Six things

1. I am back at work half time mostly from home--but I have to go into the office one day a week. I went in for the first full day last Wednesday. Let's just say I have one more thing to add to the very short list of things that can make me cry.

2. Pumping at work is no picnic. Until I figure out a better system, I currently have to go get a key for the storage room, sit on the floor next to the door in the storage room, assemble the various parts of the pump, look at a picture of Eli and pump for 15 minutes, disassemble the pump, get dressed, return the key, put the milk in the fridge and remember what I was doing before I dropped everything. I do this three times a day.

3. We went to St. Louis this weekend. We can add 5-hour car rides to the very long list of things that can make Eli cry.

4. It's not so hard to fit 2 puppies, 2 adults, and a baby in the car after all.

5. We saw three other babies while we were at my in-laws' house this weekend. Turns out we have a fussy baby. We had no idea until we saw how chill the other babies were. Who knew? He sure is cute though.

6. Baby runs hot like his Daddy. He got overheated three times this weekend and had to be stripped down and covered in wet wash rags.

7. It might be easier to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes if I could stop eating cake. I made a very yummy cake though.

Leroy--I mean Eli

I often confuse babies with puppies. I have to frequently remind myself that unlike Jack and Leroy, Eli will one day comprehend what we are saying and be able to talk himself. He won't always be small.

So far the puppies are still smarter than the baby. They know how to feed themselves and can easily recognize food. Eli, on the other hand was seen trying to locate some milk in his swing the other day. He will also cry for food and then push away from my body as he is trying to get to food. Leroy and Jack will respond to their names and make eye contact on command. Eli is still working on those things.

When Jack and Leroy have a suspected health problem, we usually wait a few days before calling the vet. Almost nothing is ever cured there and we usually walk away with a couple hundred dollar bill. Turns out our insurance covers Eli and baby problems are much better understood than puppy problems. Also, while dogs will generally look pathetic when they are ill, babies tend to scream. Eli's belly button had started looking suspicious last week and his eye was looking wonky this weekend. I called the doctor yesterday morning to see if we could get him in earlier than his scheduled 2-month appointment on Thursday. They had an opening in 20 minutes so we ran and got in the car--me with no makeup and wet hair.

His wonky eye is a blocked tear duct but she's going to give him until 1 year to work that out on his own. His busted belly button is an umbilical granuloma. She whipped out this stick of silver nitrate and rubbed it on the area to fix it. It's all gray and gnarly looking now, but I believe that is normal. He also got his first round of immunizations--3 shots in his thighs and some rotavirus in his mouth. He was most pissed off about the rotavirus and liquid Tylenol in his mouth.

He was 10 lb, 3 oz. and 21 and 7/8 inches. That puts him into the 20thish percentile for weight (up from 10th before), 25th percentile for length, and 50th percentile for noggin size. He's grown nearly an inch in less than 4 weeks, and I believe the growth happened on this one particular night. We put him to bed at one size and woke up to a much bigger baby in the morning. Fact.

He is feeling much better today. Is currently on a 2-mile hike with Daddy.

We decided to pierce the baby's ear.

Now he looks like Mr. Clean.

Big brothers

People often ask how our first borns are handling the new addition to the family. Jack has been a big brother for quite some time now. When Leroy came into his life, however, it didn't mean less cuddling time for him (since Leroy isn't much of an affection demander). Eli has been a huge impediment to his cuddling time. Jack has had to take drastic measures to make sure his needs are met.

Waking up

When I first held Eli in my arms I thought he looked just like Kenny and Yoda. I had no idea how very strange newborns are. At first, it seemed like he couldn't really focus on anything. He was a bit of a robot. He had three states: sleeping, screaming, and the very briefest periods of calm and awake. Born on the small side, he seemed to devote all of his wakeful energy to eating. He would sleep for as long as he wasn't hungry and then wake up screaming--because of course he was hungry. He'd eat just long enough to not be hungry and fall asleep again--repeat cycle. It's funny how its possible to love somebody so much who really doesn't give much in return.

After weeks of 'round the clock eating, he's looking quite plump these days. He's been working on smiling and maybe, just maybe beginning to recognize us. He usually begins the night between us in his sleep positioner. When we got into bed the other night, he looked at me then at Kenny then back and forth. It was like he was taking a headcount and maybe putting the puzzle pieces together. Maybe he's beginning to figure out that we're his people. We've joked that basically he knows us as three people: the milk lady, the daytime diaper changing guy (Kenny with his glasses on) and nightime diaper changing guy (Kenny with his glasses off). Sometimes when Kenny hands him to me he seems to smile (because, yay food!) or maybe he's just opening his mouth to eat. The smiling thing has been much more gradual than I thought it would be. It started with some very quick flashes of smile where you couldn't really tell if he meant to do it or not. He's beginning to do it more frequently to the point where it seems like he's smiling because he's happy about something. We can't really make him smile at this point. Perhaps he just doesn't get our sense of humor.

He's become much more interested in his world. Usually, he just stares at lights. Lately, he's been quite demanding about being carried around to look at things. He can easily stare at this black, white, and red poster we have for several uninterrupted minutes. At around 7 or 8 in the morning, he will cry until given the opportunity to stare at the windows in our bedroom. During the last week he's gotten excited about his rattle (not shaking it for himself or anything, but at least momentarily distracted when we shake it for him).

Snippets

He's so funny when he sleeps.

