baby Sam is one week old

One Week Already

Samantha turned a week old yesterday. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her in bed in the morning, my father playing his mandolin and Marcus leading the chorus. She is beautiful. She looks so much like Marcus as a baby, but she's so different--her chin is pointier, she's nursing better right from the start and gaining more weight more quickly, she burps more--a lot more--than he did, and on and on and on. Like Marcus as a baby, she's working on head control, she loves riding in slings and wraps, and her first pediatrician visit went great.

 

Big Brother, Big Help

Marcus is still so thrilled with her, so gentle--he runs home from school to kiss her, he helps at every diaper change, he begs to bring pictures of her to school with him, he wakes up at night and comes into our bed and wants to be as close to her as possible (usually the compromise is I sleep between them and curl my body around Sam's and Marcus nestles into my back and stretches a hand out to try to touch her).

 

First Trips Out

Kelley came by last Saturday, and then a visiting nurse on Monday, and we saw the pediatrician on Wednesday. We've had friends stopping by with good wishes and presents and delicious food, and yesterday I took Samantha out to Target and the Whole Foods just for a brief excursion. At the supermarket everyone made a fuss over her, which just made me happy--this is the Whole Foods just five blocks from my house, so I've been in there 1-2 times a week for the past eight years. The staff knew me before babies, then saw me pregnant with Marcus, then wearing him as a tiny one, then wearing him as a big one, then pregnant again (and still wearing him), and now today wearing another tiny one. It's such a small thing, but I relish the connection to others. Sometimes people say they don't understand how we can live in a city, especially one like Boston, where they assume people are cold and unfriendly and there's no sense of community, but that's just not the case: I feel like I know everyone in our little neighborhood at least by sight, from the burly guy who sells incense and African dolls outside of the subway station and nods at me, to the Jehovah's Witnesses ladies who sit on the benches (usually just in summer, but it was so sunny and warm yesterday, in the 50s, that they were out again) along Mass Ave and smile and hold up copies of their tracts, to the people who work in this supermarket. Yesterday the sun was shining, the South Bay shopping Center was full of activity and seagulls and the Boston skyline looked so crisp and clear, and just getting out and about felt really good.

 

Memories

The day before I had Samantha, I. . .

• spent the day with my parents and Marcus;

• wore Marcus on my back through an elementary school preview tour;

• went shopping at Target for some small necessities;

• visited Robert's grandmother in Lynn;

• had fried shrimp from Kelly's Roast Beef for lunch;

• and cooked teriyaki chicken legs and roasted spiced cauliflower for dinner.

 

The day before I had Marcus, I. . .

• spent the day with my parents;

• went to Gourmet Dumpling House in Chinatown with Robert, Raz, and Leonid;

• had spicy eggplant with basil sauce and lots of pei pa tofu for lunch;

• wandered through CVS window shopping;

• bought some hairdye and gave myself auburn highlights;

• and took an afternoon nap.

 

With Samantha,

• I weighed 179 pounds just before giving birth;

• she was born at 41 weeks, 4 days, on a Thursday morning;

• she weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce at birth;

• she was 20.5 inches long;

• she had Apgars of 9 and 9;

• and she was back to her birthweight at six days old.

 

With Marcus,

• I weighed 175 pounds just before giving birth;

• he was born at 39 weeks, 4 days, on a Friday morning;

• he weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces at birth;

• he was 21 inches long;

• he had Apgars of 7 and 8;

• and he was back to his birthweight at ten days old.

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Created: 12/23/11. Last Modified: 12/23/11.