Well, I am now a proud father!
Melanie Sharon Pickrell was born on February 18, 2007, at 8:41 a.m., and weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and was 18 1/2" long. She's back to her birth weight and is now 19" long.
The hospital stay was surreal. I remember having a giant headache for most of the 18th, which only fully went away by about 7pm or so. Becca was hooked up to an IV and so was frustrated that she couldn't do the normal kid-care type things. One of the nurses got her a little upset when she (the nurse) asked her (Rebecca) about what sort of help she will have at home. The 19th went by OK, especially when they took Rebecca off the IV, and the 20th, we got home.
It turns out Rebecca wasn't producing enough milk, and Melanie screamed the entire night for about 12 hours straight, except when she was latched onto Rebecca's breast (to her credit, Melanie was pretty good at doing that.) We gave Melanie a couple ounces of formula on the morning of the 21st and it was like we had a whole new baby. Seriously, if this had kept up we probably would've gone to the hospital by the 22nd or 23rd.
The first couple of weeks went by smoothly, with the doctor's visits going well and Melanie even learning how to sleep 6 hours at a time (I think she pushed 7 once but that was an exception.) She is sleeping through the night (we define it as roughly 11:30pm to about 5 or 6am) about 2/3 of the time, so right now the sleep loss is just gradual. Our secret is plenty of hugging and once she is drowsy, we put her in the car seat and put the car seat next to the heating vent. Our bedroom is pretty cold (at least for babies who aren't able to cuddle under lots of blankets) and so the car seat seems to work better. I'm looking at the playpen/bassinet/changing table that Jennifer's friend Briana gave us and to be honest it is better than the one we have. The bassinet thingie is smaller -- Melanie is a tiny baby (still under 7 pounds and in the 10th percentile in height and weight) so it seems she feels lost in the big giant crib. Eventually we are going to have to learn how to get Melanie to sleep in a playpen or crib -- right now she just sleeps while cuddling Rebecca or in the carseat. It seems we're making some progress since she is asleep in the bassinet thingie right now.
Right now, we're at Becca's parents and they are making sure Becca gets plenty of sleep. I will probably write what the 2008 Scholastic Bowl religion questions will be about (as opposed to actually writing them) after finishing this. I'm working through the various paperwork things needed for the corporate structure to work out fine, and so far I've got two shareholders that want to be paid in stock and two that want the money up front.
Melanie is a beautiful girl that loves to be cuddled and seems to be enjoying our company. I'll have to admit that since I left to start work again she is a bit closer to Rebecca but we have years and years in which to bond.
I feel truly blessed to be a father right now.
