The Brucia Files

Kate at Five Weeks

Today Kate is already five weeks old. That's pretty amazing. She's hitting her fifth week right at the start of a horrible sounding heat wave kicks in. Today will be 87, followed by 90 on Monday, 93 on Tuesday, 95 Wednesday, 95 Thursday, and 88 Friday. Ouch.

We're actually headed to a hotel Tuesday-Thursday to keep Kate out of the excessive heat (no A/C in our building). So we just need to survive Monday night and Thursday night and we should make it to the weekend, when temperatures are supposed to dip back into the manageable low-80s, relatively unscathed.

Yesterday we received a nice Pack and Play as a gift. It comes just in the nick of time for not only our hotel stay this week but our planned trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon in a few weeks. We're excited to get out of town for a few days and see how Kate does on the road.

Kate at three weeks

• Loves looking at her reflection in the window
• Is growing chubby cheeks
• Eats A LOT
• Makes a cannon sound when she poops:)
• Is liking her play mat in the last few days
• Can't sleep and poop at the same time...if she poops, she wakes up
• Makes funny sounds when she sleeps
• Needs a bigger swaddle me blanket...on the way from Amazon!
• Seems to like the bath so far...just forget the getting dressed part! 
• Too bad she can't write her own thank you notes...Mom and Dad are VERY behind.

Just loaded some new pics on shutterfly. 

Friday

• Monitoring my mysterious fever, which is doing a bit better today.  If only I didn't have a headache...have a feeling that's from hormone levels dropping since it's in my normal migraine spot
• Trying to stay cool in front of a "swamp cooler" - a pseudo air conditioner
• Watching the Red Sox/Mariners, now going into extra innings
• Kathryn got to hold her niece
• Kate is a sleeping champ today...probably means a long night...
• She really likes looking at her reflection in the window as she's on the changing table

Waiting for Kate to wake up...

She faked me out.  It seemed like she was stirring to feed again, but she's now conked out again.  But, alas, I am now fully awake.  So, a little computer time as she decides what to do. 

Some of these blog postings may not be interesting to folks, but I probably have no hope of writing in an actual journal - who writes by hand these days! - so there are certain things I do want to chronicle for future reference.  So, feel free to skip some of the medical updates:

• Since I was in labor, I've been monitored for high blood pressure problems.  I did not know that it was possible to get preeclampsia AFTER you give birth, but apparently it is.  At a check up yesterday - 10 days after Kate's birth - my blood pressure is still too high.  However, I managed to again avoid any medication to lower it because the other labs looked good.  This was great news because any medication they put me on to lower blood pressure would negatively affect my milk supply/breastfeeding. 
• Apparently, I've been the talk of the OB department as they are still very confused about how Kate came out at 9 pounds when they thought she was around 6 pounds.  The latest hypothesis is that I probably had gestational diabetes, which caused Kate to pick up weight.  My test for that was in normal limits, so they hadn't done the full test.  However, should I get pregnant again, this is something they will test for to the full extent.   

Chris and I took Kate for our first walk last night as I did get clearance from the doctor to walk around freely, high blood pressure or not.  I proclaimed our destination as Dick's to get some ice cream.  I was laughing because Dick's is just a few blocks away, yet it seemed much further.  I can't wait to get my stamina back.  Between the boot, pregnancy and now labor recovery, it's been months since I've been able to walk like I used to.  In good news, Kate seems to like being walked in the infant car seat/stroller.  We need to get out the Ergo baby carrier and check that out next.  I do think that will be my best solution to walk Dill and Kate at the same time.  BTW, Dill continues to do very, very well with Kate.  He's curious, but not at the point of being annoying.  Just comes around every couple hours for a sniff of her head. 

Today should be a good day as it's our first this week without any doctor's appointment...