We've had a busy few days, so no updates!
Thursday Kian had his 4 month vaccinations. One gave him a red welt (which is fading but still there) and the other two gave him a huge bruise. It was bad enough that I think they actually may have accidentally hit some sort of blood vessel. Poor kid. He was so brave though, and only cried for a few seconds. The tech who gave the shots is the same guy who did them last time, so I was prepared to grab the gauze myself and didn't bring him in good clothes since the last ones got all bloodstained. >: He also squeezed way too much of the oral vaccine out at once, leaving Kian spluttering and spitting it out all over. I could have done a far better job myself. Oh well.
He was a little feverish and tired and fussy all day but not too bad. The next morning he felt warm so I checked his temp and it registered at 103 degrees! I totally freaked out and dialed the Dr but then I realized that he didn't feel that warm or even close, so I took it again. 101.3. Still a fever, but nothing to freak out over. A third try showed the same temp so I relaxed and decided to take his temp more than once before panicking in the future.
Brian came home Friday night and it has been so great to have him home. I'm to the point now where I don't need nearly as much help to retain my sanity with Kian, so the help he does give me is just like, a total bonus. And of course I missed him SO MUCH.
Saturday night we put Kian in his own bed, but at 2am he woke up absolutely screaming. I went in and he was really cold, so I snuggled him in my blankets and put him back in his Pack and Play. We turned the heat up the next night and tried again, but this time I was up constantly giving his pacifier back. My mom suggested I just get him off the paci, but I don't think he's ready for that. And I'm not ready for several sleepless nights ATM. Plus, I really miss him when he's not in with me. So for now he's back in our room. I am such a wimp.
Sunday we did some shopping and went out to lunch. Kian was so very good, and he fell asleep in the restaurant, and when I put him in his car seat he stayed asleep. So we had dessert! It was really fun, it almost felt like a date :). It makes me feel like we might be approaching something like a normal life again, which is a relief.
Tuesday was a BIG DAY. I added bananas to his rice cereal and we ate in the morning. The doc said when we introduce new foods we need to do it in the morning so I can watch him all day for an adverse reaction. So we're doing breakfast and dinner now! Woo! He really liked the bananas. The first bite his eyes got all wide and he looked like he wasn't sure what to think about the taste party going on in his mouth. After that he really snarfed it and hardly spit any out which was good. I also got him a sippy cup and we tried that on Monday night, but he had a hard time with it. So Tuesday morning we did a bottle with the handles instead, which worked better. That night he was not real thrilled with plain rice cereal, but he was tired and hungry too which could have been part of it. He has to do the bananas for a few days before we can have it at night time so he just has to deal :).
This morning he did great with the bananas again and the water too. He seemed to still be hungry so I gave him some plain bananas without cereal mixed in and he did great with that too. When he was done I let him have the water bottle and he had a great time chewing and drinking and playing with it for a few minutes. When he burped up water I took it away and he totally conked out. I like breakfast! :D
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Quiet days
The last few days have been pretty quiet. My stuff is basically unpacked. I am a terrible procrastinator and have been snitching things out of a half empty suitcase for days. Bad me! I did some cleaning today, mostly vacuuming. Because of the smaller, hairier, sheddier of my 2 dogs the vacuuming is always an enormous chore. I emptied my vacuum 4 times between my bedroom and the living room, but I did a really good job and I feel better about life. I still need to clean the rest of the house but at least it's a start.
Kian was fantastic today. He spent a good half hour in his playpen watching his soother, and another half hour in his jumperoo exercise deally. Today he loved 'this little piggy' and squealed and laughed every time I did it with him. He's so funny! He's totally into his feet if I sit him up on the floor. I think it's because he basically has to fold himself in half to stay upright, so his feet are right there :). I keep filing his nails down because he holds onto them so tight they have these little scratches all over. Kitten claws I'm telling ya! I couldn't figure out what was causing all the little cuts unti today when I saw how savagely he was yanking on his feet, right after he about yanked my eyebrow off. Oh! Maybe I should file those nails again ;).
The last 2 nights he's done really well with his rice cereal. I'm making it thicker now and he seems to do better than when it's all smooth and liquidy. Though last night he was getting upset and doing his little open mouth baby bird thing and fussing no matter how fast I shoveled the cereal. I realized he was hungry but wanted to suck when I offered him his pacifier and he was like "Finally woman! What's a guy got to do to get some milk around here?" So he had to have some milk both before and after his bath. I am kind of crazy and I'm all worried he won't want to nurse anymore because he'll just want 'real food' so in a dumb way it made me feel pretty good :). He's growing up way too fast!
We got to talk to grammy both of the last two days which is always good. We miss everyone so much! He's still pretty fussy at bath and bedtime and I'm convinced he's wondering where the family is. Hopefully when Brian gets home it will be better.
Well, though the kidlet is snuggling and drowsing right now it's time for rice cereal, storytime, bath time and bed time so I should go. Hopefully some new pics will be uploaded in the next few days!
Kian was fantastic today. He spent a good half hour in his playpen watching his soother, and another half hour in his jumperoo exercise deally. Today he loved 'this little piggy' and squealed and laughed every time I did it with him. He's so funny! He's totally into his feet if I sit him up on the floor. I think it's because he basically has to fold himself in half to stay upright, so his feet are right there :). I keep filing his nails down because he holds onto them so tight they have these little scratches all over. Kitten claws I'm telling ya! I couldn't figure out what was causing all the little cuts unti today when I saw how savagely he was yanking on his feet, right after he about yanked my eyebrow off. Oh! Maybe I should file those nails again ;).
The last 2 nights he's done really well with his rice cereal. I'm making it thicker now and he seems to do better than when it's all smooth and liquidy. Though last night he was getting upset and doing his little open mouth baby bird thing and fussing no matter how fast I shoveled the cereal. I realized he was hungry but wanted to suck when I offered him his pacifier and he was like "Finally woman! What's a guy got to do to get some milk around here?" So he had to have some milk both before and after his bath. I am kind of crazy and I'm all worried he won't want to nurse anymore because he'll just want 'real food' so in a dumb way it made me feel pretty good :). He's growing up way too fast!
We got to talk to grammy both of the last two days which is always good. We miss everyone so much! He's still pretty fussy at bath and bedtime and I'm convinced he's wondering where the family is. Hopefully when Brian gets home it will be better.
Well, though the kidlet is snuggling and drowsing right now it's time for rice cereal, storytime, bath time and bed time so I should go. Hopefully some new pics will be uploaded in the next few days!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Settling back in
I'm going to try to do daily or almost daily updates for the next little while. This is for you, mommy!
So we're home after a 2 week trip to see Grammy and Papa and Aunt Jaime. It was a great trip as always and really nice to have some help and just relax!
He was an absolute angel on the plane ride home, fussing a little when his ears bugged him on the descent, but I would have fussed too if I thought it would help :). We're settling back in now, doing laundry and unpacking and dealing with attention starved puppies. I think he really misses Grammy, Papa, and Aunt Jaime because he keeps crying for no apparent reason. He doesn't have a fever or anything and his nose/cough seem to be getting better so it's the only thing I can think of. He had a really hard time going to sleep last night and I just know he's missing his Grammy time. He even cried through his whole bath and I had to cut it short!
We've had a pretty quiet day today outside of periodic screaming for no reason. He was fantastic and didn't poop at all on the airplane (thank goodness) so he made up for it with 2 poops today! Big, smelly, rice cereal poops at that. They were all contained by the diaper, but I tell you I am missing the breastmilk only non-smelly version right about now!
Grammy taught him to lift his chin so she could chew on his neck, and then how to give her yummy slobbery open mouth cheek kisses after. I got him to do it for me in Colorado, but now he just simply refuses. I ask him for kisses and I swear he turns his head away, sometimes with a little frown. Grammy told him not to share her kisses, and I think he's listening to her! Shoot. I liked those slobbery little kisses. Maybe he'll forget and start obliging me one of these days.
We read stories today and he still really likes them, even though we didn't have much in the way of real storybooks in Colorado. He also played in his Baby Einstein jumper thing for a while 2 different times. I don't think the toys on it are as fun as the ones at the ExerSaucer in Colorado, but he still did a good job. He also played on his tummy time mat for almost 30 minutes without a peep! I think he missed his rattley elephant. :)
In less pleasant news, I can't believe I almost forgot! Last night at around midnight I was slammed awake by huge banging noises outside and the dogs went crazy. I snuck out to see what was going on, and was greeted by something that looked like a hurricane outside my door! OK, it wasn't THAT bad but it was pouring rain and the wind was lashing the plants around like crazy. We have this huge (8 feet long I think) rubbermaid plastic chest that we put our pool toys in, and the wind caught it and slammed it into the fence and broke it apart! It does come apart but not easily, and all the pieces and contents were all flung around. The wind and rain were pelting me with these little icy droplets and it was freezing so I left it and went inside to see if there were any weather alerts. We had a flash flood warning - not watch, warning - for our area until 2:30 so of course I utterly panicked. I don't do well with foul weather, which is why I like Tucson so much. I called our closest friends (geographically close) even though it was midnight and luckily they were very cool about it, but they weren't even having much wind. It must have to do with the wash behind our house and how the wind moves down it. I ended up calling Brian after that and like, freaking out and bursting into tears. He calmed me down and assured me it would be OK and told me to check and see if the pool was overflowing and put a towel in front of the front door because our entryway doesn't drain well. The pool is several inches fuller than usual but still below the edge, and there wasn't even water leaking in the front so I relaxed a little. I left the TV on so I would hear any further warnings and stayed up for a few hours unable to sleep. This morning we were still here and the house didn't float away so I guess it's all good. Man, I hate the weather!
So we're home after a 2 week trip to see Grammy and Papa and Aunt Jaime. It was a great trip as always and really nice to have some help and just relax!
He was an absolute angel on the plane ride home, fussing a little when his ears bugged him on the descent, but I would have fussed too if I thought it would help :). We're settling back in now, doing laundry and unpacking and dealing with attention starved puppies. I think he really misses Grammy, Papa, and Aunt Jaime because he keeps crying for no apparent reason. He doesn't have a fever or anything and his nose/cough seem to be getting better so it's the only thing I can think of. He had a really hard time going to sleep last night and I just know he's missing his Grammy time. He even cried through his whole bath and I had to cut it short!
We've had a pretty quiet day today outside of periodic screaming for no reason. He was fantastic and didn't poop at all on the airplane (thank goodness) so he made up for it with 2 poops today! Big, smelly, rice cereal poops at that. They were all contained by the diaper, but I tell you I am missing the breastmilk only non-smelly version right about now!
Grammy taught him to lift his chin so she could chew on his neck, and then how to give her yummy slobbery open mouth cheek kisses after. I got him to do it for me in Colorado, but now he just simply refuses. I ask him for kisses and I swear he turns his head away, sometimes with a little frown. Grammy told him not to share her kisses, and I think he's listening to her! Shoot. I liked those slobbery little kisses. Maybe he'll forget and start obliging me one of these days.
We read stories today and he still really likes them, even though we didn't have much in the way of real storybooks in Colorado. He also played in his Baby Einstein jumper thing for a while 2 different times. I don't think the toys on it are as fun as the ones at the ExerSaucer in Colorado, but he still did a good job. He also played on his tummy time mat for almost 30 minutes without a peep! I think he missed his rattley elephant. :)
In less pleasant news, I can't believe I almost forgot! Last night at around midnight I was slammed awake by huge banging noises outside and the dogs went crazy. I snuck out to see what was going on, and was greeted by something that looked like a hurricane outside my door! OK, it wasn't THAT bad but it was pouring rain and the wind was lashing the plants around like crazy. We have this huge (8 feet long I think) rubbermaid plastic chest that we put our pool toys in, and the wind caught it and slammed it into the fence and broke it apart! It does come apart but not easily, and all the pieces and contents were all flung around. The wind and rain were pelting me with these little icy droplets and it was freezing so I left it and went inside to see if there were any weather alerts. We had a flash flood warning - not watch, warning - for our area until 2:30 so of course I utterly panicked. I don't do well with foul weather, which is why I like Tucson so much. I called our closest friends (geographically close) even though it was midnight and luckily they were very cool about it, but they weren't even having much wind. It must have to do with the wash behind our house and how the wind moves down it. I ended up calling Brian after that and like, freaking out and bursting into tears. He calmed me down and assured me it would be OK and told me to check and see if the pool was overflowing and put a towel in front of the front door because our entryway doesn't drain well. The pool is several inches fuller than usual but still below the edge, and there wasn't even water leaking in the front so I relaxed a little. I left the TV on so I would hear any further warnings and stayed up for a few hours unable to sleep. This morning we were still here and the house didn't float away so I guess it's all good. Man, I hate the weather!
MIA!
So, obviously it's been a long time since I've updated. I was trying to go through and catch up on stuff and it's just too overwhelming. If you know me, you know my instinct is to want to do things perfectly and when that's too much I just get overwhelmed and don't do anything. So instead I'm just going to say this:
He's 4.5 months old now (Holy cow!) and he's getting to be so much fun. In the last month he has found his hands and is using them to hold onto things, move them around, put them in his mouth, all sorts of things. He babbles more (mostly oohs and ahs and goos and a screech like someone stepping on a cat's tail) and he smiles and laughs all the time. He can bear all of his weight standing up if you help him balance, and he's getting close to sitting up by himself. He already does an OK job but if he didn't have such a fat tummy and fat little thighs he'd be folded in half! Does that count? The week of Thanksgiving we started him on rice cereal. He loves it and does a great job, but he can't always remember how to work his tongue and swallow and a lot of it ends up on his shirt! He also had formula for the first time when we visited Grammy and Papa James and he sucked it right down.
His daddy is away at training and has been for about a month. He'll be back in a week, but that means there's been a lot of time when it is just us two. We do pretty well together and are working on a routine, but some help would sure be welcome most days! :) He went through a stage where he hated his carseat and would scream bloody murder the entire time he was in the car, but Grammy helped us and he's doing better with it. He sleeps through the night now, from about 8-5 or 6 and then for another few hours after that most days. Phew!
