Week 2 - Nursing

Renee's cord dropped on Sunday. I took a picture of it. But it came out too blurry.

Like father, like daughter. She has exactly the same foot as her father. Her face was pinky when she was born, but it now slowly turned to be more like my skin tone. I cannot say that the mother is very happy about this.





We had some difficulty nursing her. She would get sleepy and stop eating, but become very active an hour later. Calming her would take an hour. But when we tried to feed her, she would become sleepy again after just 10 minutes. The next feeding would also be quite short. We are not sure what to make of it but we are keeping an eye (or rather, all of our eyes) on her hunger signs. The book says that a child goes through growth spurts, maybe she has just started her first.

With the mom and grandparents taking care of the baby, I actually don't do much during the day. So I returned to work on Tuesday. One nice thing about working for Guidewire is that you surely have your work and life balanced. I looked at the feeding schedule, realized that there is no way I can go to bed at 11pm and go to work on time without being sleepy. I now go to bed after 7 pm, so that I can wake up three times during the night to help feed the baby, and not losing sleep. So far it works well. It also helps to have "Uberman Sleep Schedule" experiment with other Borlanders several years back.

I noticed that playing with her a bit during the nursing can wake her up. Among all the warm greetings, fatherhood welcome, and comforting that "it will get better" from Guidewire coworkers that were sent to my work email address, Janice recommended the book "The Nursing Mother's Companion".

Is this a smile? Lianxin's parents told me a saying, "one day cat one day dog", describing the fact that the baby behavior changes all the time. That is really true. One day she could be so quiet, that you can change her diaper without even waking her up. The next day she would be so active, that you just have to stay up with her.

We went to pediatrician today. Guess what? Renee weighs 5 pounds 1.75 ounces! That is 7 ounces in 6 days. We were all very happy to hear that. She got hungry at the doctor's (only 2 hours from last feeding), so we had to stay in the room and feed her.

I am learning different burping position. This position is not as effective as others have told me. And it gets a bit harder with her letting out gas by my nose.

Retrospective : One Week Parenting

I finally finished writing all the backlogged posts, which calls for a celebration and reflect.

The past one week was tiring, exciting, rewarding, and sometimes scary. When learned that I am now a father, Rice said "I can only imagine". I thought "Hmm... Me too, 9 days ago".

You know how in the military training, they first break you down with insane schedule and load, then build you up with discipline, resolution and professionalism? I think it is the same way that parents are built. Within the first 48 hours, through around-the-clock feeding and learning, I was totally broken down. By the time I got home, there were no more "let me sleep 5 minutes" attitude. Unless I know someone I trust (Lianxin's parents in this case) is taking care of the baby, I can get up anytime when I am needed and go to bed for that short nap when I should. Sure, sleep deprivation played a big role here and I don't know in the long run how I would do as a father. But I feel that I am more ready to be one than I ever thought I could.

My reward, of course, is a lovely daughter whom we all cherish every moment.

Day 8 - Good Pediatrician

We went to the new Pediatrician today and we were really happy with her. She was tentative, keep us informed during the examination, and kept asking us if we have any questions.

The location is great too, only 20 minutes through local street. There should be a way through the highway around the Oakland downtown so it could be even closer. Too bad we have to move to San Ramon to be closer to Lianxin's job.

Renee is 4 pounds and 10.5 ounce now. She is gaining weight, which is really good.

I think she is getting cuter every day, but then again, this is a new father speaking. You get to decide with these pictures.