First Post!

Hi!

So, I've never "blogged" before. But I've been considering this for a while now. I want to document, and share, this strange, wonderful, terrifying journey with Emma. Not just the medical side of it. The whole I'm-37-years-old-and-have-an-infant side as well. The fun parts, the sad parts, the frustrating parts, the sleepless parts, the worrisome parts, and every other part in between.

This is Emma:

I know, she's beautiful. Thank you. She was born with a large birthmark on her face (as you can see) called a Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (CMN). It came as quite a shock to us, to say the least. I'll save the story of her birth for another day though. CMN is apparently very rare. She also was born with a very large hemangioma (aka strawberry) that covers most of her right arm. This girl clearly won the birthmark lottery.

She is generally a happy, healthy, yet very high maintenance baby. She's small, but growing right on track in her percentiles (35% for weight & 25% for height. I'm not used to little babies!) I can't think of any one thing that she absolutely loves for more than 10 minutes on any given day at this stage, but if I do, I'll be sure to let you know. She was sleeping really well up until a few days ago. Now she won't sleep for more than an hour it seems, day or night. And when she does sleep at night she needs to be attached to a boob. I consulted Doctor Google though, and it seems this is a stage most 4 month olds go through. Thank the lort.

She is my third baby. However, the other two are old. 12 and soon-to-be 16 (in less than a month!) So we're basically starting from scratch. Most of it has been like riding a bike though, there have been lots of moments of "Oh yeah, I remember this." But there have also been plenty of times where I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing (those early weeks of non-stop crying, utterly convinced that she hates me and/or she's starving & I'm not making any milk. Neither was true, btw.) Her sisters adore her. Even though the 12 year old was bummed she wasn't a boy, and the soon-to-be-licensed one didn't want her around at all (until she met her, of course).

Dad is completely over the moon (even though he was bummed she wasn't a boy as well). She is his first baby, and I gotta admit I was really nervous about it. But he has taken on his new role beautifully, and he is absolutely enchanted by her. He helps as much as he can, changing diapers and flying her around the house, taking her so I can finally eat (after everyone else is done of course), and he has her every Sunday all by himself while I work. Well, mostly by himself. The older two are usually home too. I do have to add though, he can 100% sleep through every time she wakes up at night. Which is fine, he can't feed her anyway. I do envy his sleep schedule though. I haven't had a single night of uninterrupted sleep in about a year now.

Anyways. Speaking of sleep, it's nearly 1:30am, and I should probably try to get some sleep. As it is, Emma has already woken up 3 times since she went to bed at 10. I do enjoy these quiet moments to myself though, when everyone else is asleep. As quiet as they can be anyway, with a snoring man in the room. Yawn.

Me & my babe: