Eliza has been feeding like the clappers. We've recently started giving her a bottle about once a day, to give mum a break (still with mum's milk, though - Dzung's really been expressing herself). There's some equation that the midwives use to figure out how much milk to put in the bottle, and, in Eliza's case, it came out to a meagre 40ml or so. Last night I gave her 90ml, and she still wasn't sated after draining it all. So no need to worry that she's not getting enough to eat.
This point was proven doubly today when Dzung took Eli-Anh for a weigh-in at the Clinic. Expectations were that she'd bulk up by around 100gm a week, which means that after losing 200gm the week after birth, we'd expect her to be up at the 2.8kg mark. Well, young Eli-Anh tipped the scales at over 3.2kg! Our little monkey has really been putting on a growth spurt, which hopefully explains the constant crying and feeding, and which is hopefully just a (short) phase she's going through. Yes, fellow parents, I can hear your laughter from here.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Unca Gus
Cousin Justin is over in Mordor on business, and dropped in to visit Eliza. We had a great night... Friend Nestor and Brother Brendan also came over, and we got some beers, some home-delivered Thai food and played "Guitar Hero" for hours on end. Click the piccie to see Dzung noodling some impressive licks (usually the other way around for her).
We also had our first experience of going out for dinner. Packed the pram and Eliza in the car, and drove in to Chinatown to have a celebratory meal of lobster sashimi, crab, more lobster, fish and other assorted seafood, with Dzung's parents and some of their Sydney friends. Again, click the link for piccies.
The in-laws have been packed off safely back to The Shire, so we have the place to ourselves this weekend. The weather is cool and fine, and we plan on going for a walk along the cafe strip. Expect more pictures soon.
We also had our first experience of going out for dinner. Packed the pram and Eliza in the car, and drove in to Chinatown to have a celebratory meal of lobster sashimi, crab, more lobster, fish and other assorted seafood, with Dzung's parents and some of their Sydney friends. Again, click the link for piccies.
The in-laws have been packed off safely back to The Shire, so we have the place to ourselves this weekend. The weather is cool and fine, and we plan on going for a walk along the cafe strip. Expect more pictures soon.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Big Foot
Got a few more piccies up on Flickr today. In other news, young Eliza is starting to smile a bit more frequently - she seems to have figured out how to copy what we do with our faces. It's cute, and we'll try to get a photo of it on Flickr soon. Nestor and Gabby visited last night, and we had a great time. Nestor and I went and got some takeaway Thai, and we ate that for dinner, washed down with a bottle of red. After that it was a game of Buzz. Eliza slept through it all.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Three Weeks
Today Lucy (our doula) sent us a CD containing the pictures she took during the birth, so I've uploaded a few of them to Flickr. Don't worry, they're tastfully cropped to omit all the gross bits.
In other news, Dzung's folks are now staying with us, and helping (as grandparents do) by cooking food for us, sleeping soundly while we stay up all night caring for Eliza, and telling us what we should be doing differently the next morning.
Apart from that, Eliza has started to settle down more during the night, and less during the day (instead of the other way around). Last night she slept soundly from 3:30am to 7:30am, which may sound painful to all those non-parents out there, but which was a minor victory for us. I felt more rested the next day than I have for weeks.
Part of this victory has been the establishment of a routine. We haven't been so strict in terms of feed times, bath times and bed time, but we have delineated night and day by playing loud "pink noise" on the iMac during the night, and turning off the lights. Eliza has adapted to this by allowing herself to be put down in the bassinet with nary a protest squeel, and going from bug-eyed wide awakeness to sound asleep in moments. Nice. Pink noise, in case you don't know, is an easier-to-listen-to varient of white noise. It sounds just like mother's womb, I'd bet.
I'd also like to make the observation that, should human evolution continue, I believe that milk will come out of your little finger. Perfect for popping into baby's mouth while you're holding her to calm her during a screaming session. We've been loathe to do this too often, as a proferred digit is tantamount to a dummy in my books, and we've succesfully avoided using the latter to date.
Oh, and really, truly final news: the early childhood clinin lady visited on Thursday, and pronounced Eliza perfectly healthy. She's bulked up to 2.66kg, meaning that after losing 200gm over the first few days after birth, she's put on a massing 340gm, which is above what you'd expect. That's my girl!
In other news, Dzung's folks are now staying with us, and helping (as grandparents do) by cooking food for us, sleeping soundly while we stay up all night caring for Eliza, and telling us what we should be doing differently the next morning.
Apart from that, Eliza has started to settle down more during the night, and less during the day (instead of the other way around). Last night she slept soundly from 3:30am to 7:30am, which may sound painful to all those non-parents out there, but which was a minor victory for us. I felt more rested the next day than I have for weeks.
Part of this victory has been the establishment of a routine. We haven't been so strict in terms of feed times, bath times and bed time, but we have delineated night and day by playing loud "pink noise" on the iMac during the night, and turning off the lights. Eliza has adapted to this by allowing herself to be put down in the bassinet with nary a protest squeel, and going from bug-eyed wide awakeness to sound asleep in moments. Nice. Pink noise, in case you don't know, is an easier-to-listen-to varient of white noise. It sounds just like mother's womb, I'd bet.
I'd also like to make the observation that, should human evolution continue, I believe that milk will come out of your little finger. Perfect for popping into baby's mouth while you're holding her to calm her during a screaming session. We've been loathe to do this too often, as a proferred digit is tantamount to a dummy in my books, and we've succesfully avoided using the latter to date.
