6/11/05 - One Week Old

What an incredible week! Eva is absolutely amazing. My hips and tailbone are sore, and my stitches make me walk tenderly (especially on the stairs), but every time I see her little face I know it was all worth it. She is very alert and expressive, and has definite personality. She loves dancing to music in her daddy's arms, being rocked in our overstuffed easy chair and watching people's faces. She's very interactive, and makes this adorable little expression we call her "pirate face", where she squints one eye quirks her little mouth.

She's being very easy on us, sleeping in four-hour stretches at night. I'm told that's not unusual for the first week or two, so I won't hold my breath, but for now it's nice not to be sleep deprived. At two days old she starting lifting her head, and on her third day she smiled so wide we spotted a dimple. My pediatrician didn't believe me until Eva beamed at her (most newborns don't smile for at least a month), and then she said it was a definite social response and that Eva was advanced for her age. I wonder if that has anything to do with being allowed to arrive on her own time (13 days late) and having a drug-free labor. Since most women use some form of pain relief, it's possible that "normal" for most babies includes waiting for these drugs to fully pass out of their systems.

Eva has already regained and passed her birth weight, and is now 8lbs 5oz. So I guess that means that breastfeeding is working just fine. It's definitely is an acquired skill, but I think I've got the hang of it, with only mild soreness that is already starting to go away. Now if I can just figure out how not to make a mess when she pulls away unexpectedly.