Four Weeks Old

Karina's first smile-yes, we caught it on film!

Things continue to be fairly rough around here. Karina is still not able to settle without significant amounts of rocking, patting and humming, but once asleep she usually sleeps for 2 to 3 hours She eats very well from the bottle but often requires the use of a shop vacuum cleaner running right next to her in order for her to be able to eat calmly...and sometimes she won't eat at all unless the shop vac is on! It is really impressive how she'll almost immediately stop crying when that loud noise is present...the din is a bit annoying, but less so than Karina's crying.

The other challenge is to keep the house quiet...Karina seems sensitive to noises (except, of course the shop vac!)...with all of the helpers coming and going. I know I'm probably being too militant, but everyone works so hard to get Karina to sleep (It often takes an hour to feel you've gotten her asleep and Tom even continues to rock Karina for another 20 minutes after she's asleep just to make sure she's down for good) that I don't want our noises to be the reason she awakens.

Tom rocking Karina

I'm doing better all the time, but still having the horrible night sweats and in general feeling stressed out, hormonally emotional and tired. My pumping is still going very well...I'm making a lot of milk, but it certainly adds to the stress by taking another 3 hours of my time every day. As a result, I don't see or feed Karina terribly much because I barely have enough time to eat, sleep (and recuperate) and pump during the day.

Mommy and Karina-one of our limited times together

I feel awful for all of the help I've required to take care of Karina...I really wish I could do more myself...and I think Karina would be happier, too. I know that my family (especially Tom, my parents and Tom's mom) are getting worn out too...they've been doing so much for so long around the clock!

Karina and Grandma Heinrich

We have it arranged so I'm virtually never alone and although my parents initially would come and help me together, they've started coming individually so they have a chance to rest more often. Unfortunately they're still spending gobs of time driving back and forth from Grayslake to our house, which all translates to them hardly seeing each other at all!

Luckily, the bottom line is that Karina continues to do very well...she's big and strong and started to smile a little. She's even been able to sleep a few times in my parents old cradle that we set up in the dining room.

Karina in her cradle in the dining room

My mom wants me to be able to go up and down the stairs as little as possible, so we need a place for Karina to sleep downstairs. Amazingly enough, she seems to be able to sleep even with the noises...once again causing me to wonder if I'm being to paranoid. Unfortunately, I feel we're all just barely making it from day to day and the last thing I want to do is make things worse, by being less cautious about the house noises. I mean, Karina's room is darkened by heavy draperies on the windows and insulated from noises by both a loud air purifier and loud white noise of a hair drier playing by CD, and she still has trouble getting to sleep quickly!