Smile :-D

I just can't get enough of seeing Ana smile - it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen!


Yesterday was my final day of maternity leave so I tried to savor it by holding her as much as possible. We sat in the rocking chair and I just looked at her all day. She's amazing.

Me and my girl - 7 weeks old!!

Party

OCIT threw Ana a welcome to the world party today. We had great food, some great gifts, and of course great company!

Jogging!

I went running for the first time yesterday - woo hoo!! The weather was beautiful so I took Ana and Briscoe for a walk (which was somewhat chaotic) then Ana and I jogged around the quad while Briscoe hung out with Uncle Anthony....well I should say I jogged and Ana got pushed around the quad.

Today is my last day of maternity leave - how depressing. The time has really flown. I'm actually looking forward to going back to work (the teaching bit, not the other crap I have to do) but I'm going to really miss hanging out with Ana all day. My dad will be here so she doesn't need to go to daycare just yet. I'm dreading sending her to daycare!

2 big things that SUCK about the USA

I love living in the USA - I like the weather (except for the summer in GA), the people, the way of life. I like the fact that everything is so much cheaper than it is in Europe, but some things really annoy me:

1. You cannot walk anywhere! The other day I took Ana for a walk to see her daddy at work. For those of you who haven't visited us yet (shame on you) James works about 400 yards from our house. No joke - you can see his office from our window. However, our journey consisted of walking down our street on the road (no pavement/sidewalk), turning the corner onto a sidewalk so cracked and uneven I could barely push the pram on it with overhanging trees/bushes that I literally had to fight my way through as if I was in a forest! I assume people let these things overhang the sidewalk because no-one uses it! So now we are directly opposite James' office but I cannot cross the road with a pram because the curb is about 10 inches higher than the road, so I have to walk to a point with a driveway and cross there and approach James' office from the rear, meaning I have to push the pram across grass...and it had just rained! Finally once I am at his office I have to negotiate steps (no ramp) to get to his door. So I showed up sweaty, with branches in my hair, and grass and mud all over the pram! Grrrrr!!

2. The medical system is a joke!! Growing up in England I was fortunate to have a National Health Service - i.e. it is FREE to go to the doctor, dentist, hospital, whatever. The system the US has is nothing short of appalling. I could go on and on about this one but I'll keep it relevant to the bellywatch blog. I recently got a bill from the anesthesiologist at the hospital for $1,280 for my epidural (side note - it was totally worth it). Apparently this guy is not part of my EMORY insurance network even though he works at an EMORY hospital - how can this be? My insurance company are still supposed to pay 70% of the bill for an out of network charge but they wrote to inform me they will only pay 70% of what they determine is a reasonable fee for this service so I have to pay for the rest! Are you kidding me? They don't think the bill is reasonable so they aren't paying it? Why can't I do that too?? I'm also getting bills left and right from the treatment Ana had for her jaundice. Oh, and one more thing, I need all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and there is no in-network provider for this covered by my insurance. Imagine that - the dental insurance I have through EMORY University is not accepted at the EMORY oral surgery clinic. I have needed these teeth taking out for years, but last year I ran out of insurance coverage because I had a root canal (I have a yearly max of $1000 and after that I am on my own) then this year I had to wait because I was pregnant, and now I will have to wait again until January because I am only allowed to switch insurance companies at the end of the year. Meanwhile food gets trapped in the gaps around the wisdom teeth buds and rots so I keep needing fillings on my molars that touch them - and the fillings cost a frigging fortune! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Tallahassee

Ana was an Angel in Tallahassee!! She had one bad night (she was up all night due to sleeping the whole trip down) but for the most part she was great! I had a fabulous birthday - big thanks to Caryn who put us up AND babysat one night so we could both go out together. Thanks also to Pony, Tom, Wendy, Doug, Joey, Shanna, Dickson, and Marcy who all contributed to the good times.


Dickson and I getting ready to "pump and dump".....don't ask :-)

Addicted to video

This is the look Ana has on her face 90% of the time - like she is thinking about something!

Video!

