Two Weeks Old

Ellie is two weeks old today, an event which was marked by her umbilical cord falling off right on schedule. She is gaining weight well, and becoming more and more alert and active, and starting to set herself into a somewhat predictable schedule. Fun facts: she spends about 7-8 hours a day nursing, which is actually really, really common. Newborns nurse between 8-12 times a day at least--more during a growth spurt, and the time spent at each feeding varies, though 45min to an hour is normal. She sits right in that time frame, usually closer to 45 minutes. She can pick her head up and hold it when you put her on your shoulder, and already tracks objects moving around her. She has also started sleeping for two long stretches at night (3 hours from 12am-3am and 4 hours from 4am-8am), which means that mom finally gets around 5 hours of total sleep per night, which is amazing. But her very active and fussy time is from 9pm to midnight, which is super fun!

First Thanksgiving....

Eliana slept through most of the day as babies are wont to do----she's a little backward with her schedule right now; she sleeps and eats throughout the day, but wakes for a fussy time starting at 6-7pm until anytime between 12 and 2 am, which makes for an exhausting night. She'll grow out of it eventually, but until then it's hard to get pictures of her awake. Hopefully soon though!

First Doctor Visit at One Week Old

Eliana had her first visit to the pediatrician today, which told us that she gained two ounces and a 1/4 inch. The doctor said her muscle tone was excellent--she is really, really strong, and she showed no signs of jaundice. All great news and mommy is very, very relieved!

She is starting to settle into nursing a bit better, though we still encounter challenges, but she is eating really well, nearly every hour and half hour sometimes, and her wet and poopy diapers are steadily increasing; a great sign that she's getting plenty of nutrition.

She is such a full time job right now that there hasn't really been much time for pictures, but hopefully we will have another session soon...

Cutie girl

More pictures of Eliana!

First Days....

Eliana Sofia is here and safe, thank the Lord. The labor and delivery were scary for both mom and baby, resulting in a c-section that revealed the cord wrapped around Eliana's little neck. In the head down position for delivery, the cord was being squeezed tight with each contraction, which resulted in a dangerous drop in heart rate at the end of each one. With labor progressing it only got worse, until a c-section was a no-brainer. Thank the Lord for medical interventions and that this little diva is safe and sound!

Both mom and baby are doing really well, recovering and learning to nurse. Eliana is a smart one and it isn't taking her very long to figure it all out, and she is quite the little piggy! She also has a great set of lungs that she has no problem displaying.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of this little angel. :) More pictures to follow in another post!

Waiting....

At this point we are still waiting for Eliana to arrive, but I thought I'd set this up as an easy way to keep updates and pictures easily accessible to you and your family. We definitely are eager for her to get here, and can't wait to find out who this little person is....