oh what a busy week we've had

Wednesday's pediatrician appointment went very very well. Julia weighed in at 7lb 4 oz, up from her birthweight of 6 lb 13oz. Good gracious, she can eat! The doc said that was on target and that it was ok to feed her between the minimum of 2 oz of formula to the max of 4 oz. Depending on her demand and our judgment if she may be full around 3 oz or so. BUT my piggy little sweet girl is taking around 3.5 oz a feeding. hehe.

Julia's sleeping patterns vary. Last night she ate 3.5 oz of formula around 1:30 am and she slept from around 2:30 am to 7 am. Yes, 4.5 hours. But 4.5 is not her record so far. She slept 5 hours the night before. WOW. GO GIRL GO. I am amazed by her ability to do this so early on in her life, but you know I am not complaining at all. I did get to sleep too during those nice long stretches. I also am preparing for those nights when she will not sleep either. LOL I know it is inevitable.

Motherhood is happening and I love it. DH is a wonderful father also. He and I have been sharing shifts and he does wonderful with feeding, diapering and putting her back to sleep. We are so blessed. DH goes back to work Monday so it will be another adjustment for us as I will be on my own to try and learn to do the night shifts for a while. I don't go back to work until November 12th so we have a few weeks to try and find a new pattern of sleep and feedings during the nights. Sleep deprivation is hard, but when I look at our beautiful daughter and she is staring at me while holding her, I can't be mad one bit. It actually makes the bonding easier and makes my love grow for her each day.

Friday morning we went to the family courts in Clayton. We met our lawyer and our social worker there to have the judge hear our case for the birthmothers parental termination rights. All's well with those court proceedings. We do have to have our lawyer do a legal journal publication for the birthfather and if no one comes forward his rights will be terminated in court in about a months time.

Going through these processes have been enlightening and now become part of our daughters adoption story we will continue to share with her. I talk to her every day about who her tummy mommy is (birthmother) and her siblings are and that she will eventually see them again in person soon. I love that I can talk to Julia about these things knowing she will get to know her birthfamily along with our family over the many years to come. Open adoption gives us that blessing of sharing and getting to know each other not only by pictures and letters, but in person too.

Blessings to you all and I say prayers for any out there still trying to build their families. If there is anything I can help with to help get you through the process of either fertility treatments or adoption, please drop me an email.