Happy Halloween!

Wow, look at me, blogging two days in a row! I have to though, because Georgia is 4 weeks old today! And not only that, on her 4-week birthday, she received her American Passport and official certificate stating her U.S. Citizenship. I can't help laughing, that a 14 week old baby has her own passport and that it is good for the next 5 years!

She had a fabulous phase this afternoon where she was totally calm and awake, so we took advantage and snapped some photos. Unfortunately, her calm phase was after the sun had moved out of the room, so we didn't get the warm tones of her 14th day, but nevertheless, we got pics with open eyes!

• has limited control of her head, she weaves it around like mad when we hold her chest-to-chest and then thunks it down against our chins or shoulders when she gets tired.
• has made a non-crying noise 3 times when NOT eating (otherwise the only sounds she makes are wails and grunts)
• refuses to sleep through the night, and refuses to sleep in her own bed.
• hates being left alone during nap time and tends to wake after an hour and cry for someone to come to her.
• loves to suckle my breast, but mostly hates the pacifier.
• has had baby acne from pretty much day 1 and it has yet to disappear.
• has huge feet and long fingers, has grown 2 cm since birth and gained 550g.
• has brown hair, grey eyes and she loves to rub her face after eating and cover it in milk.
• has no control over her hands or feet, but that doesn't stop her from having her hands all over the place (and most esp. at her face where she makes it near-impossible to feed her) or from kicking her feet non-stop.
• gets a bath every night to hopefully teach her it's nighttime and that we go to sleep after taking a bath. She loves to grin in her sleep or after falling asleep at my breast before letting go.
• is slowly learning not to hate diaper changes (which could be due to my learning how to do them quicker)
• can easily go through 3 outfits a day due to spit-up or diaper leaks/pee accidents
• still doesn't fit most of her clothes
• has a continual stuffy nose that makes her sound like a pig when she breathes
• has her own passport

It's Friday. That means Mom and Kylene are gone. They left this morning after a traumatic visit to the pediatrician (Georgia had to have a hip ultrasound for some reason and she hated it with a passion. she screamed and screamed and then peed all over the doctor's table). I'm totally bummed that they are gone, that they only got to spend a week with us, barely (they came last Friday and slept most of the day) and now they had to go again. Being a teacher can be a stupid job sometimes.

The two of them were wonderful (though there was admittedly some bickering) and they cooked every day and they cleaned and they took Georgia on walks so that I could either nap or finish my projects. Did I mention they cleaned for me? They also had Georgia so much that she rebelled on the last day and refused to stay with anyone except me. That made life somewhat difficult as there were a number of small projects to finish last night and I had to do them one-handed.

Anyway, after the doctor, we drove to the airport and had breakfast (expensive and not tasty, airport food is not so great) and they spent the last few moments cuddling Georgia:

The in-laws came on Tuesday and left yesterday, life was hectic, there was lots of meat and some funny stories that I will save for private Emails as FIL sometimes reads (or tries to read) my blog...

Sven informed me Tuesday night that he had a meeting at 11am on Wednesday and could therefore not make the 10am appointment at the consulate. Frustration abounds. I called the Consulate on Wednesday morning and rescheduled for Thursday at 8am. After doing that, both Sven and I forgot to let the in-laws know that we'd be taking off early Thursday and when they woke up, they couldn't figure out where we were.

The Consulate appointment went well, we had to wait a very long time, which was hard for Georgia, everytime she started to wake up, sven would swing her in her carseat until she fell back asleep. However, they accepted the passport photo I took at home and printed on my printer and they happily took our money and told us we could expect her passport in 2 weeks and her SSN in about 2 months.

Mom and Kylene arrived on Friday morning and so we threw Georgia's schedule off again, but they were very happy to see her and would have been very disappointed if we had come without her!

They brought a butt-load of gifts from students and teachers and friends and opened them and displayed them for me. I was feeding Georgia and in a zombie-like state due to too little sleep (will my body ever get used to running on fumes?!).

