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| From 2013 November |
Elizabeth's arrival has also reminded me of how many other wonderful things and people I have in my life. We have been overwhelmed with the love that has been poured out on us over the last few weeks.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving
Elizabeth's arrival has also reminded me of how many other wonderful things and people I have in my life. We have been overwhelmed with the love that has been poured out on us over the last few weeks.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Sleep
We have got to get this child sleeping at night. I know she is a baby, but I would happily take regular baby sleeping habits at this point. Can I tell you how thrilled I would be to just get up to feed her 3 times a night if she then went back to sleep?
Her pattern last week was to get up every hour or hour and a half and insist she was famished and eat for half an hour. Beginning at midnight. Before midnight she wouldn't stay down for more than 20 minutes at a time. Nicholas gets up at 6. The last two nights she has done a similar thing 10-12:30 but then did a 2 1/2 hour stretch each night 12:30-3:00. She then ate for half an hour, woke up as soon as I put her down, and ate for another half hour. At 4 I was still optimistic. Hey, if she goes down now and can do another 2 hour stretch, I'll be okay. But at 4 she was wide awake and refused to go back down.
This has been annoying and exhausting but we are now in the last week before I physically go back to work and I'm getting scared. It has been hard enough to try and get my work done from home when I just want to nap whenever she sleeps during the day, but there is no way I can go back to work when I'm going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night and rarely more than 2 hours in a row. I tend to fall asleep without warning when sitting down. That can't be safe for driving to work. Seriously, kiddo, it is time to start sleeping at night.
Her pattern last week was to get up every hour or hour and a half and insist she was famished and eat for half an hour. Beginning at midnight. Before midnight she wouldn't stay down for more than 20 minutes at a time. Nicholas gets up at 6. The last two nights she has done a similar thing 10-12:30 but then did a 2 1/2 hour stretch each night 12:30-3:00. She then ate for half an hour, woke up as soon as I put her down, and ate for another half hour. At 4 I was still optimistic. Hey, if she goes down now and can do another 2 hour stretch, I'll be okay. But at 4 she was wide awake and refused to go back down.
This has been annoying and exhausting but we are now in the last week before I physically go back to work and I'm getting scared. It has been hard enough to try and get my work done from home when I just want to nap whenever she sleeps during the day, but there is no way I can go back to work when I'm going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night and rarely more than 2 hours in a row. I tend to fall asleep without warning when sitting down. That can't be safe for driving to work. Seriously, kiddo, it is time to start sleeping at night.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
16 Days Old
I remember with Nicholas feeling like 2 weeks was a huge turning point where everything got much easier. So I've been using that as my benchmark--I just had to make it to 2 weeks. Well, 2 weeks came and went and there was no noticeable improvement. In fact the second half of last week was more difficult than some of the days that came before. I was hoping it was a growth spurt. There is some evidence from today that it was in fact a growth spurt. Elizabeth seems both bigger and more engaged. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part. But here are some pictures from today, so you can be the judge.
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Christmas Tree
We decided to put the Christmas tree up early this year, mostly because we figured Elizabeth would like the lights but also because Thanksgiving is really late. And so we put it up last night.
Here is Nicholas putting up one of his two cruise ship ornaments:
This was Elizabeth's participation:
And the finished product:
Here is Nicholas putting up one of his two cruise ship ornaments:
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| From 2013 November |
This was Elizabeth's participation:
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| From 2013 November |
And the finished product:
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
New Things
A few new things going on here:
Elizabeth lost her umbilical cord:
She is getting more alert and starting to have some facial expressions and sounds that are more baby-like:
As of today's doctor appointment, Elizabeth has regained enough weight to be back at her birth weight. Even though I know that this is the normal process and that the goal is for them to be back at birth weight by 2 weeks, it makes the first two weeks of breastfeeding (which are the most painful and discouraging anyway) feel so futile. But she is exactly on track and doing wonderfully.