I think that's a decent catch up anyhow, and I'm going to try and do better about regular posting!
He's 4.5 months old now (Holy cow!) and he's getting to be so much fun. In the last month he has found his hands and is using them to hold onto things, move them around, put them in his mouth, all sorts of things. He babbles more (mostly oohs and ahs and goos and a screech like someone stepping on a cat's tail) and he smiles and laughs all the time. He can bear all of his weight standing up if you help him balance, and he's getting close to sitting up by himself. He already does an OK job but if he didn't have such a fat tummy and fat little thighs he'd be folded in half! Does that count? The week of Thanksgiving we started him on rice cereal. He loves it and does a great job, but he can't always remember how to work his tongue and swallow and a lot of it ends up on his shirt! He also had formula for the first time when we visited Grammy and Papa James and he sucked it right down.
His daddy is away at training and has been for about a month. He'll be back in a week, but that means there's been a lot of time when it is just us two. We do pretty well together and are working on a routine, but some help would sure be welcome most days! :) He went through a stage where he hated his carseat and would scream bloody murder the entire time he was in the car, but Grammy helped us and he's doing better with it. He sleeps through the night now, from about 8-5 or 6 and then for another few hours after that most days. Phew!
I think that's a decent catch up anyhow, and I'm going to try and do better about regular posting!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Week 9: September 7-13
Kian's 8 week birthday was an eventful day for us! Running errands and doing things with him in tow seems to get a little easier all the time. Not that we haven't had our difficult moment of course. And now I am frantically knocking on all the wood I can reach!
A week or so prior to this Brian noticed a little bump on Tinkerbell's (our schnauzer) rear leg. A few days later he found a smaller one, and then a third small one on her neck. That Thursday I finally arranged to bring her to have it checked out. Having worked at a vet clinic definitely has its benefits, one of which is not actually needing to have an official appointment to be seen. This is especially nice with my wee one because it gives me lots of flexibility. As it was, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I anticipated it would be, packing up both baby and dog and myself. Tink was a perfect angel on the ride, sitting nicely in the passenger seat and not barking at passerbys even once. In case it's not obvious, this is very unusual for her. When we arrived, Marc (her vet and the doctor I worked with when I was working) took a quick look and said they were just cysts or little warts, both of which are very common to schnauzers. In other words, nothing to worry about, phew! I thought I was going to have to drop her off for him to look at when he got a chance, and was planning on running a few errands in the meantime. When I mentioned that, Marc said to just put her in a kennel, so Tink hung out there while Kian and I ran around for an hour or so.
We hit Babies R Us first, and I had a few large items to return which was originally making me nervous. I found a parking spot right next to the cart corrall though, and got Kian arranged in his carrier, then dumped my returns in. Unfortunately it took the customer service an age and a half to take care of our stuff, so I ended up leaving them to figure out how to credit my gift card while I shopped. We were mostly looking for some staples, but also for a larger size of Swaddle Me. They carry smalls and larges but no mediums, leaving us out of luck. Luckily as I said last post he was doing alright without a swaddle, and has remained unswaddled up until now, a few weeks later. We made it out with Kian's attitude intact, and made a quick swing through the craft store next. Then it was back to Valley for a very happy to see us schnauzer before heading home. He made it almost 3 hours without eating on top of everything which is really pretty miraculous, and I was quite proud of myself if I do say so.
The next day was a 'First Friday', which is a little party at the squadron, generally held on the first Friday of the month - imagine that. When the turnout is good, it tends to be a pretty loud and boistrous time, and it's in the evening when Kian tends to be fussy so I was a little nervous. The turnout WAS good and there were a ton of people there. It was the first time that all the babies born in the last year have been in one place. In my humble and not at all biased opinion, Kian is definitely the cutest one. That seemed to be confirmed by the fact that I hardly even SAW Kian the whole time, as folks passed him around and snatched him away from me as soon as I got him back. I didn't see any of the other babies with anyone but their parents. Maybe it's just because I'm more laid back about it, and he pretty much slept the whole time which made him fun to hold. Yes, I am puffed up like a peacock :). The food was good too, and it was nice to be able to socialize and eat with both hands and just hang out for a while, even if I did spend half the time anxiously checking on folks to make sure they were OK with the kidlet.
The rest of the week passed in a blur. Brian was finishing up his upgrade at work, which made him incredibly busy and included working long hours. Not only does that leave me missing him, but even when he's home (which is rare enough) he's exhausted and busy prepping for the next day. Luckily, Kian has generally been happier this week and a little lower maintenance. He's also been a lot more interactive, smiling some at his mobile and really paying attention to songs and storybooks. Just the same it was a tiring week, and most of Kian's downtime was spent on laundry and some cleaning. We made it through though, and he's one week older! Plus, my family was scheduled to arrive so that made it all easier.
A week or so prior to this Brian noticed a little bump on Tinkerbell's (our schnauzer) rear leg. A few days later he found a smaller one, and then a third small one on her neck. That Thursday I finally arranged to bring her to have it checked out. Having worked at a vet clinic definitely has its benefits, one of which is not actually needing to have an official appointment to be seen. This is especially nice with my wee one because it gives me lots of flexibility. As it was, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I anticipated it would be, packing up both baby and dog and myself. Tink was a perfect angel on the ride, sitting nicely in the passenger seat and not barking at passerbys even once. In case it's not obvious, this is very unusual for her. When we arrived, Marc (her vet and the doctor I worked with when I was working) took a quick look and said they were just cysts or little warts, both of which are very common to schnauzers. In other words, nothing to worry about, phew! I thought I was going to have to drop her off for him to look at when he got a chance, and was planning on running a few errands in the meantime. When I mentioned that, Marc said to just put her in a kennel, so Tink hung out there while Kian and I ran around for an hour or so.
We hit Babies R Us first, and I had a few large items to return which was originally making me nervous. I found a parking spot right next to the cart corrall though, and got Kian arranged in his carrier, then dumped my returns in. Unfortunately it took the customer service an age and a half to take care of our stuff, so I ended up leaving them to figure out how to credit my gift card while I shopped. We were mostly looking for some staples, but also for a larger size of Swaddle Me. They carry smalls and larges but no mediums, leaving us out of luck. Luckily as I said last post he was doing alright without a swaddle, and has remained unswaddled up until now, a few weeks later. We made it out with Kian's attitude intact, and made a quick swing through the craft store next. Then it was back to Valley for a very happy to see us schnauzer before heading home. He made it almost 3 hours without eating on top of everything which is really pretty miraculous, and I was quite proud of myself if I do say so.
The next day was a 'First Friday', which is a little party at the squadron, generally held on the first Friday of the month - imagine that. When the turnout is good, it tends to be a pretty loud and boistrous time, and it's in the evening when Kian tends to be fussy so I was a little nervous. The turnout WAS good and there were a ton of people there. It was the first time that all the babies born in the last year have been in one place. In my humble and not at all biased opinion, Kian is definitely the cutest one. That seemed to be confirmed by the fact that I hardly even SAW Kian the whole time, as folks passed him around and snatched him away from me as soon as I got him back. I didn't see any of the other babies with anyone but their parents. Maybe it's just because I'm more laid back about it, and he pretty much slept the whole time which made him fun to hold. Yes, I am puffed up like a peacock :). The food was good too, and it was nice to be able to socialize and eat with both hands and just hang out for a while, even if I did spend half the time anxiously checking on folks to make sure they were OK with the kidlet.
The rest of the week passed in a blur. Brian was finishing up his upgrade at work, which made him incredibly busy and included working long hours. Not only does that leave me missing him, but even when he's home (which is rare enough) he's exhausted and busy prepping for the next day. Luckily, Kian has generally been happier this week and a little lower maintenance. He's also been a lot more interactive, smiling some at his mobile and really paying attention to songs and storybooks. Just the same it was a tiring week, and most of Kian's downtime was spent on laundry and some cleaning. We made it through though, and he's one week older! Plus, my family was scheduled to arrive so that made it all easier.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Week 8: August 30-September 6
Thursday was Kian's 7 week birthday. I can't believe it's been 7 whole weeks. Wow. He was actually happy this day, smiling a ton and generally being low maintenance and easy. I actually looked at him at one point and said... "Hey, you got cute again. Imagine that!" Not that he really wasn't cute, but lack of sleep and abundance of fussing can sure skew your perspective. I took the opportunity to run some errands that evening and Brian did really well with him.
Since it was Labor Day my mom offered to come and see us for the four day weekend. Of course she always misses Kian, but in this case it was more for me. I had a really rough couple of weeks, and she is always willing to drop everything and come help out. Thank God for my mother, my angel! This weekend Brian really wanted some just us time though, so my parents ended up going to their motorcycle rally instead. All in all that was good, and I'm glad they got to have their fun on the bike instead. Still, we missed them something awful!
Friday we hit yet another milestone. Brian was home from work and we went to Olive Garden for dinner with Kian in tow! It was really nice to get out and I crave Olive Garden really bad every once in a while. I did feel a bit like I had a ticking timebomb in the seat next to me, and I ate pretty quickly with one hand jiggling him off and on, but it was still good. He did not have a meltdown and the service was fantastic, so it went really well! We'll have to do it more often now. Choosing a family friendly restaurant and going at 4 were definitely key.
On Saturday Brian took Kian when he woke up, leaving me in blissful silence. He even gave him a bottle, so I got to sleep all the way until 11:00! It was 4 straight hours of sleep (almost) and more importantly, I woke up because I felt like it. It is the first time since Kian was born that I woke up on my own, and not because he needed to eat. Heaven.
We had a nice relaxing day together, which was also very nice. The one bump in the road came at the beginning of our bedtime routine. A minute after I lowered Kian into his nice warm bath water, it filled with a cloud of mustardy yellow. Oh no! He totally pooped in his bath! Now, every once in a while I notice a few little yellow bits at the end of the bath, but this was like, a whole poop all at once and the bath tub was FULL. I must have a dose of my mother's sense of humor because rather than getting frustrated I just cracked up. I dragged him out, slapped a diaper on him, and went to refill the baby tub. Brian came in to make sure everything was OK because there was all the clanking of the tub being emptied and refilled, plus Kian was really mad and screaming. I thought about just taking him to bed, but of course he was all covered in floating poo by then, so I HAD to bathe him. Bathing a screaming baby is never fun, but it all worked out. I guess that counts as yet another milestone. Or something.
Sunday, instead of sleeping in his swing, we tried putting Kian in his Pack N Play again. He actually slept really well, and slept 4 hours straight! In the road to recovery. Of course, now that it's 2 weeks later I know that he still isn't 100%. So.
Monday was Labor Day, and it was nice to have all 4 days off together as a family. Brian ended up drinking coffee late on two different nights and staying up late 'being irresponsible', and he also played XBox for quite a while, so on this day he took Kian quite a bit so I could get things done. I managed to clean about half the house and do some laundry, so it was a productive day. Happily for all concerned, Kian went down easy and slept decently well too.
Tuesday my big job was to line up a landscaper to do some work in our backyard, and he ended up coming that very afternoon to give us an estimate. Since I didn't hear back from anyone else and he's the guy who came out before Kian was born, I hired him. Wednesday he and his guys came and started work. Though I'm glad to have the stuff done, it's annoying because the dogs can't go out while they're here, AND they bark incessantly. Luckily it should only take a few days. Wednesday night we put Kian to bed with no swaddle and he seems to like it better. Sometime this week he started reliably finding his own hands and sucking on them, and the added restraint seems to really upset him. I guess the time for swaddling might be done. It's a good thing too, because his swaddle things are too small and they don't carry the next size up at our Babies R Us. :)
Since it was Labor Day my mom offered to come and see us for the four day weekend. Of course she always misses Kian, but in this case it was more for me. I had a really rough couple of weeks, and she is always willing to drop everything and come help out. Thank God for my mother, my angel! This weekend Brian really wanted some just us time though, so my parents ended up going to their motorcycle rally instead. All in all that was good, and I'm glad they got to have their fun on the bike instead. Still, we missed them something awful!
Friday we hit yet another milestone. Brian was home from work and we went to Olive Garden for dinner with Kian in tow! It was really nice to get out and I crave Olive Garden really bad every once in a while. I did feel a bit like I had a ticking timebomb in the seat next to me, and I ate pretty quickly with one hand jiggling him off and on, but it was still good. He did not have a meltdown and the service was fantastic, so it went really well! We'll have to do it more often now. Choosing a family friendly restaurant and going at 4 were definitely key.
On Saturday Brian took Kian when he woke up, leaving me in blissful silence. He even gave him a bottle, so I got to sleep all the way until 11:00! It was 4 straight hours of sleep (almost) and more importantly, I woke up because I felt like it. It is the first time since Kian was born that I woke up on my own, and not because he needed to eat. Heaven.
We had a nice relaxing day together, which was also very nice. The one bump in the road came at the beginning of our bedtime routine. A minute after I lowered Kian into his nice warm bath water, it filled with a cloud of mustardy yellow. Oh no! He totally pooped in his bath! Now, every once in a while I notice a few little yellow bits at the end of the bath, but this was like, a whole poop all at once and the bath tub was FULL. I must have a dose of my mother's sense of humor because rather than getting frustrated I just cracked up. I dragged him out, slapped a diaper on him, and went to refill the baby tub. Brian came in to make sure everything was OK because there was all the clanking of the tub being emptied and refilled, plus Kian was really mad and screaming. I thought about just taking him to bed, but of course he was all covered in floating poo by then, so I HAD to bathe him. Bathing a screaming baby is never fun, but it all worked out. I guess that counts as yet another milestone. Or something.
Sunday, instead of sleeping in his swing, we tried putting Kian in his Pack N Play again. He actually slept really well, and slept 4 hours straight! In the road to recovery. Of course, now that it's 2 weeks later I know that he still isn't 100%. So.
Monday was Labor Day, and it was nice to have all 4 days off together as a family. Brian ended up drinking coffee late on two different nights and staying up late 'being irresponsible', and he also played XBox for quite a while, so on this day he took Kian quite a bit so I could get things done. I managed to clean about half the house and do some laundry, so it was a productive day. Happily for all concerned, Kian went down easy and slept decently well too.
