All a Blur...

Wow... what a crazy few weeks it's been! I feel like I was a little more on top of things the first week after Isabelle was born than I've been in the couple weeks since. I guess all that sleep deprivation piles up after a while. I've missed having Ian at home all the time, too. The poor guy had a very rough weekend of call the weekend after we brought Isabelle home. He's giving a presentation tonight, so this week he's been very busy trying to get ready for it. I'm hoping things will settle down for him a bit soon, so he can have a little more time to spend with his baby girl that isn't a middle-of-the-night feeding. She's a sweet girl all the time, but it is easier to love her when it isn't 3 am. Thankfully, I've had a lot of family & friend help since Ian went back to work! My brother, Kevin, & his family came down last weekend to meet Miss Isabelle. Mandy was excited to finally meet the baby, after she spent a week here waiting for the girl to make her appearance. It was fun to introduce Isabelle to her big cousin, Emma. Emma was precious (as always) and waved at Isabelle and said "baby" and then went off to chase the kitty. :) Another sister-in-law, Jill, came on Saturday and is staying with us through Thanksgiving. It has been such a life-saver to have another pair of hands around (and someone who is actually motivated to clean the kitchen or do the laundry!). We've been getting meals delivered by members of my moms' group this week, so that has been wonderful, too. It really leaves very little for me to do... except for that whole baby thing. :) It truly is wonderful to be able to focus on her so much. It's so amazing to watch all of her little facial expressions or see her looking around at things. She loves to stare at the quilt above her changing table. She's growing well now. We had her 2-week follow-up on Wednesday and she's now 4 oz. above her birth weight (which was 6 lbs. 10 oz.). The goal was for her to be at birth weight by then, so we were really happy to hear she'd gained a little more. She's grown, too. She's now 20 1/4" long! What a big girl! :)

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only 1 week from today! My family is going to spend the holiday with us and it'll be the first time for most folks to meet Isabelle. We're so excited to have them here! I'm also super-thankful that Jill is here now to help me get ready for all the visitors & cooking a big meal. (Although, for the record, the family has been informed that I'll provide the house & baby, but they're responsible for the actual cooking!) ;) Hope you all have a great week!

I Love My Baby

Today has been such a nice day! Since we found out Isabelle gained 6 ounces and is now well on her way to getting back to her birth weight within the expected time frame, Ian and I decided that we're going to go back to feeding on demand. We have been feeding her every 2 hours, whether or not she was awake. Let me tell you, it just feels wrong to wake up a soundly sleeping baby in the middle of the night. It really was not good for anyone's morale. So, now we're going to wait for her to tell us when she's hungry and feed her until she's full. Apparently, she's more of a cluster-feeder. The girl will take in a ton and then sleep for several hours. From last night to this morning, I only had to get up with her three times. She woke up again around 11 am and stayed awake until about 2:30. It was really nice! I have to say, I loved the consecutive hours of sleep and it was really fun to have so much time today when she was awake and alert. I haven't been around many newborns, I guess, because I honestly didn't realize they were that alert. My impression has been that they're basically little lumps of cuddliness for a while. She's much more engaging than I thought she'd be at this stage. Ian went back to work on Monday, so it's just been the two of us during the day yesterday and today. I'm sure she won't always be such a fabulously easy baby, but I will always be thankful to her for taking it easy on her mommy for these first few days!

The Longest Week Ever (but in a good way!)

So, we've been a little busy since the last post I wrote... Ian hit all the high points with the labor & delivery. The only thing I can add is that childbirth is the strangest, most surreal experience I've ever had. In a way, it reminds me of our trip to Paris because I kept thinking I couldn't believe we were actually in Paris! A little different with all the pain and other icky stuff that goes along with having a baby, though... For every step of the way during the delivery, I kept thinking is this for real? We're really doing (fill in the blank)? That's really what it sounds like when your water is broken? And so on...It feels like 100 years since last Sunday, when our baby girl was born. About this time last week, we'd just been moved from the recovery room to our postpartum room and Ian was changing the first diaper. For me, most everything between then and now has been a foggy, sleepy, drugged up blur. :) It hasn't been quite that bad, but I have to admit that I did nearly fall asleep while I was walking (not just standing, but walking) last night. I think this is the closest I have ever come (or hopefully will ever come!) to understanding what it was like for Ian to be an intern... I just don't have patients to take care of and people yelling at me all the time. :) The only significant development has been that Isabelle has had a little trouble with her feeding and weight gain. Newborns are expected to lose about 10% of their birth weight in the first few days and then start gaining the weight back. Generally, it's because it takes a while for the mother's milk to come in. This often takes longer when the baby was born by C-section. Isabelle ended up losing a bit more than the 10%, so we've had to make sure to feed her every 2 hours and supplement with specific amounts of formula since last Thursday. We'll go back for a weight check tomorrow and with the amount of stuff we've poured into the girl, I really hope she'll have gained a couple ounces! (We're hoping to get 2 or 3.) We'll see!

Other than the weight and breastfeeding challenges and the lack of sleep, it's been an amazingly wonderful week. I find myself wondering if we'll have to give Isabelle back... can we really be so fortunate that we get to keep this sweet, precious baby with us for good? The other night, I was rocking Isabelle in front of the fire while Ian cooked dinner for us. It was one of the most lovely, serene moments I've ever experienced. So, that's the quick update from here. Now I'm off to sleep before I have to wake & feed Izzy in about 90 minutes. Blah. :)

Welcome Isabelle Grace Villanueva!

In case you haven't heard, on November 2, 2008 at 6:20pm, Isabelle Grace Villanueva was born by Caesarian section. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and measured 19 inches long. Mae's OB recommended a C-section after Mae pushed for 2 hours and Isabelle didn't descend. At no time were Mae or Isabelle in any danger. For this, we will be forever grateful.

Mae and Isabelle are both doing well. She was a very quiet baby for the first 8 hours of her life, until she woke up. Even when Mae was pregnant, Isabelle was most active after midnight--she definitely kept that trend going last night. Eventually, she settled down by sleeping on my chest. I have never been happier to sleep in a hospital bed.

Congratulations to those who guessed some or all of Isabelle's name. I was very impressed that anyone could make sense out of that alphabet soup. Isabelle is a common name in my family, shared by my sister, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Grace is Mae's grandmother's name. It's hard to say who she looks like--at first, Mae thought she looked like my sister Aileen. Isabelle definitely has the Filipino nose. She has a cute dimple, long toes, long legs, nice eyelashes (according to the OR nurses)--in our eyes, she's perfect.

Check out our online baby album. We'll be updating it often, stay tuned.

It's Show Time!

So this is it! It's officially our last post before the baby arrives! We're off to the hospital and looking forward to meeting the little girl soon. (Lest you all think I'm nuts and blogging instead of jumping in the car, I'm writing this in advance and we'll just post it when the time is right.) The timing has worked out well... you have one last letter for the name game! A few people have been emailing & texting their guesses to me, in addition to those who have posted guesses here. I have to admit that some people have figured out one of the names. BUT, no one has guessed the other one yet! The letter G is your last one. I also thought we might be helpful (now that I don't have to worry about anyone figuring it out in advance!) and give you a couple clues...

• Both of our families are very important to us. (Sorry non-family folks... that's really not going to be helpful for you!)
• We think the baby girl is going to be a Beauty... we may just call her that as a nickname.
• She'll be our princess. Why not give her a queen's name?
• We are so thankful for all the blessings we have received and we know she'll be a reminder of God's goodness in our lives.

Not sure how helpful the clues will be, but you'll know her name soon enough anyway. :) Good luck! We'll keep you posted!