Today, we took Jessica to the doctor. Normally, you take a baby for a well-check at 2 weeks of age, but because her weight gain was so good at 1 week old, the pediatrician pushed Jessica’s visit to 3 weeks old. When put on the scale today, Jessica weighed 8 pounds 13.4 ounces. That is a weight gain of almost 2 pounds in 2 weeks. Wow, she is growing like a weed! Needless to say, Jessica is a good eater. During the day time, she eats on demand. Sometimes she goes 1 hour between feedings, sometimes 3 hours and anywhere in between. She had been waking up 2 times a night to feed, but the last 2 nights, it has dropped to once around 3 AM, going about 5-6 hours between feedings. This is kinda exciting, because she is somewhat getting a schedule, of course, it is a schedule to subject to change.

James had quite the experience while we were at the doctor’s office. The weigh-in required Jessica to be nude. After being weighed, he was about to lay her down on the exam table to diaper and dress her, but before he could lay her down, she decided she was cold and peed all over his hand and the exam table. It is fortunate that 1) she is a girl and 2) James had her just inches from the top of the table and not up against his body.

James and Jessica, 18-days old

Her umbilical cord stump fell off earlier this week. This is great, because now I can really start using the cloth diapers. With the diaper covers I had purchased, it was hard to keep the umbilical cord uncovered and as I wanted to prevent moisture being trapped in that region, we had mainly been using disposables. As soon as I’ve hard more time to experiment with the different types of cloth diapers and covers that I purchased, I’ll write a post on what I’ve found works best for us. That experimentation will also involve James, because I want him to not find cloth diapers too much of a chore to change. Below is a picture of Jessica napping while I changed the sheet in her crib since we had a diaper leakage issue.

Jessica in her Bouncer, 20-days old

Another picture of her napping. The majority of pictures I took of her this week are of her napping. Of course, she is so cute when she is asleep, it’s hard to resist getting out the camera. But I will need to take more pictures of her awake. This should get easier as she will spend more time awake as she grows.

Jessica Napping, 21-days old

Jessica weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces when she was born. Each night at hospital, they weighed Jessica. The first night she had dropped to 6 pounds 14 ounces. The second night she was down to 6 pound 9 ounces and the third night she was down to 6 pound 6 ounces. This constituted a weight loss of 10%, which is the maximum the pediatrician on call at the hospital said was acceptable. Because of that, we visited our pediatrician (same practice as the on-call pediatrician) Tuesday morning after being released from the hospital. At that visit, Jessica weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces, so she hadn’t gained any weight, but she hadn’t lost any more weight either. The pediatrician suggested I supplement until my milk came in, but really that is counterproductive to breast-feeding since your body produces as much milk as it thinks you need and if your baby doesn’t feed as often, it doesn’t think you need to produce as much. Fortunately, my milk came in later that day and by Friday when we went back to the pediatrician, Jessica weighed 7 pounds. She had gained 10 ounces in 3 days and that truly goes to show my milk was good stuff and that Jessica is a terrific eater. Of course, I was also was feeding Jessica what seemed like all the time. It’s pretty neat watching her fill out and I’m curious to know what she will weigh when we go back to the pediatrician’s office on her 3-week-old birthday. For more information on breastfeeding, check out La Leche League of Austin.

Jessica Kicking her Feet in the Bouncer, 4-days old

Besides nursing, Jessica has gone on numerous walks around the neighborhood. She enjoys being in the stroller and usually falls asleep, but sometimes she just watches the toy bugs on the carrier handle.

Jessica in her Stroller, 5-days old

Jessica in her Stroller, 9-days old

She’s started having daily tummy time. The tummy time doesn’t last very long right now. Jessica tries her darnedest to roll over, but she doesn’t have enough oomph yet to do it, which clearly frustrates her.

Tummy Time, 11-days old

Jessica has spent some time with her cousin Aspen, who’s adventures can be found on Jason and Julia’s blog.

