Les Jones

Home Life > Katie Day 22

So the first time I saw Katie after the C-section I saw this black thing on her tummy. From across the room it looked like a piece of black plastic, and I thought it was a clip on her umbilical cord.

It turns out the black thing was her umbilical cord. I had never paid attention to babies before we had one and didn't realize the umbilical cord looks like that shortly after it's cut. (Here's a picture of the cord seconds after she was born, while it was still white.) The cord stays on for about three weeks. Meanwhile the pediatrician told us to swab it with alcohol to keep it clean and help dry it out so it will separate from the belly button.

Katie is three weeks old and her cord fell off Wednesday night. It apparently hurts a little bit, because last night she was fussier than she had been since we first brought her home, and she stayed up most of the night.

The only major significance of the cord falling off is that before we could only give her sponge baths. Now we can give her real baths in the wash basin. Hey, speaking of baths, Jay's mom bought Katie a yellow rubber duckie that spells out "H O T" if the bath water is too hot. It's a modern super bath toy for today's modern super babies.