BIRTHday post

I'll start slowly working on this now (Tuesday) and see how long it takes me to get it pulled together, little by little. Maybe we'll have a name chosen by the time I'm done.

Jaan and Raia woke up at 7:00 monday morning, right as the baby was born. As they stumbled in to meet her, Raia's first response was "Малышка? Отдай!" ("Baby? Hand it over!") Since then, every time I've said something about "our baby," she insists, "No! Mine!" Jaan loves the baby, and wants to hold her constantly, but right at first he was more interested in the details of how the pool got into the room, where the hose came from, if he could go swimming, and so on.


First meeting
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

The baby cried right away, but she calmed down very quickly to the sound of my voice and Will's. I was amazed at her reaction to Jaan and Raia. As soon as she heard them, she lifted her head and tried to look at them!


With big brother
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

. . . and big sister
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

She has feet!
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

"But then why can't she walk? Or at least stand up?"

After a few hours together as a family, Jaan and Raia went to visit friends for the day. Soon after they left, a midwife that we had called from Moscow arrived to check us. She said her trip was pretty much useless; it's rare that she sees both mother and baby in such perfectly good shape. But she did weigh and measure the baby for us.


54 centimeters long
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

So far, the baby seems to be pretty fussy, but very sweet, of course. She wants to eat all the time, so I'm hoping she'll be happier once my milk comes in. She has dark hair, and looks a lot like a fatter version of a newborn Jaan. She's has very alert times, and loves to be talked to. It sure looks like she focuses right on our faces and wants to interact with us. Like all healthy babies, she has a great pair of lungs, but unlike others, she also has a funny shriek, unlike anything I've ever heard before.

Oh, I heard Will muttering about Murphy's Laws of Birth. Some of our last words before bed Sunday night were from Will, "I should have asked Pasha for the pump today" (to blow up the pool) and from me, "It would be really nice if those welders would come tomorrow." (The hot water for our building had been off for a week or so, because some welding needed to be done on the pipes outside. Of course, they came Monday morning, after Will had heated all the water on the stove, just like he had to last time.)

I think I spoke too soon in saying that Asya is fussy. She was her first day, but she's settled down already. She sleeps most of the time, as she should. I know it can probably be explained away as gas, but yesterday (Wednesday) she looked right in my face, met my eyes and smiled. . . twice!

And, yes, Asya is much happier with real milk!

By the way, this time the church has decided that they're going to help us with our new baby. I've been very encouraged by everyone's involvement, even if it is a little much sometimes. We had several helpers a day, almost every day this week! Most people have never seen a baby this small, so it's quite interesting to see their reactions to Asya. (Especially in the old days, even mothers weren't shown their babies until later on than this.) Also, the newborn stage is when I do everything "wrong" by Russian standards, so. . . like I said, it's interesting.