Tomorrow Sven goes back to work and Mom and Kylene want to clean my apartment and take care of Georgia so that I can finish my last major project and then feel relief at sitting around just taking care of Georgia!

Here are a few pics for your enjoyment:

Happy Birthday to Sven. I admit to having a melted brain and when we woke up this morning, I totally forgot. I didn't remember until this afternoon and felt SO bad. I should have made an effort to eat breakfast WITH him, but was still on the 'eat when you can' schedule of the past week. Ah well. I did make a cake this afternoon, though (remember, melted brain) forgot to add the baking powder and had to dump the whole bundt form out and mix it in at the last minute, which meant it no longer had a layer of batter and a layer of apples and a layer of batter and then of apples, but was rather an apple-y batter. And then of course, it fell apart when I took it out because I was too lazy to grease the pan like the recipe told me too. NO MATTER, I tasted a few of the crumbs and they were quite nummy. That's what counts right?

Wow, a year ago on his birthday, we had tons of friends over and I made a huge Mexican feast, with a few different kinds of homemade salsa, burritos, bean dip and best of all, a Mexican Chocolate Cake. I feel bad for Sven this year, as I have been unable to plan anything for him, including a gift. I hope he doesn't hold it against me or Georgia!!

On to other news, this will most probably be the last update for a while. On Tuesday, Oma & Opa are coming and on Friday, Grandma and Auntie Kylene are coming. I plan to spend those two weeks doing as much resting as I can and finishing up my projects that got put on hold because my angel decided she needed to come 16 days early...

Photos: Linda told me to get photos of myself with my newborn, Sven complied today...

Georgia has been really trying us the past two days. She won't settle down and has been a total fusspot. She refused to sleep all last night (nearly killing me) and then spent the whole day today fussing. She didn't calm down and sleep until Sven got home from getting her birth certificate. Now why can he calm her when I'm the one with the milk?

Anyway, after the exhaustion and despair she's been putting me through, she spent a good 15 minutes after her last feeding smiling and grinning at us in her sleep:

If only she would do this at night:

(click the photo for 3 new shots)

Went to the pediatrician yesterday for the U2. I thought I was calling a woman, but when we got there, the doctor was a man. Oh well. She got weighed (2,820g) and poked at and prodded at. I'm not sure what the point of the whole thing was, the doctor didn't do anything different than Andrea does everytime she comes over, except to listen to her heartbeat and warn me away from acidic and gassy foods. Andrea mentioned the first day, that this is an old wive's tale and to go ahead and eat like normal and just keep an eye out for any problems and adjust accordingly.

Doctor also tried to scare us a bit with the belly button, which was red on top. He removed the clamp, said that probably, the plastic was rubbing against the skin and causing a reaction. It looked a lot less red today.

I'm a little worried about her temperature. She'll feel hotter than anything and even be sweating, but then her temp is just at 37.1 (which is perfect) or even lower. Yesterday, after the doctor's, she was back down to 36.2. Andrea did say she seemed to be having some trouble keeping it up, so she's bundled up in socks and jumpers and hats and blankets (which makes it hard to nurse) in the hopes of keeping things warm. Despite all the layers, she looks a little pale this morning.

No more jaundice, what little she had was gone in a flash. Good news.

The Pediatrician, by the way, is the first to say that she looks more than one week early. I think he'd believe me if I said her due date should have been the 16th, putting her 2 weeks early. He was however, surprised at her strength and her weight. He thought she'd weigh less by looking at her. Good Girl!

Of course, she also had quite a crying fit (can you blame her, lying naked on an exam table and being poked at during a time she normally sleeps?!) and let loose while being examed. Doctor took that time to warn us that she has an exciteable nature and that could cause stomach problems. Um. Yah. I'm just taking everything with a grain of salt. She doesn't cry like that all that often. Maybe once a day when she's being irritated.

Another rough night. Due to the doctor's, she never had a long nap during the day yesterday (and therefore, neither did I) and the pattern continued all night. Never slept more than 30 mins at a stretch, feeding about once an hour. I can't put her down after feeding because she immediately wakes up and starts crying (not screaming or wailing, just unhappy wimpering). So, I let her nurse until she falls asleep and then lay back and let her sleep on my chest until she wakes up in another 30 mins.

