40 Days: A Guatemalan Custom

At Ruby's 2-week check-up (actually she was 18 days old) she weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 1 ounce. This was odd, since that's what she weighed when she was born. At least, that's what the scale said.

Since her birth we have had doubts that she really was that weight. She felt so much smaller, and reminded us much more of Ellie's size (who was 7 pounds 4 ounces), and less like Hazel (who was 8 pounds 6 ounces). So, when the scale rang in 18 days later as her birth weight, it made us pause. She's been eating great so that isn't an issue. Hazel gained almost a whole pound in her first weeks, so we assume Ruby has been gaining weight. We will never know for sure, but our guess is that she was incorrectly weighed at birth. Either way, everyone at the hospital kept telling us how big she was (8 pounds is a very big baby in Guatemala), while to us she felt tiny.

Today we took her to church for the first time. We've had several outings since she was born, and haven't really hesitated to do so. Our entire family had nasty colds over the last week or two. Ruby was probably exposed to more germs at home than when we've left the house.

In Guatemala, the common practice is that the baby and mom stay at home for 40 days and don't go anywhere. Usually this time includes the grandmother staying with the family (or the family staying with the grandparents) to help out. There are no meal deliveries from friends at church (oh how I miss that from the States!), or people stopping by to help. Instead, the mother of the mother is usually relied on for this time.  Fortunately for us, my mom was able to be here for about three weeks. It was a big help to have an extra pair of hands to cook and do laundry and just be around to distract the older girls. She left yesterday, and now we are beginning to adjust to life as a family of 5.

Today, as a family of 5

Because we've been out and about, we have been getting a lot of stares and surprised looks when people ask us how old Ruby is, and we tell them. She's less than 40 days, yet we are not at home.

Between her age and her small (to us) size, and the fact that we are white Americans with a small baby, something not too common around here, she's somewhat of a phenomenon everywhere we go.

Tomorrow Michael goes to work, and the girls will be at school in the morning. Ruby and I will have our first morning home alone together. Another new normal begins.