Baby girl is four weeks old! We are so happy that our Sara Jane is here safe and sound and healthy and snuggling our little newborn is our new favorite activity. So much has happened in the first month of SJ's life, and now that things have finally settled down, I get to finally write about it!
Let's start back in the hospital. After SJ's safe and quick delivery, she passed almost every health screening test with flying colors...all but the hearing test in her right ear. We knew something was going on with that ear since one of the first things we noticed after she was born was how misshapen it is, and we were sad to hear that she potentially didn't have any hearing in that ear. After a couple more doctor's appointments, we found out that she has microtia (one ear is deformed and a little smaller than the other) and conductive hearing loss, meaning that there is something between the outer ear and the inner ear that is preventing sound from getting through to her brain. The good news is, she does have the nerve endings in her brain that allow her to potentially hear, but we're going to have to do some interventions to help her hear. We are hopeful that it's just a cosmetic thing and that she'll be able to get surgery when she's a little older to remove whatever is blocking her from being able to hear, but we'll find out more at our ENT appointment later this week.
We also took SJ to the plastic surgeon and they gave her a little ear brace to wear during the first couple of months of her life while her cartilage is still pretty malleable. We'll have to go back every two weeks to get a new brace as she grows, but hopefully, that will make it easier for the plastic surgeons to shape her ear when that time comes.
Anyway, enough of the medical stuff! We stayed in the hospital for two nights after SJ was born and then took her home. I've never felt so sore/exhausted/anxious in my whole life...what was I supposed to do with a newborn baby? I couldn't believe they just let us walk out of the hospital with such a fragile little human being. It took me a couple of sleepless nights to feel less anxious about leaving her alone in her crib. That first week was quite the adjustment period, and it was a lot more difficult than I expected. We had visitors coming in and out offering to help, which was nice of them but I think in the future, I want to give myself a full week before accepting visitors. It was just too overwhelming and I would have rather focused on my body healing instead of trying to entertain. I also would have loved my mom to stay for a few more days. Oh well. Ya live and ya learn, and we somehow got through it!
We are so lucky that SJ has been such a good eater. She latched really well from the get-go and will even take a bottle, so Hayden takes a shift in the night to feed her and put her back in bed. That has been a major blessing for me...I don't know how other moms with babies who won't bottle feed do it all on their own. Breastfeeding was much more painful than I anticipated for the first couple of weeks, but I've gotten the hang of it and just feel so blessed that it's been a pretty good experience for us.
Our neighbor (the same one who took our maternity photos) offered to take Sara Jane's newborn photos, and they're the cutest! It's so fun to have some Christmasy photos of our sweet baby.
Just one week after SJ's birth, we packed up pretty much everything she owns and headed down to St. George with Asher to be there for Christmas! I cannot believe how much stuff such a tiny person needs, holy cow. When we got to my parents' house, it was so fun introducing SJ to her aunt Bridget, uncle Gabe, and grandpa Steve.:) We spent the week just snuggling her and taking naps while other people snuggled her. I really needed that after such a tough week!
Christmas was extra special with a newborn. Obviously, SJ played baby Jesus in our family's nativity production. We spent Christmas relaxing, playing music, eating yummy Mexican food, and snuggling up with SJ. One of my favorite gifts was the quilt my mom made for SJ (which she so gracefully broke in by having a major blowout all over it). Baby girl also got the CUTEST little green Christmas outfit.
I tried my best to be active even though I was still recovering. We took the baby on a few different walks in her new stroller and front pack carrier. St. George is just too beautiful to stay inside, even when it feels like your crotch is just going to fall to the floor. I just wanted to breathe the clean Southern Utah air before coming up to the inversion of Salt Lake City.
Hayden came back up on December 30th to work on New Year's Eve, but I didn't come up until New Year's Day with my family because there was a huge storm. I spent New Year's with my parents and Sara Jane. We went to dinner together, saw the new Spiderman movie, and rung in the new year watching the ball drop in NYC with some Frescas. I was literally breastfeeding when the clock struck midnight...what a way to ring in the new year.
We spent the night of New Year's Day up at the Walker home with pretty much everyone from my dad's side of the family. I was a little panicky with all the little kids running around wanting to see and touch the baby, but it ended up being fine. The next day, we went to the baby blessing of Sarah and Dave's new baby Meg, and I felt the same kind of anxiety and didn't let anybody hold her. That was a good move because so many people who were there ended up coming down with flu-like symptoms in the following days, including my family. It is truly unbelievable how many people are sick or have been within the last month. I don't actually think I know anyone who HASN'T been sick. It's absolutely out of control. We've tried to be selective with who gets to hold her and have had most people wash their hands and wear a mask if they want to hold her, and that seems to have done the trick because Sara Jane has stayed healthy!
After all the holiday shenanigans, I feel like my maternity leave finally started...just in time for it to be halfway over. The last week and a half have been a nice respite from the craziness and I've been able to spend lots of time just relaxing and hanging out with my sweet baby. At her two-week pediatrician appointment, she weighed 9 lbs and has only continued to fill out! Baby girl is getting some nice cheeks and some yummy leg rolls. She still sleeps most of the time, but I can tell she's starting to be much more alert and has even started making some cooing noises, although I'm not sure they're intentional yet. We can rarely get a smile out of her, but it does happen occasionally! I'm so excited for her to be more responsive and smiley, but for now, I'm going to keep enjoying the newborn stage and hoping that time slows down just a bit.