We had the Clinic Health Nurse out to visit us this week, to weigh Evelyn and measure her. You know that there was a small amount of confusion as to how far along I was when I gave birth, and no one has agreed on anything.
I said 36 weeks, minimum. The early ultrasound said 34 weeks. Evelyn’s nurses in Special Care agreed that she was acting like a 36 + week baby, and so did the doctors. The clinic nurses however, they couldn’t decide, and we’ve had a number of confusing conversations regarding actual age, versus corrected age and how many weeks to correct by, and really, I get a headache thinking about it.
ANYWAY.
Evelyn has now, at four weeks old, reached the size of a regular newborn. Slightly heavier than Isaac at birth, slightly lighter than Amy, she is teensy tiny, in a huge kind of way. (Honestly you guys, I cannot believe I birthed two babies as huge as Evelyn is right now. CANNOT BELIEVE.) During weighing, she was 3.17kg, or a spectacular 6lb15oz, with a grand total weight gain of 760g in two weeks.
[Digression: Turns out, Isaac was only 6lb10oz at birth – not the 7lbs I’d been told by a midwife with a conversion chart. I didn’t realise this until Evelyn was weighing more than Isaac at birth, yet wasn’t quite 7lbs. When I announced this to Nathan, he was all “why does this matter?” and I ended up shouting at him, because THESE THINGS MATTER TO WOMEN. And it doesn’t make Evelyn’s 5lb2oz seem so tiny when her brother was only 6 and a half pounds.]
So, four weeks old. Or full term corrected. Or two weeks old corrected. ONE OF THESE IS RIGHT.
See also: headache.
In any case, prematurity is not holding her back.
CAN YOU SEE THAT SMILE?
Yes, that’s right, she’s smiling. Smiling properly. Grinning at her siblings. Smiling at me of a morning. Delightedly pulling faces at my breasts. My breasts get most of the smiles at the moment, which doesn’t surprise me – they’re spectacularly good breasts.
SMILES.
She’s also stopped sleeping for 20 hours a day and is requiring entertaining and talking to and extra attention. In fact, she’s lying across my lap as I type this, trying to eat her fists. She’s practically a real baby now.
[Second digression: I was watching the news last night, and there was a piece on doll making. They showed some of those “real dolls”, you know, the ones that are meant to look like newborn babies? In any case, the lady discussing them was gushing over how REAL they look and how they’ve been mistaken for real babies when they’ve been left alone in cars. I looked at my real baby, snuggled up to my breast and back to the “real dolls” on TV, comparing them.
LADY, if you think your “real dolls” look anything like an actual baby, then your eyesight needs checking. Either that, or you birthed demon spawn and have no other field of reference. And if someone thought that a “real doll” was an actual baby left in a car, it’s only because it looked terribly terribly sick and in need of immediate medical attention.]
HUGENORMOUS BABY.
Accept no imitations.
Oh I love her gorgeous smile. She’s looking much like a healthy baby to me – and totally scrumptious. Whatever he actual age is, it will all fade into history now. 🙂
Oh I loved this post. xox
I’ve seen those ‘real dolls’. They do not have the infectious smile that gorgeous Evelyn has. Congrats!
Aww she is delightful. Just beautiful <3
Oh she is just beautiful. Well done you! A-M xx
piano fingers. guitar fingers too. lucky evelyn.
Evelyn, you’re beautiful.
Veronica, I came here by way of your other (darker, as you put it) blog, and I have to say, I love the way you weave your words. LOVE.
My second son is 3 1/2 months old and can I just say, coming here and seeing the first blog post of yours with a cute baby picture? I know I already like you.
such a cute little smile!
Evelyn is beautiful.
I wouldn’t be worrying about weights or time corrections.
Her birth day is her birthday, she is now four weeks old.
Healthy and gaining weight nicely.
Not to mention smiling.
I agree with Nathan, it doesn’t matter.
Evelyn looks happy, content & well fed so good job little mama! 😀 Try not to sweat the small stuff – Evelyn is here, she’s healthy & growing so tell yourself the rest is just minisculia detailia – I just made that up, but you know what I mean. Deep breath in, blow it all out and done. Now pick up that little girl & smother her little all over parts with kisses & kisses & kisses!
Regarding the dolls – I used to work with a lady that collected them – shudders up my spine – I’ve always thought the ones they claim look “real” are unsettling & creepy. Then recently I watched one of those paranormal ‘real’ ghost haunting TV shows & a family was experiencing strange occurrences – turns out the mom had a huge X 3 collection of dolls. The ‘paranormal expert’ explained that the dolls could be ghost vessels. Totally creeped me out! I’d want my doll babies to look like plastic doll babies with shiny pink skin, glassy blue eyes & synthetic blonde hair! Thank you very much!
Ok, our little one is just 2 weeks… which also means 37 weeks… 2 weeks from her birthday due date. And she still looks a little alien. After week one her eyes started tracking, which reduced the weirdness. And this week I am seeing the dopy grin on my boobs and I love that. but wow, and I totally relate with 2 things. tiny tiny baby. sooooo small. I compare her to full term babies and I gasp! and i wonder how the hell anyone can push out a full term baby! I feel like my lady bits were used as a punching bag. Although, they did have to reach elbow deep 3 times to pull out my shredded placenta. so… that’s probably a factor. Your blog really helps me relax and understand the tiny baby things. How ironic is it that we both had early babies?
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