Cornelia's One-Week Check-Up

Today (Friday) we took Cornelia to see Dr. Tandon for her one-week check-up and she's doing great. She's even gained a bit of weight – about 5 grams – which made us very happy since most babies lose a bit of weight in their first week. We weren't too surprised by the weight gain since she's been slurping and sucking down formula like a real champ all week.

The nurses drew blood for some standard tests and gave her a Hepatitis B vaccination since she did not get the vaccination at birth. A Hep B vaccination at birth is standard practice in both the U.S. and India. However, recently a new parent from the U.S. had a fit about the Hep B vaccine being administered immediately after birth without her consent. As a result the hospital has decided not to give the vaccine to non-Indian babies until their parents' affirmatively consent to it. We gave our consent and Cornelia got the shot. I suspect by the ensuing crying she would have preferred that we hadn't given our consent.

By the way, the hospital nursery was full of babies today – seven new babies including three new American babies.

Other than the needles today, Cornelia has been quite a happy baby. She has two dads who dote on her twenty-four hours a day and keep watch for any signs of looming trouble. She has made sure we know her "I'm waking up now so you better get my new diaper and next bottle ready" signal. She made this one clear from the beginning. It's an intricate choreography of face squinting and nose crinkling, fish-like mouth opening, and occasional sighing and squeaking sometimes accompanied by intermittent arm waving. We've been pretty good students and for the most part she has had to resort to crying only a couple times when we weren't following along closely enough. She has also established for us her "I'm going to go to sleep now" signal. It's relatively brief and pretty amusing since she pretty much passes out like a drunken sailor after she finishes a bottle.



"Like a drunken sailor . . . ."



Before the visit to the hospital we took Cornelia on her first outing that didn't include a hospital, an embassy or a government agency. We took her to the nearby Kahn Market for a brie sandwich and chaussen (fancy name for an apple turnover) at the French bakery and then dropped by the tailor shop to browse fabric for new dress shirts. Cornelia thoroughly enjoyed the outing and activities. Well, she would have if she had been awake. Her grandma Mary would have been very proud of her granddaughter's first shopping excursion.