2 weeks

Jane had her 2 week appointment today.  She's now 8 lbs and 15 oz (72 percentile), 21 inches long (82 percentile),  with a head circumference of 14.4 inches (86 percentile).   So she's slightly on the larger side, but totally proportionate.  Speaking of on the larger side, my friend recently posted that her unborn child is measuring at 11 lbs and she still has two weeks until her due date!  My heat goes out to her and her "little Hercules" as she refers to him.  

Jane's appointment went really well right up until they pricked her heal and squeezed the devil out of it. She screamed like I have never heard her scream, and it seemed to take forever.

Jane's favorite things these days:

Being held. 

Sneezing (always at least four times in a row). 

Hiccups (I'm not so sure their her favorite, but she seems to have accepted it as part of life since she gets them several times a day).

Getting her hair washed.  She gets so cute even when she hears me turn the faucet on.

Jane's least favorite things:

That pesky hand that keeps reaching up behind her head and yanking her hair.

The eye infection in her right eye.

When someone tries to stick a pacifier in her mouth when she is clearly upset.  She acts like nothing could be more insulting.

Being swaddled.  She'll complain until you let her get an arm out, then she'll settle right down.

Not being held.

Nurses squeezing blood out of her foot.

 Jane and the bunny that grandma gave her...

 ...giving kisses and hugs.

Just look at this pretty girl all dressed up like she has somewhere to go.

Grandpa & Grandma visit

My parents came to stay with us for a week a couple days after Jane was born.  It was SO wonderful having them here to help.  We had a great week.  We watched a couple of disappointing football games, spent some evenings up at Scott and Elisha's house, made a bunch of peach pies, practiced going shopping with a newborn, partied with the Thompsons, rode motorcycles at Jim Walton's house, and of course, took it easy.  I just had a baby after all. Here are some pictures...

 I just love seeing them all cuddled up.

Doesn't Jane just look so comfortable in Grandma's arms?  She just melts right in there.

I love it when Jane falls asleep all scrunched up on one of our chests.  She feels so tiny.

1 WEEK

Here's our little girl at one week old (well, six days to be exact).  Jane had a pretty good first six days.  She's loves to be held.  If she ever fusses, picking her up will pretty much settle that immediately.  Since we just love to hold her all the time, she never really gets the opportunity to cry.  When she's alert, she's often very engaged, holding eye contact and even smiling a few times (yes, real smiles, even at only six days old.  Our little girl is very advanced.)  Jane was a little bit Jaundiced at birth so they had us returning to the hospital every day for Bilirubin tests to check her levels.  Even when they pricked her foot every day, she only gave the slightest whimper at most.  She's a wonderfully calm and patient baby.  We are so enamored by her.  Now she's doing great and any traces of yellow left in her skin are thanks to her 1/4 Japanese ethnicity.  We love her beautiful skin tone and pronounced lips.

Don't you just love all those arm folds?

Jane loves getting her hair washed.  I guess she takes after her mother... and her mother's mother... and right on down that maternal line.  She gets really still and her eyes get really big.  It's pretty adorable.  I can't wait to give this girl a real bath.

All the nitty-gritty details...

At 1:50 am on Wednesday, September 12th, I awoke suddenly to a gush of water between my legs.  So much water!  There was no question, it was go time.  "Oh my gosh.  This is happening," I laughed.  We packed everything up and headed straight to the hospital.  Since I hadn't started feeling any contractions yet, it was all pretty surreal.  We were going to have a baby today!  We arrived at the hospital around 2:15 and they set me up on some antibiotics.  I was dilated to a 3 and fully effaced.  Two hours later they started the pitocin and we waited for the contractions to come.  I talked to my sister in Germany for a bit and then my mom.  Around 7:30 the nurse came in, looked at the monitor and said, "Well it looks like your contractions are about two minutes apart.  You can have your epidural any time now."  "Well," I said, "I haven't felt any pain yet..."  Around 8, I started feeling the contractions and they escalated quickly.  I got my epidural at 9:20 and was surprised and pleased to discover that it was no more painful than any shot I had ever gotten.  I had probably been the most nervous about that moment but it wasn't bad at all.  So with the scary part out of the way, we waited.  That epidural is brilliant.  I am perfectly ok with never knowing what childbirth is like without it.  It was pretty strange to not feel my legs at all though.  Chris would periodically turn me over and adjust my five pillows around me.  At 10 AM, I was 4 cm and things continued to progress slowly.  We watched a car chase on the news, Coming to America, and most of Tangled.  Finally at 4 PM, the nurse checked me and said that I was fully dilated, but they wanted to wait another hour to let her descend a little on her own.  I faithfully watched the clock anxiously awaiting that 5 o'clock hour... mostly because I was SO hungry.  Food was all I could think about at this point.  We had to get this baby out so I could eat something!  At 5:15, I called the nurse and reported that I was feeling slight pain and pressure in my nether regions, so we started the pushing soon thereafter.  I had the nurse set up the mirror so I could see the progress.  I didn't expect that I would want to see anything, but I actually found it fascinating and motivating to push harder.  Chris was a great coach, holding my leg and rewarding me with ice chips when I did a good job pushing.  

I can't feel my legs!

Just eating my ice chips.

At 6:41 PM, Jane Amy Silva's body slid out and they placed her on my belly and cleaned her up.  It's hard to put into words what that really feels like.  I was mostly just in awe that all this was actually happening.  She was perfect (albeit a little pale from the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck).  Chris cut the cord and did an amazing job taking all of these photos.  Jane was pretty mellow through most of her tests and measurements.  They would have like her to cry a little harder to get those lungs going, but she was pretty calm.  She only gave a little whimper when they gave her her shots.  When they were done cleaning with all their poking and prodding, they gave her back to me and I held our baby girl while Chris fed me sandwich.  It was a long exhausting day even with the epidural, but one of the greatest moments of my life.  We're so thrilled about this little one and can't really stop staring at her.  Everything went so smoothly and we couldn't be more grateful.

Our new family!