9 Weeks Old

2 months old

At 2 months old, Vivi's got her own little personality. She loves Scout (toy dog), her butterfly mobile, staring at picture frames or any wall with contrast, bath time, walks in her stroller, her play mat (especially the whale), sticking out her tongue, lying in the sunshine, and music. Things she doesn't like - getting her diaper changed, getting put into her car seat, getting dressed, hats, and bedtime.

8 weeks old

Vivi is 8 weeks old.

 

 To celebrate her 8-week birthday, she got her first shots :(

Proud Daddy

This photo is a bit old (almost 2 months old now!) but I hadn't seen it until this weekend - my dad took it the morning after Vivi was born. We're all in San Diego this weekend for Lyle's bike show.

California Poppies

The California poppies are in full bloom. We went up to take some photos of Vivi in the poppies but she slept the entire time we were there. So we have the one picture of Vivi with her eyes partially open and some other pictures of just flowers.

The work of play

Vivi is beginning to play. Maybe she's been playing all along, but she is starting to do things that I recognize as play. She lays on her mat, stares intently at her dangling stuffed animals and then bats at the animals (usually the whale or the zebra). Her grunting makes me think this is hard work for her. When she hits one, she moves her arms and legs around excitedly and squeals (the happiest sound she knows how to make) so loudly that Lyle hears her in the garage with the door closed.

She started doing this yesterday (see video in yesterday's post) and could hit the animals only some of the time. But her efforts yesterday were clearly worthwhile. This morning, I put her down on her mat in a less than optimal position for hitting the whale (I thought maybe she'd like to hit something new - silly me). She was able to wriggle her way to a better angle and hit the whale with nearly every hit. She even made it spin around several times. She then moved on to batting at the plastic keys which don't move as much as the whale but make a different sound - a new game. Her happy squealing has also gotten considerably louder and more distinguished from her unhappy noises just since yesterday.

It's amazing to see how she learns every day.

Talk to the animals

Vivi is increasingly becoming interested in her toys. Here she is playing with and "talking to" (squealing at) her toys - she's especially fond of the whale and zebra. She's been doing this pretty much non-stop since she woke up at 5am this morning (3 hours ago).

A look inside Vivi's mouth

Vivi's pacifier allows a look inside her mouth as she sucks. Not the most flattering angle, but entertaining nevertheless. As a bonus you can hear her "squeaky door" imitation.

Six weeks old

Rolling, rolling, rolling ... from front to back

 

I took this picture of Vivi looking very determined, thinking she was getting set to lift herself up, but no, she rolled herself over onto her back. And here's the evidence...

I'm not sure whether she meant to or not - she seemed a bit surprised at ending up on her back, but I rolled her back on to her tummy and she immediately rolled over onto her back again. This is the third (and fourth) time that I know she's rolled over - but the first caught on camera.

6 hours of uninterrupted sleep!

Vivi had been sleeping in fairly reliable 3 hour increments at night, waking up at 9pm, 12pm, 3pm, and 6am, but the last two nights she slept for 6 hours straight (8pm-2am) followed by a three or four hour stretch. Credit is due to the "Miracle Blanket" we received as a gift from Laura and Joel. Vivi has been able to get out of any swaddle since we brought her home from the hospital so we stopped swaddling our little Houdini early on. But Miracle Blanket keeps her swaddled and keeps her from waking herself up (which she usually does by punching herself in the face).

Who's this big kid on my playmat?

Vivi (5 weeks) and Cole (5 months).

5 and a half weeks - smiles

 

 My little giraffe and her giraffe. Even though this photo (above) is in the collage below, I thought it was worth posting a larger one. Too bad I had the camera on the wrong setting and the focus is on the stuffed giraffe and not the vivi-giraffe so she's a little out of focus.

 

Vivi is 5 and a half weeks old now. She's starting to smile and show an interest in her toys. She's getting so strong - she can lift her head and body up on her forearms. She also spits up and screams a lot, but we don't photograph those activities.

Who's the doll?

Vivi and her twin

Vivi's Great Grandma

Vivi met her great-grandmother yesterday. All four generations are together in the photo below - Viviana, me, my father, and his mother.

