Thursday, November 01, 2007

Sleep deprivation sets in

I was re-reading my last few blog entries and I saw that I didn't say when Stephanie came home. She has been home for a while, and I have posted pictures, but I never posted about being able to bring her home! Duh, me!

She was born on Sunday, September 30th and came home on Friday, October 12th. She was in the NICU for 5 days and then went to the CCN. She weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces upon discharge, and the following Monday she had her first doctor's appointment, where she weighed 5 pounds even. She was incorrectly measured at 18.5 inches at birth, but only measured 16.5 inches at two weeks old. She has had her adorable fat cheeks since before she was born--we saw them on the 3D ultrasound!

We went to the eye doctor today and they put eye drops in her eyes to dilate the pupils and then put a numbing drop in each eye. Then he put some scary-looking, spring-loaded, tiny salad tongs on her eyelids to keep them open while he looked *in* her eye. I was horrified, but her eyes are healthy and we go back in a year for an eye checkup.

Tomorrow we go for 2 appointments--a well-baby check in the morning and then a hip ultrasound in the afternoon to check and make sure her Gumby legs are ok.

Life around the house is settling down a little. I have come to realize that if I do not write something down, it does not get remembered, or done. This includes taking my poor weenie dogs outside. They will be whining at me, fit to burst, and I stare at them, puzzled, until I get a clue and take them out. They normally stay close to me and the baby all day. They are good dogs and have adjusted well to the "new puppy."

Like the title says, sleep deprivation has set in. I try to clean something each day, in addition to caring for the dogs and the baby, and then keeping a routine with my older kids which includes an hour of outdoor play per day. But sometimes I can't think straight. Today a lady asked my husband's birthday. I stared at her, blank. Steve had to tell her himself.

This afternoon when we went outside to play it was a little windy so I grabbed my cape. Underneath the cape I had a hoodie fleece on, and when we got to the neighbor's house, I put my hood on to keep the wind from blowing my face. My legs were freezing because I thought it would be a good idea to wear capris today??? So imagine me, wearing capris with my legs that desperately need a shave, and wearing a black fleece with the hood pulled up, and a tan walking cape complete with (faux) fur trim around my neck. I carried a green canvas bag with various things like snacks for the kids and let me tell you , in that getup I looked like a bag lady. Who goes out in public that way? Sleep deprived me, apparently.

So what can I do? I write down the time when I pump or when the baby eats, so I can know when to expect to pump or feed the baby again. I think I am going to start setting a timer to take the dogs out every few hours. I can't really ask Steve to help me not look like a bag lady since he saw me leave the house, cape in hand, and said nothing. He is just as foggy as I am. Today we were in the store trying to decide whether or not to buy something. We stood there, hemming and hawing, staring at each other, both of us unable to make a decision.

Some days I am with it, or remember something without having it written down, and I impress ourselves. Then days like today happen, and I feel like a dork. Never a dull moment.

1 comment:

Netanya Carmi said...

Here they don't measure babies' length till they are a month or two old and "uncurled."

They also don't check eyes till one year.

It's weird for me b/c my only experience with pregnancy and having/raisig a child has been here, but most of what I know about it comes from my American/Canadian friends on the board, so even if this is the "norm" for Israel sometimes it feels like they're doing things wrong.