Elizabeth lost her umbilical cord:
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| From 2013 November |
She is getting more alert and starting to have some facial expressions and sounds that are more baby-like:
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| From 2013 November |
Monday, November 18, 2013
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Part of the reason there have been few substantive posts is because we're busy and tired, but it is also because it is hard to give updates when things are constantly changing. For example, we had a great night last night--Elizabeth slept the whole night in her bassinet and even managed one 3-hour stretch!!!! Her previous record in the bassinet was 45 minutes and she had never done more than 2 stretches in there in a night. But I know enough not to declare victory. Given how sleepy she has been all day today, I think she is just having a sleepy day and so last night was more willing to sleep anywhere. Until she does 3 days in a row of it, I consider it just a temporary reprieve.
Same goes for Nicholas. He is all over the map. In the course of a single day he has spells where he is absolutely angelic and the best helper ever and then spells where he is literally throwing things. Yes, our sweet Nicholas throwing things. And stomping around the house. And yelling at us. And laughing as he deliberately disobeys. Clearly he is having trouble with the adjustment despite the fact that he absolutely adores his baby sister and loves being a big brother. We are trying so hard to give him lots of good attention, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I'm not sure how much more I can do, however. I already read books with him and play games with him while feeding Elizabeth (and sometimes while eating as well) and I snuggle with him at rest time and bed time when I can. I'm honestly doing a better job spending time with him than I expected to be able to. And so the fact that even that isn't enough makes me worried.
Joe started back to work today and I'm already going a little stir crazy. I have tons of work to do, but that isn't really helping. Grading while sitting in the apartment feeding Elizabeth isn't that much better than watching tv while sitting in the apartment feeding Elizabeth. We went for a walk today because it is 60 and sunny and will probably not be this nice again for another 4 months. And luckily I have friends lined up to come by for a couple hours most days this week. And then mom will be here Friday-Monday. As I've said before, I'm not good at the newborn phase.
But Elizabeth is doing really well. I'm not getting much sleep and even less continuous sleep, but it is so much easier this time around. Some of that has to do with being second-time parents, but a lot also has to do with how good of a baby she is. Yesterday Joe and I were looking at pictures of Nicholas at this exact age (you can do it yourself using the blog archive if you're curious) and Nicholas and Elizabeth parallel pretty exactly on how they look at each day-age, but what struck me is how different Joe and I look in the pictures taken when Nicholas was 8-10 days old and the pictures we took yesterday. You can just see the exhaustion on our faces when Nicholas was this age--we look like zombies. And when I look at pictures of us yesterday what I see is joy. And, hey, I'm sitting here bored wondering whether I should try to get another paper graded before she wakes up instead of feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. So, yes, no complaints. Life is good. We are so incredibly lucky.
Same goes for Nicholas. He is all over the map. In the course of a single day he has spells where he is absolutely angelic and the best helper ever and then spells where he is literally throwing things. Yes, our sweet Nicholas throwing things. And stomping around the house. And yelling at us. And laughing as he deliberately disobeys. Clearly he is having trouble with the adjustment despite the fact that he absolutely adores his baby sister and loves being a big brother. We are trying so hard to give him lots of good attention, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I'm not sure how much more I can do, however. I already read books with him and play games with him while feeding Elizabeth (and sometimes while eating as well) and I snuggle with him at rest time and bed time when I can. I'm honestly doing a better job spending time with him than I expected to be able to. And so the fact that even that isn't enough makes me worried.
Joe started back to work today and I'm already going a little stir crazy. I have tons of work to do, but that isn't really helping. Grading while sitting in the apartment feeding Elizabeth isn't that much better than watching tv while sitting in the apartment feeding Elizabeth. We went for a walk today because it is 60 and sunny and will probably not be this nice again for another 4 months. And luckily I have friends lined up to come by for a couple hours most days this week. And then mom will be here Friday-Monday. As I've said before, I'm not good at the newborn phase.