Tuesday my big job was to line up a landscaper to do some work in our backyard, and he ended up coming that very afternoon to give us an estimate. Since I didn't hear back from anyone else and he's the guy who came out before Kian was born, I hired him. Wednesday he and his guys came and started work. Though I'm glad to have the stuff done, it's annoying because the dogs can't go out while they're here, AND they bark incessantly. Luckily it should only take a few days. Wednesday night we put Kian to bed with no swaddle and he seems to like it better. Sometime this week he started reliably finding his own hands and sucking on them, and the added restraint seems to really upset him. I guess the time for swaddling might be done. It's a good thing too, because his swaddle things are too small and they don't carry the next size up at our Babies R Us. :)
Week 7 Part 2: August 25-29
After the ER visit our weekend was looking like it was going to be shot. We tried to get some sleep on Saturday, and Kian continued to seem pretty much the way he was before we started the albuterol.
I had an appointment to FINALLY get my hair cut that night, and though I thought about cancelling it I finally decided to go ahead and go. I couldn't get in with my usual stylist because she works limited hours on the weekends, but the guy who cut my hair usually does HER hair, so I figured it would be a safe bet. I was so terribly in need of a cut, it was getting really long and shaggy. All in all I really liked what he did, though he left a long piece in the back on each side. Apparently this is really in, but it reminded me of the mom on The Brady Bunch. Since the length at the back was the part that was driving me the most crazy, I ended up trimming it up myself a few days later. Once I did that I really like it, it should grow out well, and I get lots of compliments. Yay for 'me time'!
Monday was my rescheduled post-partum appointment. Kian was fussy all day, making me even more apprehensive about the appointment than I already was. As usual I waited forever to get in, then to be seen. The actual exam was quick and painless, and Dr D said I was cleared of all restrictions, and that everything healed up well. Phew. I asked him if he meant for Kian to come shooting out the way he did, and he said no. First he tried to blame it on his size until I reminded him he was 6 pounds, then he said it was because my pushing was so fantastic. Ha. I got a perscription for "Errin" which is a mini-pill that won't effect my breastmilk, which is great. Dr Decker is moving to his new office in a few weeks, but I shouldn't need to see him again anyhow. Glad that's over.
I needed to feed Kian at the end of the appointment, but they were really busy and I didn't want to take up an exam room. I ended up sitting in the car with the A/C on and the baby under a receiving blanket. It was the first time I've nursed 'in public' and it went really well actually.
All day Tuesday I had a horrible migraine. By mid day I was struggling to get up to change the baby because it hurt so bad. Tylenol with codeine didn't even touch it! Around 2pm I threw up, and that was the last straw. I called Brian and asked him to come home. I guess my words were even slurred a little and he left work right away. It didn't go away until the middle of the night. Yuck!
Wednesday Brian worked until really late, which made for a long day for me. Luckily the headache was gone and Kian was a little less fussy than he had been. I keep hoping and praying for more sleep and a less miserable baby. What a long week!
On the plus side, Kian started smiling this week! Just little brief smiles at first, but they're getting more frequent. I'm quite sure they're real and not just gas. How adorable. The other special thing he has started is something he does while nursing. He wraps his little legs around my arm, and snuggles my skin with his feet. It just melts my heart and makes all the rest totally worth while. *sigh*
I had an appointment to FINALLY get my hair cut that night, and though I thought about cancelling it I finally decided to go ahead and go. I couldn't get in with my usual stylist because she works limited hours on the weekends, but the guy who cut my hair usually does HER hair, so I figured it would be a safe bet. I was so terribly in need of a cut, it was getting really long and shaggy. All in all I really liked what he did, though he left a long piece in the back on each side. Apparently this is really in, but it reminded me of the mom on The Brady Bunch. Since the length at the back was the part that was driving me the most crazy, I ended up trimming it up myself a few days later. Once I did that I really like it, it should grow out well, and I get lots of compliments. Yay for 'me time'!
Monday was my rescheduled post-partum appointment. Kian was fussy all day, making me even more apprehensive about the appointment than I already was. As usual I waited forever to get in, then to be seen. The actual exam was quick and painless, and Dr D said I was cleared of all restrictions, and that everything healed up well. Phew. I asked him if he meant for Kian to come shooting out the way he did, and he said no. First he tried to blame it on his size until I reminded him he was 6 pounds, then he said it was because my pushing was so fantastic. Ha. I got a perscription for "Errin" which is a mini-pill that won't effect my breastmilk, which is great. Dr Decker is moving to his new office in a few weeks, but I shouldn't need to see him again anyhow. Glad that's over.
I needed to feed Kian at the end of the appointment, but they were really busy and I didn't want to take up an exam room. I ended up sitting in the car with the A/C on and the baby under a receiving blanket. It was the first time I've nursed 'in public' and it went really well actually.
All day Tuesday I had a horrible migraine. By mid day I was struggling to get up to change the baby because it hurt so bad. Tylenol with codeine didn't even touch it! Around 2pm I threw up, and that was the last straw. I called Brian and asked him to come home. I guess my words were even slurred a little and he left work right away. It didn't go away until the middle of the night. Yuck!
Wednesday Brian worked until really late, which made for a long day for me. Luckily the headache was gone and Kian was a little less fussy than he had been. I keep hoping and praying for more sleep and a less miserable baby. What a long week!
On the plus side, Kian started smiling this week! Just little brief smiles at first, but they're getting more frequent. I'm quite sure they're real and not just gas. How adorable. The other special thing he has started is something he does while nursing. He wraps his little legs around my arm, and snuggles my skin with his feet. It just melts my heart and makes all the rest totally worth while. *sigh*
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Week 7 Part 1: August 23-24
Kian's 6 week birthday brought with it a milestone of my own - the postpartum doctor visit. I dreaded this all week... well, longer than that really. Not only is the visit itself generally unpleasant, but it's a 40-50 minute drive. Kian was still very fussy and was only going about 2 hours max between feedings. If you do the math you'll see there was no way for me to get out and back without a feeding, and I haven't fed him in public yet. I'm not so good with the receiving blanket covering method, and the whole idea sort of freaked me out.
I managed to get myself and Kian and all our junk ready in a timely manner, and off I drove. I'm so glad I have a mirror in the backseat so I can watch him, and that he's generally very happy in the car. I got there and signed in and got all situated, when the receptionist called me up. Did I know the appointment was with Dr P? Um... no. I've never seen him before. That's just incredibly akward, but I'm all the way up here so I guess I'll see him *shudder*. At that point she informs me that they don't see each other's patients and I'm going to have to reschedule. She's sorry, she knows it's hot outside. I couldn't resist a little snipey "Hot outside? Yeah, and I live 45 minutes away, with a sick 6 week old. But I don't have a choice do I?" No I do not. So I get to pack everything BACK up and head home with a new appointment scheduled for Monday. Kian was having none of this back in his carseat stuff though, and he had a total meltdown. I called Brian to fume about the appointment mixup, and after a few minutes of Kian screaming I decided to stop somewhere and walk him around. I was driving past Michael's (the craft store), so I pulled in there. I picked him up out of the carseat, and we wandered around looking at all the fun colors until he fell asleep. Everyone we passed stopped me to tell me how precious and cute he is. I guess it's not just me then, since they could have just kept walking! Two people asked me if he was mine in this weird tone, too. The first time I was really put off and a little defensive - what a strange question! Then they asked how old he was... 6 weeks. Then came the punchline. No way! You look FANTASTIC! Oh. Gee. Thanks. *blush* Once he was quieted down we made it the rest of the way home just fine. Phew.
Friday he was still wheezing occasionally, coughing some, and sounding congested off and on so I called around 8 to schedule an appointment. They gave me one for 10:20 which I blithely accepted. And then I started counting. Two feedings, a shower, getting myself dressed and hair fixed and makeup, and Kian changed and dressed, and the dogs fed and taken care of, and the car packed... and did I mention two feedings? Plus the drive there. Oh, crap. I somehow managed to arrive only 5 minutes late in spite of all this, and Brian arrived pretty much just as I did.
We got in promptly as usual and answered all the same questions we always do. When the doc himself came in he did his usual exam and in the end seemed concerned about the high rate of Kian's breathing, a hint of a wheeze on exhalation and the fact that his little chest was pulling in with his breaths, especially when he was a little worked up. He had mentioned trying Albuterol at our last visit, and this time he decided he did indeed want to try it out on him. This is an inhaled drug, and you use a nebulizer to turn it into a fine mist that is pumped through a mask and then breathed in. It is a broncho-dialator that they use commonly for asthma, so I've heard of it before and felt OK about trying it. The doctor was mainly concerned that it might not be very effective, as it sometimes doesn't work well for babies as young as Kian. The tech brought in a nebulizer and the medication and we held the mask over his nose and mouth while he breathed it in. Within minutes he seemed to be breathing a lot easier and the retractions were gone, so the doc decided to prescribe it for us to give at home. The main side effect we noticed right away is that it made him really jittery. His little legs would just shake and tremble uncontrollably. The doc assured us that it is normal as the drug is almost like adrenaline, and nothing to worry about. I asked him what else to watch out for and he said that in general he didn't want his resp rate to get much higher. It was around 70-75 and he said if it hit 90 we needed to take him in the ER. Yikes.
We went to the pharmacy to get the albuterol, which we were to give 3 times a day. For that day we were told to give a dose at 4pm and one at 10pm. Then I had to go into town to get the nebulizer itself. The cool thing about that is that TriCare actually just pays for the machine, so rather than renting and returning it we actually purchased it. Kian was pretty done with being in his carseat by this time, so when I drove by Valley Animal Hospital (where I worked until I got pregnant), I decided to swing by and introduce the little guy around. After a visit and a diaper change we headed home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The 4 o'clock dose of albuterol went just fine.
That night Kian had a bath and it was a while until his next feeding, so we did his final treatment for the night. He was pretty awake but so was Brian, so I went to sleep and handed him over to his dad. Within a half hour Brian woke me up, really concerned because he was breathing super fast. At first I thought he might just be worked up and fussy because he was hungry so I tried to feed him. He couldn't eat, he was just panting frantically and trying to eat made him splutter and scream. I tried to quiet him and counted his resp rate - well over 100, maybe even 120. He was gasping and occasionally grunting and seemed really scared... I was quickly getting pretty scared myself. It was a hard situation though. Did the albuterol cause it? If so we shouldn't give him any more. Was the albuterol helping? If so it might get even worse when it wore off. In the end we called the triage line. It was a while before we got a call back (as usual), and the nurse asked a bunch of questions and ended up listening to him breathe over the phone. Trying to keep me calm in the process, she told me he needed to go to the ER and that we needed to call 911. That way if he got worse he'd be in an ambulance with oxygen.
I tried my best not to panic, told Brian what she said and made the call. I've never actually called 911 before, and I really hope I never have to again. The fire department arrived within a few minutes and started assessing him. They recommended that we go in an ambulance, so they called one in. In the meantime Kian was slowly improving, and the whole time he never turned blue or anything, so by the time the ambulance arrived I was feeling much better. Still, we decided it was best for a doctor to look at him, and I knew I'd be up all night watching him otherwise, so off we went. I rode with Kian and Brian drove behind us. The baby fell asleep in his car seat, and never moved through the whole bouncy ride to the hospital.
By the time we got there he was fine again, leaving me to surmise it was a reaction to the Albuterol. This entry is already pretty long, so suffice it to say we were at the ER until 5:30am. They took x-rays and monitored him and came to the same conclusion I did. It was stressful and irritating in a lot of ways, and I couldn't get any sleep because they didn't have a bassinet or anywhere for me to put him down. Brian caught a few hours of dozing off and on in the bed around 3 or so, but it was far from pleasant for any of us. Kian, being held, slept for 5 hours straight. Go figure. We were released with instructions to discontinue the albuterol and bring him back if we were concerned.
The most annoying part of the experience was the way everyone condescendingly asked me if he is my first baby, and basically implied that I freaked out for no reason. I kept having to explain that I know they breathe through their nose, that I know how to count resperation rate, that I KNOW he seems fine now, but a few hours ago he COULD NOT BREATHE. Grrr. As if I wanted to spend all night in that awful room for no reason. I suppose all is well that ends well though. Thank goodness he is OK.
Oh, also, he weighed in at 10 pounds 0.3 ounces today. What a big boy!
We got in promptly as usual and answered all the same questions we always do. When the doc himself came in he did his usual exam and in the end seemed concerned about the high rate of Kian's breathing, a hint of a wheeze on exhalation and the fact that his little chest was pulling in with his breaths, especially when he was a little worked up. He had mentioned trying Albuterol at our last visit, and this time he decided he did indeed want to try it out on him. This is an inhaled drug, and you use a nebulizer to turn it into a fine mist that is pumped through a mask and then breathed in. It is a broncho-dialator that they use commonly for asthma, so I've heard of it before and felt OK about trying it. The doctor was mainly concerned that it might not be very effective, as it sometimes doesn't work well for babies as young as Kian. The tech brought in a nebulizer and the medication and we held the mask over his nose and mouth while he breathed it in. Within minutes he seemed to be breathing a lot easier and the retractions were gone, so the doc decided to prescribe it for us to give at home. The main side effect we noticed right away is that it made him really jittery. His little legs would just shake and tremble uncontrollably. The doc assured us that it is normal as the drug is almost like adrenaline, and nothing to worry about. I asked him what else to watch out for and he said that in general he didn't want his resp rate to get much higher. It was around 70-75 and he said if it hit 90 we needed to take him in the ER. Yikes.
We went to the pharmacy to get the albuterol, which we were to give 3 times a day. For that day we were told to give a dose at 4pm and one at 10pm. Then I had to go into town to get the nebulizer itself. The cool thing about that is that TriCare actually just pays for the machine, so rather than renting and returning it we actually purchased it. Kian was pretty done with being in his carseat by this time, so when I drove by Valley Animal Hospital (where I worked until I got pregnant), I decided to swing by and introduce the little guy around. After a visit and a diaper change we headed home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The 4 o'clock dose of albuterol went just fine.
