One week old!

Yesterday our little girl turned one week old. At 3:50am when I was awake feeding her, I thought of what happened at 3:50am exactly one week prior- my water broke and this adventure started. Throughout the morning I thought of that morning, grateful that I’m no longer feeling that pain! Finally, at 4:39 I remembered hearing that little cry for the first time. It seemed to take forever for the doctor to announce that she was a girl! We were thrilled! When he was allowed to, Ryan went over and saw her. He came right back grinning from ear to ear to tell me that she has 10 fingers, 10 toes, and is beautiful. It didn’t take long for him to be in love! What a day that was. I’m so grateful that it happened and so grateful that it is over and we have her now! I was due 6 days prior to when she was born. I had told my sister and mom a few days past the due date that I felt like since she was due on the 30th and she was not here yet, that I was missing out on days with her. At that point, I thought that feeling was silly, and maybe it was, but had I known what it is like with her here, my heart would have ached much more for her then!
What a beautiful week it has been! She has certainly changed everything and we feel more than blessed to have her. She has such a sweet temperament. She smiles so much in her sleep, and when she is awake too! Yes, it is probably gas. I don’t care what the reason is, her smiles are completely adorable. My mom has said that she wishes she could just have the video camera running all of the time so that we can catch her smiling like this, as we can never grab the camera in time. She also quickly clams down whenever she hears either mine or Ryan’s voice. She is totally a Daddy’s girl. She likes to snuggle up on his chest and be held by him.
Ryan got sick a couple of days ago with a fever and a pretty nasty cough. He has been reluctantly banned to the bedroom, while Catherine, my mom and I stay away. Sometimes he comes out with a mask on and hands sanitized to come and gaze at her. He’s so sad being away from her. My mom has been staying with us since Catherine came home from the hospital. Her help and encouragement has been invaluable! Especially with Ryan being sick, she has been so very helpful. I can’t imagine how hard it would be if I were a single mom at this point, without all the support I have.
Catherine is rarely fussy- really only if she is uncomfortable with gas or feeding hasn’t started quickly enough. She would like to sleep through the night, but we have woken her up to feed her a couple of times a night. I thought it would be months before she is ready for this! We’ll see how the next few weeks go- if it’s a fluke that she is ready to sleep through the night or if it will stick. In my baby book, my mom wrote that I started sleeping through the night at 2 weeks old. We are careful to feed her consistently as we had three doctor visits over the weekend as she appeared dehydrated. The doctor was considering having her go to the hospital for IV fluids, but luckily, by breastfeeding and giving some extra formula on Saturday, she beefed up and we fortunately were able to avoid a hospital visit and IV fluids. Saturday was a scary, stressful day, but she was able to bounce right back. She hasn’t had the same trouble since.
To say the least, we are so enjoying Catherine!