Schedule of a Healthy 5 Month Old Kat (Baby)

My goodness! Welcome back! You've been gone too long. Don't do that again.

Soo Kat has been growing pretty well! She is so smart and is learning new things every day, but she has already established a little schedule for herself. Here's a sneak peek:

8:25 am - Kat usually doesn't wake up until 9-10am, but today she dared to be different. She cooed and kicked around for a bit until she decided I needed to get in on the fun. Kick kick mommy! Slap in face mommy! I sleepily try to cuddle her to get a few more minutes, and I think I almost have her. She turns on her side and strokes my face, ready to nap again awwww! ... Until she rakes her impossibly short, but sharp nails across my face and kicks harder. Wake the f$@k up mommy! I'm hungry!

8:33 am - Kat's first bottle. Damn, I'm just realizing I've been trying to get her to fink a 6oz when she wakes up, but I made her usual 5oz. She wasted .01 of an oz, so I guess she's good. While eating, she likes to surprise me with holding her own baba. But not enough so that I can go back to sleep... No sleep is over for this one. She delights herself by staring at cartoons. Stare- not watch, because I'm sure she's like wtf is this, but it's so COLORFUL!!

8:45 am - Pat Kat's back for a bit while she giggles at her Nonna. Pat, not burp, because Princess Kat refuses to let you tell her when to burp. She will do it right before you are about to burp her, or a second after you're about to cry in exhaustion. She just likes getting her back patted. 

9:03 am - Playtime! She has just discovered that toys are also meant for bashing against things, not just stuffing into her mouth! She sits up on her own in my lap to wave her arms around, and I try to contain my excitement of another milestone she just casually mastered. Today no drooping to the side. Princess Kat is having none of that sh*t. 

9:06 am- Playtime gets distracted because there are dinosaurs being born on TV. She is really fascinated. I need to get her out of this tv before it is too late. Mental note to take her to a museum, then pull out humongous Howard the Duck before I find some reading material. Wait- was that a yawn? And then a... Growl? Ok, Kat...

9:10 am- We read Adventure Time Righteous Rules for Being Awesome until Kat gets bored. How do you know when your baby is bored? What cues do you look for? I think it's when she snatched the book, screams AAAAAAHHHH! And stuffs it in her mouth. Wait Kat don't - tummy time it is then. 

9:53 am- After ball rolling and pincer gripping, Kat is out for a nap with her Pluto doll.  All babies are particular in how they get to sleep. Kat has to sing her sleepy song while she's nodding out. 

11:25- Kat doesn't let me know she's awake, but Carmen sees her staring. She's freshly awakened and looking very cute. It's time for early lunch. I think I'll treat her to strawberries and apples. 

11:30- Kat gets entertained by her Nonna while I set up her high chair and fruit. She eats it up while making her mm mmm sounds. When she's done she proceeds to munch on her chair. Then it's play time again and into the ball pit!

12:50 pm- We all know regular food isn't going to sustain her at this stage so now it's time for her baba. After getting her dressed (more like her giggling as she struggles to thwart my attempts to place some decent clothing on her) she gets a 5oz baba. Usually it's four but she missed an ounce this morning so she might want that :p. By the way, yes she's been getting her diaper changed all day. Didn't think you wanted to get that deep in. 

12:54 pm - Looks like feeding is turning into nap time! She's drinking with her eyes closed while also humming her sleepy sing.... And kicking me. What a beautiful multitasking bra- I mean baby! 

1:01 pm: Nope. She gracefully proceeds to throw up all over me. It is quite spectacular how she can project the milk. Apparently falling asleep while eating is a bad idea. I've told her this before. She thinks this is funny. She is just cracking up as I clean us up. Sigh. I'll just go ahead and burp- BELCH. Oh... Never mind then. At least she's not hungry. She's roaring in triumph as she attacks Pluto. She's found my eyes again and is cracking up. Aw! 

1:12 pm- "Quit eating his ear!" "Where's your paci... And your sock??"

"Baby giggle. BELCH."

"Let's go sleep"

1:15 pm- Kat gets into the sleep position. She stares at the cabinets and slaps me twice before closing her eyes. She coos and scoots closer to me to cuddle in, gently rubbing her hand on my face. Then she rakes her nails across my face. She's sort of asleep, but I see her peek once or twice before she's completely out. 

