The Nerliens: Life at Home

Our little Elliet is already 11 days old!!! Life at home has gone better than expected so far. (I hope I didn't jinx anything!) Everyone is adjusting well, including Harper. I was (and am) prepared for her to say something like "I don't like my baby sister anymore" or "I don't want my baby sister to live here anymore" or something along those lines. But much to my surprise, jealousy has not gotten the best of her....yet.

Adam has be doing an AMAZING job of keeping Harper entertained. They usually go to the pool, or go golfing or to the park every afternoon. Adam also takes Harper along on all his errands. The poor guy has had a 3-year-old shadow for the past 11 days. Harper will be lost when Adam has to go back to work. And so will I!!! Adam goes back to work next Friday and NO ONE is looking forward to that! (well, maybe Adam!)

Everyone has their own little "jobs" around the house. I am the 'feeder', Adam is the 'diaper changer' and Harper is our 'assistant' for almost everything. Her favorite thing to do is setting up for a diaper change. She lays a blanket on the floor and gets out "a dipe and a wipe." Harper also throws all diapers away, retrieves pacifiers, helps burp Ellie, and bounces her in the bouncy seat. She also helped Adam change a diaper yesterday...and it was even a dirty one!

Elliet has been a wonderful baby so far, as most newborns generally are....

Sleep: Elliet still sleeps around 20 hrs/day. She is beginning to have more alert periods, sometimes for an hour or so. She wakes up to eat and that's about it! During the day she enjoys napping in her bouncy seat or swing. At night she sleeps in her crib. There have been a few restless nights where she has been up for 2 hrs at a time. If I''m not able to get her back to sleep after she eats, I call in Adam to finish the job. I generally try to lay Ellie down when she's drowsy, but not fully asleep, so she can learn how to soothe herself and fall asleep on her own.

Eating: I am very excited to say that I am still nursing Elliet. Most feeds go great, but sometimes she is so darn hungry and picky about her 'latch' that is takes her up to 5 minutes before she will start eating. In addition to nursing I usually pump a few times a day. (Our freezer is already collecting a nice supply of milk) Elliet eats every 3 hours or so, for about 10-20 minutes each session. I am so happy that breastfeeding is working out this time around, as Harper didn't take to nursing. My short-term goal is to nurse Ellie until she is 6 weeks old, anything past that will be a blessing. I don't want to nurse any longer than 6 months though. I just don't know how I'm going to manage to find time to pump when I go back to work. There are no such thing as "breaks" as a nurse!

Nicknames: Ellie, Smelly Ellie, Smelly, Smelliet

Personality: I know it's too early to get a good idea of her personality, but so far Elliet is laid back. She only cries if she's hungry or uncomfortable. She's not a big fan of being held by Harper, mostly because she's laying down, which she doesn't like. Harper is in her face quite often and she doesn't seem to mind...yet.

Elliet has her first check-up on Wednesday - mostly to check on her weight. I am so anxious to see how much she weighs - she is a very good eater and I wouldn't be surprised if she already weighs 9 lbs!

I had an appointment on Tuesday to get my steri strips removed from my incision. My incision is healing great - no problems there. BUT I did have an allergic reaction to the betadine that was used to clean the incision site before my c-section. My lower abdomen was super red and miserably itchy - so I was put on steroids for 6 days. However now I have developed an itchy rash that started on my feet, and has spread to my chest, wrists, and now face. I don't think it's related to the betadine allergy because since being on the steroids the rash has spread, instead of clearing up. (the steroids ARE helping my abdomen though) I am going to make myself an appointment to follow-up on this rash though, as I don't want to spread anything to anyone here. Wish me luck!