But Elizabeth is doing really well. I'm not getting much sleep and even less continuous sleep, but it is so much easier this time around. Some of that has to do with being second-time parents, but a lot also has to do with how good of a baby she is. Yesterday Joe and I were looking at pictures of Nicholas at this exact age (you can do it yourself using the blog archive if you're curious) and Nicholas and Elizabeth parallel pretty exactly on how they look at each day-age, but what struck me is how different Joe and I look in the pictures taken when Nicholas was 8-10 days old and the pictures we took yesterday. You can just see the exhaustion on our faces when Nicholas was this age--we look like zombies. And when I look at pictures of us yesterday what I see is joy. And, hey, I'm sitting here bored wondering whether I should try to get another paper graded before she wakes up instead of feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. So, yes, no complaints. Life is good. We are so incredibly lucky.
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Smiley
They aren't real smiles yet, but in these early weeks when so little personality is yet apparent, it is so reenergizing to see expressions. I clearly am not a newborn person--my favorite moments are those when I see glimpses of the 2-month old.
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Thursday, November 14, 2013
More Pictures
I am too tired to write a real post and I'm only buying 10 minutes on the computer with a pacifier anyway, so here are a few quick notes and pictures:
- I hate cluster feeding. She broke me last night at about 1 am after eating basically since 6pm. She would stop eating, fall asleep, and then wake up within 5 minutes of being put down, insisting she was famished. Hence tonight I am interrupting the cluster with 10 minutes of the pacifier. It is necessary for my sanity.
-Nicholas is so protective of Elizabeth. It is what Joe refers to as "watchdog mode." One of today's examples: "Daddy, you aren't allowed to call my sister Little Miss Poopy."
-Elizabeth has some pretty crazy eye gunk today but the over-the-phone diagnosis is a blocked tear duct, so we're just doing some warm compresses. It isn't bothering her and we have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow to check on jaundice, so the doctor will check then.
-The craziness of the last week has started to take its toll and we are all showing and feeling the exhaustion more today than any previous day. Nicholas cracked some tonight and so I spent about 20 minutes snuggling with him as he went to bed. He has been an absolute rockstar but clearly he needs a little more from me.
-Nicholas comes home from school each day with the question "Where's Elizabeth?" and immediately goes to her and has to kiss her and check on her.
Okay, now what you really want:
- I hate cluster feeding. She broke me last night at about 1 am after eating basically since 6pm. She would stop eating, fall asleep, and then wake up within 5 minutes of being put down, insisting she was famished. Hence tonight I am interrupting the cluster with 10 minutes of the pacifier. It is necessary for my sanity.
-Nicholas is so protective of Elizabeth. It is what Joe refers to as "watchdog mode." One of today's examples: "Daddy, you aren't allowed to call my sister Little Miss Poopy."
-Elizabeth has some pretty crazy eye gunk today but the over-the-phone diagnosis is a blocked tear duct, so we're just doing some warm compresses. It isn't bothering her and we have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow to check on jaundice, so the doctor will check then.
-The craziness of the last week has started to take its toll and we are all showing and feeling the exhaustion more today than any previous day. Nicholas cracked some tonight and so I spent about 20 minutes snuggling with him as he went to bed. He has been an absolute rockstar but clearly he needs a little more from me.
-Nicholas comes home from school each day with the question "Where's Elizabeth?" and immediately goes to her and has to kiss her and check on her.
Okay, now what you really want:
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Big Brother Nicholas
Nicholas is being a wonderful big brother! He is a little overly hyper (which is a bit of a problem because he isn't good at always knowing where his arms and legs are) but he really loves her so much and wants to be super involved. He gives her kisses all the time and is so good at gentle touches. He loves nothing more than to help take care of her and check on her.
Nicholas went to school today for the first time since Elizabeth was born (holiday weekend) and this morning he was clearly upset by the fact that everyone was staying home except him. I have vowed that tonight from 5-7 is Nicholas-centered. We will take care of Elizabeth of course, but the focus will be on Nicholas. And this will be much easier after a mellow day with just Elizabeth at home and the chance to get some naps in.
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Nicholas went to school today for the first time since Elizabeth was born (holiday weekend) and this morning he was clearly upset by the fact that everyone was staying home except him. I have vowed that tonight from 5-7 is Nicholas-centered. We will take care of Elizabeth of course, but the focus will be on Nicholas. And this will be much easier after a mellow day with just Elizabeth at home and the chance to get some naps in.