3:45 pm - This time I know she's awake. I hear her struggling after she loses her paci. She wakes up, stares at me, and gives the most heartwarming toothless grin ever. I let her play with Carmen a bit, but now it's time for her late afternoon feeding - pumpkin with a sprinkle of cinnamon. It will be her first time trying pumpkin, so I want to see if she will like it before I make this pumpkin, oat, greek yogurt, cinnamon combo I've been thinking about. Yes, my baby will be a gourmet baby!

4:15-5:27 pm- She kind of likes the pumpkin, but it's so thick she wants a bottle to wash it down. Finished 4oz before she got in the ball pit for some tummy time and played quietly. Once she got fussy, I knew it was time for one more nap. First she laid on me and pressed her face to my lips so I could keep kissing it.

5:35 pm- I have been blinded. All I heard was a triumphant roar then felt wetness as Kat tried to eat my eyes.  I take the crazy babe to the room and lay her down. Now it's time to lay down with the lay down. 

Nighty night

Close your eyes

Little stars will see you

Night is here

Baby dear

You must go to sleep too

6:30 pm- Literally. I can't believe I fell asleep. She woke up shortly after I did and wanted to play. Now she's letting loose a lot of gas on my lap. The pumpkin is catching up to her... 

7:15 pm- Late afternoon baba. She finishes 4 oz and burps while I'm patting her. Then she spits up. Yay! She bluntly reminds me that she likes to store milk in her cheeks so I have to pump them until it all spills out. This makes her laugh. It also makes her playful during her diaper change. At one point I have to hoist her little butt and legs into the air to wipe as she bicycle kicks and squeals. Once the diaper is sealed, she calms down and eats Pluto's ears. Another belch. 

7:55 pm - Of course before her hour is up, she finishes the bottle. She delights herself in playing in her ball pit, trying to crawl, and eating her mama's face. 

9:05 pm - It's late, but Kat is content to curl up and watch Kronk's New Groove in her mama's arms. Once I'm done taking out Carmen's hair, it will be bath, bottle, and bed. Or maybe bottle first. Depends on how she's feeling. 

10:00 pm- The bath water is running and I'm running out of time. Kat is trying to sleep in her Nonna's arms and I still need to feed her. Quick 5oz before the bath it is!

Ingredients To a Successful Kat Bath

- Johnson's Bedtime Bubble Bath

- All natural bar soap

- pink baby bath sling

- Gold bond lotion

- All natural baby oil

- Olive oil for her hair

- A fresh diaper

- A backup diaper

- warm pjs

Things Kat Likes to Do in Her Bath

- eat her sling

- eat bubbles

- eat water

- eat her fingers

- eat Mommy's fingers

- snatch wash cloth and eat it

- try and fail to catch and eat slippery soap

- splash Mommy with water

- kick water

- stare at water stream

- suddenly attempt to do tummy time 

10:45 pm- Princess Kat does not want to sleep. She wants to yell in delight, eat her blankets, and kick. I read her a Cam Jansen bedtime story, and she wants to talk to the story. I try to reason with her and try to get her to turn on her side and cuddle to sleep, she wants to stare at Carmen.

Rock a bye baby
On the tree-

SLAP

Fine. I'm thirsty. I get up, turn the light off, and go eat some Honey Mustard Triscuits and drink some ice water. I trip over Styrofoam. I come back to the room and lo and behold. Kat is on her side, sleeping peacefully on her satin pillow. Oh Kat. :)

She is done until the next morning. That's her 'schedule' of sorts. Trust me, it's definitely not the exact same everyday. She's hilarious and a handful, but I wouldn't have her any other way. 

What Happened After Birth

After I birthed my daughter, I pretty much was like, "Now what?" My mom went home and was told she didn't have to come in to work. KJ and I were exhausted, but I didn't want to miss any moment of our new baby. I adored her cries. I called her a little T Rex from the way they sounded, and I knew I would be able to pick them out of a crowd of babies. All of the nurses from the old shift came to see her. The postpartum nurse bathed the baby and cooed happily at her while scoring her Apgar test. My epidural was removed and I could walk again (because I really had to pee.) I was surprised that there was no pain in the bathroom really. Especially with all the horror stories out there. There was, however, so much blood I felt like my insides were the new Coliseum.

 

Staying in the hospital after birth is kind of relaxing, unless you get the room that looks like a prison. Kat even had an ankle monitor that went off if someone tried to take her past the safe points.  KJ was being a total diva because they were supposed to get us a suite. While he complained, I had my first attempt at pumping milk. I didn't really get any help or advice at all except 'put on this level for ten minutes every few hours.' Someone new would come into my room to check me out and see how well the baby is eating. Kat are less than an ounce and kept throwing up maternal fluid. On the big whiteboard was the name of my attending nurse and my pca who would bring me whatever I needed. It also recorded my pain level and what meds I could take (either Motrin or Tylenol).

