Saturday, July 19, 2008

Day 43

Here is your current weight-chart.
We have better data on your weight.
When I made a time-step adaptive RLS the averaging improved significantly.
Instead of each data point being averaged with equal weight, points that were very close in time have less weight. They cant artificially load the chart.



So we were talking about abstinence and purity at a bible study this evening.
The idea of some punk kid wanting to use you in that way... grr.
I want to protect you - give you only the best.
The only way to do that is for you to be part of that process. If you dont buy into the idea then its a lost war and the only thing left is the hurting..

So Im thinking that a revisit to the 50's dating game might be useful.
I think the dummies in public policy have poor metrics. They say that if both the boys and the girls pursue then everyone has equal tactics and everyone wins. I think that instead of having what you think you want, when you think you want it... that long term health and wellbeing of the relationship (and the heart) might be an interesting metric. When I was a child I knew what I thought I wanted... but it was not what I really needed. I pursued folly.. thats not profit but loss.

We have some amazing pictures of you. I hope that you find them cute.. whether or not you find them flattering.


You are smiling and laughing now. Look how alive you are.

Your mommy thinks that you are cute in this outfit.





Look at that.
Cuteness that bends space-time.

I love you math-baby!







You look both goofy and happy with your tongue sticking out.
Look at your big blue eyes.
And your goofy smiling face.




Precious and Priceless.









A noble (superheroic) woman is donating milk to help you live well.
Two have.. but currently only one is.

You do not work well with formula.
We tried it ... and you did not poop for 3 days.
You had a lot of abdominal pain, and cried a lot.
You had a lot of gas... you could have been confused for an 85 year old man.
Your mom was only producing about 0.5 fl oz per nursing.

Mom's production is slightly up, but your growth corresponds with the donation.
You were at day 25 and had not reached birth-weight. Now you are growing.

Here is a chart of mommy's estimated production.

You can see that she is having historic highs in production.
You can also see that they are about 1/3 of what you need to live, and grow and stay healthy.

If you ever give me a math-grandbaby girl you should consider naming her Laura or Kim.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Day 29

So you are improving in weight.

Here is your raw data.
You were heavy at birth, likely because with an epidural they pump mom with several extra liters of water. You absorb some of that too.
At day 4 you were 6 lbs 10 oz.
Your actual birth-weight is likely between those two
Notice that the early data is sparse.
We weighed you less frequently.
Here is the last several days.
We weigh you before and after every feeding.
The scale is accurate to 0.5 ounces.There is noise in the signal.
There is uncertainty in the scale.
There are variations in your weight.

What is really going on?


So I use RLS (recursive least squares) to get a better feel for the trend.

I used a low learning rate (0.15), an intermediate one (0.8), and in the spirit of SOR and a Hamilton method, one with a learning rate above one (1.5)

You were not gaining weight. An amazing friend of my wife gave her some of her own stored breast milk. We are supplementing and you are gaining.

Note that the low learning rate most characteristically parallels the centerline of the data.
Trimming out that part of the data and fitting an equation to it yielded a good aproximation of your growth rate for the last 3 days. You have been gaining 0.11 lbs or about 1.75 oz per day.

According to kellymom you should gain on average from 0.55 to 0.85 oz/dy but you can go a little lower or a lot higher and be okay. Breastfeeding-essentials says the same.

You are growing, little girl. Thats important.

Oh, we found a portable safe carrier for you for around the house. We can put it in the center of our bed and not roll over you, or worry about it. You seem to find it womb-like, and you sleep well in it. We covered it in a beautiful baby-quilt that my grandmother made for you.

Next time I will try to show you how we figured out what you need in the way of supplemental milk to keep a good growth rate. I will also try to have more amazingly cute baby pictures.

Day 26

You are not gaining weight. Its really hurting your mom ... it breaks her heart to think she can not give you every good thing you need... especially those fundamentally mom-only things like a good dose of breast milk. Your grandma has spent years telling your mom that she does not meet the standard and is un-feminine and un-female. This is being hard on her.

We are taking teas of fenugreek, fennel, and thistle. We are pumping, and your start-to-start nursing time is every 2 hours. Its not helping.

The thyroid is highly responsive to stress. Both an abundance or a lack of thyroid negatively impact breastfeeding. We are going to get thyroid levels checked as soon as possible.

Weight charting and least squares will hopefully follow (fallow) in a few days.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Day 14

You are coming alive...

A rockstar-mom that I know (J'Anne) said they "wake up" after 2 weeks.
It could be your bootstrap is complete. You look around.


It is the trippiest thing to have you lay on my belly and watch my face. You have eyes that are nearly all pupil.. so blue they are nearly black. Its hard to separate the pupil from the iris.

Its good to know that you find me un-booring. I was watching a teen be mortified that her mom shared pictures of sleeping-teen with coworkers. I thought about it for a while and I think she (the teen) has some deep insecurities. Her sense of self is weak so approaches the unknown with an axiomatic sense of fear.

I hope you have a sense of self that is not governed by fear... or too much pink.