Apparently tomorrow my child will be 6 weeks old. How did that happen already? He has had the nerve to grow 2.5 inches and gain about 3 pounds. His scrawniness has turned into squeezeableness. I almost woke him up last night because I could not resist the urge to pinch his chubby cheaks. They were just there and they needed to be pinched.

While it seems like he was just born, pregnancy seems like it was eons ago. There really must be some amnesia built into the whole process so that you'll do it again. Even two days after his birth pregnancy seemed like a distant memory.

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I wasn't sure what to expect with a newborn. I thought maybe I'd be dealing with a baby that wanted to stay up all night crying. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case (so far, knock on wood). If he cries, it's usually because he's hungry. He eats a million times more often than I expected. I think, without exaggeration, I've spent about 50% of these last 6 weeks with a baby attached to my boob. There are definitely worse things in the world. The constant nursing just forces me to slow down and enjoy this time with him. Plus, I had no idea what babies did when they were looking for a boob. He snorts and grunts and shakes his head back and forth with his mouth open and goes, "uh uh uh." Makes me laugh all the time.

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Today was a special day in the Kodkagel household. I got crapped on. Literally. I was holding Eli on my lap. I heard him poop. He has very audible, very loud poops. They usually come in 3 parts, so I was giving him some time to finish up. (Am I oversharing?) I shifted him to the other leg and uncovered the horror. This was not a little bit of seepage, but an all out pooping on mommy. It generated a full load of laundry. Not cool. I guess he was making up for all the times he's peed on his father.

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When we went to Easter brunch at a friend's house on Sunday we decided to dress him in his finest pastel polyester. This outfit belonged to my brother, making it at least 32 years old.

Eli's Birth Story, Part III

Much like I expected labor to take 11 to 12 hours, I expected pushing to take maybe 30 minutes. After about 2 hours of pushing I became convinced nothing was really happening. I mean, how far does the baby really have to go? The midwife made me reach down and feel the baby’s head. The whole team was cheering me on telling me I was doing an awesome job during each push. A Jack Johnson CD was playing on repeat— as it had been throughout much of the labor. I had an oxygen mask on at this point and was covered in wet washcloths that would fall off me every time I leaned forward to push. The baby nurse started setting up and the pediatrician finally arrived. Forty-two hours into labor and 2.5 hours into pushing, our baby was born at 1:28 AM on February 23, 2010.

date Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 3:57 AM

subject Update 06: 42 hours had to end somehow!

Start: Sunday 7:00am

End: Tuesday 1:28am

We pushed and pushed and pushed for two and half hours.

Meet our new baby boy!

6lb 8oz

Name to come.

Love you all!

We were hoping he would not immediately cry so that he wouldn’t breath in the meconium. He came out screaming. Kenny cut the umbilical cord. It took him three tries because he was so nervous. They took the baby over to the warming table and began working on him. According to our birth requests, Kenny was supposed to announce the sex. Baby was at the table, and I had to ask what it was before Kenny looked and told me it was a boy. They worked on him for what seemed like forever. Kenny took pictures and brought them over to show me. I could already tell he looked just like Kenny.

I thought it would be a while before the placenta came, but it was like 5 minutes later. Finally something happened quicker than expected! I asked to see it and demanded that Kenny take pictures as I was quite proud of it. It was a good looking placenta. Then the student midwife stitched me up—only two stitches, so I thought that was pretty good.

Baby was a bit pale, and they weren’t sure about his breathing so they needed to take him to the nursery to monitor him. They brought him over to me for a minute before—Kenny had to hold oxygen over him while I held him. For some reason, I wasn't too worried though. I just knew he was strong and healthy and would be fine. Perhaps its because of the strength of the force with which he'd been kicking and punching me for weeks.

Kenny followed him to the nursery. I called my family. When Kenny came back we worked on giving our little boy a name. We had spent many, many hours trying to agree on a name before the birth, but it only took about 5 minutes for us to agree on Elias after.

The nurse and midwives were eager for me to try peeing. I had to take the nurse with me to make sure I didn’t collapse or something and to be shown how to deal with the lovely aftermath (a multi-step process involving many products). All dignity had been lost along the way anyway.

Elias came back with a clean bill of health after an hour in the nursery. I held him and maybe sort of nursed him. I was relieved and of course exhausted. I handed him to Kenny and promptly passed out.

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A few days after we’d been home from the hospital I was recounting what labor was like to my friend Megan (who was curious because she was a few weeks away from giving birth herself). When I finished the description she said that it sounded pretty terrible. I was surprised when she said that, because for me it really wasn’t terrible. Reading it here, I can see how maybe it sounds pretty terrible--but really, I feel like we had a wonderful birth. When possible all of the plans we had made were honored. Labor was long and during parts of it I began to wonder if I would ever see my baby, but man was it worth it. I wouldn’t change the place or the people who were a part of it. I was disappointed to be taking a morphine nap at the time, but in retrospect I think it was the right choice. In movies the pushing stage always seems terrible and horribly painful—but for me it was the exciting part. Labor was painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The doula told me that several times--that the pain would never be so much that I couldn’t handle it. Immediately after and for the days following, I was on such a high. I always treasure the time when Excedrin kicks in and takes away a headache and joke that a headache is good in that it helps you appreciate when you’re not in pain. This was like that for me but a million times more. After the birth the nurses kept asking me to rate my pain. I found that odd because I really wasn’t in any. Did I mention we got to take this wonderful creature home with us?