1 month old

We had a 1 month birthday party for Vivi with all four grandparents

Visiting Grandparents in Arizona

We took Vivi to Arizona to meet her Papa and Granny (Lyle's parents). It was a long drive for such a little baby, but Vivi did great riding in her car seat and seemed to enjoy being cuddled by her grandparents. Vivi is smiles a lot these days. Most of the smiles are in her sleep, but her Papa got a big smile the first time he held her. We're thinking of Vivi's Papa in his long surgery today.

Three weeks old

Happy birthday Vivi!

Mardi Gras!

Vivi celebrating mardi gras

Today is Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday. People around the world are feasting and partying. Vivi joined right in. She, who normally eats every 3-4 hours, woke up every hour and a half to eat last night, more than doubling the amount of time she usually spends eating (and I presume the amount of food she consumed) - a feast of milk.

At the hospital, the nurses warned us that this might happen right around the three-week-old mark. Her more frequent feeding signals my body to produce more milk in preparation for a growth spurt. And she's right on time - her three-week birthday is today. What they didn't tell us is how long it lasts. I'm pretty sure my body has gotten the hint and she can go back to feeding every 3-4 hours. 

Two and a half weeks old

My little inch worm!

Vivi is crawling! She made it all the way across her playmat. Of course I didn't think to video tape her until she was almost done and had worn herself out. I have my hand down on the mat behind her foot so that she has something to push against. But otherwise, she's done it all on her own.

Apparently this isn't all that unusual - and doesn't suggest that she'll be an early crawler. Newborns are born with a crawling reflex that disappears after the first 4 weeks of life. So she'll likely be crawling across her mat for another week and a half and then won't crawl again for several months.

2nd trip to the doctor

Vivi's second trip to the pediatrician was today. The main purpose of the visit was to check to see if she had regained the weight she lost in the hospital. Newborn's are expected to lose up to 5-7% of their body weight in the first few days of life as their bodies acclimate to life outside the womb. They should be back to birth weight by 2-3 weeks of age.

At 13 days old, Vivi is at 7 lbs and 12 ounces - that's 2 ounces heavier than her birth weight and 7 ounces heavier than the weight at which she left the hospital. This is no surprise to me since she eats constantly. Even so, it is good news. It also means that we no longer have to wake Vivi up to eat every three hours at night. This is good news for baby's and mommy's sleep!

Grandparents

 

My parents doting on their first grandchild. 

California girl

One of our tasks given to us by the hospital was to get Vivi out in the sun to help with her jaundice. Sunlight and lots of eating helps to break down and flush out the elevated levels of bilirubin from her extracellular fluids. My parents happened to bring her some baby sunglasses - so here she is - a California girl soaking up some California rays.

Thumb sucking

 

Viviana has learned to suck her thumb. She does this with an open palm so that when her thumb is in her mouth, the rest of her hand covers up her face (see pic). 

Her next task - to learn that she cannot nurse and suck her thumb at the same time.

 

Uncle Brent

My brother came up to visit yesterday. Here he his holding Viviana. Although it's hard to tell from the photo, she's wearing a bib that says, "I love my Uncle."

Baby's first visit to the doctor

On the doctor's table

Viviana's first trip to the pediatrician was a success. The doctor said that Viviana was "a perfect little girl." Obviously our pediatrician knows her stuff :)

Vivi has gained 3 ounces since coming home from the hospital. She has excellent strength and alertness.

Yawning - on the way home from the doctor's office

We will have to go see a specialist to get an MRI on her hip soon. Apparently being folded up in my womb for 9 months may have caused one of her ligaments to develop improperly. The orthopedic specialist already visited us once in the hospital to check her hip. Worst case scenario is that she'll have to wear a brace for a couple weeks.

The faces of Vivi

Vivi is already an expert at making funny faces.

Jaundice

  

Vivi has a mild case of jaundice. To help her get back to normal, she was placed on a bililight for the last 24 hours. The light is placed at the bottom of her bassinet and irradiates her exposed back to intensive light therapy. She can only be removed from the light to eat. We're waiting on the pediatrician to check that her levels have returned to within a normal range before we can head home from the hospital.