That night Kian had a bath and it was a while until his next feeding, so we did his final treatment for the night. He was pretty awake but so was Brian, so I went to sleep and handed him over to his dad. Within a half hour Brian woke me up, really concerned because he was breathing super fast. At first I thought he might just be worked up and fussy because he was hungry so I tried to feed him. He couldn't eat, he was just panting frantically and trying to eat made him splutter and scream. I tried to quiet him and counted his resp rate - well over 100, maybe even 120. He was gasping and occasionally grunting and seemed really scared... I was quickly getting pretty scared myself. It was a hard situation though. Did the albuterol cause it? If so we shouldn't give him any more. Was the albuterol helping? If so it might get even worse when it wore off. In the end we called the triage line. It was a while before we got a call back (as usual), and the nurse asked a bunch of questions and ended up listening to him breathe over the phone. Trying to keep me calm in the process, she told me he needed to go to the ER and that we needed to call 911. That way if he got worse he'd be in an ambulance with oxygen.
I tried my best not to panic, told Brian what she said and made the call. I've never actually called 911 before, and I really hope I never have to again. The fire department arrived within a few minutes and started assessing him. They recommended that we go in an ambulance, so they called one in. In the meantime Kian was slowly improving, and the whole time he never turned blue or anything, so by the time the ambulance arrived I was feeling much better. Still, we decided it was best for a doctor to look at him, and I knew I'd be up all night watching him otherwise, so off we went. I rode with Kian and Brian drove behind us. The baby fell asleep in his car seat, and never moved through the whole bouncy ride to the hospital.
By the time we got there he was fine again, leaving me to surmise it was a reaction to the Albuterol. This entry is already pretty long, so suffice it to say we were at the ER until 5:30am. They took x-rays and monitored him and came to the same conclusion I did. It was stressful and irritating in a lot of ways, and I couldn't get any sleep because they didn't have a bassinet or anywhere for me to put him down. Brian caught a few hours of dozing off and on in the bed around 3 or so, but it was far from pleasant for any of us. Kian, being held, slept for 5 hours straight. Go figure. We were released with instructions to discontinue the albuterol and bring him back if we were concerned.
The most annoying part of the experience was the way everyone condescendingly asked me if he is my first baby, and basically implied that I freaked out for no reason. I kept having to explain that I know they breathe through their nose, that I know how to count resperation rate, that I KNOW he seems fine now, but a few hours ago he COULD NOT BREATHE. Grrr. As if I wanted to spend all night in that awful room for no reason. I suppose all is well that ends well though. Thank goodness he is OK.
Oh, also, he weighed in at 10 pounds 0.3 ounces today. What a big boy!
Week 6: August 16-22
Thursday was Kian's 5 week birthday, and the poor little guy spent it sick! I continued to sleep with him in the nursery, and he sounded better intermittently. The night time and early morning seemed to be the worst.
In the middle of Thursday night, I woke up with Kian to feed him as usual. When I went to burp him, I noticed his back was wet. Weird. I thought, "Oh no! He must have peed out of his diaper." He hadn't done that in weeks, not since his circumcision healed (and we started pointing his wee wee down), so I was surprised. Then I realized... even worse. When he peed out of his diaper, either his side or stomach would be wet, and really if his legs were wet I wouldn't be surprised either. This was the middle of his back. Uh oh. Sure enough, he had pooped right up and out the back of his pajamas! I knew it would happen sometime, but having a poo-juice smeared hand in the middle of a night so short on sleep was not my idea of a good time. Luckily, whether because I have my mom's sense of humor, or because I was sleep deprived, it made me laugh :). We already knew that we were going to need to move him to a larger sized diaper, but this incident showed me the time had come!
So the morning of his due date he hit two milestones. Size 1 diapers, and pooping up the back of his last newborn sized diaper! It was so totally bizarre to realize I was just now supposed to be having him. Here I have this 9 pound, 5 week old baby looking up at me, and I should be in labor! Among other things, looking at the size of my pudgy little man I am SO grateful that he came early. Since he ended up being basically healthy, I get to be happy he arrived when he did. Besides, these past few weeks were bonus time where we got to know him better and see his beautiful little eyes and kiss his tiny fingers and toes!
Friday we returned to the bedroom, bringing his swing along for him to sleep in. I just wasn't getting much sleep the other way, and daddy missed us. I felt like his nasal congestion was getting much better, though he wasn't 100% yet. We both seemed to sleep better that way.
Saturday was another big day in the O'Grady household. I went and ran errands for about 3 hours, and left daddy all alone with Kian for the first time! I was a little teary eyed the whole time, and by the time I was coming home I missed him so much. He was pretty much the way he's been for the past week - fussy and needy. It's hard to set him down because he absolutely screams, and when he gets too upset he gets all snotty and then he can't breathe, and it's a bad scene. Poor Brian did really well and said he enjoyed having alone time with him, but it was pretty rough. In some ways it was actually good I think, because it let Brian see how frustrating and stressful it can be to be tied to a needy, fussy, sick baby. It's not like it's physically hard work, but when you have things you want to do and you can't get anything done, it is far from easy. That feeling is hard to communicate adequately, and I think sometimes it probably seemed like Brian came home and I was STILL on the couch holding the baby and nothing was done. He never complained, but I wondered sometimes if he really understood that my "job" is difficult. He's not the only one who works all day. So, while I felt a lot of empathy for his frustration, I thought it was good for him to get a glimpse into my every day life. On another funny note, that was the first time I drove in FIVE WEEKS! Luckily I still remembered how to drive a stick! :)
Saturday was the baby shower of the girl in our squadron due next. One of the errands I ran was purchasing a gift for her. I really considered dropping the gift off with a friend who lives nearby, but decided in the end to go. Brian asked if I was planning on taking Kian with me or leaving him home. He asked as nonchalantly as he could, but I thought I caught the shine of fear in his eyes! I figured it would be a good time for me to go somewhere alone with him, since he's old enough to be in his car seat without someone in the back with him now, so off we went! He did really well even if I was a nervous wreck. Milestones galore this week! The shower was fun and of course everyone had to coo and fuss over him and pass him around. Everyone agrees that he is huge and really noisy! Luckily the baby who was born before him and is almost a month older grunts and groans all the time too. And the woman who was hosting the shower said that her second girl made that same sort of noise, so she ended up sleeping in her own room when she was only a few days old!
That night we had another surprise, this one not so good. In a rare moment Kian was content to nap in his bouncy seat, so Brian and I were running around trying to get a few things done. We still have a stack of boxes to break down and recycle from all of the baby items we have, so Brian was out breaking down this week's share. I was cleaning up the kitchen and doing dishes. Cita (our chihuahua mix) started barking. I figured she was barking at Brian out in the garage, so I yelled at her to be quiet. A little later Brian was inside and she was STILL barking. Stupid dog, she was going to wake the baby! I yelled at her again, and Brian rolled his eyes and went to see what she was barking at. Sometimes she wedges a toy under the couch where she can't reach it or something, and she barks. Brian went around the corner and there was a beat of silence. Then...
"Babe... there's a snake."
I freaked out. In our house!? Oh my gosh! Is it by the baby?! *squeal* He assured me it was the same harmless, docile type we found in our pool not too long ago, but I was in a panic. Yes, me, Miss Vet Tech who handled all sorts of reptiles, I was FREAKING OUT. No, it was nowhere near the baby but I had to go scoop him up just the same. We have had a TON of rain, and we think that all the moisture had it seeking a dry place. It was a little tiny juvenile, probably 15 inches long but very thin, and we think it slipped in under our front door. It was writhing around in our tiled entryway, trying to figure out how the heck to get out again. Brian very calmly swept it out, then ended up ushering it out into the wash because it couldn't figure out how to get out of the outside entryway either. We have a towel rolled up against the door now, and I think it's staying there until Brian puts in some new weather stripping. Holy crap. *pant* Even now it gives me the willies. What a weekend!
Monday Kian was still seeming sick, and I considered calling the doctor, but I somehow managed to sleep in a bit (or rather, we both went back to bed instead of getting up after what is usually his last morning feeding) and then he was fussy so I didn't call the doctor. In the evening when I gave him his bath, I noticed his belly button was really bulging. It's always been sort of an outy, but this was... weird. I gently put pressure on it and sure enough, it seemed just like an umbilical hernia. I mentioned it to Brian and he said he noticed it a little earlier in the day too. I read a little about it and decided it wasn't an emergency, but we were DEFINITELY going to call the doctor the next day.
Tuesday we called in and managed to get an afternoon appointment. Brian came along, but met me there so I had to get both of us ready and load the car with stroller, diaper bag, and car seat by myself... with a time limit! It was pretty stressful but we got there on time and it all worked out. Kian weighed in at 9 lbs 13.8 oz! Holy smokes, he's huge. He definitely has an umbilical hernia, but they are common and nothing to worry about. They usually go away on their own, and only 1-2% need surgical repair.The doctor was concerned with the speed of his breathing and some slight "retractions" where the chest really seems to suck in with each breath. He was breathing fast at least partly because he was upset and naked, but still. The doc ordered chest X-rays, which had me worried but I really wanted to make sure he was OK.
Have you ever seen a baby X-rayed? If you had asked me, I would have figured it would be done like we do dogs. The techs would wear a lead vest and hold him in place... right? Wrong! I swear, this restraining thing is a medeival torture device! Look at this - http://www.pediagraph.com/. Now picture a tiny baby, whose head is INSIDE that plastic tube instead of above it. Horrid thing. The fact that he was sitting on a little bicycle seat probably didn't help either - not exactly secure for a baby who is cuddled all the time. The stroller is big and the area behind the lead wall is small, so I waited in the hall. It wasn't far enough to keep me from hearing him scream and scream. My poor little man! I cried, but Brian thought the whole thing was sort of amusing. I guess he did look a little funny all squished with his hands above his head. We waited a bit, then I snuck back to check with the techs - should we head back to the doc, did we need another shot? They were both looking at the digital pictures, seeming sort of confused. The side view was fine but the front to back view was dark, and they used the same technique. I used to take X-rays of course so I thought this was like... duh. They tried to say it was a computer problem, and called another guy to come look at it. He suggested they use a different technique and that they center it better. This shot worked out much better so we were all set. It was neat to see the X-rays, though I was hoping to get a good look at the hernia and they were too high up. I've seen a lot of pneumonia and they looked good to me - what a relief. The doctor agreed and ended up sending us home to keep on as we've been, but with instructions to bring him back before the weekend. Phew.
Yet another eventful week, and he just keeps growing! This week I really started to feel worn out. A newborn is tough enough, but a sick one is just wrong. Of course I love him to pieces, and it just breaks my heart that he doesn't feel good, but I was SO TIRED. Brian and I both ended up saying he might end up being an only child. I can't imagine doing this again, let alone doing it with the active, opinionated toddler Kian is sure to be. I guess time might change that, but we'll have to see. Right now I'm trying to cherish these moments when he's small, but I'm sort of looking forward to him being a little older. Three months is starting to look mighty good. Five years... even better. ;)
In the middle of Thursday night, I woke up with Kian to feed him as usual. When I went to burp him, I noticed his back was wet. Weird. I thought, "Oh no! He must have peed out of his diaper." He hadn't done that in weeks, not since his circumcision healed (and we started pointing his wee wee down), so I was surprised. Then I realized... even worse. When he peed out of his diaper, either his side or stomach would be wet, and really if his legs were wet I wouldn't be surprised either. This was the middle of his back. Uh oh. Sure enough, he had pooped right up and out the back of his pajamas! I knew it would happen sometime, but having a poo-juice smeared hand in the middle of a night so short on sleep was not my idea of a good time. Luckily, whether because I have my mom's sense of humor, or because I was sleep deprived, it made me laugh :). We already knew that we were going to need to move him to a larger sized diaper, but this incident showed me the time had come!
So the morning of his due date he hit two milestones. Size 1 diapers, and pooping up the back of his last newborn sized diaper! It was so totally bizarre to realize I was just now supposed to be having him. Here I have this 9 pound, 5 week old baby looking up at me, and I should be in labor! Among other things, looking at the size of my pudgy little man I am SO grateful that he came early. Since he ended up being basically healthy, I get to be happy he arrived when he did. Besides, these past few weeks were bonus time where we got to know him better and see his beautiful little eyes and kiss his tiny fingers and toes!
Friday we returned to the bedroom, bringing his swing along for him to sleep in. I just wasn't getting much sleep the other way, and daddy missed us. I felt like his nasal congestion was getting much better, though he wasn't 100% yet. We both seemed to sleep better that way.
Saturday was another big day in the O'Grady household. I went and ran errands for about 3 hours, and left daddy all alone with Kian for the first time! I was a little teary eyed the whole time, and by the time I was coming home I missed him so much. He was pretty much the way he's been for the past week - fussy and needy. It's hard to set him down because he absolutely screams, and when he gets too upset he gets all snotty and then he can't breathe, and it's a bad scene. Poor Brian did really well and said he enjoyed having alone time with him, but it was pretty rough. In some ways it was actually good I think, because it let Brian see how frustrating and stressful it can be to be tied to a needy, fussy, sick baby. It's not like it's physically hard work, but when you have things you want to do and you can't get anything done, it is far from easy. That feeling is hard to communicate adequately, and I think sometimes it probably seemed like Brian came home and I was STILL on the couch holding the baby and nothing was done. He never complained, but I wondered sometimes if he really understood that my "job" is difficult. He's not the only one who works all day. So, while I felt a lot of empathy for his frustration, I thought it was good for him to get a glimpse into my every day life. On another funny note, that was the first time I drove in FIVE WEEKS! Luckily I still remembered how to drive a stick! :)
Saturday was the baby shower of the girl in our squadron due next. One of the errands I ran was purchasing a gift for her. I really considered dropping the gift off with a friend who lives nearby, but decided in the end to go. Brian asked if I was planning on taking Kian with me or leaving him home. He asked as nonchalantly as he could, but I thought I caught the shine of fear in his eyes! I figured it would be a good time for me to go somewhere alone with him, since he's old enough to be in his car seat without someone in the back with him now, so off we went! He did really well even if I was a nervous wreck. Milestones galore this week! The shower was fun and of course everyone had to coo and fuss over him and pass him around. Everyone agrees that he is huge and really noisy! Luckily the baby who was born before him and is almost a month older grunts and groans all the time too. And the woman who was hosting the shower said that her second girl made that same sort of noise, so she ended up sleeping in her own room when she was only a few days old!
