Noisy breathing projectile pooper; super helper big sister

We have been having a pretty good transition to life with Linden. First, some notes about our first few days:

Labor and birth went well. I may give details of the birth story at some point, but for now it is enough to say that things were fairly relaxed and there were no big problems.

When we were transferred from the labor and birth unit to the mother baby unit, the nurses immediately noticed a potential problem with Linden’s breathing. It was noisy, and her cry was weak and laboured. She was transferred right away to the special care nursery, and from there went to the NICU. She spent about 36 hours under observation, and came away with a diagnosis of stridor (which just means noisy breathing), likely caused by laryngomalacia, or “floppy larynx,” which in most cases doesn’t cause serious problems. I will let you look up the details of laryngomalacia on your own if you want, but the short story is that Linden is gaining weight well, doesn’t seem to have trouble getting enough oxygen, and will most likely not need any treatment. She will probably grow out of her condition by 18 months of age.

Functionally what this means currently is that she is a noisy little beast, which is charming most of the time but bothers Maren when she can’t hear the book we are reading, and bothers me and Jeff when we are trying to sleep. Also adorable except when it is happening is her propensity to poop in the middle of a diaper change. Several times she has pooped explosively while her diaper is off, launching her poop as far as several feet. Other than this she is a very mellow baby so far.

My mom has been here to help since the night before Linden was born. She is leaving Tuesday morning, and hopefully we will manage okay without the extra help. Maren has been a super helper, and has started wanting to help with making dinner. She is really taking to the role of big sister, and of big kid in general. It’s been amazing to see how much she loves her little sister ❤️