Jason, Aspen, Julia and Jessica

She’s been held by her older cousin Dawson, who visited the 2nd weekend of her life and thought she was pretty cute.

Dawson, Jessica and James

Jessica has had her first bath at home. She seemed okay with it until we washed her hair, whereas at the hospital, she didn’t like the bath, but enjoyed the nurse washing her hair. We’ve now washed her hair 3 times and every time, she hasn’t enjoyed it. Hopefully, our bathing baby skills improve and she starts to enjoy bath time.

First Bath, 7-days old

She’s had lots of time with her two grandmothers. James’ Mom was here for 6 days the first week home from the hospital and my Mom was here for 6 days this week. We hadn’t planned on having the extra help, but as I’m not supposed to lift anything heavier than Jessica due to the C-section, its been nice having the extra help. James and I are spoiled now though with all the good cooking our Moms have been doing. Thanks Moms!

Jessica and her Nana

Jessica and her Nanny

And of course, Jessica spends lots of time sleeping. Isn’t she precious? We hadn’t planned on using a sleep positioner, but Jessica has a tendency of kicking her legs up in the air and that movement will often cause her to roll on her side and we want to try to keep her on her back until she can intentionally roll on her side.

Sleeping Babe, 13-days old

Becoming a parent is a totally mind-blowing experience. Hearing Jessica’s first cries as she exited the womb and entered the big new world brought tears of joy to my eyes. Her birth was definitely not the experience I thought it would be though. Caution: Labor details to follow. Skip to pictures for those who get faint.

James and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 AM Friday. After signing the paperwork and getting the IV installed, the Pitocin started about 7:30 AM. At that point, I was 3 cm dilated. My doctor came and broke my water about 8:30 AM. I have to say, the water breaking was definitely a weird sensation, especially since it doesn’t all come out at once. As I moved around and Jessica moved around, more “water” (amniotic fluid) would leak out. I was hooked up to portable monitors that monitored baby JAM’s heartbeat and my contractions. During the labor process, I walked laps around the maternity wing, sat in the armchair in the room, and bounced on a birth ball. The moving around along with the breathing techniques that I learned in the birth class James and I attended worked very well to get through the contractions. At 11:30 AM, my nurse came to check my progress and she said I was dilated to 8 cm. I thought, “Wow, 5 cm in 4 hours.” Then she said she was going to have another nurse check. So the other nurse came in and checked and said, “I don’t know.” This discussion made me a little nervous. They both left and a few minutes later, the nurse and my doctor came in with a portable ultrasound. The doctor checked and then did a quick ultrasound and said, “Well, she is butt first, the little turkey, so we’re going to have to do a C-section.” So the nurse prepped me and then she walked me into C-section operating room, as I was still having contractions and did not want to be rolled in. The anesthesiologist did a spinal and then I laid out on the table with my arms out. From the chest down, I got all numb. It was weird sensation to fill the tugging and pulling of the C-section, but no pain. Then baby JAM was born at 12:16 PM. Hearing her crying as she was born, was one of the happiest sounds of my life.

First Family Photo

Jessica and her Nanny

Jessica and her Papa

Jessica's Hearing Screening

Sleeping Babe

Jessica and her Daddy

Jessica with her Nana and Grandpa

Getting Ready to Leave the Hospital

In the Car on the Way Home

The due date was October 6th. I have always thought that Baby JAM would be late. There’s a few reasons for that thinking: 1) I thought the 6th was a tad early (my own estimate was the 9th) and 2) Baby JAM’s parents have a tendency of being late so why wouldn’t she be late to arrive also. However, it has become increasingly difficult for me to patiently wait for Baby JAM to make her entrance into the big wide world. She did give her parents an extra weekend of sleeping in, so I guess I can’t complain, at least not too much.

…Introducing…

Jessica Ann Moore

October 16, 12:16 PM

7 pounds 2 ounces

20 inches long.

Baby Jessica

Baby Jessica & Momma

Baby Jessica was born via c-section due to being in the breach position.  Mom and baby are doing fine.