One day old

 

Karen took some great photos when she was here visiting 20 hours after Vivi's birth. See the photos at 

http://gallery.me.com/danielle.harlow/100542

Welcome Viviana!

 

Viviana Sophia Harlow

2/15/11 9:30 pm

7 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches 

Viviana's birth. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I went for my regularly scheduled 39 week appointment. Because I had been in the hospital over the weekend for a decrease in fetal movement, my doctor decided to do a quick ultrasound to check for amniotic fluid levels. She found that the fluid levels were fine, but that what we had thought was the baby's bottom was actually her head. The baby was breech. At 39 weeks, it was too late to try to turn the baby and the chances were low that she would turn herself around. So the doctor recommend scheduling a c-section for early next week. She wanted it to be before my due date so that I would avoid having to go into labor. So, I walked over to another office to schedule a c-section for the following Tuesday. I called Lyle to make sure that date worked with his schedule and as I was sitting in the office talking to the woman who does the scheduling, my water broke. And I've heard sometimes it's a trickle, but this was absolutely not a trickle. This was the gushing sort of water breaking. Fortunately the hospital is directly across the street from the doctor's office, so at 4pm, I called Lyle to tell him that his schedule no longer mattered, we were having a baby tonight. I headed over to the hospital and Lyle met me there after going home to get our bags. 

I had to wait until 8 hours after I had last eaten for surgery, so the surgery was set for 9pm. I had a spinal tap which numbed me from my toes to my chest. Just a few moments after surgery began, I heard the baby cry. Then they stitched me back up - the entire procedure took less than an hour. Immediately after the surgery, Lyle accompanied Viviana to the nursery where they cleared her lungs. They then joined me in a recovery room. My parents had made it up from San Diego by the time I was in recovery and they were able to visit briefly before the nurses took me to the post-partum ward.

Stealth baby

We went to the hospital last night.

The doctor told us to go anytime I felt less than 10 kicks in two hours or if her kicking noticeably decreased (normal would be about 10 kicks in 6 minutes for me). I felt very few kicks on Saturday and then nothing at all on Sunday. Obviously this was a considerable decrease in her usual activity.  I tried all the tricks the doctors taught us to get her to kick (cold water, sugary food, pushing on my belly) and nothing. Not even a hiccup. So off we went to the hospital. They put a sensor on my belly and had me lay down for 30 minutes. They were looking for her heart rate to go up (to indicate movement). According to the heart rate monitor, she was moving the entire time, but I didn't feel it once.

So, all is well - she has just become a stealth baby.

Groundhog Day

Today is groundhog day and Punxsutawney Phil (the famous groundhog in Pennsylvania) did not see his shadow (not particularly surprising since the entire east coast is under siege by a gigantic blizzard). An early spring it is! (Not that we would notice that much in Santa Barbara).

So I'm thinking that it's not very sunny in my uterus which means that there aren't many shadows. I'm fairly certain that, like Punxsutawney Phil, Baby Harlow did not see her shadow this morning. If no shadows for that groundhog means an early Spring, could no shadow for Baby Harlow mean an early entrance?

30-Day Notice

Dear Baby Harlow:

You are hereby notified that you must vacate your current residence within 30 days.* This is, in part, due to unpermitted renovations of the property (esp. expansions to the exterior). Complaints have been filed by neighboring properties that have been adversely affected by your structural expansions. The most serious of these complaints have been filed by Lungs and Bladder who report decreased functionality due to their decreased allocated space. An alternative fully-furnished (and more spacious) residence has been procured and reserved for you. 

* A 7-day grace period will be granted.

Baby Pool!

Guess when baby Harlow will be born. Click on the link below to enter your best guess. 
http://bebepool.com/go/?a=dani92026&view=list

Ready

The car seat is installed (and inspected by local Fire Department). Newborn clothes are washed. Bassinett is set up. We're now as ready as we're going to be. Now we're just waiting. 38 days (more or less)...