10 days on...

I can't believe it's 10 days since she was born. It's also exactly one year since M moved to the U.S. to be with me. Our anniversary is the end of the month. Some would say it's been a busy year. I know I would.

Emer (pronounced Eemer) 's name is Irish. M and I actually had come up with girl names, even though we thought we were having a boy. We went through a lot of girl names, I wanted something short with at least 2 syllables. The name needed to flow. lol Anyhow, at first M wasn't sure about Emer, as it was an ex-girlfriend's name, but to me, it didn't matter. No one has heard the name Emer before - aside from the Irish side - so it's fun to have some 'different'. The name doesn't really have any meaning, in particular. M says that Emer was the queen of mythical Ireland way back when. She's certainly a queen! Rose is my maternal grandmother's name - M came up with the middle name and I think it's perfect. It fits her!

So the first week has been a bit of a trial. We went to the pediatrician on Monday and of course, she'd lost weight. She also was a bit jaundiced which of course, sent her mother into fits of crying (of course, that was hormonal but the guilt didn't hurt to keep it going)... I'd been crying uncontrollably for a few days anyway. I guess the hormones that change after pregnancy were worse for me than the one during pregnancy. Anyhow, after that appt, I asked to see a lactation consultant because we were pretty sure the wee one wasn't eating (it's hard to tell when you are feeding from the boob). We saw her 3 times last week and she gave us some great tips, she also prescribed a breast pump and it seems like my milk is finally in! If dirty and wet diapers are any indication... lol By Friday, she'd gained back 3.6 oz (after losing 12oz) so I'm feeling pretty good about that. We're getting into a routine.

Thank god for my mother and M. They have made life easy for me in the last 10 days. I don't have to cook, clean, and could sleep whenever I want. I have someone to hand off the baby too when she's fussy, someone to change diapers, to help me get in place when I have to breast feed. It's made things sooooo much easier and I'm truly blessed. This morning I was even able to get up with Emer, change her diaper and feed her while everyone else was asleep. It's the little milestones that I'm happy with. I don't know how single mom's do it, even how women without their mom's or husbands do it. If I had to be alone all day, doing it all myself... oh my gosh, I can't even think about it. I definitely have a lot of respect for those mother's out there.

Well, it's about that time.. I need to wrap this up. I'm going to take a quick bath and get ready for the feeding frenzy that commences soon. I can see my little girl making the 'I'm almost awake' movements! I promise more photos later. We still have our damn camera with the constantly dead batteries so we had to take photos with the camera that uses film. Needless to say, we have to get them developed....