18 days old

18 Days Old, a photo by pz.sher on Flickr.

Day 18 turned out to be quite a nightmare for me at least for a good 12 hours.  Julianne simply refused to be put to sleep and stayed awake from 9am to 9pm with just what was a short 45 minutes cat nap in between.  It was completely out of sync with her usual routine since we came home so I got really frustrated and worried all at the same time wondering if she was unwell, or if it was something I ate that was keeping her awake.  I've been reading that newborns typically sleep up to 16-18 hours a day so staying awake for 12 hours was simply not the norm! 

Thank God for sisters and mummy-friends who lent good advise and share similar problems with their newborns.  I felt a little more comforted knowing I wasn't alone in this not-sleeping business.  

Other than yesterday's fussiness, Julianne has thankfully actually been a really good girl.  Here's a peek in her typically day .....

745am: Gets a goodbye kiss from Papa before he leaves for work and continues her beauty sleep

9am: Starts stirring up from her slumber.  Slowly opening her eyes.  When she sees me, she greets me with the biggest smile.  Its the best thing to wake up to.  She only started smiling like this a few days ago and she does that just hearing my voice and hearing me call out "Good morning Sunshine"! 

930am: She gets her morning wash-up; cleaning her eyes, face and a diaper change before changing out of her PJs into her comfy home-wear including long oversized pants which grandma insists she wears. 

930am - 11am: I give her some awake time, playing in grandma's room, talking with her.  She's most alert at this time of the day! She'll give you her most attentive stare with her eyes wide open.  She'll coo as you speak to her as though wanting to give you a response. 

11am: I usually give her a feed to try to nurse her to bed.  This though is typically her fussiest time when nursing doesn't get her to sleep.  She'll doze off while drinking and when I put her down on the bed, she'll get up again.  This is the time I start my solo karaoke session and you'll start hearing "Hush Little Baby" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children" on repeat play for the next hour or so. 

12noon: On a good day, she'll be asleep.  On a bad one, we continue the singing cum rocking session.  I break for lunch while our helper watches over her. 

2pm: I give her another feed and here's when she *really* goes down for a good afternoon siesta.  She will sleep till about 5ish/6pm waking for a feed in between.

630pm: By this time, she's usually pretty awake lying on her skip-hop farmyard gym mat and waiting for her Papa to come home.  She'll be on her best behaviour never greeting her Papa with her cries which she occasionally showers on her me during the day.  This is also the time when everyone's including Gong Gong and Yiyi Sam are home so everyone gets to play with her. 

715pm: We thankfully still manage to sit down as a family for a proper dinner while our helper; Joy; watches her.  Joy has been pretty good with her so hopefully things won't be too difficult when I return to work next year. 

8pm: We get ready to bath her which in her early days use to be this huge Operation involving the grandparents and you-tube playing elmo & the rubber duckie song.  But she's came to really enjoy her bathe these days and we've also gotten the hang of things so now its left to Papa and Mama.  It's easily her other favourite time of the day apart from feeding and poo-ing time.  She's dressed in her comfy PJs all nice smelling of California Baby shampoo. 

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815pm: We bring her to Por Por's room for a little time with the grandparents before she says her goodnight to them and Yiyi Sam (which until now has been more of "Good luck for tomorrow's paper"). I nurse her, once she's done, we pack her into her swaddle and lullaby her to bed.  

9pm: Once in deep sleep and we place her into her crib. She takes what is typically her longest sleep, sometimes 4hours, going past her 3-hour feed interval.  

9pm-745am:  She wakes up for about 3 feeds on average, falling right back to bed after each.  We usually give her a bottle of my expressed milk for her first feed after her 9pm one so that Papa too can experience the bond when feeding her.  It also gives me the time to go pump so that I don't go to bed (or 3 hours naps I call them) feeling all engorged. 

And there readers is the life of 19 day old Julianne Foo.