Super Chunk

Turns out having a baby is a pretty good way to get around a whole lot of nasty things.

I was worried she’d be tiny, or somehow unwell… she weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz at birth (same as I did, coincidentally), and though she had questionable blood glucose on day 2 and questionable bilirubin on day 4, both are resolving and neither requires any further intervention.  For the moment, she is still not technically supposed to be an outside baby (would be 37 weeks gestation today), and so she sleeps a lot… but for a mom recovering from a C-section, that’s not at all bad.

I was worried that recovery from surgery would be MISERABLE (because it was last time), and I’m feeling remarkably good.  I don’t know whether to chalk that up to knowing that I’d need my abs after surgery, or being more willing to accept pain meds, or what, but I will totally take it.

I was worried about sleeplessness.  I know it’s early, and I know there will be a day when I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.  But seriously, one brand-new nocturnal baby is exponentially easier to work with than two.  This morning I walked down the hospital hallway to get ice water, with the baby in one arm.  Got back to my room with the full pitcher, used the bottom of the pitcher to open the door (lever handle… thank you, universal design), and overheard a doctor saying to a nurse, “She’s got it.  She’s a veteran.”  Damn right I am.  I am a PROFESSIONAL.
I was worried about being heartbroken that I can’t share this with my mom.  But for one thing, I am more focused on the baby than on that empty space.  For another thing, I have all these other people to share this with (some of whom also have the same empty space).  And Dan correctly points out that our daughter is not defined by the year in which she happened to be born, nor by the name we gave her.  She will make her own mark on the world, in her own way, and that is SO cool.

So… what you need to know, if you need to know anything, is that we’re home and well.  Kiddo needs to eat in the next few minutes, and I need to take a nap and/or figure out what goes into tonight’s twice-baked potatoes for dinner.  Back soon.