The First Week

A week ago today, Jfer was working through her early contraction while I was looking forward to going home and taking Magda to the pool for a swim. A few hours later, after we put Magda to bed, Jfer called her mom that it looked like "real" labor and not too long there after she called Elizabeth to please come to our house and wait for Rita's arrival while we headed out to the birthing center.

We left the house a little after midnights, hooked up with our doula on the way to the AABC which is fairly close to our house. I had to pull over a couple of times when Jfer had a contraction (the first time it freaked our doula out a little, thinking Jfer was delivering). We checked in at 12:30 and Jfer did her thing, taking advantage of most of their anemnities, including their luxurious jacuzzi tub. After lots of work, and then a lot of hard work, our daughter was born at 4:02 AM. And later we learned that she was 7lb 12.5oz (3.5kg) and 18.5in (47cm). Quite a bit heavier and shorter than Magda - which helps explain the work.

Since we've come home, we've had a pretty uneventful first week. It still took us a little while to settle on a name, Simone Milada, but beside that, there haven't been any issues. Simone is a much better sucker than Magda was, and has been nursing quite successfully. At her 3 day checkup she only dropped down to 7lb 6oz and she had gained at least 4oz since then.

She's turning out to be a very pleasant, and so far, laid back baby. She enjoys her food and sleep and is a prolific pooper (thankfully she's past the black tar stage and now into runny mustard).

In retrospect, we're very happy that Jfer decided to use the Austin Area Birthing Center. We were pleased with Joan who delivered the baby and have nothing but good things to say about Kat who assisted.  We were also pleased with Ryka, our doula, during and after the birth.