Ava - 1 Week Old



My baby girl is now one week old. We've floated through our first week in a newborn bubble filled with insane love and epic tiredness. I wrote throughout pregnancy and through every age and milestone with Noah so I will be doing the same for Ava as those updates are priceless to look back at and mean a lot to me. 


Character
It's hard to sum up the character of a newborn baby, in fact I'd go as far as saying that it's probably impossible! That being said I do get an easy going kind of vibe from her as she seems pretty laid back and very rarely cries. I think the only time she does is when she's having her nappy changed and she goes full throttle! She hates having her nappy changed, hates it! She's also very alert and strong, maybe that's because she was overdue?


Size
Ava was 9lb 4oz at birth and was 53cm long and had a head circumference of 37. On her first weigh in just two days later she had lost 9% of her body weight. They said that it wasn't anything to be concerned about as it's quite common with breastfed babies. Her second weigh in was just two days after the first and she had put back on another 70 grams which they told me was really good for such a short amount of time. On her 3rd weigh in she was back at birth weight which makes me so happy!


Health
Unfortunately poor Ava has had to go the the doctors already as her belly button became infected. We took care of it just the same as we did Noah's but for some reason it never looked quite right. When we saw the doctor she cut the remainder of the cord off, cleaned it up, put on some dressing and gave us a course of antibiotics for her to take. It's not ideal for a one week old baby to have to take antibiotics but sometimes these things happen and although I beat myself up to begin with I'm feeling a little less guilty now. She's also had the sniffles which I think is probably some of the germs she has picked up from her big brother but she doesn't seem to phased by it. She also has quite flaky skin which I've been told happens a lot with overdue babies.



Feeding

As mentioned in a previous post I wanted to try to breastfeed again. I wasn't sure how we would get on with it but I thought I'd give it my all and if it worked, it worked and if it didn't, it didn't. I didn't put pressure on myself but I did do a lot of research and I think it really paid off. We have now been breastfeeding for over a week and I'm absolutely loving it. I had cracked nipples in the early days and Ava had an epic cluster feeding session last night but I'm really happy with how things are going. Now that my milk has come in and she is feeding often she is clearly putting on weight and doing lots of dirty nappies! It's so rewarding to feed and comfort her in the most natural of ways, even if it means she is clung to me 24 hours a day!


Sleep
She's not awake very often. She only wakes for short stretches of time and that's either for a feed, for a nappy change or just to have a look around for a bit. At night time she is sleeping in three hour blocks to wake for a feed. She then falls back to sleep in my arms and prefers to sleep there rather than in her crib. I can't complain, there's something extremely special about newborn cuddles.



Milestones

She was born, she lost weight, she put weight back on. She met all her family and her future best friend, her brother. She came home for the first time, went shopping, went to the doctors and on a walk with her family. The firsts of lots of firsts for our Ava.

Favourite things
Boob, sleeping in Mummy's arms, Mummy, her Nod Pod, being in the car or her pram, Mummy and Daddy's bed, having her head and nose stroked, lights, her unicorn rattle.




16 comments:

  1. I love her outfits :) she is beautiful

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  2. I super love that deer/purple outfit and her little sad expression! She's absolutely beautiful :) Definitely broody ;) xx

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  3. I love that doe outfit and she is so cute :)

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  4. Congratulations. She's gorgeous

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  5. It's not nice when baba is poorly. Hope she feels better soon hun xx

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  6. Oh she is just gorgeous! Its funny how quickly you forget how small they once were, my daughter is four months now and time seems to be on fast forward!!
    Love Gemma | acrossthispage.com

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  7. Lovely that you are recording early moments with your daughter and family. They are so precious, and time passes so quickly. Well Done!

    Rachel Craig

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  8. Nice to have a photographic record of milestones.

    Rachel Craig

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  9. Cat being curious? I can recall when my nephew was a baby, and I had a cat. She was just five months older than him. One time that I had him, and had sat him on the couch, sitting upright supported by cushions on either side. He would have been about 6 - 7 months. As he began to cry. Cat ( Gem) had put her front paws onto edge of couch looked at him and then over to ma :- As if to say will you Please see to him. Just as I was about to see to him, she did not go any nearer to him. It seemed as if she was being curious and yet Caring.

    Rachel Craig

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  10. Ava seems to suit the floral babygro. Nice for this time of year :- Spring.

    Rachel Craig

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  11. Looking forward to more updates.

    Rachel Craig

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  12. She's beautiful in the one pic she looks like she has a good set of lungs on her lol

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  13. You have two beautiful children, make the most of these early years they soon pass.

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  14. Lovely children adorable pictures!

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