<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font>Today is day number two at home and away from the idiot doctors and<br>hospital, so yes definitely more relaxed. I'm trying to catch up on<br>sleep, but I'm on a 2-3 hour feeding/pooping/burping cycle. I'm<br>trying to sleep when she does, but I have things I must do in those<br>short periods too. Also, I have to watch _everything_ that I eat and<br>drink because it gets in my breast milk and affects the baby, and<br>I'm already making mistakes. I have to build up my blood and<br>strength because I'm anemic from her birth, so I drank a bunch of<br>orange juice Tuesday to help absorb the iron in the leafy<br>vegetables, and it gave Vija gas and burned her bottom and kept<br>everybody sleepless for the next day. So it seems to be fine line<br>with food that I have to follow these days.<br><br>Here is a public link to her picture on my Facebook account:<br><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1134596&l=e2592&id=592464123">http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1134596&l=e2592&id=592464123</a><br><br>and her birth announcement from Tuesday.<br><br>Announcing the birth of my pumpkin-girl:<br><br>Vija* (pronounced Veeya) Alexandra Graps<br>8 lbs, 2 oz, 21 inches (and big feet :-)),<br>born 13:20 MST, Friday 2 January 2009<br>after a difficult 15 hour back labor natural birth.<br><br>Mom and daughter were able to leave Boulder Community Hospital<br>Family Birthing Center (finally) on Monday 5 January, afternoon,<br>and are now resting/adjusting/bonding/recovering at home.<br><br>* means a pretty, fascinating weave, like a lei of of flowers.<br>Latvian Name Day: 5 April.<br><br>You can send her email to: vijagraps@gmail.com. I'll save them<br>for her until she can read them. (Her Facebook account on the way.)<br><br>After a ~1 liter blood loss, sum of 8 hours sleep from Thursday night<br>to Sunday night, and baby tinged slightly with jaundice, I'm<br>catching up physically, 3 hours at a time.<br>I expect I'll be more coherent soon.<br><br>Amara<br><br><br>-- <br><br>Amara Graps, PhD www.amara.com<br>Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado<br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>