That night we had another surprise, this one not so good. In a rare moment Kian was content to nap in his bouncy seat, so Brian and I were running around trying to get a few things done. We still have a stack of boxes to break down and recycle from all of the baby items we have, so Brian was out breaking down this week's share. I was cleaning up the kitchen and doing dishes. Cita (our chihuahua mix) started barking. I figured she was barking at Brian out in the garage, so I yelled at her to be quiet. A little later Brian was inside and she was STILL barking. Stupid dog, she was going to wake the baby! I yelled at her again, and Brian rolled his eyes and went to see what she was barking at. Sometimes she wedges a toy under the couch where she can't reach it or something, and she barks. Brian went around the corner and there was a beat of silence. Then...
"Babe... there's a snake."
I freaked out. In our house!? Oh my gosh! Is it by the baby?! *squeal* He assured me it was the same harmless, docile type we found in our pool not too long ago, but I was in a panic. Yes, me, Miss Vet Tech who handled all sorts of reptiles, I was FREAKING OUT. No, it was nowhere near the baby but I had to go scoop him up just the same. We have had a TON of rain, and we think that all the moisture had it seeking a dry place. It was a little tiny juvenile, probably 15 inches long but very thin, and we think it slipped in under our front door. It was writhing around in our tiled entryway, trying to figure out how the heck to get out again. Brian very calmly swept it out, then ended up ushering it out into the wash because it couldn't figure out how to get out of the outside entryway either. We have a towel rolled up against the door now, and I think it's staying there until Brian puts in some new weather stripping. Holy crap. *pant* Even now it gives me the willies. What a weekend!
Monday Kian was still seeming sick, and I considered calling the doctor, but I somehow managed to sleep in a bit (or rather, we both went back to bed instead of getting up after what is usually his last morning feeding) and then he was fussy so I didn't call the doctor. In the evening when I gave him his bath, I noticed his belly button was really bulging. It's always been sort of an outy, but this was... weird. I gently put pressure on it and sure enough, it seemed just like an umbilical hernia. I mentioned it to Brian and he said he noticed it a little earlier in the day too. I read a little about it and decided it wasn't an emergency, but we were DEFINITELY going to call the doctor the next day.
Tuesday we called in and managed to get an afternoon appointment. Brian came along, but met me there so I had to get both of us ready and load the car with stroller, diaper bag, and car seat by myself... with a time limit! It was pretty stressful but we got there on time and it all worked out. Kian weighed in at 9 lbs 13.8 oz! Holy smokes, he's huge. He definitely has an umbilical hernia, but they are common and nothing to worry about. They usually go away on their own, and only 1-2% need surgical repair.The doctor was concerned with the speed of his breathing and some slight "retractions" where the chest really seems to suck in with each breath. He was breathing fast at least partly because he was upset and naked, but still. The doc ordered chest X-rays, which had me worried but I really wanted to make sure he was OK.
Have you ever seen a baby X-rayed? If you had asked me, I would have figured it would be done like we do dogs. The techs would wear a lead vest and hold him in place... right? Wrong! I swear, this restraining thing is a medeival torture device! Look at this - http://www.pediagraph.com/. Now picture a tiny baby, whose head is INSIDE that plastic tube instead of above it. Horrid thing. The fact that he was sitting on a little bicycle seat probably didn't help either - not exactly secure for a baby who is cuddled all the time. The stroller is big and the area behind the lead wall is small, so I waited in the hall. It wasn't far enough to keep me from hearing him scream and scream. My poor little man! I cried, but Brian thought the whole thing was sort of amusing. I guess he did look a little funny all squished with his hands above his head. We waited a bit, then I snuck back to check with the techs - should we head back to the doc, did we need another shot? They were both looking at the digital pictures, seeming sort of confused. The side view was fine but the front to back view was dark, and they used the same technique. I used to take X-rays of course so I thought this was like... duh. They tried to say it was a computer problem, and called another guy to come look at it. He suggested they use a different technique and that they center it better. This shot worked out much better so we were all set. It was neat to see the X-rays, though I was hoping to get a good look at the hernia and they were too high up. I've seen a lot of pneumonia and they looked good to me - what a relief. The doctor agreed and ended up sending us home to keep on as we've been, but with instructions to bring him back before the weekend. Phew.
Yet another eventful week, and he just keeps growing! This week I really started to feel worn out. A newborn is tough enough, but a sick one is just wrong. Of course I love him to pieces, and it just breaks my heart that he doesn't feel good, but I was SO TIRED. Brian and I both ended up saying he might end up being an only child. I can't imagine doing this again, let alone doing it with the active, opinionated toddler Kian is sure to be. I guess time might change that, but we'll have to see. Right now I'm trying to cherish these moments when he's small, but I'm sort of looking forward to him being a little older. Three months is starting to look mighty good. Five years... even better. ;)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Week 5: August 9-15
Four weeks! Kian wore his Tiger's onesie today. It's still a tiny bit big through the shoulders, but I remember just a few weeks ago when it practically fell off of him. He's starting to get to the point where we need to think about going up a size in diapers too. He's been wearing Huggies which are bigger than the Pampers for a while already. Brian weighed himself, and then weighed himself again with Kian in his arms and he seems to be about NINE POUNDS now. Holy smokes. I need to take him to the Breastfeeding Support group to find out an official weight, but it's only once a week and it's in the evening and I can't seem to remember.
Friday Grammy Tina, Papa James and Aunt Jaime arrived. It's so nice when they are here. Not only do they help out around the house, but Kian always has another pair of hands waiting to hold him and it frees me up to do some things.
Friday he started sounding just a little congested off and on, 'snortly in his nose' as I like to say. It worried me some, but at that point it wasn't too bad.
I took a fabulous bath on Saturday and shaved my legs and everything. Heaven!
Grammy Tina put herself on late night duty. She kept Kian up and entertained until 8:30 or so, then we gave him a bath and fed him and I went to sleep. She would either feed him a bottle or at least keep him until the next time he was hungry so I could sleep. It was just what I needed. Even if he goes 2 or 3 or the rare 4 hours between feedings he is SO NOISY at night. Really all the time he's a very vocal baby. He seems to make some kind of grunt or squeak or groan every time he moves, and he moves constantly :). It makes for a rough night, every night. We're pretty sure he's going to be making the transition out of our room and into his crib pretty soon.
Papa James cooked fabulous food the whole weekend, and the three of them cleaned my whole house on Monday.
That day Kian was sounding worse and worse, more and more stuffy, so I finally called the doctor. My mom had suggested having him sleep in his swing so he'd be on more of an incline, and putting Vicks on his chest. I wasn't sure the first was safe, and the second... well, I hate Vicks but the label also says babies 3 months and older. Of course, my mom knows everything, and the nurse suggested those very things, plus saline nose drops and a humidifier. We made a Walgreen's run and stocked up on all sorts of congestion fighting goods. I moved into the nursery, with Kian sleeping in his swing so that he could sleep on an incline, and the humidifier wouldn't kill Brian. I crashed on the futon mattress on the floor. It seemed to help, although I didn't sleep very well myself and I had a hard time finding a good place and position to nurse.
Tuesday they headed home, which was hard as usual. It never seems to get any easier, only harder. I'm still struggling with them missing out on being with Kian even more than I miss them myself. I keep having a lot of guilt because it's my choices that are separating them, neither one of them chose to be apart from each other. I wish we could live closer so Kian could see his Grammy and Papa and Aunt every few days. :(
Tuesday night I hardly got any sleep at all, and Wednesday morning Brian got up with him for me. I talked to the nurse on base again per their instructions. It sounded to me like he was starting to wheeze a bit, but it only happened once. Brian and I each heard a cough as well. We were told to keep an eye on him, and if the cough or wheeze became consistent to call in again. Otherwise, we should call the first of the week to update them.
What a busy week!
Friday Grammy Tina, Papa James and Aunt Jaime arrived. It's so nice when they are here. Not only do they help out around the house, but Kian always has another pair of hands waiting to hold him and it frees me up to do some things.
Friday he started sounding just a little congested off and on, 'snortly in his nose' as I like to say. It worried me some, but at that point it wasn't too bad.
I took a fabulous bath on Saturday and shaved my legs and everything. Heaven!
Grammy Tina put herself on late night duty. She kept Kian up and entertained until 8:30 or so, then we gave him a bath and fed him and I went to sleep. She would either feed him a bottle or at least keep him until the next time he was hungry so I could sleep. It was just what I needed. Even if he goes 2 or 3 or the rare 4 hours between feedings he is SO NOISY at night. Really all the time he's a very vocal baby. He seems to make some kind of grunt or squeak or groan every time he moves, and he moves constantly :). It makes for a rough night, every night. We're pretty sure he's going to be making the transition out of our room and into his crib pretty soon.
Papa James cooked fabulous food the whole weekend, and the three of them cleaned my whole house on Monday.
That day Kian was sounding worse and worse, more and more stuffy, so I finally called the doctor. My mom had suggested having him sleep in his swing so he'd be on more of an incline, and putting Vicks on his chest. I wasn't sure the first was safe, and the second... well, I hate Vicks but the label also says babies 3 months and older. Of course, my mom knows everything, and the nurse suggested those very things, plus saline nose drops and a humidifier. We made a Walgreen's run and stocked up on all sorts of congestion fighting goods. I moved into the nursery, with Kian sleeping in his swing so that he could sleep on an incline, and the humidifier wouldn't kill Brian. I crashed on the futon mattress on the floor. It seemed to help, although I didn't sleep very well myself and I had a hard time finding a good place and position to nurse.
Tuesday they headed home, which was hard as usual. It never seems to get any easier, only harder. I'm still struggling with them missing out on being with Kian even more than I miss them myself. I keep having a lot of guilt because it's my choices that are separating them, neither one of them chose to be apart from each other. I wish we could live closer so Kian could see his Grammy and Papa and Aunt every few days. :(
Tuesday night I hardly got any sleep at all, and Wednesday morning Brian got up with him for me. I talked to the nurse on base again per their instructions. It sounded to me like he was starting to wheeze a bit, but it only happened once. Brian and I each heard a cough as well. We were told to keep an eye on him, and if the cough or wheeze became consistent to call in again. Otherwise, we should call the first of the week to update them.
What a busy week!
Week 4: August 2-8
Kian's three week birthday! Holy smokes how time flies. I dressed him up in his baseball outfit for the first time, which of course made Brian very happy. It's true that he's awfully cute. There are pictures of him in it, with his Detroit Tigers tiger - a gift from Grandma Becky. On that same day is a picture of me with him, disheveled hair and all. Someday the pictures including me will be less embarassing, I hope! I still really need a haircut (even at the time of this writing, a few weeks later). At this point I may as well just try to grow it out, but THAT is a pain too. Bleh.
Anyhow! This week was a fairly quiet one. We had a weekend with just our family which was nice. We did a lot of hanging out, snuggling, and just enjoying each other.
Saturday Brian went and picked up my new glider-recliner. He put it together the next day, and for now it's in the living room. We got an ottoman too, and the combo is really very nice. It's a good place to sit with the laptop, so to some degree it's daddy's baseball watching chair for now. I don't mind sharing! The plan is for it to go in the nursery eventually, giving me a place to nurse once Kian is sleeping in there. For now though, my parents and Jaime are coming to visit next weekend and we'll need the space for the futon mattress so in the living room it sits. Surprisingly it fits pretty well and I think when we move it, we might just miss it!
On Sunday Kian had his first tummy trouble day, leaving him squirmy and fussy for most of the day. Now, Kian's fussy would be some babies' sunshine I'm sure, because he hardly ever cries or even fusses. If he does you know he needs something and as soon as you change, burp or feed him he's content again. This day he was obviously uncomfortable and he spit up far more than normal plus he seemed to have other gas in his tummy too. He didn't scream or anything but he just seemed uncomfy and wiggly the whole day. It was so bad I put a bib on him for the first time. He was sure cute in it! If you look at the pictures, somewhere in there he actually spit up on the bib, and I kept snapping photos but ended up taking the bib off and changing it not too much later. *sigh*
Kian's loving his bouncy seat now too, which is pretty new this week. He's heavy enough to stay in it instead of just sliding right off, and now that we put the batteries in he's loving the lights and sounds too. It has a mode where moving the hanging toys sets off the lights and sounds but I think it surprises him more than anything. I wonder when he'll start to have some concept of cause and effect, like, if I hit this the lights come on. For now sometimes it really startles him when his foot accidentally bangs a toy hard enough, so I mostly just leave it on the 'play music' mode for him :).
Now that Kian is more than 3 weeks old, I can start to pump for bottle supplements. I'm not pumping every feeding or anything, just occasionally. Monday Brian gave Kian his first bottle since the hospital. We decided to do it right before bed so he'd be really full and hopefully sleep. He ate over 4 ounces - I couldn't believe it! And THEN he was still hungry so I ended up nursing a little. Honestly that was OK with me, because hearing him fuss and suck had my milk rushing anyhow. Unfortunately it didn't really help him sleep better either, but on the plus side he took the bottle really happily, and that will evenutally give us a lot more freedom. Yay! Oh, and Brian was so cute! Pics at Shutterfly.
Wednesday we had our first play date. My friends Lauren and Bevin brought their kids, Carter 8 months and Masyn 3 months for lunch. I vacuumed because Carter is in the rolling around stage and I straightened a little, but in all the house did not get cleaned ahead of time. I just didn't have the energy to worry about it. Luckily everyone was so busy with the babies I don't THINK they noticed. Nice and neat and fresh vacuum marks goes a long way, apparently! They brought Quizno's, and stayed for a few hours of girl talk. At one point all the babies were fussy at once, but it only lasted a few minutes. My little angel hung out in his bouncy seat and fell asleep, letting me eat. Maybe he'll do that more often one of these days :). The visit was really nice, but oddly I don't really feel desperate for adult conversation. Brian's been coming home early at least a few days a week, my mom and I talk daily, and I have other folks I can call to chat. I guess I've always been a bit of a homebody, so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind or anything. Still, it was good to see them and to hang out. We'll have to do it again.
