Sunday, October 9, 2011

Kaia: 6 weeks home

Home 6 weeks

I have been wanting to write a post about Kaia for awhile. Just about her. Nothing else. No complaining, no whining, no fear or concern over health issues.

Just Kaia.

My sweet baby girl.
She is now almost 3 months old, but is technically about 1 month corrected. She weighs just over 8 lbs. She has blue eyes just like mine and hair that almost looks auburn in the sunlight.


She is a fairly good sleeper generally, but not for longer than 4 hours at a time and usually more like 3.
She is starting to have a few smiles which I swear might be real and not just gas.


She loves to be held, likes walks in her stroller, and prefers her milk just shy of hot thankyouverymuch.


She loves to be in the water, and I'm sad that she won't get to experience that for awhile now that she's in the harness full time.


She cries during sponge baths, and I don't blame her because everyone knows they are no fun at all. She is starting to have a little bit of neck strength when held upright, which I like to attribute to carrying her in her Moby wrap.

She has never had anything but breast milk...but seems to prefer to feed by bottle.


She will breastfeed, but does it more for comfort and something to suck on than nutrition and I'm trying to satisfy myself with that and not take it personally. Her dad is best at getting her to burp. She lets out some loud ones too. Her grandma (my mom) has babysat for her once while I was at the doctors and is convinced she loves music, which she listens to in her swing.


She has the best wide eyed stare in the world, as though she is really intent on what you are saying.

You can tell when she's pooping as she goes all red. She makes the craziest sounds, even when sleeping which I've heard is common in preemies. She often squeals like a dolphin, grunts like a goat, whinnies like a horse and/or squeaks like a mouse, sometimes all 4 in the space of a few minutes. Her room is my masterpiece and is the most 'perfect' looking room in the house. I'm so pleased with it because it's girly without having a lick of pink.

She loves to sleep in her bassinet (which is part of her stroller, thank you to everyone who helped me get it for her!), and I feel safe when she's there as it's hooked up to the Angelcare monitor. Her nicknames are Pumpkin, Monkey, Chicken Little, Kaia-Papaya, and occasionally mommy's little Acorn. I say Acorn only occasionally because it's funny how I don't really even associate her with my awful pregnancy. Acorn was her...and yet the two events just seem so far removed from each other. Pregnancy = awful. Kaia = great! During the day if she's been napping for awhile, I almost miss holding her and want her to wake up just so I can look in her big blue eyes.


I can't wait to see what the next 6 weeks of having her home will bring. Hopefully real smiles (that other people think are real too!) and maybe a giggle. Maybe some more sleep at night? (Pretty please!) Halloween costumes (I finally have a kid to dress up!!!)

Thank goodness you're you Kaia. You've been home 6 weeks and I can't imagine life without you.

Love you, my baby girl.

19 comments:

  1. I love this post. She's beautiful.

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  2. Aw she's absolutely gorgeous! I think that's a real smile! It's weird that I never think 'Oh there's Acorn' when I see this photographs either although she was most definitely Acorn when I thought of her during your pregnancy!
    And it's nice to see that at least one baby in the world will drink from those Medela Calma bottles (if I've identified it correctly in the photograph!) as R hates every single bottle, including that one which was my last attempt!
    Lovely to see pictures of your beautiful daughter and to hear a little more about how she is getting on xo

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  3. Great post! She is lovely and squnchable (sp? lol)

    xo and happy thanksgiving

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  4. Looks like a real smile to me too (the picture where she's wearing the sleeper with the flowers and laying on the deep red sheet.) She looks so cute in the purple hat in the first picture. Hope you have a peaceful Thanksgiving weekend.

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  5. She's so precious! I love all the pictures!

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  6. Aw, what a sweet little pumpkin!

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  7. She is getting to be a big girl now, and so cute! That is totally a "real" smile! Glad you are having some good times together!!!

    Thanks for the tons of pics update.

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  8. Love those pictures, she is so beautiful! In response to your comment on my blog earlier, Honestly it's been at least a month since I had attempted breastfeeding with Ian and Friday my husband had suggested I give it a try again. I had pretty much given up on it happening as every time previously we had attempted he wouldn't latch on. And all the sudden we tried that time and he did and then proceeded to several more times over the course of the weekend. He still gets frustrated sometimes with the different, softer feel of the nipple and also while waiting for let down to occur. Honestly, for him it's about catching him before he's too hungry and won't latch on (he just screams). I was floored when he breastfed that first time and then continued to do so the last couple of days. I wish I had more advice or tips to offer but all I can say is to keep making attempts every few days or so and hopefully like Ian she'll just take to it one day.

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  9. Yes, I second the keep trying on the breastfeeding. My guy was always on and off the boob, but it never hurt to try (well too much anyways. You never know when she might be in the mood.

    Also, kudos on continuing to pump enough to keep Kaia strictly on your milk. That is quite the accomplishment!!!

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  10. What a beautiful little girl, and I love this post as well. You have a nice swing and the bottle looks like a spaceship bottle! Hi tech indeed :) sorry about the baths, but sooner than you think that will be over too and you will get to enjoy years of bathing with her in the big tub.

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  11. She's gorgeous! And don't worry about the breast feeding. I had to bottle feed my youngest son for a good four months because of his Congenital heart defect, and I would pop him on the boob occasionally just for soothing purposes as well. I was able to wean him from the bottle back to the breast full time by the time he was six months old.

    And even if she decides she doesn't like the breast best neither did my eldest son, but my lucky husband got way more bonding time and I got way more sleep!!

    She's a cutie! Way to go mom and dad! Keep up the awesome work!

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  12. So cute! Thanks for all of the pictures!

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  13. amazing! Happy Thanksgiving. Cannot wait to see her halloween outfit

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  14. This post was beautiful in so many ways. So lovely to read. I really should update my blog with a post about my little girl. Amazing to think we went through a pregnancy at the same time, overcame all sorts of obstacle (and you certainly had FAR more than me) but now here we are with two beautiful little girls. I can so relate to not being able to link the pregnancy to the baby that was the result of the pregnancy. For the most part, I think I have blocked the memories of the pregnancy, as they were, for the most part, not good!
    Keep the pictures coming, she's a doll.
    xo

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  15. She's gorgeous!!! (And we call Maya, Maya-Papaya or Maya-Jumbalaya) :) Made me smile to see your nicknames.

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  16. What a cute baby girl! Just found your blog via "The road less traveled" blog after seeing your comment there about getting a preemie to switch from bottle to breast. My daughter was born at 35 weeks and exclusively bottlefed my breastmilk through her NICU stay and into the first several weeks after finally bringing her home. She did eventually transition to the breast and is still breastfeeding happily just past one year. I credit a nipple shield with significantly influencing our transition for the better. Her latch was good as is, but much like your K, she couldn't ever seem to feed to the point of fullness on the breast, or would un-latch repeatedly and refuse to suck consistently, no matter what we tried and no one in lactation or in the NICU suggested a nipple shield. Thankfully my sister-in-law did. Again, perhaps you've already been there and done that, but just couldn't help mentioning it just in case (like me) it was an idea that hadn't been mentioned to you.
    Thoughts to you as you continue snuggle your sweet babe!

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