Milestones around my neck

I told myself early on that I wouldn't compare my daughter with others. That somehow, I would manage to avoid the pitfall of hearing folks say "Well, my kid was doing this at this age" and taking it too much to heart. But let's face it: if I'm the kind of guy who charts his daughter's weight in utero or looks at average U.S. infant size statistics, I'm probably going to continue to compare my daughter to other kids. And if I'm being honest, I probably assumed that any comparison I did wouldn't matter, because of course my kid would be better, faster, and farther along that any other child ever. Which is pretty silly.

All that said, it means when things don't progress in the way you've been told is normal, you get worried unnecessarily. For instance, it's perfectly normal--we've been told by nurses, doctors, and the Internet--for infants to lose 10% of their birth weight the day or two after they're born. In practical terms, most of this weight loss is accounted for by the expulsion of dense waste accumulated in the GI tract during gestation, with an ounce or two maybe due to moving around more or getting used to ingesting food rather than getting nutrition via the umbilical cord (Science!). On average, though, infants will get back up to their birth weight 10-14 days after they're born.

Cue my concern and the topic of this post. As you'll recall, Little G weighed 7 lbs 12 oz at birth. She left the hospital weighing 7 lbs 1 oz, (just under 9% loss). We went to the pediatrician's office for a weight check on Sept. 24, 12 days after she was born. And she weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz. Practically speaking, this is nothing to worry about. Little G gets plenty to eat, she has more messy diapers than I can reliably keep track of, and is doing just fine. But those numbers nag at you. We didn't hit the average! Oh no! Is something wrong? Guilt, pain, concern! AUGH!

No. Nothing is wrong. She is happy. She is healthy. And I am just a nervous parent who's still getting used to the notion of caring for a living, breathing human life. Concern and worry are normal. Breathe, man, breathe. For the record, she had another weight check today, and she's at 7 lbs 13 oz. Good girl. Only took two to three days longer than average. (Dad can't help clinging to his statistics.)

In happier milestone news, Little G lost her umbilical cord yesterday. Look! A real belly button!
Average time to lose the umbilical stump: 10 to 21 days. Little G: 16 days. Way to split the numbers, little bean.