Category: baby

Ella turned 1 month old yesterday, I turn 28 today, Barley turns 5 today, and all 4 generations of Freeds met two days ago. My grandfather Harry (Grandpa Duck) and aunt Liz came down to meet Ella. Ella is his first great-grandaughter. We took the opportunity to snap a few photos with Grandpa Duck, including this of 4 generations of Freeds.

Ella didn’t get the excitement, but I suspect she did get the Freed hands (Michelle and I are still in disagreement over this).

Michelle and I took Ella to her 2 week checkup today and were shocked when she tipped the scales to 8 lbs, 2oz. We’re going to have to stop calling her piglet though, despite the cuteness of her truffle-sniffing tendencies come feeding time.

The rest of the appointment was great. Ella is doing well. She lost her umbilical stump yesterday somewhere in the back yard. We can’t find it, which is a little disappointing. I don’t think we’d do anything with it, but it’s like a missing nuclear warhead – you’d sleep better knowing where it is. We’re hoping it didn’t become part of Barley’s diet. And we’re hoping it’s not going to end up in our pocket lint next week. She didn’t seem to notice though, which is good.

After the checkup, we stopped by 5th Quadrant so Michelle could have a C-note. Sadly, they were out. We found substitutes and had a beer and fries while enjoying the afternoon sun. We’ve noticed that like us, there are tons of new and recent parents who have refused to give up their old lives and are simply bringing kids with them to their old haunts. Some are clandestine (like us with Ella in the sling… who never cries), and others who have the procession of carriers, toys, and baby tackle that slows you down.

So far we’ve remained light packers; ninja parents. We’re able to leave the house in less than 7 minutes with the baby, which I think is pretty good. I’m still working with Michelle. Her times with the car seat are still abysmal. We’ll get her up to speed though – you never when we’ll need to – I dunno – jump in the car and flee the city. Or maybe get to Babysaurus.

Ella is 2 weeks old today. She’s healthy, happy, and occasionally lets us sleep. Amazingly, we’ve already taken her out to dinner 3 times (Slings are awesome), she’s accompanied us on errands, and she seems to travel quite well as long as she’s eaten and been changed. The first two weeks have gone like a dream and its sad to think about having to go back to work in only 2 more weeks.

Kathy, Michelle’s mom, stayed with us for most of the two weeks and was an incredible help in finding routine, keeping peace and keeping things clean. We’ve been blessed to have an incredible support mechanism in our friends and family both in active assistance and in space. As it turns out, not sleeping doesn’t help with getting things done and being healthy.

For Ella’s birthday, Michelle and I planted a trident maple in the back yard. It will be named Ella, of course. Barley’s 5th birthday is also less than a month away, so we got him a crimson oak tree. What better way to attract the squirrels?

We had our 2nd day “Mother/Baby” check this morning and Ella has already gained back her birth weight like a week early! Risk of jaundice is way down, she’s nursing fairly well and really doing a splendid job of dirtying diapers. We’re signed up for a diaper service, but the newborn sized diapers are just way too big for the little girl. Luckily the hospital gave us a bunch of diapers to use until we figure this poop thing out.

The girl re-dirties her diapers without fail just minutes after I change her. We’re going to need to talk. Plus, there are so many different outfits, each with a different way to remove them that I’m ending up with some 2am challenges.

Oh, and some more photos

Ella was slated to arrive on August 14th, but clearly didn’t show up on time. As such, Michelle was scheduled to be induced on Sunday, the 20th. We had our last meal at Thai Noon (Siam Society was closed) and packed up the car and drove out to St. Vincent’s Hospital. The check-in, introductions, and pretty much every encounter with the medical staff since the arrival was excellent, and helped to quell many of the fears we had.

Michelle was induced at about 9pm on Sunday using some indigestion medication. That started things off, but the contractions were too fast and frequent, so she was moved to pitocin around 5am. Things were progressing slowly until around 8am when the doctors realized that the baby’s heart rate was dropping after every contraction. The pitocin was stopped and Michelle’s waters ruptured around 10am. This set off some rapid increases in dilation, pain, and concern. Michelle got an epidural around 11am once the doctors felt the baby was doing well enough responding to the contractions and Michelle regained composure shortly thereafter. The nurse anesthetist is on her christmas card list.

After the epidural, Michelle’s progress changed rapidly. Just as soon as I would update people on her progress, I would be told that things had doubled (or more) while I was gone. She was dilating logarithmically. The doctors (the entourage consisted of a doctor, a resident and a medical student) were all still concerned about the drop in the baby’s blood pressure following contractions and theorized that the child was sporting some neckwear. Most of the morning included debate over whether or not to use a c-section to get the baby out. Once Michelle was ready, the doctors decided to have her push to see how the baby responded. She responded well, so we cleared the room of family and Michelle pushed for less than 20 minutes and out popped our beautiful daughter – wearing her umbilical cord around her neck. The resident who performed the delivery quickly maneuvered the baby around, untangled her, cut the cord, did a quick check and passed her on to the NICU nurse.

Because of the concern over the cord, I wasn’t allowed to catch the baby or cut the cord, and a NICU nurse took the baby for a quick inspection right after delivery to make sure everything was ok. Sure enough, little Ella came out crying, had a strong pulse, good color, good activity and ultimately scored an 8 on her first APGAR and a 9 on her second. Woohoo!

I watched as the nurse cleaned up, listened to, and inspected my daughter, and was filled with a new kind of joy. She was beautiful and crying and grimacing and kind of bloody. I looked back at a glowing Michelle who was looking across the room to see what was going on and felt a little guilty that I was able to see her and touch her first. Soon we brought her back to mom, who got to hold the tiny little girl. After some cleanup, family were allowed back in and everyone was allowed to see our daughter. They all agreed she was perfect.

Michelle and I stayed at the hospital for 48 hours and tried to adjust to the new schedule we’d concocted 41 weeks prior. The second night looked like it was going to be a little easier since Ella was feeding, but the pediatrician had ordered a night with a Biliblanket. The light pad was strapped to Ella’s naked back and helped reduce the biliruben count and lower her level of jaundice. It worked, but was warm and uncomfortable and kept our baby on an odd schedule for the second night.

Homecoming was a welcome change – and despite the amazing care (our first three nurses were Susan, Kathy and Debbie – same as all 3 grandmas), it was nice not to have the frequent interruptions. Ella seems to be adjusting well and we’re finally catching up on some much needed sleep. Welcome home baby.

Michelle and I welcomed Ella Freed to the family this afternoon at 2:22pm. She is far more beautiful than either of us imagined and is just the most amazing thing I think I’ve ever seen. Michelle is recovering well despite being thoroughly exhausted.

Ella was born 6lbs, 12oz at 19.5 inches. She’s slight and fits perfectly in our arms. I’m not sure what I expected, but I’m just smitten. Several friends and family members have been on hand to see our little girl, but here’s a quick preview. You know more pictures will follow once we start thinking straight.