James makes Ana smile by tickling her lips :-)

Baby buddies

Monica and I were "Belly Buddies" for 9 long months. Our due dates were 4 weeks apart so we used to get together and exercise or discuss many of the joys of pregnancy (of course that is a lie we used to sit and bitch about it). Anyway, Lucas arrived on Sept 16th so now Ana has a play mate. Woo Hoo!!

Road trip

I must be nuts - The 4 of us (dog included) are heading to Florida tonight to celebrate my 30th birthday (and Ana's 6 week birthday). For anyone who reads this who doesn't know, James and I used to live in Tallahassee and we miss being there SO much. It is the greatest place in the world and we have the best friends there....although many have moved on.

I'm pretty sure Ana is excited about this weekend - I've packed a bunch of outfits for her to wear and washed her hair ready for her big debut. Travelling is nothing new to her as she was a pretty well travelled baby while in my belly - she went to England, Tallahassee, Denver, Hilton Head Island, Charlotte, NC, the GA mountains and Tennessee!

At the moment she is smiling more and more, but we still can't be sure if she is actually smiling directly at us or not - either way it is cute!

Bed Head

Ana has so much hair she actually gets bed head in the morning!

Changes

So I think I was in some kind of post-maternal daze when I said I didn't care about stretch marks and weight gain. It has been 6 weeks and I still look like I'm pregnant!


The numbers on the scale do not bother me so much as the physical changes. My hips are wider (I assume due to pelvic seperation....not sure when that goes back but I've heard it takes a year). My boobs range from a 40 DD when full of milk to something like a floppy B cup when empty -this looks really good when Ana feeds from just one side and I have one of each!! My wedding rings still do not fit, leading me to believe that my hands will never be the same again :( On a positive note my shoes fit which is a relief. I had read that you gain a whole shoe size when pregnant and never go back! Well I did gain at least a shoe size but thankfully my feet returned to their normal size. I'm not really a shoe person (I have about 6 pairs compared to my sisters 50) but I really didn't want to have to spend money on new ones.

Bath time

Ana loves taking a bath. She splashes around in the water and is fascinated with looking at herself in the mirror. She really likes having her hair washed too, which I am so grateful for since I was expecting she would scream when I did it.

Party Animal

Ana attended 2 parties in one day on Friday - an open house at James' work and the preview party at Tricia's new Starbucks store. She was the center of attention at both (of course) and was perfectly behaved. No fussing or crying. I think we have a budding party animal on our hands. She behaved a lot like I do at parties actually - burped, threw-up on herself and then fell asleep :-)

5 weeks

Wow - When I was pregnant 5 weeks seemed like forever - now it is flying by! Ana sucked her thumb for the first time this week. She looked so cute! James was happy because he thinks she may use it to sooth herself to sleep....we can hope. She also gave her first real (i.e. responsive) smile which was just amazing. She smiles when James tickles her cheeks. I've tried to catch a photo of one but to no avail. Here's my best attempt

Papa Slim

James and Ana look exactly alike when they sleep - it is very cute!
James is just the most wonderful dad. I'm so happy seeing them together!

This reminds me that I had been meaning to document just how great James was during my pregancy too. He managed to remain cool, calm, and collected in the midst of a hormone storm, and pandered to my every whim. In the 1st trimester - faced with the onslaught of morning (24 hour) sickness James ran out to get anything I was craving at that particular time, and cleaned puke from the carpet, sink, trash can, dinner table, and anywhere else it could be found. He also left me a little set up of iced water and a puke bucket next to the bed every day when he left for work and I was still sleeping. This was despite me thrashing around hysterically declaring "You STINK"every time he came in the room (seriously, every smell including his hair, aftershave, coffee, food, skin, clothes, etc, all made me sick). The towards the end he rubbed my aching back everyday, tried to hold up the weight of my belly for me with his hands (unsuccessful but sweet), cooked all meals and did all the housework (nothing new here actually), allayed my fears of having no idea what to do with a newborn baby, didn't complain about being woken up at least 12 times a night by my trips to the bathroom and entertained me with board games and dvds since I was mind-numbingly bored.


