Fortunately, by the time we brought Ruby home, we were well past the point of protesting things not going according to whatever plans we may have had. So when Violet vomited all over me (twice) about an hour after we got home, we abandoned the cozy spot where we were snuggled together on the couch for showers and baths, and from there were launched into the semi-chaos of our first week as a family of four. Violet’s stomach bug hung on and kept her home almost all week; we discovered that my beloved cat had escaped sometime during our absence; and not surprisingly, I came down with Violet’s virus myself, and was much more debilitated, albeit briefly, by it.
It was something of a trial by fire, and great practice, especially for me, in letting go. One of the biggest concessions I had to make: Ruby’s newborn photographs. I had such grand plans for her (and by extension, for me – I had envisioned ample opportunities to hone my newborn photography skillz with my own baby available every day). But I hadn’t planned on a c-section recovery, a NICU stay, a sick toddler or a sick photographer. Knowing that the best timing for newborn photography was quickly slipping away, and worried that I’d miss my opportunity due to circumstance and deprive my second daughter of the same documentation of her babyhood Violet had had, I finally decided to turn primary responsibility for Ruby’s newborn images over to a fellow photographer whose work I admired. When Ruby was 9 days old, Eric and I took her to Laura Farris for a full session, thereby relieving me of the pressure to do all of it myself – and even allowing me to make an appearance in a couple photos! We had a lot of fun with Laura, and couldn’t be happier with her finished product. I’m working on putting together a slideshow of the images she created for us to share soon.
Things have settled down since those first two tumultuous weeks. We’re all well, including little Ruby. She is still anemic, but that doesn’t appear to be affecting her significantly; she was up to nine pounds earlier this week! (Not little for long . . .) We’ll continue to take her in for weekly labs to monitor her hematocrit levels, but the experts advise us that the recent decline is likely just part of the normal nadir of those levels seen in most newborns in the first couple of months (Ruby’s being lower than is typical due to the blood loss they believe she sustained at birth). As long as those crit levels don’t drop much more, no intervention should be necessary.
With all of that behind us, we’re finally starting to catch up with everything we let slip in the midst of the transition, including blogging and sharing photos. I’m happy that I actually was able to get a few fun newborn shots of Ruby myself, and even happier to finally get some up for our friends and family to enjoy here. Here’s one favorite, more to come in another post soon:
Ruby, 6 days old