The Falcon's View

*yawn* Hi folks! Proud papa here, just providing some quick thoughts that I'm sure other parents will find amusing. We've survived our first night with a newborn. She apparently likes to sleep in the morning and stay up fussy all night! Oy! :) BTW, I'll be getting back to regular topics eventually, once we get home in into some semblance of a routine.

So, without further adieu, here are some things I've learned since 3am:
* Hands are very tasty - they must be, because Laila is constantly sucking/chewing on them!

* Babies are poo factories - seriously - how can one little bundle of joy produce so much in such a short period of time! :)

* Though the sharp points of safety pins are ancient history for diapers, that doesn't mean the kiddo likes the velcro and elastic waistband any better. (and there is such a thing as "too tight" - I know because Laila has told me so on a couple occasions!)

* There are currently 2 sounds - fussy and angry. Well, ok, so there are other burbles, too, but from a baby management (monitoring and response) standpoint, these 2 key sounds are the ones to monitor. Fussy means she's hungry, or needs a diaper changed, or is not in the right position. Angry means you guessed wrong on what fussy meant, or that you're trying to restrict the movement of those tasty hands using the time-tested swaddling method (I now swaddle her with one arm out).

* I smell like pee? Oh well, I'll get over it and some things are more important, like sleep and blogging (blogging?). Besides, clothes wash.

* No more 8-hr blocks of sleep. Be happy with 20 minutes several times a night, and be ecstatic when she finally goes down for a 3-hr nap. Woohoo... zzzzz..... :)

* Hospitals believe in logging and log reviews. Diaper change? Log it with details. Feeding? Log it with duration. Temp, respiration, heart? Test and log every few hours. If only corporations would log and monitor their critical systems this much! :)

I'll be posting more pictures here, or on Facebook, or on Shutterfly. Ping me if you want to see some and don't currently have access. :)