katie allison granju

one week August 7, 2007

C. is now one week old. Hard to believe how momentous the last 12 days have been. In my more hormonal moments, I get weepy when I realize she will never be 3 days or 4 days or 5 days old again. Jon and I can’t stop staring at her and touching her. E. and J. are also pretty much always hungry to get their hands on her (we all argue over who gets to hold her next), while H. is still trying to decide what he thinks of the whole idea of having a new baby sister nearly 16 years younger than he is.

Every new baby is precious and important, but for me, the birth of C. represents a huge leap of faith on my part- a leap of faith that has paid off beyond my wildest hopes. If someone had told me four years ago that I would one day be very, very, very happily remarried, and mother to a beautiful second daughter, I would have scoffed (an excellent word I don’t get to use that often). I just never could have believied that my family life would work out this way after it seemed to have taken a very bad wrong turn. So I am grateful beyond words every time I look at and hold and nurse this baby girl.

Speaking of nursing, she is now a little piglet. She eats constantly. I am sure she is growing like crazy, but she still seems impossibly small, with even newborn-size sleepers and nightgowns swallowing her. She is starting to figure out night from day, and is sleeping one to three to hour stretches at night. I am really tired, but enjoying the late night rocking sessions when it’s just the two of us.

This week has been really laid back. Lots of family cocooning at home, with so many good friends and family members bringing food and coming to visit and admire the baby. Next week, school starts for the older children, so things will get a lot busier. And I need to work like crazy on some major writing projects during the remaining 7 weeks of my maternity leave. While the kids are at school, I will try to simultaneously enjoy my time at home with C., while cranking out many thousands of words.

In two weeks, I need to start pumping and storing milk for JOn to feed her when I go back to work and he begins taking her to work with him. Oh joy. I dread it. I’ve never used a breastpump more than a few times, despite having breastfed my other kids for several years each. And also in about two weeks, Jon will start trying to get C. to take one or two bottles every day to get her used to it before my return to work. Let’s hope that all works out well.

Oh, and I got my staples out today. Ouch. I had no idea that when people spoke of surgical staples, they meant actual metal staples, like one might use on a TPS report. But they are out now. And I’ve been given the go-ahead to drive. So basically, I am getting back to normal pretty quickly. The recovery hasn’t been too bad past the first three or four days.