First Few Days
All things considered, we have had a very smooth first few days. Elizabeth is a pretty easy baby (so far, knock on wood) and being second-time parents makes this whole thing so much less daunting.
Our biggest challenge so far is that she absolutely will not, no matter what, sleep in her bassinet. The nurses at the hospital worked some crazy magic after middle of the night tests each night to get her asleep in the bassinet, giving us a 3-hour stretch each night, but since we arrived home I think she has managed one or two 45-minute stretches and that is it. She will sleep in the swing or the bouncy seat, but her favorite place is in someone's arms.
We have tried swaddling. We have tried warmer pajamas and a fleece sleep sack. We have tried putting her in the corner of the bassinet so she is basically touching 3 sides. No luck. For now we're taking this a night at a time and I'm not going to worry about it for the first week. But my nights are less than refreshing, as you might imagine. But, really, if you are going to spend most of the night up with a baby, way way way better to be up with one who just wants to sit and snuggle all night than one who is screaming.
And she certainly is a snuggler. She has completely captured our hearts with her snuggles. Is there anything better than baby snuggles?
She has a slight touch of jaundice, but nothing worth treating and the doctor is just keeping an eye on it. Her coloring is a little yellow, but I think that given how pale she will always be, the yellow just shows up more for the same actual levels. The doctor examined her yesterday and decided that even given the yellow, we could wait to do any more tests given how alert and active Elizabeth was and how well she has been eating.
Speaking of which, Elizabeth is very alert.
Not all the time, mind you, but we get some pretty decent playtime. She is particularly fascinated by light and shadows. There is a video from our first evening home here: https://picasaweb.google.com/103033220833760597415/2013November?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite#5944836184401392322
Last night we did have a moment of minor panic. (Let me preface this story with the note that she is perfectly fine.) At about 7:00 Elizabeth spit up some blood. Or had some blood-laced spit up. See why the panic? But it was only minor panic because the first week of nursing is (for me at least) the week of bloody nipples and so we were pretty confident that the blood was my blood, not hers. A call to the pediatrician confirmed it, but for that half hour while we were waiting for a call back, my stomach was churning a bit. There has been no more bloody spit up since then, although I am sure she is still consuming blood. It doesn't seem to bother her and the pediatrician reassured us that it is perfectly safe, but I'm not thrilled about it. And not only because that means I am bleeding.
My mom left Monday afternoon, but the fact that it worked out that she was here the whole time we were at the hospital plus the first 24 hours at home made the whole experience at least a million times easier and less stressful. We now have friends here who were on call to take Nicholas, but knowing that Mom had him and could keep him the whole time and that he was at home meant that we didn't have to think about logistics or worry about him at all. Also, Grandma hugs for Elizabeth!
So, all things considered, we are doing really well. Tired and I'm in the moment where nursing is the most challenging, but doing really well. Certainly able to enjoy things so much more this time around.
Our biggest challenge so far is that she absolutely will not, no matter what, sleep in her bassinet. The nurses at the hospital worked some crazy magic after middle of the night tests each night to get her asleep in the bassinet, giving us a 3-hour stretch each night, but since we arrived home I think she has managed one or two 45-minute stretches and that is it. She will sleep in the swing or the bouncy seat, but her favorite place is in someone's arms.
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| From 2013 November |
And she certainly is a snuggler. She has completely captured our hearts with her snuggles. Is there anything better than baby snuggles?
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| From 2013 November |
She has a slight touch of jaundice, but nothing worth treating and the doctor is just keeping an eye on it. Her coloring is a little yellow, but I think that given how pale she will always be, the yellow just shows up more for the same actual levels. The doctor examined her yesterday and decided that even given the yellow, we could wait to do any more tests given how alert and active Elizabeth was and how well she has been eating.
Speaking of which, Elizabeth is very alert.
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
Last night we did have a moment of minor panic. (Let me preface this story with the note that she is perfectly fine.) At about 7:00 Elizabeth spit up some blood. Or had some blood-laced spit up. See why the panic? But it was only minor panic because the first week of nursing is (for me at least) the week of bloody nipples and so we were pretty confident that the blood was my blood, not hers. A call to the pediatrician confirmed it, but for that half hour while we were waiting for a call back, my stomach was churning a bit. There has been no more bloody spit up since then, although I am sure she is still consuming blood. It doesn't seem to bother her and the pediatrician reassured us that it is perfectly safe, but I'm not thrilled about it. And not only because that means I am bleeding.
