We had a lovely first Christmas- a big turkey dinner and lots of presents! A lot of Esme's presents weren't wrapped but we don't think she noticed. Stephen and I got each other a video recorder so that we can start recording cute things Ez does...we just need to get a memory card! We were able to take about 15 seconds of her on Christmas morning and the internal memory was full!
Four Generations
I always knew I was going to be a neurotic mom. When Esme was 4 days old, her umbilical cord had almost completely fallen off. This stressed me out because my baby instruction manual (yes, the hospital gave me an instruction manual!) clearly stated that the cord would fall off in 7-10 days. 4 does not equal 7-10! It also said that if there were any wet bits or any sign of an odor that I should rush her to a doctor immediately. The cord was dangling by a thread, was slightly sticky and had a very faint odor. So what did I do? I followed instructions! I started crying, packed the baby up and rushed to the ER! I was convinced that I was clearly an unfit mother and must have done something wrong or failed to wash the cord area properly.
The ER was full of ailing, hacking people. Stephen and I sat on the far side of the room in an effort to keep her away from as many germs as possible but, as you can imagine, being in this festering germ pool stressed me out even more! To make matters worse, the doctor pretty much laughed at me and told me there was nothing to worry about! She gave ma an umbilical care paper and sent us packing, telling me having the baby in the ER was far worse than her belly button falling off prematurely!
Ezzy's umbilical cord fell off on day 5.
I felt silly but still feel the $75 ER co-pay was worth the peace of mind. We never received a bill though so maybe they took pity on this silly new mom? Fingers crossed
She had her well baby check up when she was 9 days old. The doctor said she was perfect and that she was clearly gaining enough weight- the scale said she already weighed 9 lbs (with diaper) and was 21.5! This was quite a leap in weight as she was discharged from the hospital at 8 pounds 2 ounces and 20 inches.
Two days after the well baby check up I called and scheduled an emergency appointment with the pediatrician! Ez had a bit of goop in one eye and I was sure it was conjunctivitis. It wasn't. Apparently newborns can get clogged tear ducts and you need to massage the inside of the bridge of their nose....my manual said nothing about this! ;) They also weighed Ez and she was 8 pounds 10 ounces with her diaper on. The pediatrician said the other scale must have been off and that this was a more correct weight- that newborns should gain 1/2 an ounce to an ounce a day and a previous weight of 9 pounds would have meant she had gained almost 2 ounces a day!!
Moral of the story: Ez has a lifetime of frivolous doctor's appointments ahead of her! Better safe than sorry!
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