Amelia Jane Update

All,
It's been a few weeks since we updated you on Amelia Jane's progress. She has struggled with gaining weight over her first month, not getting back to her birth weight over that time - normally they like to see infants back to birth weight by the 10 day mark or at least within 2 weeks.

So numerous doctor appointments, weight checks, visits from the hospital mid-wife and a visit with someone from Le Leche League (spelling and naming possibly incorrect) we have settled on the follow root cause / diagnosis for the weight issues... This child is too much like her father... The consensus is 'impatient and lazy'. :)

It seems that she has a 'weak suck'. This means that she doesn't get fed at the rate she would like from breast feeding so over the last week we have focused on giving her bottles of expressed/pumped breast milk and supplementing with formula only when she needs it.

After a weight check today at exactly the 4 week mark, the results are in, and... SUCCESS! She gained 500g over the last 7 days - roughly 1 pound. Big sighs of relief from Mom and Dad and Pediatrician.

So in terms of a more general update - things are going OK. She is a better sleeper than the first two kids were... but still seems to save the highest pitched screaming for whenever Dad happens to be on duty. She's up every 2-3 hours at night still, but does a reasonable job of going back to sleep fairly quickly.

I've been working an offset schedule of sorts, to align my day with as much of the US day as possible, so I am usually at work by 6am, but gives me the chance to get home at a reasonable time to help out in the late afternoons. It still means that many mornings Steph is trying to juggle feeding the baby, pumping, getting Olivia ready for school, breakfast and to the bus, all the while making sure Gigi is taken care of as well... I swear my job seems less complex some days.

I returned to the golf course over the last few weeks, playing a round on the holiday here last week and then again this last Saturday. I am as inconsistent as you would expect for playing as infrequently as I do. I'll be honest - any chance to play right now, regardless of what I shoot is a gift that I treasure.

I'll be back in the US for a rare business trip for a couple weeks spanning the last week of April and first week of May. I have a short term assignment working on a pilot program for the next 2-3 months before we return home and I take my sabbatical. I'll be using the trip to both meet face to face the broader program team and host a Map Day (all day long planning meeting) for the pilot. I'll also use the trip to meet the members of my permanent team which I'll be joining in September when I return from sabbatical.

Working for a 100% US based team from PRC is challenging - more so than I thought it would be... but the reality of having a newborn in the house makes it 100% clear to me that moving home any sooner than we have planned would be damned near impossible!

Easter was really laid back this year. Kids woke up really early to hunt what was left by the Easter Bunny the previous night. We didn't make it to church, as the timing of the English service conflicted with both older kids naps, as well as the napping, feeding and pumping schedule of the newest addition. Only partially related to the scheduling of the English service, it'll be so nice to get back home to our home church!

Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and are seeing the consistent signs of Spring where ever you are!

Cheers,
Joe