My mom left Monday afternoon, but the fact that it worked out that she was here the whole time we were at the hospital plus the first 24 hours at home made the whole experience at least a million times easier and less stressful. We now have friends here who were on call to take Nicholas, but knowing that Mom had him and could keep him the whole time and that he was at home meant that we didn't have to think about logistics or worry about him at all. Also, Grandma hugs for Elizabeth!
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
So, all things considered, we are doing really well. Tired and I'm in the moment where nursing is the most challenging, but doing really well. Certainly able to enjoy things so much more this time around.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Elizabeth Claire
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| From 2013 November |
We are excited to announce the arrival of Elizabeth Claire at 7: 21pm on November 8th. She weighed in at 8lbs 1oz (we honestly don't know the length--we should look into that) and is doing wonderfully.
Elizabeth is just a name we loved and we really like how many options it gives her to choose the nickname that she feels fits her best at various points in her life. Also, every Elizabeth we could think of is something of a badass. Claire is after Joe's grandma.
Here are a couple pictures:
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| From 2013 November |
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| From 2013 November |
We'll have more pictures after Nicholas' visit later this morning. He is SO excited!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Visit from Grandpa Dan
My dad was in New Hampshire for business so came down to spend yesterday evening and this morning with us. It was a short visit, but a really good one. And there is something about frequent short visits, especially those that involve one-on-one time that really do a lot to cement relationships for Nicholas.
Nicolas wanted to show off his Halloween costume to Grandpa and ended up staying in costume while helping Grandpa fix the broken drawer in the dresser we salvaged.
We also played a really fun round of LIFE last night (which Nicholas declared tonight was his favorite part of the visit). Nicholas and Grandpa went swimming this morning and Nicholas did a good job taking instruction and working on skills. Then we went to church and out for a quick lunch before Dad had to leave to catch his flight.
And so now Nicholas' countdown to our next visitor (my mom) has begun. Only 4 more days! (On which note, as we were all talking at dinner about how excited we were to have Mom coming next weekend, the following facebook post came into my head: "Everyone in the house is getting very excited for the person arriving later this week . . . and it isn't the baby." Not that we aren't excited about the baby's arrival, but the timeline for that is unknown, which makes it hard to look forward to in the same way and impossible for Nicholas to count down to. It now actually could potentially be any day, but it also could be another 2 1/2 weeks. And none of the 3 of us are good with that kind of uncertainty.)
Nicolas wanted to show off his Halloween costume to Grandpa and ended up staying in costume while helping Grandpa fix the broken drawer in the dresser we salvaged.
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| From 2013 November |
We also played a really fun round of LIFE last night (which Nicholas declared tonight was his favorite part of the visit). Nicholas and Grandpa went swimming this morning and Nicholas did a good job taking instruction and working on skills. Then we went to church and out for a quick lunch before Dad had to leave to catch his flight.
And so now Nicholas' countdown to our next visitor (my mom) has begun. Only 4 more days! (On which note, as we were all talking at dinner about how excited we were to have Mom coming next weekend, the following facebook post came into my head: "Everyone in the house is getting very excited for the person arriving later this week . . . and it isn't the baby." Not that we aren't excited about the baby's arrival, but the timeline for that is unknown, which makes it hard to look forward to in the same way and impossible for Nicholas to count down to. It now actually could potentially be any day, but it also could be another 2 1/2 weeks. And none of the 3 of us are good with that kind of uncertainty.)
Friday, November 1, 2013
Nov 1
Nicholas woke up this morning and immediately came over to talk to his sister.
"Baby sister, you are supposed to come out in November. And today is November 1st. So you better hurry so you can come out before November is all done."
Word.
"Baby sister, you are supposed to come out in November. And today is November 1st. So you better hurry so you can come out before November is all done."
Word.
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