I can't believe my little man is almost a month old!
Anyhow! This week was a fairly quiet one. We had a weekend with just our family which was nice. We did a lot of hanging out, snuggling, and just enjoying each other.
Saturday Brian went and picked up my new glider-recliner. He put it together the next day, and for now it's in the living room. We got an ottoman too, and the combo is really very nice. It's a good place to sit with the laptop, so to some degree it's daddy's baseball watching chair for now. I don't mind sharing! The plan is for it to go in the nursery eventually, giving me a place to nurse once Kian is sleeping in there. For now though, my parents and Jaime are coming to visit next weekend and we'll need the space for the futon mattress so in the living room it sits. Surprisingly it fits pretty well and I think when we move it, we might just miss it!
On Sunday Kian had his first tummy trouble day, leaving him squirmy and fussy for most of the day. Now, Kian's fussy would be some babies' sunshine I'm sure, because he hardly ever cries or even fusses. If he does you know he needs something and as soon as you change, burp or feed him he's content again. This day he was obviously uncomfortable and he spit up far more than normal plus he seemed to have other gas in his tummy too. He didn't scream or anything but he just seemed uncomfy and wiggly the whole day. It was so bad I put a bib on him for the first time. He was sure cute in it! If you look at the pictures, somewhere in there he actually spit up on the bib, and I kept snapping photos but ended up taking the bib off and changing it not too much later. *sigh*
Kian's loving his bouncy seat now too, which is pretty new this week. He's heavy enough to stay in it instead of just sliding right off, and now that we put the batteries in he's loving the lights and sounds too. It has a mode where moving the hanging toys sets off the lights and sounds but I think it surprises him more than anything. I wonder when he'll start to have some concept of cause and effect, like, if I hit this the lights come on. For now sometimes it really startles him when his foot accidentally bangs a toy hard enough, so I mostly just leave it on the 'play music' mode for him :).
Now that Kian is more than 3 weeks old, I can start to pump for bottle supplements. I'm not pumping every feeding or anything, just occasionally. Monday Brian gave Kian his first bottle since the hospital. We decided to do it right before bed so he'd be really full and hopefully sleep. He ate over 4 ounces - I couldn't believe it! And THEN he was still hungry so I ended up nursing a little. Honestly that was OK with me, because hearing him fuss and suck had my milk rushing anyhow. Unfortunately it didn't really help him sleep better either, but on the plus side he took the bottle really happily, and that will evenutally give us a lot more freedom. Yay! Oh, and Brian was so cute! Pics at Shutterfly.
Wednesday we had our first play date. My friends Lauren and Bevin brought their kids, Carter 8 months and Masyn 3 months for lunch. I vacuumed because Carter is in the rolling around stage and I straightened a little, but in all the house did not get cleaned ahead of time. I just didn't have the energy to worry about it. Luckily everyone was so busy with the babies I don't THINK they noticed. Nice and neat and fresh vacuum marks goes a long way, apparently! They brought Quizno's, and stayed for a few hours of girl talk. At one point all the babies were fussy at once, but it only lasted a few minutes. My little angel hung out in his bouncy seat and fell asleep, letting me eat. Maybe he'll do that more often one of these days :). The visit was really nice, but oddly I don't really feel desperate for adult conversation. Brian's been coming home early at least a few days a week, my mom and I talk daily, and I have other folks I can call to chat. I guess I've always been a bit of a homebody, so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind or anything. Still, it was good to see them and to hang out. We'll have to do it again.
I can't believe my little man is almost a month old!
Week 3, Part 2: July 31- August 1
July 31st was a big day! It was Brian's last full day at home with us, a bittersweet event. I knew we would miss him like crazy, and I was a little worried about how well I would handle being all alone with my baby. At the same time, a big part of me was looking forward to "just us" time - we hadn't really had any at all since he was born.
Before we got there though, we hit yet another milestone! The evening of the 31st Kian had his first real bath. We had given him lots of sponge baths, but since his circumcision was healed and his umbilical cord was gone, the time had come to use his infant bath and give him a good dunking. There are pictures at kianogrady.shutterfly.com, look for the 'July 31' album. As you can see, he generally did pretty well. There were definitely points where he got grumpy, and I didn't have the routine down at all so he got a little chilled at the end. His favorite part is still getting his hair washed, which I do separately in the sink once he's all wrapped up in his towel. You can probably tell by the pictures that all the fussing stops and he gets very quiet and still. It's one of my favorite times too because of that. Probably the best part is when he's all warm and bundled afterwards though. He's so cute and content and snuggly! I am extremely grateful for the blessing of a cuddly baby. I am a snuggly sort of person and I know that not all babies are cuddlebugs, but mine definitely is!
Wednesday was our first full day alone together. We lived! It actually wasn't terribly different, because I went back to sleep when he did, getting up around 10:30am. Brian came home in the early afternoon because not much was going on at work (and he missed us I think), so all in all we still only had about 5 hours on our own. It was a great way to transition.
So, I'm tired (imagine that), but things are good. I swear he's growing like a weed, and getting more and more alert every day. He's really starting to be a baby and not just a newborn. Imagine, I'm not supposed to be able to meet him for over 2 weeks yet. I'm so glad to have these weeks - it's like bonus time. :)
Before we got there though, we hit yet another milestone! The evening of the 31st Kian had his first real bath. We had given him lots of sponge baths, but since his circumcision was healed and his umbilical cord was gone, the time had come to use his infant bath and give him a good dunking. There are pictures at kianogrady.shutterfly.com, look for the 'July 31' album. As you can see, he generally did pretty well. There were definitely points where he got grumpy, and I didn't have the routine down at all so he got a little chilled at the end. His favorite part is still getting his hair washed, which I do separately in the sink once he's all wrapped up in his towel. You can probably tell by the pictures that all the fussing stops and he gets very quiet and still. It's one of my favorite times too because of that. Probably the best part is when he's all warm and bundled afterwards though. He's so cute and content and snuggly! I am extremely grateful for the blessing of a cuddly baby. I am a snuggly sort of person and I know that not all babies are cuddlebugs, but mine definitely is!
Wednesday was our first full day alone together. We lived! It actually wasn't terribly different, because I went back to sleep when he did, getting up around 10:30am. Brian came home in the early afternoon because not much was going on at work (and he missed us I think), so all in all we still only had about 5 hours on our own. It was a great way to transition.
So, I'm tired (imagine that), but things are good. I swear he's growing like a weed, and getting more and more alert every day. He's really starting to be a baby and not just a newborn. Imagine, I'm not supposed to be able to meet him for over 2 weeks yet. I'm so glad to have these weeks - it's like bonus time. :)
Important Labor Story Addition!
It has come to my attention (the source shall remain nameless) that I have been grossly negligent in my recount of my labor story! It's true, in my haste to get the story down on paper... er, on the internet, I missed whole chunks of very important information.
So let me state for the record, my sister is amazing! She did NOT just panic when my water broke, which is somehow unfortunately the only thing I really mentioned. I am sorry Jaime! She was a wonderful rock throughout my labor and I would have had a vastly different experience without her. I'm not just saying that because she pointed it out either, it is very true. She held my hand, she prayed with me when my anxiety over Kian's health got to be too much, and most of all she was just THERE with me. When Brian fell fast asleep on a cot, she tried to get some rest too but the only place for her was a bench. It was cushioned, but far from comfy, and I think she ended up trying to sleep on the floor just so she could stretch out. Needless to say, I think she was the only one who got absolutely no sleep at all. On the plus side, that left her free to get me ice chips when I woke up in pain again. What a sweetheart.
So, in short, Jaime was an angel and I don't know what I would have done without her. Thank you Jaime!
Love you,
Sissy
So let me state for the record, my sister is amazing! She did NOT just panic when my water broke, which is somehow unfortunately the only thing I really mentioned. I am sorry Jaime! She was a wonderful rock throughout my labor and I would have had a vastly different experience without her. I'm not just saying that because she pointed it out either, it is very true. She held my hand, she prayed with me when my anxiety over Kian's health got to be too much, and most of all she was just THERE with me. When Brian fell fast asleep on a cot, she tried to get some rest too but the only place for her was a bench. It was cushioned, but far from comfy, and I think she ended up trying to sleep on the floor just so she could stretch out. Needless to say, I think she was the only one who got absolutely no sleep at all. On the plus side, that left her free to get me ice chips when I woke up in pain again. What a sweetheart.
So, in short, Jaime was an angel and I don't know what I would have done without her. Thank you Jaime!
Love you,
Sissy
Monday, August 6, 2007
Pictures!
No time for a good update just now, but I put up pictures! We're all doing well, Kian is getting so big! New pictures can be found at http://kianogrady.shutterfly.com
A better update should be coming shortly.
A better update should be coming shortly.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Week 3 Part One: July 26-30
Kian's 2 week birthday was a big day.
Our nursery furniture finally came. It was supposed to take 4-6 weeks to arrive and ended up taking 10-11. The last few weeks of trying to get it delivered was a whole pain in the rear, but I don't think I'm going to go into details. It's here now, it's beautiful, and Kian's room is finally done.
Brian and I set everything up, including Brian moving the furniture around a few times until we found the best arrangement. My husband should be a designer I think, because none of my ideas worked and his is just right. We had the items delivered and set up so we didn't have to put anything together, but the highest mattress level on the crib was really high, so Brian already moved it down one level. All of the Pooh stuff looks just fab with the furniture, and the wall color is perfect. I still need to take pictures of the nursery all set up, but they will be coming shortly.
That night Brian's mom (aka Grandma Becky) arrived. She was so happy to meet Kian and couldn't stop saying how beautiful he is.
Friday was Kian's 2 week appointment with his doctor. Getting everything together to leave the house seems to be at least a little easier now, though I still feel like I'm taking half the house with me, and we only use a few things out of the bag. Again we got right in to see the doc which was really nice. He really has grown a ton, and is now weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces! That's half a pound in the last seven days. Holy cow. I'm glad he's gaining weight and doing well, and it helps me to relax about how breastfeeding is going. At the same time, he'll never be as small as he was, ever again. It's a bittersweet moment. Once again, it goes way too stinking fast!
His jaundice is totally gone now, his circ is healed and all is well! We had to get one more heel prick to do the follow up PKU test. It's a test for twenty-something genetic diseases required by law here. Other than the incredibly long wait at the lab it wasn't so bad. I think most of the crying was because the tech had to hold his foot and dab it on the paper over and over and he doesn't like being restrained. Another lady was there with her baby and when we walked in she said "See, that's what a real newborn looks like." Apparently both little boys share a birthday, but hers was 9lbs 9oz when he was born! To be honest he did look really huge to me, but I'm really used to my little tiny guy.
Saturday was yet another milestone, and one that as hard but also exquisite. We left Kian with Grandma Becky and went out for sushi! It's been over 8 months since I last had sushi, and Brian abstained with me, so this was a big moment. I know it's silly but we used to eat sushi a few times a month and it is the one thing I craved consistently all through pregnancy. Of course I cried when we left and tried to distract myself most of the time we were gone. Becky is totally capable and he ate well before we left, plus we were only 20 minutes from home but I still had a hard time with it.
It was pouring rain when we left and Brian joked that the power would be out when we got there. Just like that he jinxed us! Sure enough, when we pulled up there were cops directing traffic at the intersection and all the lights were out. I went inside and asked if they had any idea how long it would be, and their only estimate was 'quite a while'. We debated about what to do, and decided to try another sushi restaurant that I've heard is really good. We drove another 15 minutes or so, only to find it was closed! Oh man. One more sushi restaurant wasn't too far away, and I have eaten there before. It wasn't the best but it wasn't bad so we headed that way. As we got closer to our favorite place (which was on the way to this third place), I decided to call and just check. Lo and behold, their power was back up and they were serving food again! Hooray! We felt like we probably should have just stayed there and waited, but we had no way to know that. We were totally happy because they have some unique rolls we really wanted, and who knows when we'll be able to get away again. Hopefully soon Kian will be able to just come with us, but right now we have to limit the time he's in his carseat which makes it really hard.
Incidentally, the food was DELICIOUS. And in spite of feeling like Kian was a ticking time bomb at home, we made it before he was too fussy at all. I can't imagine leaving him with anyone who isn't family, or really leaving him at all for a while. It was just a few hours and I missed him so much. Only sushi made it worth it at all.
The rest of the weekend was laid back, and this morning (Monday), Becky headed for home. It was nice to have her here, but to some degree it is going to be nice to be 'just us' for a while. Brian goes back to work on Wednesday and then Kian and I can start to work on our routine. We'll see how we do. Right now Brian is at work for a short time, after dropping Becky off at the airport. It's the longest it has been just us two (and maybe the only time I've been alone with him - I can't remember if Brian has run any quick errands without any other family around). It's been good though. Clearly I'm updating my blog and I ate too! He's such a wonderful little guy, and I love him so much. We're incredibly lucky to have him.
One more note! Rather than putting pictures here, I opened a Shutterfly account. I'm going to see how it goes for now, though I know there are other picture websites available. For now you should be able to go to http://kianogrady.shutterfly.com to see all kinds of pics. It does give you the option to order prints as well if anyone wants to do that. Otherwise you can just click on the thumbnails and see a larger picture. I haven't done any editing on any of them and some may be dark and/or blurry just so you know ;). If anyone has trouble with this feel free to comment here or shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do.
More to come later!
Our nursery furniture finally came. It was supposed to take 4-6 weeks to arrive and ended up taking 10-11. The last few weeks of trying to get it delivered was a whole pain in the rear, but I don't think I'm going to go into details. It's here now, it's beautiful, and Kian's room is finally done.
Brian and I set everything up, including Brian moving the furniture around a few times until we found the best arrangement. My husband should be a designer I think, because none of my ideas worked and his is just right. We had the items delivered and set up so we didn't have to put anything together, but the highest mattress level on the crib was really high, so Brian already moved it down one level. All of the Pooh stuff looks just fab with the furniture, and the wall color is perfect. I still need to take pictures of the nursery all set up, but they will be coming shortly.
