understand why she was losing so much and 9% put her dangerously close to the all concerning 10% that would require "supplementation." The next morning we met with a lactation consultant that told us to pay attention to diapers--that's where the action is. Her guidance: as long as she continued pooping and peeing at appropriate intervals Moxie would be fine. The next night her loss totaled 11% and then 13%.

Baby Scales.
Yes, they do make a cream for that.

Why was her weight loss so significant? Nurses thought the fact that I'd been in labor for 2 days and on IV fluids for much of it and babies delivered via C-Section don't get all their fluids squeezed out when they pass through the birth canal. But the stats are how the doctors make decisions.

What are we doing about it? We are supplementing--but with breast milk. She feeds the ol' fashioned way and then gets, through a pediatric feeding tube on a pinky finger, a little extra. It keeps everyone in the family involved but it is paying off.

How's Moxie now? Really good! As of today she is up to 7 lbs 10 oz and the doctor says we can stop the supplements when she reaches her birth weight. She is nursing like a champ and enjoys her dad or bibi feeding her a little extra milk and attention.

Niagara Falls

Water has broken, onto the kitchen floor,

With each coughing, a full pint more,

I laughed and I laughed, a very bad idea,

But still I maintain, better than diarrhea

Midwife has spoken, pack up the car,

Jess is a trooper, revived by a shower,

Praise for the baby bag, for an easy bon jour,

Praise for the Wendy's, open 24-hour.

(with apologies to Eleanor Farjoen)

We are at the hospital.  We have a nurse named Charlotte.    The baby has not arrived, so we're all awkwardly standing around.

Jess is asleep, thankfully.  The midwife comes tomorrow when labour is active.  (She never eats the crust, either.)

A warning to interested parties: We will not be able to take the baby home with us because we brought so much stuff.  They will hold her for us, though, so we will be able to pick her up next time we make it to Rockville.

Looking forward to hanging out with this baby

Well, I went for an acupuncture appointment that is specifically geared towards induction.  I'll let you know if it worked. I guess I can't really tell you if it worked.  I don't have a control case Jessica who didn't have acupuncture to compare with treatment case Jessica.  Ok. Moving on.

The woman I met with suggested that, instead of feeling frustrated about the baby being late, think about all the fun things to look forward to with a new baby.  I am going to start a list. Please, chime in:

• Dress her up in all the sweet clothes everyone has given us
• Take pictures of her and make funny captions giving her a sense of humor before she can even see straight (this will mostly be Strider's responsibility)
• Begin weaning her off oxygen and onto helium--we want that cute baby sound to be permanent
• Watch the responses from our dogs when we bring her home.  We feel pretty confident that Gyges won't think anything is that weird and immediately accept her into the pack.  However, Pili will likely add the baby to her list of things she is completely petrified of.  That list includes: strangers, card board, the mail man, sneezing, and the stroller. 

Any other ideas?

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.

Hi Friends and Family!

Jess would later give birth to a 4 of diamonds.
Was that the card you were thinking of?

As we await (not so patiently) the arrival of our daughter we thought we would get our blog up and running.  We want to share our adventures with you but weren't sure the right medium to do so.  We considered phone trees, beginning with our moms and letting the information branch out from there, hand written letters using carbon paper, email updates, and an MTV reality show.  After serious review we figured out this blog would be our choice. Anyway, please check in with us every once in a while and see how things are developing in our neck of the woods.

In the news: Little Missy Colorado's due date *was* August 23rd.  However, here, today August 28th she still remains snuggled comfortably in my gut.  Our new working theory is that she is actually an elephant and will need 22 months to gestate instead of the measly nine human babies need.  Actually, our midwife practice will induce labor at 42 weeks so worst case is this child will be born around September 6th. 

We are all set for LMC's arrival.  We have our hospital bag packed (mostly) and the various numbers programed into our phones.  We will let you know as soon as something happens.

Well, welcome to the blog!  We hope it won't be too terribly boring.

Jess and Strider