Fiona is five days old and has already filled up her hamper with soiled clothes and blankets. We've already washed one load of cloth diapers and covers. The laundry just nearly doubled with the addition of one small person. I remember being amazed at this fact after Danny was born.
Fiona is doing very well. She sleeps very differently than Danny did, meaning she actually sleeps ... in her crib or bassinet no less. It took us nearly four months to get Danny to happily sleep anywhere but nestled next to my chest. The first night, I don't remember how she slept. Sunday night, she was up a lot because my milk came in. Monday and Tuesday night, she nursed every two hours. It seems manageable, but could, of course, change at any time. She's a very calm baby so far. My mother calls her the cloud of silence. Right now, she's up in her crib sleeping. It's hard for me to put her down, though, probably because she was inside me for nine months.
Danny is doing okay. He's your typical 2-year-old. He's come up with a few new words, "Sure" and "Maybe" being the two I'm most thrilled about. Unfortunately, I haven't heard either of them today as he's cried about 50 percent of his waking hours. To say he's a little out of sorts is an understatement. Jim is home and visitors have been coming and going. I have insisted on at least a few of his usual activities like playgroup tomorrow morning and Parents Morning Out on Friday going on as planned.
On Tuesday morning, we had our first outing with Fiona. We dropped Dan off to play with his buddy while we took Fiona to the public health department to get a birth certificate. Because we had her at home, we had to do the footwork ourselves to get her birth registered. I was dreading this, expecting to meet suspicious government officials, having social services show up on our doorstep. They may still show up, though. The county has a pilot program to send a nurse to visit every newborn baby in the county. Seems innocuous enough, but I don't let government officials in my house, ever, especially the seemingly well-meaning ones. (In fact, whenever Danny and I do a puzzle that has a police car in it, I tell him that police will help him if he needs help, but to never let them in our house without a warrant. I'm waiting for him to parrot that one back to me. That will be a proud day for me!)
Anyhow, we filled out the top part of the form with just the basic information. The bottom portion asked for medical information for the state's book of vital statistics. I love how they think it's vital to know my health history, details about my pregnancy and when my last menstrual period was. We didn't fill it out. The registrar informed us that she had to report that information to the state. (She doesn't, actually. There's no law that says we have to supply the state with my medical history upon the completion of my pregnancy.) But since I'm healthy and could honestly check "None" under all the health related queries, I filled it out and answered the rest of the questions as honestly as I could. I'm still shaking the indignity off.
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