Hitting our stride

Today (and last night) was a good day for Abbie and me. We had her weight check at 8:30am and she actually layed in her pack n play and slept long enough for me to take a shower and get ready, which was a relief for me. At her appt, she was up to 4.1kg, which equals about 9lb1oz. How she gained 6oz literally overnight, is beyond me. I seriously thing the dr's scale is messed up. After her appt, we went to the lab to get her bilirubin checked again and they also got blood for her 2 weeks screening. After the dr's I went to the BX (store on base) to look at bouncers because I think I'd like to have a bouncer that I can move around more easily than the swing. The BX didn't have any decent ones though, so I got Father's Day cards instead. There were a few elderly people there that commented on Abbie. She started to scream once, even though she wasn't fully awake, and I was trying to push the cart and talk to my friend Gail on the phone and find her pacifier in my purse and 2 old people came up and started talking to me then. Haha! Luckily she was quiet again as soon as I got the pacifier in her mouth.

After the BX I wanted to go to Babies R Us to get more Kiddopatomus swaddle blankets. Last night I dug out the one that my friend Jackie got me, and she slept better then she has since we've had her home. The blanket has velcro on it so it stays tight even when she manages to get her hand/arm out of it. I also wanted to get a sound machine for her and a wedge for her crib. She seemed to sleep better in the hospital when they propped up her bassinet, so we thought if we could get her to sleep at an angle at home, maybe that would help too. I called my friend, Greer, (her husband is training with Mark) to see if she wanted to go with me and then out to lunch, and she did, so we headed up north to go to BRU and to eat. Abbie slept most of the time. She got a little sputtery at the end of our time in BRU so I nursed her when we got back to the car for about 20 mins and then she was good until we got home.

When we got home, I nursed her again and then decided I wanted to take a nap. So I swaddled Abbie up again and put her in the pack n play in our room, but by that time she was wide awake. She was perfectly content laying there by herself, but I always feel bad leaving her by herself when she's so awake. So I rearranged the pillows on Mark's side of the bed and brought her sleep positioner over from her bed and put her on the bed with me so she could see me and I could talk to her. I read a little bit and slept a little bit and nursed her once or twice. It was actually pretty relaxing. We got up around 5pm and I strapped her into the mei tai my friend Emily made us and I did a few chores around the house until Mark got home.

I just felt like we hit our stride today and I'm figuring Abbie out a little more and fitting into the motherhood role better. I didn't feel as overwhelmed as I did yesterday, and that's probably partially because I got more sleep last night, and also her dr's appt was more positive today than it was yesterday. (Although her bilirubin is still going up. Tuesday it was 15.5 and today it was 15.8. So we have to go back on Monday again for another check. She's looking a lot less yellow though, so that's good.)

In other news, Mark flew the F-16 for the first time today. He was pretty nervous about it last night because this week as been SUPER busy for him and he felt like he didn't have enough time to prepare. But he had fun flying it and it went better than he anticipated. He pulled 8.7 G's during the flight too. He flies 4 times with an instructor before he takes the jet up by himself. (Yikes!!) He's been really busy and I have a feeling he's going to stay busy for quite a while.

Time to get ready for bed. It's bath night for Abbie. Hopefully tonight will go as well as last night. Thanks to those of you who've called and emailed suggestions. I really appreciate your help and support.