Milestones II

Miles endures and flourishes in Pasadena! We know we've been rather uncommunicative of late, and we know that you understand this. I break the silence today, though, because our little Captain Shrimp (Miles Standish's actual nickname! Because he was so short! And now Miles Grunert's alias. do you love it??) is less shrimpy all the time.

We brought Miles home on Friday and had Miles' grandparents Grunert over; they kindly brought us dinner and spent some time adoring their new grandson. Saturday we welcomed the Sutters over for dinner- all three! Three-year-old Jeremiah is delighted that Toodles has become Baby Miles, and he (Jeremiah) has politely refused to gloat that he was right about Toodles' gender, which he ascertained for us months ago using a flashlight :-) We gave Miles his first bath that night. Well... does any infant like baths? On Sunday we received a visit from Mike and Stef who made us dinner, brownies, AND did the dishes! We feel SO LOVED by our friends and family this week!

Our struggles since we came home have not been what I expected. I thought my biggest problem as a new mom would be getting any sleep at all and trying not to run mad from the constant crying. I thought the five "S"s would be employed nearly constantly as we ran wild trying to figure out what our new baby required in order to be happy and calm. I did not expect to spend the first days as a mother struggling to wake my baby UP. This is what has been happening, however. The nice folks at Anne Arundel Medical Center, where we took him in a panic on Sunday when the not-eating continued and a slight fever was detected, have informed us that this sluggishness is one of the symptoms of Miles' mild jaundice. I know, I don't think he looks yellow either! But I had been spending a good hour and a half each time three hours had advanced STRUGGLING to wake my little dude from impenetrable slumber and getting more and more frustrated and feeling more than a little rejected. HOWEVER. At the hospital, Miles roused and ate two feedings in four hours (big accomplishment for him) and since then has been more and more willing to latch on (another BIG struggle requiring all of my and Jon's efforts!) and EAT. The strategy by night has been to set alarms, because although Miles has advanced to sucking his fist quietly to demonstrate hunger, he won't yet make any noises that would wake us up. Every three hours, therefore, we've been rising to the alarm, diapering and succesfully feeding our little one, so that yesterday he received a clean bill of health from the Pediatrician! He gained three ounces from Sunday to Monday! Mum and Papa are SO relieved and are now moving on to really really enjoying our gorgeous son. Look! Enjoy!

My emotions in the past few days have been all over the place, but no matter what I might experience moment to moment, no matter how uncomfortable recovering from the birth and no matter how much anxiety he might have given me recently, I have a deep current of awe and wild joy in having finally seen my baby to birth. Just observing him breathe, feeling his heart beat, seeing tiny capillaries in his tiny round ears and knowing that he was growing and developing inside ME and is now a person in his own right... the words I would use have been taken, so I must quote another joyful mother here:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid;
for behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;
Because He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and Holy is His Name