Athlete's Foot in the Mouth

At Baby's 2-week check-up, I was dismayed to learn that she has a mild case of thrush on her tongue. All I'm supposed to do is dip a q-tip in the medicine, swab it on her tongue after feedings 4x a day, and I'm done. I was worried we were in for a long haul of fighting over whether Baby would allow me to do so, mostly because Kathy's ordeal sounded like a total pain.

When Baby seemed to have no problem with the medicine, and would start to actually suck at the q-tip, I was amazed, and decided that she was truly a perfect match for fellow-gourmand Spliggle. But her affection for the medication was more practically explained when my mother read the packaging and discovered that Nystatin is 50% sugar.

The thrush seems to be clearing up, albeit slowly, and it doesn't seem to be bothering Baby at all. She enjoys getting dessert after four of her feedings a day, too.

Confession #5: Baby's TV Parents

We're supposed to be reading to Baby so she gets to know the sounds and cadences of our voices and of reading and all that good nurtury stuff. But seriously, I don't at all see the point of reading to a baby who can't even sit in a way where she could see the pages of the book IF she could even see the pages of the book. Instead, we'll sit with her on the couch when we watch tv. She stares off at a lamp ("oooh, light") behind us while we watch.

Unfortunately, this means that the speech cadences she's picking up are from the television characters. Thanks to the new season of The Colser, she's going to think her mommy is Brenda Lee Johnson, and thanks to D's catching up on Lost, she'll think Desmond is her father.

This may result in her developing a Southern/Welsh accent, and her first words might be "Thank yew, brother!"

Double your pleasure

My husband has put together a personal website for our family. I think the idea is mostly to keep the new grandparents updated. Also, it's better to have show ip in Google than 13-yr-old photos of me drinking at 3am. Anyway, there's a blog there, where personal minutiae will be posted re: Baby's development, etc. If you're interested in getting the latest on Baby's First Spit-Up, and How Long Baby Slept Last Night, that will be the place to go.

That frees me up to write about all the other stuff. Like how I FEEL about how long Baby slept last night, I guess. And other stuff. We'll see when, and Kathy promises the day will come, I can breastfeed and type at the same time. Until then, I don't have much time.

PUPPdate

The PUPPs, they are still around.
Now they have "mellowed" into a general itchiness on my arms and legs, with new hives showing up mostly only on my hands and feet, though there does seem to be new growth on my upper thighs. The generalized itchiness makes it even more soothing when I scratch, so I really let myself go to town with the scratching in the hospital. Unfortunately, this means I'll now have scars from them, but I don't regret it. There's only so much a girl can take, and I don't fault myself for finding a little relief where I could.

For the first 24 hours after the surgery, I had to wear these weird things on my calves that were like large blood pressure monitors: they would rhythmically inflate and deflate, "massaging" my legs to prevent blood clots. The inside part that gets wrapped around the leg is a nylon fabric, which meant that my leg hives were being squished by a hot non-absorbent material that pushed sweat into the hives. This does not help itchiness. But I couldn't scratch, because (1) I couldn't bend over that far (see also: first 24 hrs after abdominal surgery) and (2) they were supposed to stay on so I don't get a blood clot and die. The only relief I had was the time or two that the nurse would take them off and wipe down my legs with a cool, damp washcloth. It was a real relief when those things came off. Mostly because I could scratch like the bad girl I am, but also because the machine was really loud and periodically started beeping for no discernable reason.

So now I have little dots like scratched mosquito bites on my legs and arms, and bruising where the scratching did NOT break the skin, and a red rash where the hives have 'mellowed'. It's hideous, but I suppose it's an appropriate counterpart to the latticework of stretchmarks on my belly.

Somebody looks like Daddy

I agree with folks who say that Baby totally looks like her dad. That's why I sent around a photo of her where you can see her dimple; she only has one, but it's just like D's. Although it is on the same side that my dimple's on, so that counts for something?
Her skin tone is also D's - it's so weird to see this tan baby breastfeeding off my pinky-white breast.
I'm hoping she turns out to have my blue eyes so people don't think I adopted.
For what it's worth, I think she has my toes.

First Sign of Sleep Deprivation

I put everyone's email address in the To instead of the Bcc in the mega-mass-email announcing the baby. So everyone got this long long To list, making me look like I learned about "this email thing" last week. Ah, well, at least folks will know who I accidently left out. Right?

Baby has arrived

Just a quick post to let you know that I had the baby last Wednesday. Healthy baby girl, doing well, and I'm in good shape, considering the surgery, etc.
And yes, I still have the PUPPs, but they aren't quite so itchy; just mildly itchy.
Great hospital. Could have used an internet connection, but the nurses were fantastic.
Will blog more whenI get the chance. If you want to leave a comment, please kindly recall that I use nicknames on the blog. Baby's nickname is still in the works - call her Baby for now.