And why is he messing with my kid?

Conrad came home from the hospital with a bit of jaundice: not enough to require treatment but enough that our pediatrician wanted to keep an eye on it. She ran a test yesterday and called today to tell us he’s fine. For those of you keeping score at home, his bilirubin level was 11.8, where 20 is cause for concern.

Good news, but we were a bit concerned because she also said she hoped he would be back up to his birth weight by now. We did a little web searching and found one site that said babies usually return to birth weight between ten and 14 days. This confirmed that our pediatrician is an overachiever, and expects Conrad to be one, too.

We already knew she likes to run a tight ship. We showed up a few minutes late for our first appointment, causing her to remark, “Now you know how long it takes to get out of the house with a newborn.” The implication was clear. We arrived 15 minutes early for our appointment yesterday, and she saw us five minutes before our scheduled time. How often does that happen?

So we’re not too worried about the jaundice, but we do stare at him every morning trying to figure out if he looks less yellow. See what you think:

Today:

Last Wednesday:

Conrad

Condad

We came downstairs today more or less for the first time since we brought Conrad home, and found it much as we had left it. It was nice to get out of the bedroom, which had taken on a sort of hospital room aspect.

Of course that meant we had to move a subset of Conrad’s support kit downstairs with us: diapers, wipes, cloths of various descriptions and purposes. We try to be pretty tidy and clutter-free, and I can already see how that’s going to go.

Now we may be using disposable diapers, but that’s okay, because we’ve got the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing. It’s got pictures of an endangered tree frog and a white tiger, so that makes it environmentally friendly.

“How are the baby swing sales numbers looking?”

“Not too good. The L’il Clearcutter and My First Stripmine are both tanking.”

“Hmm. We need a new angle. I was reading National Geographic in my dentist’s office the other day…”

Funny how the day gets away from you. I’ve been planning to post all day long, and I’m just now getting around to it, and I think I’d rather be going to sleep. It was a big day. Conrad met a grandparent for the first time, my father:

Today was the first time Dad saw Conrad’s room, which features the haiku Dad wrote for our wedding stenciled on the wall. His reaction was very gratifying.

While here we discussed what he wanted to be called, and settled on Opa, which is what I called his German-born father. We still have to decide on what to call my Mom. Do we decide or does she? How does this work?

Jean’s parents already have established grandparent names: Grammy and Grampy. They’ll be visiting soon.

One of the reasons I didn’t get around to the blog until now is that I spent the evening setting up a Flickr photostream. If you can’t get enough of Conrad, here’s the link for you:

http://flickr.com/photos/dbt001/

My parents very thoughtfully arranged for us to have a postpartum doula come and spend some time with us to help with the adjustment to having a new baby around the house. Doula is a Greek word that means “one who requires only a large piece of cloth to demonstrate how unprepared you are to be a parent.”

I am, of course, talking about swaddling. Swaddling is the practice of wrapping your child up like a baby burrito, to keep him feeling secure and contained like he’s back in the womb. Like everything else baby-related, it’s harder than it sounds, especially at three in the morning. When done properly, it quiets him down in seconds, so obviously you can see the value, especially at three in the morning. Not since losing my virginity have I wanted so badly to be good at something I was so bad at.

I feel better knowing I’m not the only person who has a lot to learn about babies. Jean’s cousin Laura and her boyfriend Craig sent Conrad this bouquet of cookies:

I mean, come on. Even I know he can’t eat cookies yet.