I'm so lucky, and I really don't think I could have got through any of this without him.
Thanks Slim!

Funny day

I swear Ana said "Hi" to me this morning!! I picked her up from her basinette and put her on my knee and she looked right at me and said "Hi". I was so excited I said Hi back to her about 50 times! I think really she is just mastering her vowel sounds (she can do Aaaaa and Ooooo and now it seems she has got to Iiii) but it was really cute. She also laughed at me! I was breastfeeding her - something I never do because she only likes to drink from a bottle so I pump my milk and give it to her from a bottle, but today I was leaking milk and had no bottle ready so I gave it a go and she managed it. Milk was flooding out so fast I think it was choking her, so she pulled her head away and milk literally sprayed all over her face and she laughed! I mean it went in her hair, up her nose and all over her cheeks and she just lay there and giggled. It was hillarious!

Pictures

Check out these georgous pictures Mel took while she was here!

1 month check-up

Ana went to the Dr for her 1 month check-up today. She weighs 11lb 3oz and is 22 inches long. Her cone head has rounded out and her hips are fine. She still tips her head to one side so she has some baby neck exercises to do :-) She also has baby acne but that should clear up on its own. She'll go back at 2 months for her immunizations and another check-up.

According to the growth chart I have Ana was in the 90th percentile for weight when she was born and between the 25th and 50th percentile for length. At 1 month she is between the 75th and 95th percentile for weight and between the 50th and 75th percentile for length (or height and James calls it....I'm assuming it only becomes height when she can stand up)!

1 month old

Ana turned 1 month old today. I can't believe how fast time has flown! Her biggest achievements this month have been lifting her head and focusing her eyes, she has also mastered shooting poo across the room while being changed, peeing in the bath, and the classic poo-up-the-back trick. We've discovered that she loves being outdoors, being tickled, sitting in her swing, and having her hair washed. She does not like being hungry!

To celebrate the big day Mel baked a cake and we had a party!

Auntie Mel

This week Ana has been hanging with her auntie Mel and Uncle Jamie :-)
She's also been on a couple of trips to Starbucks and a Thai restaurant and was very well behaved (Ana that is...not Mel)!

Eye contact

Ana gazes at me a lot these days (now she can focus on things). It is awesome!!

Sleep buddies!

Nap time appears to be James and Ana's favorite time of the day :-)

The 4th trimester

So, something you may not be aware of.....pregnancy actually has 4 trimesters, and therefore lasts for a year! And here I was thinking that after I had delivered the baby I'd be back to normal. Not so much!
The '4th trimester' is pretty cruel because when you are sore and worn out from delivery and you just want to sleep you have to care for a newborn, then right at a time when your hormones make you feel blue you look in the mirror and see that you have so many stretch marks you look like a tiger (a pale flabby tiger that is), your hair starts falling out, and your belly is still swollen. Pyjamas and maternity clothes are the only things that fit you, so you don't dare to leave the house....then you get depressed cos you never leave the house...and so on. Still - at least you aren't pregnant any more :-)

I went back and took a look at the list of things I said I'd do once Ana arrived - as you can see they need to be modified a bit!!
1. Get drunk at Poor Pauls - erm, if I could sit in the car for the 5 hours it would take to get there maybe I'd give this a try, although I'd need to go to bed by 10pm and I'd probably be wasted after my first 2 drinks. Still, I am quite the expert at puking now so that wouldn't faze me much.
2. Eat sushi - not allowed when breastfeeding :(
3. Go jogging - HA!! Walking is a struggle
4. Sleep on my front - my boobs are too big and leaky for that! Although sleep is soooooo much better now than when I was pregnant. The evil twist being that now I get really comfortable then get woken up every couple of hours!
5. Wear jeans that don't have a stretch panel front - No chance!
6. Hug James without turning sideways or making him bend forward 45 degrees - this I can actually do and it is nice
7. Wear my wedding ring - Nope, still got sausage fingers
8. Sit down without my belly resting on my thighs - Not yet!!!

Here's a picture of me right after delivery (the beginning of the 4th trimester) - I think it perfectly captures the joy/relief/exhaustion of the moment.