Oh, and really, truly final news: the early childhood clinin lady visited on Thursday, and pronounced Eliza perfectly healthy. She's bulked up to 2.66kg, meaning that after losing 200gm over the first few days after birth, she's put on a massing 340gm, which is above what you'd expect. That's my girl!
Sunday, June 04, 2006
The Proverbial Bug
Weekend has flown by... this sleep / feed / wriggle / scream / sleep cycle really occupies your time! As you can see from our piccies on Flickr, Dzung and myself get sleep when and where we can. Eliza has proven to be difficult to settle at night, no matter how much milk we put into her. We've occasionally taken her into bed with us, which tends to comfort her a lot more quickly. Everyone (midwives, lactation consultant, doula, obstetrician) says that doing this is a Good Thing (tm), but we're both a bit nervous of falling asleep with the little one in our bed, so we're trying to limit this as much as possible. It is nice, though!
You're probably wondering what doula is (the quick among you have probably already googled it). Essentially, a doula is an untrained but experienced mum who you hire to be present at your birth, and who helps both mum and dad throughout, championing their cause with the midwives and doctors, which helps to make sure you get the birth you want. We had Lucy with us during the birth on the strong recommendation of friends, and it was great to have her support and reassurance, especially given that we're over here in Mordor alone.
Today, Lucy paid us a visit, and brought along a DVD of photographs that she took during delivery. Dzung and I had been oblivious to her paparrazo-like stylings, and were amazed to see the moments that she had captured (such as us laying eyes on our daughter for the first time, and me double-handed texting our news to friends and family on two mobile phones). We hope to upload some of Lucy's fantastic photographs soon.
Today we also had a visit from Simon and Yunyu, two Perth friends who have also journeyed out of the Shire. They arrived bearing gifts; a pink elephant toy, and a great wrap (choosing blue, to help balance the vast quantities of Pink Stuff that we've now got). You can see me and Unca Bubbs posing with a slightly shocked looking little chicken in the piccie (shocked, probably, because the wrap is so soft and warm, and also because she's straight out of thge bath).
I'll be returning to work early in the week, so pictures and bloggage may drop off a bit until the weekend arrives. Keep checking for updates, though: we'll keep uploading as long as there's an audience!
You're probably wondering what doula is (the quick among you have probably already googled it). Essentially, a doula is an untrained but experienced mum who you hire to be present at your birth, and who helps both mum and dad throughout, championing their cause with the midwives and doctors, which helps to make sure you get the birth you want. We had Lucy with us during the birth on the strong recommendation of friends, and it was great to have her support and reassurance, especially given that we're over here in Mordor alone.
Today, Lucy paid us a visit, and brought along a DVD of photographs that she took during delivery. Dzung and I had been oblivious to her paparrazo-like stylings, and were amazed to see the moments that she had captured (such as us laying eyes on our daughter for the first time, and me double-handed texting our news to friends and family on two mobile phones). We hope to upload some of Lucy's fantastic photographs soon.
Today we also had a visit from Simon and Yunyu, two Perth friends who have also journeyed out of the Shire. They arrived bearing gifts; a pink elephant toy, and a great wrap (choosing blue, to help balance the vast quantities of Pink Stuff that we've now got). You can see me and Unca Bubbs posing with a slightly shocked looking little chicken in the piccie (shocked, probably, because the wrap is so soft and warm, and also because she's straight out of thge bath).
I'll be returning to work early in the week, so pictures and bloggage may drop off a bit until the weekend arrives. Keep checking for updates, though: we'll keep uploading as long as there's an audience!
Friday, June 02, 2006
One Week
More of the same today, so it's probably unrealistic to update this blog daily: I'll do so when Something Significant happens. Today was spent feeding, sleeping, bathing, sleeping, changing nappies, feeding and sleeping. At one point, they tested the fire alarms in our building, but, apart from that, it was the usual cycle (newborn babies function on a 3-hour day, so Eliza actually turns 8 weeks old today, in baby weeks). I will continue to upload photographs to Flickr. I'll put a permanent link to the page in the sidebar somewhere...
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Changing Nappies
My brother Darren writes, "How is Eliza enjoying all Dzung's rich food? Any twos yet? Resemble pate?", to which our emphatic answer is "yes". In the piccie you can see Dzung getting her first experience, tastefully cropped to obscure the action.
We've been getting a bit more sleep now that Eliza is feeding better. Today the lactation consultant called in to give us a few more tips. We also had a visit from Dzung's auntie, who brought us lots of food (literally 15 take away boxes full), which I had to re-arrange the fridge to accomodate. And we're awaiting a visit from Aladar and Deb.
Apart from that, we can feel ourselves settling into more of a routine. Feeds are going well, nappy changes are quick, bathtime is fun for all and there's a lot of sleeping all round. Oh, and we had another landmark... I vacuumed up some hard, gnarled brown object off the carpet, and later found out that Eliza's umbilical stump was missing! So now she has a cute little "outie". Hehe.
We've been getting a bit more sleep now that Eliza is feeding better. Today the lactation consultant called in to give us a few more tips. We also had a visit from Dzung's auntie, who brought us lots of food (literally 15 take away boxes full), which I had to re-arrange the fridge to accomodate. And we're awaiting a visit from Aladar and Deb.
Apart from that, we can feel ourselves settling into more of a routine. Feeds are going well, nappy changes are quick, bathtime is fun for all and there's a lot of sleeping all round. Oh, and we had another landmark... I vacuumed up some hard, gnarled brown object off the carpet, and later found out that Eliza's umbilical stump was missing! So now she has a cute little "outie". Hehe.
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