The Honker

I had no idea babies were so noisy. Ok my baby. On Sunday (Megan's first by the way), I was in the mother's room feeding her and another mom came in with her baby. Her little boy was about 2 months and probably the same size as Megan. She is growing! But it was quite interesting to me to compare. Her baby made no noise while eating. Megan made all her usual noises: sighing when she takes a break, gulping loudly, and honking. Yes, honking. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she sounds just like a young Canadian goose. She also makes noises in her sleep which probably means that she will be a talker awake and asleep -- like her mother! Does anyone else have a noisy baby? I love it, but I'm curious as to if they turn in to noisy toddlers.

I forgot

The first few weeks are hard because of lack of sleep mainly but they are also wonderful. It is with mixed feelings that I report that the outfit Megan came home from the hospital in -- that she was swimming in at the hospital -- no longer fits. I love the way she's growing and plumping out but it makes me sad that she changes so fast!

Daddy's Girl

Chopper has never been one to play or cuddle with other people's babies or children. He treats his nephews and nieces great, but you always kind've wonder what it will be like with your own children. Well I have to say that he adores Megan. I wondered when we found out she was a girl if Chopper really wanted a boy and I've discovered it doesn't matter at all -- she's our child and that's the only thing that matters. However, Chopper did insist that he reserved the right to teach "it" (regardless of boy or girl) how to play and watch football, how to fish, and we've now added a new realm of Chopper education to the list. The other day I went for a walk with my mom and Chopper stayed home with Megan. We come back in the door to hear Beatles music and Chopper is rocking away (literally, in the rocking chair) and singing to his daughter. It was a beautiful and wonderful sight. Sorry the video is grainy -- I really need to invest in some better equipment I think!

1st Doctor's Appointment

At approximately 1 1/2 weeks, Megan is weighing in at 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. I guess there's no question, she's thriving -- and keeping mom up nights to prove it! I'm learning something new every day and the latest lesson is this: chocolate affects babies. Chopper brought me my favorite for Valentine's Day -- a Ghirardelli's citrus sunset. It's a wonderful dark chocolate bar with caramel bits and orange pieces and Megan has been up and fussy for the past two nights! My doctor confirmed the culprit and so, sadly, I am now off of chocolate for a long while I think. Tomatoes and cucumbers are also causes of baby gas issues so it looks like all those wonderful salads my mom has been making may be out as well. My diet will go bland for a while to see if it helps. But I'm ok with that because I think I'd rather have my sleep!

Another face

I know a lot of the pictures are the same because I suppose she's not THAT interesting yet. She eats, sleeps, poops, and makes faces. She smiles a lot, which I love, but I also love this face where she just purses her lips. Sometimes she accompanies the lips with surprise eyebrows and sometimes they are excited eyebrows but I have to admit that I can just sit and watch her for hours. I (ok CHopper and I both) am infatuated.

1st Video

I hope you can enjoy the video -- it took a while to figure it out and then its not the best quality but it does show a range of her faces.

1 week old!

They tell you how different it will all be to take the baby home but they don't REALLY tell you. But actually, the past week hasn't been so bad. Everything that is tiring or frustrating has an equally, if not more so, good point. Being up at night and not getting enough sleep is more than made up for by just watching her sweet face. The crying when she's getting a bath is countered by the smiles when you wash her hair. At 1 week old, Megan is easily the most adorable baby ever and already advancing at a rapid pace! Ok that's probably a biased opinion coming from a new mom but Chopper and Grandma both agree so I think we're on the right track.

I'm still figuring out the whole video thing and its not quite working so instead, we played a little dress-up today. Thanks to Aunt Laura for our first baby gift (the crown) and it is quite appropriate given the way that she is ruling our hearts.

Megan's first day!

She's here!

All the official information is as follows:

Megan Lennea Whittacre
Birthday: Feb. 6, 2008
Weight: 7 pounds, 11 ounces
Lengh: 20 1/4 inches
Time of birth: 9:52 a.m.
1st "officials" pictures at www.communitymed.org -- click on "view newborns" and then click on her name next to ours. For details about the labor (because most of you probably don't want to know!) just let me know and I'll be happy to share. But generally speaking -- despite the fact that it was labor, I would do it again in an instant for her.

Old Wives' Tales

I just wanted everyone to know that it's all a lie. Since I am now officially overdue, we've had several people share their self-induction methods with us and, I have to admit, I have also looked it up on the internet. This is what I have discovered:

Eggplant -- there's a restaurant in Georgia that claims that over 300 women who are past their due date have eaten their eggplant parmigan (sp?) and have gone into labor within 48 hours. The restaurant event gives a gift certificate to women who aren't successful so they can try again. We found a site that gave us that restaurant's recipe (supposedly) and we tried it out. After eating it for dinner and lunch the next day -- nothing. But the recipe was really good and I would recommend that to people!

Accupressue -- Prop your feet up and dig some straight combs into your palms. Painful in the palms and that's it.

Spicy food -- hot wings for Super Bowl Sunday of course. Actually it's been less than 24 hours since I've eaten them so I guess I don't really know yet but I'm not feeling anything.

Bouncing -- in cars, on a pilates or birthing ball, etc. Nothing so far and I have to say that it gets sore after a while for the belly to bounce around.

What else? That's all I've tried so far and no good. Looks like it will be induction for me! My grandmother, my aunt, and my mother were all late late (especially on firsts) so there is probably no chance given that my doctor would prefer not to let me get really even to the 41st week. I think that's ok with me given that I am getting quite sore. SO, the next post may be an introduction to our new family member!