That night Brian's mom (aka Grandma Becky) arrived. She was so happy to meet Kian and couldn't stop saying how beautiful he is.
Friday was Kian's 2 week appointment with his doctor. Getting everything together to leave the house seems to be at least a little easier now, though I still feel like I'm taking half the house with me, and we only use a few things out of the bag. Again we got right in to see the doc which was really nice. He really has grown a ton, and is now weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces! That's half a pound in the last seven days. Holy cow. I'm glad he's gaining weight and doing well, and it helps me to relax about how breastfeeding is going. At the same time, he'll never be as small as he was, ever again. It's a bittersweet moment. Once again, it goes way too stinking fast!
His jaundice is totally gone now, his circ is healed and all is well! We had to get one more heel prick to do the follow up PKU test. It's a test for twenty-something genetic diseases required by law here. Other than the incredibly long wait at the lab it wasn't so bad. I think most of the crying was because the tech had to hold his foot and dab it on the paper over and over and he doesn't like being restrained. Another lady was there with her baby and when we walked in she said "See, that's what a real newborn looks like." Apparently both little boys share a birthday, but hers was 9lbs 9oz when he was born! To be honest he did look really huge to me, but I'm really used to my little tiny guy.
Saturday was yet another milestone, and one that as hard but also exquisite. We left Kian with Grandma Becky and went out for sushi! It's been over 8 months since I last had sushi, and Brian abstained with me, so this was a big moment. I know it's silly but we used to eat sushi a few times a month and it is the one thing I craved consistently all through pregnancy. Of course I cried when we left and tried to distract myself most of the time we were gone. Becky is totally capable and he ate well before we left, plus we were only 20 minutes from home but I still had a hard time with it.
It was pouring rain when we left and Brian joked that the power would be out when we got there. Just like that he jinxed us! Sure enough, when we pulled up there were cops directing traffic at the intersection and all the lights were out. I went inside and asked if they had any idea how long it would be, and their only estimate was 'quite a while'. We debated about what to do, and decided to try another sushi restaurant that I've heard is really good. We drove another 15 minutes or so, only to find it was closed! Oh man. One more sushi restaurant wasn't too far away, and I have eaten there before. It wasn't the best but it wasn't bad so we headed that way. As we got closer to our favorite place (which was on the way to this third place), I decided to call and just check. Lo and behold, their power was back up and they were serving food again! Hooray! We felt like we probably should have just stayed there and waited, but we had no way to know that. We were totally happy because they have some unique rolls we really wanted, and who knows when we'll be able to get away again. Hopefully soon Kian will be able to just come with us, but right now we have to limit the time he's in his carseat which makes it really hard.
Incidentally, the food was DELICIOUS. And in spite of feeling like Kian was a ticking time bomb at home, we made it before he was too fussy at all. I can't imagine leaving him with anyone who isn't family, or really leaving him at all for a while. It was just a few hours and I missed him so much. Only sushi made it worth it at all.
The rest of the weekend was laid back, and this morning (Monday), Becky headed for home. It was nice to have her here, but to some degree it is going to be nice to be 'just us' for a while. Brian goes back to work on Wednesday and then Kian and I can start to work on our routine. We'll see how we do. Right now Brian is at work for a short time, after dropping Becky off at the airport. It's the longest it has been just us two (and maybe the only time I've been alone with him - I can't remember if Brian has run any quick errands without any other family around). It's been good though. Clearly I'm updating my blog and I ate too! He's such a wonderful little guy, and I love him so much. We're incredibly lucky to have him.
One more note! Rather than putting pictures here, I opened a Shutterfly account. I'm going to see how it goes for now, though I know there are other picture websites available. For now you should be able to go to http://kianogrady.shutterfly.com to see all kinds of pics. It does give you the option to order prints as well if anyone wants to do that. Otherwise you can just click on the thumbnails and see a larger picture. I haven't done any editing on any of them and some may be dark and/or blurry just so you know ;). If anyone has trouble with this feel free to comment here or shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do.
More to come later!
Week 2: July 19-25
Kian's one week birthday! We couldn't believe how fast everything went. It is just craziness. He was already starting to look bigger and seeming to change before our very eyes.
We decided to try out his new tummy time mat, a gift from Grandma Becky. He seemed to like it, and started wiggling and kicking right away. Then came a big surprise! He somehow managed to plant one foot and shove himself over. My tiny little guy rolled from his stomach to his back on his one week birthday! Excuse me, but I am ABSOLUTELY supposed to have months before I have to deal with this sort of progress, kid! He did it again just a few minutes later, but I've decided not to really count it as rolling over. It's more like... flinging himself, and not terribly consistent. Or something. He's holding his head up by himself more and more too, and I'm starting to get visions of him running around at 2 months old, 2 feet tall and scampering under the coffee table and stuff. We better go get all of the babyproofing supplies, and quick!
That evening the thought of my parents leaving the next day totally wrecked me. He was still sleeping very inconsistently and I felt like all that was holding my sanity together was having them there to hold him while I napped during the day. They were wonderful enough to give me one more day, and planned to leave Saturday instead.
Friday we had our second doctor's appointment, this one with Col Murphy on base. We got in for our appointment very promptly which was a pleasant surprise. He was still at 5lbs 11oz and about 19 inches long. She said he looked great, and that was a relief too. At the end of the appointment she asked if he was our first child, and then said we seemed like old pros. Go us! We think it must be because I knew a lot of the medical details of his hospital stay (bad handwriting left her with a lot of questions), when he cried I calmly plugged in his pacifier, and in general I wasn't freaked out by the whole process. She was very gentle and generally fantastic so it was a good experience.
One more day of grammy and papa snuggles for Kian, and a freshly vacuumed house for me, and on Saturday grammy and papa headed for home. It was hard and emotional for all of us, and even as I write this I am crying. It's so, so hard for them to not be here. I feel like they are missing so much, and he is missing them, and I am missing them so very much. Living far away has never been easy, but Kian amplifies it all a million times.
On the plus side, he actually slept pretty well Friday night so I felt much more prepared for them to leave on the practical side. Emotionally, no, but I was less worried that I would never sleep again. At this point he started going about 3 hours between feedings even at night, and sleeping soundly in between. Brian referred to it as 'sleeping through the night' but really he just meant actually sleeping at night in his bassinet. Phew. There's a lot of 'phew' going on I'm noticing. Welcome to my life.
Saturday the 22nd was my baby shower. I kept telling the ladies who threw it that we needed to make it sooner but no one would listen to me! I decided I felt up to going to it, and it ended up being a great time! We had a ton of people there, and I still maintain a big part of it was the chance to actually see and hold my little guy. Everyone seemed surprised to see me up and about, dressed and in makeup no less! I wanted to tell them I had makeup on in the hospital, but I kept that to myself :). It was an amazing show of support and love, not to mention the incredible amount of presents this tiny kid hauled in. When you add on all the stuff that's been delivered to our house in the last 10 days, we got all of the necessities and a lot of the 'fun stuff' on our registry. There are still some things we'll go get ourselves, especially babyproofing items, a few decor pieces, and some breastfeeding accessories. Then there are a lot of 'later' pieces like toys and stuff for solids feeding. We should be getting a coupon for 10% off of everything left on our registry soon, and we've received some gift cards which will help cover a lot of what's left. What a spoiled... er, lucky and incredibly loved little boy!
Brian took this week off, so we had a few days with just the three of us. He is of course fantastic, and we managed just fine. Of course, I'd like my house to be a little cleaner and clearly it's taken until now for me to update my blog, but were all bathed and clothed and fed and emergency free.
On Tuesday we actually took a trip up to Babies R Us, which is a decent drive away. We made a couple of exchanges, picked up some gifts from family that were being held there, and purchased a glider for the nursery. The latter was the purpose of the trip, and we drove Brian's truck so we could get it home. They come with assembly required, but the box is still big and my car is not. Unfortunately they only have a few in stock (information I could have used YESTERDAY when I CALLED and asked a bunch of questions about what vehicle I should bring to pick it up) so we have to wait a few weeks. It's gorgeous though, and worth the wait.
Kian seems to be getting much bigger now, filling out and changing every day. We think his circ is healed pretty well now and are looking forward to 'real' baths and not having to use vaseline every time we change him. His schedule is getting even weirder now, and he's eating more frequently at times and less at others. On the plus side he seems to have 2 stretches of 2-3 hours of sleep and one of 4 at night, which is just FANTASTIC for me. One nap during the day and I'm all set.
It's getting easier all the time but again, going WAY TOO FAST.
We decided to try out his new tummy time mat, a gift from Grandma Becky. He seemed to like it, and started wiggling and kicking right away. Then came a big surprise! He somehow managed to plant one foot and shove himself over. My tiny little guy rolled from his stomach to his back on his one week birthday! Excuse me, but I am ABSOLUTELY supposed to have months before I have to deal with this sort of progress, kid! He did it again just a few minutes later, but I've decided not to really count it as rolling over. It's more like... flinging himself, and not terribly consistent. Or something. He's holding his head up by himself more and more too, and I'm starting to get visions of him running around at 2 months old, 2 feet tall and scampering under the coffee table and stuff. We better go get all of the babyproofing supplies, and quick!
That evening the thought of my parents leaving the next day totally wrecked me. He was still sleeping very inconsistently and I felt like all that was holding my sanity together was having them there to hold him while I napped during the day. They were wonderful enough to give me one more day, and planned to leave Saturday instead.
Friday we had our second doctor's appointment, this one with Col Murphy on base. We got in for our appointment very promptly which was a pleasant surprise. He was still at 5lbs 11oz and about 19 inches long. She said he looked great, and that was a relief too. At the end of the appointment she asked if he was our first child, and then said we seemed like old pros. Go us! We think it must be because I knew a lot of the medical details of his hospital stay (bad handwriting left her with a lot of questions), when he cried I calmly plugged in his pacifier, and in general I wasn't freaked out by the whole process. She was very gentle and generally fantastic so it was a good experience.
One more day of grammy and papa snuggles for Kian, and a freshly vacuumed house for me, and on Saturday grammy and papa headed for home. It was hard and emotional for all of us, and even as I write this I am crying. It's so, so hard for them to not be here. I feel like they are missing so much, and he is missing them, and I am missing them so very much. Living far away has never been easy, but Kian amplifies it all a million times.
On the plus side, he actually slept pretty well Friday night so I felt much more prepared for them to leave on the practical side. Emotionally, no, but I was less worried that I would never sleep again. At this point he started going about 3 hours between feedings even at night, and sleeping soundly in between. Brian referred to it as 'sleeping through the night' but really he just meant actually sleeping at night in his bassinet. Phew. There's a lot of 'phew' going on I'm noticing. Welcome to my life.
Saturday the 22nd was my baby shower. I kept telling the ladies who threw it that we needed to make it sooner but no one would listen to me! I decided I felt up to going to it, and it ended up being a great time! We had a ton of people there, and I still maintain a big part of it was the chance to actually see and hold my little guy. Everyone seemed surprised to see me up and about, dressed and in makeup no less! I wanted to tell them I had makeup on in the hospital, but I kept that to myself :). It was an amazing show of support and love, not to mention the incredible amount of presents this tiny kid hauled in. When you add on all the stuff that's been delivered to our house in the last 10 days, we got all of the necessities and a lot of the 'fun stuff' on our registry. There are still some things we'll go get ourselves, especially babyproofing items, a few decor pieces, and some breastfeeding accessories. Then there are a lot of 'later' pieces like toys and stuff for solids feeding. We should be getting a coupon for 10% off of everything left on our registry soon, and we've received some gift cards which will help cover a lot of what's left. What a spoiled... er, lucky and incredibly loved little boy!
Brian took this week off, so we had a few days with just the three of us. He is of course fantastic, and we managed just fine. Of course, I'd like my house to be a little cleaner and clearly it's taken until now for me to update my blog, but were all bathed and clothed and fed and emergency free.
On Tuesday we actually took a trip up to Babies R Us, which is a decent drive away. We made a couple of exchanges, picked up some gifts from family that were being held there, and purchased a glider for the nursery. The latter was the purpose of the trip, and we drove Brian's truck so we could get it home. They come with assembly required, but the box is still big and my car is not. Unfortunately they only have a few in stock (information I could have used YESTERDAY when I CALLED and asked a bunch of questions about what vehicle I should bring to pick it up) so we have to wait a few weeks. It's gorgeous though, and worth the wait.
Kian seems to be getting much bigger now, filling out and changing every day. We think his circ is healed pretty well now and are looking forward to 'real' baths and not having to use vaseline every time we change him. His schedule is getting even weirder now, and he's eating more frequently at times and less at others. On the plus side he seems to have 2 stretches of 2-3 hours of sleep and one of 4 at night, which is just FANTASTIC for me. One nap during the day and I'm all set.
It's getting easier all the time but again, going WAY TOO FAST.
Week 1: Home Finally - July 16-18
We finally got to go home Monday afternoon. Brian had been out and about several times but it was my first time out of the hospital. He felt this same way and mentioned it before, but to be driving through a world that was just going on as normal was really bizarre. Didn't they know the whole world was changed and life would never be the same? Didn't they know a miracle happened and a new amazing person was among them? Apparently not. :) I sat beside him and held his little hand (or rather, he held my finger) the whole time. As the car seat stress test indicated he did great in the car seat and didn't seem to have any breathing issues or anything.
Because my mother is an angel, we came home to a sparkling house, including extra clothes and burp cloths for the baby, all washed and dried and folded and ready for us. As I figured, Kian was hardly ever out of someone's arms and only in mine to eat for the most part. I was the only one with much time with him those last few days in the hospital so I was happy to share. Not to mention, I did a ton of napping in those first few days. It was fabulous to not have to worry about what we were going to do or eat, let alone needing to entertain people. My family just took care of it all, leaving Brian and I to take care of ourselves and Kian. Thank you again family!
