HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are ringing in 2007 with a resolution to be committed, attentive parents. It's about time!

I exist to please my newborn daughter. I supervise her sleep patterns. If she doesn't void on schedule, I am expected to intervene. In terms of nuture and nutrition, I am the Mother Lode. So far, Vanessa has been very patient with me and my new role. I have had to remind myself that millions of generations of newborns have survived first time parents.

VanNestle had her first pediatrician check up this week. She checked out normal in every way. The pediatrician said I can call in when things get tough and I get frustrated and overwhelmed. So far, that's not happened, but when I mentioned that, the pediatrician held my gaze and said, "Just wait."

Daddio has been hands-on, as we all expected, and is showing his colors as Uber Dad. At the pediatrician's, I completed the paperwork while he man-handled his daughter, undressing her, weighing her, rediapering her and launching into a tune to calm her. The pediatrician gave me a sideways look as if to say, as all the postpartum, NICU, and OB office staff have said, "Where did you find this guy?"

My mother has also been a huge help. She's up at 5 am, holding her granddaughter for 3 hours so Mama can sleep hard, calling Vanessa "My darling, precious little pet" as only a grandmother can.

Granny Ernestine had to go home, but she gets photos of Vanessa on her cell phone almost daily, and sends back text messages of love. On Sunday Granny stood up in front of her church congregation and gave a testimony of Nessa's birth, complete with photos. Several people approached her after the service, knowing the story of Vanessa over the years. Granny's weekly exercise group has also been a faithful prayer team on Vanessa's behalf. This child is truly blessed!

In addition to being surrounded with expert help, I have been recovering amazingly well. Recovering from the c-section has been swift and easy - only the muscles in my back are sore now, and that's surely due to nursing. I'm able to produce milk like a herd of new mamas and may have to open a stand at the weekly Farmer's Market to sell the surplus. I had been very worried about going from the benevolent hormones of pregnancy back into the agitation and ill health of menopause, but I forgot I'd get the chance to experience lactation first. I like lactation.

I stepped on the scale on Saturday, one week after delivery, and I've already lost 25 lbs. - nearly my full pregnancy weight. I'm back into my regular clothes. Much of the weight was surely preeclampsia edema that plagued my feet, legs, hands and face. Friday morning I got up and Jack said, "Wife! You have cheek bones again, and your eyes look so big." See photo of my painfully swollen Shrek legs, taken two days before delivery. Jack wants to be sure everyone knows he's the 6' 5" man with size 13 feet on the left in the photo.

Vanessa and I are both adjusting well to our new stations as Mother and Daughter, despite a dramatic pregnancy and delivery. For the first time in years, I actually feel normal. Well, except when I try to tell my baby the Story of Vanessa and I get to the part where the pregnancy is going badly, but Vanessa is very patient, and God put it in her mama's heart that little Vanessa would be just fine. That's when I sob uncontrollably with relief and spill hot, salty tears all over my daughter's new skin. She doesn't complain.