Kat received visits from my godmother and my best friend, her godmother/aunt.

 

We sat in the prison room until night when the nurses switched over. KJ expressed his concern for the room as baby Kat slept on in her see through bin on top of a chest of drawers full of diapers, wipes, blankets, little bottles of formula, t shirts, nipples, and nose bulbs. The woman immediately found us a suite and moved us. Yep, it was the high life from then on. The suite was huge and gorgeous. There was a table with four chairs, a fridge and a microwave, and KJ had a nice chair bed. Kat was comfortably positioned between us, and I watched her as much as I could.

 

Now, there are a few things they give you for your own maintenance. First, there's a little bottle you have to rinse after you use the bathroom because you can't wipe yet. Then there's the mesh underwear that you line with a large folded may thing that you in turn line with two elephantine ultra absorbent pads. They check these to make sure you aren't hemorrhaging. Then there's these witch hazel wipes that are for if you get hemorrhoids, but it's for soothing everything really. There's a no rinse cleansing soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, towels and washcloths, and a couple of other toiletries you can use if you didn't bring any. For clothing, you put on a hospital gown in the front, then a little overcoat from the back. For food, you can call food service, but KJ brought me food a lot. The hospital food was disgusting EXCEPT for the pancakes.

 

Kat's first night at the hospital, the nurse told me the crust let in her hair was 'coochie juice' (yeah she went there) and that she was going to show me how to bathe a new born. This chick was so rough with my baby and combed a chunk of her hair out! It was the only time Kat has cried during a bath and it pissed me off, but she gave her a new Halloween hat that was the color of candy corn. The same woman damn near ripped my IV out, causing me to bleed heavily everywhere. Times like those were when I was grateful to have KJ and his lack of a filter. He got the nurse back down to me right away to fix me. Kat, meanwhile, awoke every three hours to eat, and I changed her diaper just as often.I chose to vaccinate her with the hepatitis shot. I was too terrified either way.  Parenthood was getting amazing, but in the back of my mind I wondered if KJ though I was hogging her. He slept like he worked on the chain gang all day, but when she cried I didn't give him a chance to react. I jumped up and grabbed her.

 

Day two and still no milk, no colostrum, no nothing. Every time I pumped, someone new came in. Doctor, nurse, research student, pca, room service, birth certificate woman, insurance people, and visitors. She received and passed a hearing and jaundice test and got her blood drawn for a series of tests that would check for any defects. My brothers came to visit, as did KJ's adoptive mom and my mom. My brothers brought pizza, my mom brought gifts including a stuffed toy, a card, some Halloween candy, and some sparkling juice in mini glass bottles. Kat was great at having her large eyes wide open and at holding her own head up! I also took my first shower which was as heavenly as it was painful.

 

That night, she  got professional photos taken and we purchased a slideshow that made me cry. I still did not get any milk until about 5 am the next day. I was so upset and stared at my little one while pumping. Colostrum finally came out and I fed her anything I could pump, no matter how little. Her attending pediatrician checked her out some more and the doctor checked me out. It was time to go home, but not without a few worries. For starters, Kat and I had blood incompatibilities, so she needed to be watched for jaundice. I asked for information and I kid you not, the nurse gave me a printout from Yahoo answers!! I was so scared as was KJ because there was the potential that my baby could get seriously ill. KJ packed went to get the car seat while I showered again and waited with the baby. When we were discharged, another pca taught us how to properly place her in her car seat. I was wheelchaired downstairs to pick up my prescriptions (birth control, Motrin, and colace) and we were able to leave. We just rode, relishing in our new feat. We stopped by KFC before we got more visitors at home after I set up the bassinet.

 

It wasn't as easy as placing the baby down to sleep and that's the end. I was so terrified that she would stop breathing that I eventually just held her all night. She's been sleeping with us ever since… Can't be too careful with my beautiful bundle. It comes with the territory, the constant concern over your child even though there's usually nothing wrong. It's okay though. Being a mom so far is amazing, and I will do anything in my power to make sure my little love bunny is safe.

 

By the way, yes, you still look about 6 months pregnant, but it will get back to normal in a couple of weeks. For realz.