Zzzzzzzzzz

Whew.  I am exhausted!  I just finished putting Natalia down to bed and Sacha is still in there with Mateo.  Rosa is sleeping in the Moby on my chest.  She is, so far, by far the best sleeper we've had.  I would never have been able to sit and blog with our first two, because I would have been bouncing into eternity on the yoga ball! 

Anyway, Rosa is sleeping really well so far.  Last night, she fed around 9 pm and then woke up only at 1:30 am to eat.  She woke up for the day around 6, which seems to be par for the course for our kids, and she's been sleeping on and off all day.  I think tonight might be rougher, because she's sound asleep now and will probably wake up right when we want to go to bed.

I guess having a newborn, even one who is sleeping so well, really is an adjustment, because I still feel like I've been wrung through the wringer!  The transition from two to three has been easier, much easier, so far, than from one to two, but it is ongoing and still a big change.  I'm not sure what I'm trying to say - just rambling about being tired, which is, I know, to be expected at this point!  

Anyway, Rosa had her first bath today, which went well until she got water up her nose and couldn't breathe, leading to the abrupt end to the bath!  She also has had more and more awake time during the past few days, and has seemed relatively happy when awake.  She seems at this point to have such a sweet little personality and we are all quite smitten :)

We also are all incredibly grateful for all the help we've gotten so far, from all our parents pitching in with childcare during the birth to our two moms coming to stay for a week each.  We are LOVING having their help and feel so lucky that they can share in this special time with us.  Also, food and visits and support from friends makes us feel equally lucky.  We've got a great community here.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the last few days:

One week!

Today...

Rosa celebrated being one week old by having more quiet alert time than she has ever had, and by sleeping and nursing a whole lot.  She also got held by quite a few people and slept through most of that!

Sacha and her mom went on a shopping outing and Sacha got a new haircut!  She looks great, doesn't she?

The kids and I went on our very first solo adventure with just me and them.  We went to the Fresh Pot and had a snack and walked back.   I felt very proud of myself for taking all three of them out by myself!

We spent time with some new friends in the morning and with family in the afternoon.

Mateo and Natalia had an awesome dance party with Apa before dinner.

Mateo was so tired that he begged to go to bed early, which I don't think he's ever done in his life....

...and we feel much the same way.  Life with two young kids and a newborn is nonstop!  Time for bed.  Luckily, up to this point, Rosa has been sleeping great and only got up twice last night.  May this continue for many nights to come, or at least until she starts sleeping all the way through :)

Due date

Happy due date, little one!  We're SO glad you decided to come out before now and that we've had you in our lives for six days already :)

The view from today

Yesterday afternoon and today ended up being unexpectedly full of visitors, which was a good thing.  It's so much fun to introduce people we love to our new little girl.  And, breastfeeding is going much better, which makes everything else flow more smoothly, too.  Here are some photos from the past couple of days:

Thank you Megan for the awesome Drizzle-inspired hat!!

Lactating

Okay, so I have to take back what I said yesterday a little.  Rosa was nursing like a champ in the hospital, but when we got home and Sacha's milk actually came in, things went from good to okay to bad rather quickly. 

Last night involved lots and lots of screaming (baby) and patience (Sacha, and me trying to be supportive) and a few good feedings that took about an hour to achieve, because the kid just would not latch.   Poor Sacha was cracked and bleeding by this morning.  She has a lactation appointment tomorrow with the Kaiser people, but lactation is one of the few things that they are not good at.  We knew what we had to do.  We had to call Doris. 

We had been referred to her by a friend when Natalia was born and couldn't breastfeed for the life of her.  Sacha had seen about a zillion Kaiser lactation people in the hospital, plus one outpatient person, plus people in the special care nursery, and none of them could figure it out.  Doris came to our house and had Tali latching and nursing within half an hour.  She is seriously good.  I think she is probably the best in the city.  Instead of trying to make the baby change to fit your body, she helps you adjust things to get the baby in her most comfy position, and that makes all the difference.

Anyway, we love, love, loved her at the time and it didn't hurt that she also had a daughter named Natalia!

This time, we didn't wait until our baby was practically starving to call her.  We just called right away and she came out tonight.  To say it was amazing would be the understatement of the year.  It was like a therapy session, a comedy show, a serious lesson in baby body mechanics, and a lactation breakthrough all in one.  It was that good.  It was like a breastfeeding resurrection.

Sacha now has some really great nipple cream and a shield to help her heal, lots of tips on how to position the baby (kind of cockeyed like she was in the womb) and, most importantly, confidence that she can do this and do it without pain. 

Doris isn't exactly cheap, but she is worth every single penny of both her fee and of the hefty tip I gave her.  Compared to a year of formula if nursing didn't work out, it was a drop in the bucket.  And to see Sacha and Rosa so happy and relieved, and full and satisfied, respectively....well, that was priceless. 

Days and nights

So far, Rosa is proving to be one mellow baby.  We know this could wear off as she gradually wakes up, but we are definitely enjoying it now.  We don't need to bounce her or put her in the vibrating chair or anything, she just sleeps and eats and pees and poops and all that, but she doesn't fuss and she hardly ever even cries.  We loooooove her!  She is such a cute little burrito and her little head smells so good.  It's wonderful to have her out of Sacha's belly and into the outside world.  I am just so, so, so glad that the induction worked this weekend.  This is pretty great, even if we are all totally exhausted.  Totally worth it.

My mom left today and Sacha's mom will be here for a week, and then my mom will be here for the week after.  We are so lucky.  Also, many, many thanks to my mom and dad and Sacha's parents for all their hard work taking care of the kids while we were gone!  We appreciate it so, so much.

I have a goal of taking lots of photos of her, so she doesn't feel shorted as #3, so here are some pictures I took today. 

Home!

We're home!  Sacha and Rosa got discharged from the hospital this morning and we made it home in time for lunch.  We had some really sweet moments in the hospital, including Rosa conking out in my lap early this morning...

...and overall, we just had a great experience at Kaiser.  From the midwives to the nurses to everyone else who worked there, it seemed like everyone was knowledgeable, friendly, welcoming, and just good at their jobs.  We were even lucky enough to have a nurse today who helped Natalia be born two years ago and who actually remembered us from then.  The midwife who delivered Rosa was amazing, as was the one before her who got Sacha to finally start active labor.  It may be the post-baby euphoria, but I wanted to take them all home with us and be best friends forever with just about all of them.

Two things on our homecoming:  first, Tali is absolutely 100% smitten with Rosa.  She wanted to hold her, touch her, read to her, give her a binky, and generally be with her at all times.  Her nurturing side came out big time!  It was so sweet to see and we hope she continues to be a doting older sister as time goes on.  Mateo was also thrilled to have the baby home, but possibly was even more thrilled at the Cars movie collection of cars that Rosa gave him as a homecoming gift.  He was amazed that she knew that that's exactly what he wanted!

I have to admit that I (and Sacha) have caught ourselves calling her Drizzle more than once!  We just got so used to calling her that that it's hard to stop now!  Mateo officially declared that Rosa can be her name and Drizzle can be her nickname, which is fine for us.  I'm sure it will fade over time :)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that we're home and now we're a family of five!  I can't believe it.  How did we get so lucky as to actually, really, truly have three children?  I'm trying to savor it all, because I know this will be our last time through babyhood.  And, with that, it's off to bed, because the kiddo is still a bit reversed on night and day.  Here are just a few photos.  Our camera died just in time for homecoming, so photos of that will come later.