I will admit that I've never bonded with babies especially well or taken a lot of interest in them until they became older. And then - well - I've never lived close enough to my family or to friends with babies to make much of a connection. And suddenly, thanks to Lee and Laurel and James, I find that I'm one of the grandmothers. I was at the bedside when Teagan was born, and I'm doing what grandmothers do. I'm getting goofy about this baby. I've taken over 500 pictures, and he's only 4 days old. I like it. Is this baby adorable, or what?
Jane and I drove from Astoria to Portland today to visit Laurel, James, and little T. in the NICU. Today he was four days old. He was five weeks early (hence the NICU and feeding tube) and, thankfully, doing extremely well. Laurel has written two blog posts already (
post 1 and
post 2), so I'll let her tell the details, and I'll begin posting some of the thousands of photos I know will be part of my life over the next years.
It was dark in the room when we arrived, and when I lightened the photos, the baby turned redder than he really is, although when he cries, which isn't too often, he DOES turn red.
He moves a lot. Being a "wiggle worm" seems to run in the family. Teagan was born with arms flailing, and already he's kicking off the covers.
Waking up slowly. Too cute!
Ooooh! A face! I thought of Lee. He covers his mouth with his hands when he's hungry, too.
We're jumping ahead here. Feeding took awhile. You can read about it on
Laurel's blog post. Here James is holding him next to the incubator, which he barely needs now in its heating capacity, but which is still his bed. The lid was open the whole time I was there.
Laurel and Teagan. The splotch on his cheek is the tape that held the feeding tube. Teagan has decided he doesn't need it any more, and it came out sometime during the breast-and-then-bottle-feed process, and the nurse said they could leave it out because he was about done with it anyway. He ate a lot today, at least it seemed like he did.
Here's Jane with the baby - Aunty Gram. I got to hold him next, and for quite a long time. I haven't decided what my name will be yet. Maybe Grandma Tapir (Grandma Tay?). It's silly, but I've heard worse. It's weird choosing a new name. I just wanted to be "Sheryl" to my nieces and nephews, but they called me "Aunt Sheryl" anyway. But "Sheryl" is too hard for babies to say when they're very young.
It takes two people to swaddle the kid for sleep time. He loves flailing those arms and legs. I don't blame him. I don't like my feet under the covers, either, unless it's really cold. His parents have already dubbed him an escape artist. "Hey, where did those arms come from???! We just tucked him in."
Sleeping peacefully till next feeding. Such a sweetie, and so much fun to watch. Goodnight till next time! Being the "grandparent," you get to go home and sleep, too.
I will admit that I've never bonded with babies especially well or taken a lot of interest in them until they became older. And then - well - I've never lived close enough to my family or to friends with babies to make much of a connection. And suddenly, thanks to Lee and Laurel and James, I find that I'm one of the grandmothers. I was at the bedside when Teagan was born, and I'm doing what grandmothers do. I'm getting goofy about this baby. I've taken over 500 pictures, and he's only 4 days old. I like it. Is this baby adorable, or what?
Jane and I drove from Astoria to Portland today to visit Laurel, James, and little T. in the NICU. Today he was four days old. He was five weeks early (hence the NICU and feeding tube) and, thankfully, doing extremely well. Laurel has written two blog posts already (post 1 and post 2), so I'll let her tell the details, and I'll begin posting some of the thousands of photos I know will be part of my life over the next years.
It was dark in the room when we arrived, and when I lightened the photos, the baby turned redder than he really is, although when he cries, which isn't too often, he DOES turn red.
He moves a lot. Being a "wiggle worm" seems to run in the family. Teagan was born with arms flailing, and already he's kicking off the covers.
Waking up slowly. Too cute!
Ooooh! A face! I thought of Lee. He covers his mouth with his hands when he's hungry, too.
We're jumping ahead here. Feeding took awhile. You can read about it on Laurel's blog post. Here James is holding him next to the incubator, which he barely needs now in its heating capacity, but which is still his bed. The lid was open the whole time I was there.
Laurel and Teagan. The splotch on his cheek is the tape that held the feeding tube. Teagan has decided he doesn't need it any more, and it came out sometime during the breast-and-then-bottle-feed process, and the nurse said they could leave it out because he was about done with it anyway. He ate a lot today, at least it seemed like he did.
Here's Jane with the baby - Aunty Gram. I got to hold him next, and for quite a long time. I haven't decided what my name will be yet. Maybe Grandma Tapir (Grandma Tay?). It's silly, but I've heard worse. It's weird choosing a new name. I just wanted to be "Sheryl" to my nieces and nephews, but they called me "Aunt Sheryl" anyway. But "Sheryl" is too hard for babies to say when they're very young.
It takes two people to swaddle the kid for sleep time. He loves flailing those arms and legs. I don't blame him. I don't like my feet under the covers, either, unless it's really cold. His parents have already dubbed him an escape artist. "Hey, where did those arms come from???! We just tucked him in."
Sleeping peacefully till next feeding. Such a sweetie, and so much fun to watch. Goodnight till next time! Being the "grandparent," you get to go home and sleep, too.
3 comments:
He sure is a cutie!
I LIKE Gramma Tapir (or Tapir Gramma?) as a name!
The baby thing all changed for me once a friend I felt related to had a baby. That baby was MINE TOO from the minute she was conceived, it was the weirdest feeling.
Lauren looks great too!
Er, I meant LaureL. The calf's mom :)
That's funny, hyrax. There was some talk of spots and stripes in the delivery room, but we couldn't make it happen. Maybe next time :) I like the way you turned the name around to Tapir Gramma. We'll see what flies. Laurel IS great!
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