And a 'when will I learn my lesson' ancedote: wanted to quickly change her diaper this morning, got out a changing pad (still no changing table...) and set her down, got her undressed only to discover the middle-of-the-night diaper change had left some sort of unsealed area and her back was a mess. Jumped up, got a new body and jumper and a wet washcloth and cleaned her up. Was in the process of getting the new diaper ready, left her lying there when suddenly a river of urine was flowing off the changing pad onto the bed. Oops! She's now safely changed and warm and dressed and sleeping. She'll wake soon hungry though and I need to check out the laundry.

This is for those of you (and there are many) who have been on my case since I got back from the hospital for more pics of Georgia. Yes, I did this instead of taking a nap and getting some MUCH needed sleep, so ENJOY!!!

Sven took the photos this morning (October 6th), 6 days old:

And now I am going to try and take a nap before Georgia wakes up, but I hear the phone ringing...so maybe not.

Georgia Mae Sacher was born on October 1st, 2005 at 17:26 CET. She weighed 3.050g (6lbs. 7oz.) and was 51cm (20 inch) long.

Georgia Mae Sacher	Two brave women, really!

SvS

Beware for those with weak stomachs or of the male (father) persuasion, or who have never been pregnant, the following could be too much information for you...

On Wednesday, while I was resting all day on the couch, recovering from my nasty cold, I noticed more discharge than usual and had to change the pantyliners more often. That night I woke up feeling slightly damp and had to change again, in the middle of the night. This is a new occurence. By Thursday morning, early, around 5ish, I realized that the reason was due to a rather thick mucousy discharge. Oh dear. Some asking around confirmed thoughts that it might just be my cervical plug dissolving and leaving my cervix all alone. I wasn't too worried at that point, as you can lose that plug up to 3 weeks before going into labor. It wasn't until the white mucousy discharge turned pink that I started to worry. That didn't happen until Thursday evening. Thursday night, trying to sleep, in fact, had just dozed off when I was awakened by a contraction. Took me a little bit of time to figure out what had happened and once i realized it, I got up, went to the bathroom to check the discharge and then went back to bed. Dozed off only to be awakened by yet another contraction, at which point I lay awake, just waiting for the next one to come, and the next and starting to freak a little.

Around 2am, I got up. As soon as Igot up, the contractions stopped. I stayed up for about an hour and around 3am went back to bed where I slept fairly soundly until 9am. Discharge had turned slightly bloody, not just pink and I got worried. Called my midwife this morning and she offered to come by and check things out this afternoon. What a relief.

She arrived early this afternoon, talked me down, explaining that all the symptoms were normal and did not mean anything was wrong, nor necessarily, that labor was imminent. She then felt my belly, pressing in on all sides to find out just how G was lying in there, telling me when she'd found certain body parts, and showing me where to press as well, so that I could feel them too. The first thing she found was G's bum, nestled in right under my ribs, a few tiny moveable bumps, either feet or hands were down low on my right, her back, facing out towards my stomach and her head nestled in my pelvis. Her head was the one thing I really couldn't feel, her bum is what I feel most often when she shifts around. MW also said that her size was completely normal for her gestational age.

After the belly-feel, she got out her little mini-doppler and we listened to G's heartbeat for a little while. G was somewhat disconcerted at having been poked and prodded at (that was new for her) but she didn't hate the doppler as much as the CTG machine they use at the doctor's and was good and held still and let us listen.

Then the midwife checked out my cervix (fingertip dilated) and the pH balance of my cervical environment: acidic. Had it been alkaline, that would have been an indicator of amniotic fluid leakage, but there was none and it all looks good.

So, the contractions caused a bit of cervix dilation, which caused the mucus to be slightly bloodied, but none of it is an indicator that labor will start any time soon (though nothing is certain). I am relieved, as G is supposed to be an October Baby and I'm not yet mentally prepared for her birth, or her being here yet!