That first night we realized that our receiving blankets were much smaller than the ones at the hospital. While I could swaddle Kian, it wasn't a very tight swaddle and I was worried he would kick out of it and end up suffocating in the loose blanket. He is definitely a swaddling sort of baby and so he couldn't sleep unless he was being held. I was up basically all night. Brian got up with him around 4am and took him out into the living room so I could get some sleep. The next day he went right out and bought both some larger receiving blankets and a few specially made swaddling products. I know how to wrap him up myself, but those special swaddling blankets are fantastic! The velcro keeps it all very secure, and I feel safe with him in it at night.
He was still very much on his 3 hour schedule from the hospital during the day, although as the days went by that started to vary between 2-3.5 hours between feedings. These days he was very quiet for the most part, snuggling and sleeping when he wasn't eating. All out screams were very rare, he is more of a fusser and even then mostly only when he needs something. What a little angel!
Kian had his first (sponge) bath on the 17th. He did so well! He hardly fussed at all and actually seemed to enjoy the shampooing. It seemed to hold true for subsequent baths, though he fussed more, he really likes the shampoo part. Hopefully when we move on to 'real' baths he'll like them even better.
Jaime left the morning of the 18th, after spending the previous afternoon holding Kian and crying. Poor Aunt Jaime. It's so rough being so far from all of our family. It is the one bitter aspect of this otherwise so sweet experience.
On the 18th we also had to go back to the hospital for a check on his bilirubin levels. We were a little worried they weren't going to let us take him back home with us. OK, I was a little worried. We saw the nurse practitioner, and she did a head to toe exam on him. Did I mention, a naked exam? She took off his clothes and laid them in the corner of the little bassinet he was in. While she was looking him over with nary a care in the world, Brian nonchalantly reached out and grabbed the clothes. A few seconds later the inevitable happened, and Kian favored the nurse with a stream of urine that splashed all over the bassinet, and would have drenched the clothes if my dear husband didn't have so much foresight. Who ever heard of a nurse who wouldn't have been prepared for THAT? :) On another somewhat humorous note, she justified my decision about the one thing I was really torn on. In all of our childcare classes and in the instructions from the nursery nurses, we were to use washcloths with water to cleanse him during diaper changes. No wipes for 2 weeks. I went back and forth on this for WEEKS. What do you do with poop covered washcloths, especially in the middle of the night? We bought a 2 gallon bucket with a lid, thinking to put bleach water in it and use that, but I just wasn't very happy with the concept. Ick. And who ever heard of such a thing? Finally I decided that we had alcohol free, hypoallergenic, non scented wipes and he would be just fine. Well, that nurse practitioner used scented toddler wipes! Ha! No washcloths for us. Luckily we had that bucket though - we're still using it as the diaper pail with the Pack and Play in our bedroom. The lid keeps the puppies out.
So he passed his exam with flying colors, and she didn't even draw blood to test his bilirubin. His weight was steady at 5 pounds 11 ounces and he seemed to be doing well. His color was looking so great she just sent us home. Phew.
Also on the 18th we had our first non-family visitor. My good friend Ashleigh came to see us and brought a totally adorable frog hooded towel for Kian and a Sudoku book for me. Oh how I wish I had time to use my part of the gift!
All in all this first week was a whirlwind of emotions, anxiety, love and fear and joy and so much more! Having my family here made the transition as easy as it could be, and we made it through without too much trouble at all. Once we knew he was healthy the worst part was that it went SO FAST. I have a feeling that's going to be a theme for this first year, and maybe even the rest of our lives.
Because my mother is an angel, we came home to a sparkling house, including extra clothes and burp cloths for the baby, all washed and dried and folded and ready for us. As I figured, Kian was hardly ever out of someone's arms and only in mine to eat for the most part. I was the only one with much time with him those last few days in the hospital so I was happy to share. Not to mention, I did a ton of napping in those first few days. It was fabulous to not have to worry about what we were going to do or eat, let alone needing to entertain people. My family just took care of it all, leaving Brian and I to take care of ourselves and Kian. Thank you again family!
That first night we realized that our receiving blankets were much smaller than the ones at the hospital. While I could swaddle Kian, it wasn't a very tight swaddle and I was worried he would kick out of it and end up suffocating in the loose blanket. He is definitely a swaddling sort of baby and so he couldn't sleep unless he was being held. I was up basically all night. Brian got up with him around 4am and took him out into the living room so I could get some sleep. The next day he went right out and bought both some larger receiving blankets and a few specially made swaddling products. I know how to wrap him up myself, but those special swaddling blankets are fantastic! The velcro keeps it all very secure, and I feel safe with him in it at night.
He was still very much on his 3 hour schedule from the hospital during the day, although as the days went by that started to vary between 2-3.5 hours between feedings. These days he was very quiet for the most part, snuggling and sleeping when he wasn't eating. All out screams were very rare, he is more of a fusser and even then mostly only when he needs something. What a little angel!
Kian had his first (sponge) bath on the 17th. He did so well! He hardly fussed at all and actually seemed to enjoy the shampooing. It seemed to hold true for subsequent baths, though he fussed more, he really likes the shampoo part. Hopefully when we move on to 'real' baths he'll like them even better.
Jaime left the morning of the 18th, after spending the previous afternoon holding Kian and crying. Poor Aunt Jaime. It's so rough being so far from all of our family. It is the one bitter aspect of this otherwise so sweet experience.
On the 18th we also had to go back to the hospital for a check on his bilirubin levels. We were a little worried they weren't going to let us take him back home with us. OK, I was a little worried. We saw the nurse practitioner, and she did a head to toe exam on him. Did I mention, a naked exam? She took off his clothes and laid them in the corner of the little bassinet he was in. While she was looking him over with nary a care in the world, Brian nonchalantly reached out and grabbed the clothes. A few seconds later the inevitable happened, and Kian favored the nurse with a stream of urine that splashed all over the bassinet, and would have drenched the clothes if my dear husband didn't have so much foresight. Who ever heard of a nurse who wouldn't have been prepared for THAT? :) On another somewhat humorous note, she justified my decision about the one thing I was really torn on. In all of our childcare classes and in the instructions from the nursery nurses, we were to use washcloths with water to cleanse him during diaper changes. No wipes for 2 weeks. I went back and forth on this for WEEKS. What do you do with poop covered washcloths, especially in the middle of the night? We bought a 2 gallon bucket with a lid, thinking to put bleach water in it and use that, but I just wasn't very happy with the concept. Ick. And who ever heard of such a thing? Finally I decided that we had alcohol free, hypoallergenic, non scented wipes and he would be just fine. Well, that nurse practitioner used scented toddler wipes! Ha! No washcloths for us. Luckily we had that bucket though - we're still using it as the diaper pail with the Pack and Play in our bedroom. The lid keeps the puppies out.
So he passed his exam with flying colors, and she didn't even draw blood to test his bilirubin. His weight was steady at 5 pounds 11 ounces and he seemed to be doing well. His color was looking so great she just sent us home. Phew.
Also on the 18th we had our first non-family visitor. My good friend Ashleigh came to see us and brought a totally adorable frog hooded towel for Kian and a Sudoku book for me. Oh how I wish I had time to use my part of the gift!
All in all this first week was a whirlwind of emotions, anxiety, love and fear and joy and so much more! Having my family here made the transition as easy as it could be, and we made it through without too much trouble at all. Once we knew he was healthy the worst part was that it went SO FAST. I have a feeling that's going to be a theme for this first year, and maybe even the rest of our lives.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Week 1: The hospital stay - July 12-16
We got to keep Kian with us all day Thursday and overnight. Brian hardly set him down all day, other than when the rest of the family visited late in the afternoon. I got a little 30 minute nap late morning, but I couldn't sleep otherwise. It didn't help that I was getting checked constantly!
Around 7pm Brian opened the cot and he slept soundly other than one brief period until 7am! Someone was tired :).They took him to weigh him and give him his vaccination in the middle of the night, and I ended up having them keep him for about 2 hours so I could get a little rest.
At 5 they checked his bilirubin and a few hours later when the results came in the neonatologist came to tell us he was jaundiced. The last worry was the only one that came true, and he would have to be under the phototherapy light. We only got to see him for 30 minutes every 3 hours to feed, and at that point they thought it would be 5-6 days. We were really upset, especially because my parents were here and they wouldn't be able to visit him in the nursery or spend any time with him when he was out - he was nursing for the full 30 minutes if not a little longer at this point. Thankfully they were great and decided to stay at least at that point, and came to visit around his feedings. I got a few visits from the lactation consultant, and started pumping with a hopspital grade breast pump. That way when he got hungry between our feeding times they could supplement with breastmilk. At first they also did a few formula bottles, trying to get him to elimate more bilirubin.
Saturday morning his bilirubin was up instead of down, bad news. That same morning the A/C broke at our house and Brian went home to see if he could fix it or get it fixed. He also discovered that the chlorine had run out in the pool and we had green water. Ick. Luckily he managed to get the A/C fixed and shocked the pool, and though it was stressful all ends up just fine.
I got to meet Dr Laudonio, the brother of the vet I used to work for. He was filling in for Dr D and was the OB who officially discharged me and got me a script for stronger pain meds to go home with. Phew. I got discharged officially around 3pm, but they let us stay in our room. They ended up letting us stay overnight in fact, and that was really fantastic. It didn't cost us anything and we got to stay there with Kian for all of those ever so precious and brief feeding times.
Sunday we moved to what is called a 'parents room' around 6pm. It's not actually a labor and delivery room, and I got to sleep on a normal bed. It was probably not a very comfortable bed in fact but it felt heavenly to me! So many nights on the bed that comes apart for delivery had my tailbone screaming (there was a lump that always seemed to be in a bad place no matter how I moved). Papa James got to burp Kian on a visit earlier in the day this day, and we had a few more visits from the lactation consultant. My milk started to come in and Kian was doing great with nursing. His bilirubin was fairly stable at this point but up just a tiny bit. The doctor seemed to think he'd be going home the next day and in the afternoon he was circumcised. When I went to get him for his next feeding they showed me how to care for it. Oh boy. I wasn't prepared for it to look quite so bad, and the blood in the diaper was a surprise though I suppose it shouldn't have been. My mom was watching through the nursery window and she said all the blood drained out of my face. I thought I was going to faint! So much for being a tough mom. Ha. Luckily it didn't look nearly as bad the next diaper change and it got steadily better after that.
Monday was busy! His bilirubin test was done early in the morning and one of the NICU nurses came to do his car seat test. Basically they monitor him resting, then in his car seat to make sure it doesn't stress him too much. Apparently car seats are a big stresser on preemies, but he did very well. In the meantime the test came back and it was decreased slightly so they took him out of the lights! He got to come be with us at that point. Hooray! When they told me that I burst into tears and sobbed. I called my parents when I got myself under control but it didn't last long - I was sobbing by the time my dad picked up. When I finished telling him the situation there was a pause... "So... that's a good thing right?" Oh yeah. I should have started with 'good news!'. The sobbing must have thrown him off :).
We went to an infant CPR class and Grammy and Papa and Jaime came to visit again afterward. They did another bilirubin test and he looked good so we got the official OK to take him home. My parents took a load of stuff home with them, we had a final chat with the lactation folks and returned our rented breastpump, then homeward we went!
What a relief.
More to come soon, right now Kian's asleep and I need a shower!
Around 7pm Brian opened the cot and he slept soundly other than one brief period until 7am! Someone was tired :).They took him to weigh him and give him his vaccination in the middle of the night, and I ended up having them keep him for about 2 hours so I could get a little rest.
At 5 they checked his bilirubin and a few hours later when the results came in the neonatologist came to tell us he was jaundiced. The last worry was the only one that came true, and he would have to be under the phototherapy light. We only got to see him for 30 minutes every 3 hours to feed, and at that point they thought it would be 5-6 days. We were really upset, especially because my parents were here and they wouldn't be able to visit him in the nursery or spend any time with him when he was out - he was nursing for the full 30 minutes if not a little longer at this point. Thankfully they were great and decided to stay at least at that point, and came to visit around his feedings. I got a few visits from the lactation consultant, and started pumping with a hopspital grade breast pump. That way when he got hungry between our feeding times they could supplement with breastmilk. At first they also did a few formula bottles, trying to get him to elimate more bilirubin.
Saturday morning his bilirubin was up instead of down, bad news. That same morning the A/C broke at our house and Brian went home to see if he could fix it or get it fixed. He also discovered that the chlorine had run out in the pool and we had green water. Ick. Luckily he managed to get the A/C fixed and shocked the pool, and though it was stressful all ends up just fine.
I got to meet Dr Laudonio, the brother of the vet I used to work for. He was filling in for Dr D and was the OB who officially discharged me and got me a script for stronger pain meds to go home with. Phew. I got discharged officially around 3pm, but they let us stay in our room. They ended up letting us stay overnight in fact, and that was really fantastic. It didn't cost us anything and we got to stay there with Kian for all of those ever so precious and brief feeding times.
Sunday we moved to what is called a 'parents room' around 6pm. It's not actually a labor and delivery room, and I got to sleep on a normal bed. It was probably not a very comfortable bed in fact but it felt heavenly to me! So many nights on the bed that comes apart for delivery had my tailbone screaming (there was a lump that always seemed to be in a bad place no matter how I moved). Papa James got to burp Kian on a visit earlier in the day this day, and we had a few more visits from the lactation consultant. My milk started to come in and Kian was doing great with nursing. His bilirubin was fairly stable at this point but up just a tiny bit. The doctor seemed to think he'd be going home the next day and in the afternoon he was circumcised. When I went to get him for his next feeding they showed me how to care for it. Oh boy. I wasn't prepared for it to look quite so bad, and the blood in the diaper was a surprise though I suppose it shouldn't have been. My mom was watching through the nursery window and she said all the blood drained out of my face. I thought I was going to faint! So much for being a tough mom. Ha. Luckily it didn't look nearly as bad the next diaper change and it got steadily better after that.
Monday was busy! His bilirubin test was done early in the morning and one of the NICU nurses came to do his car seat test. Basically they monitor him resting, then in his car seat to make sure it doesn't stress him too much. Apparently car seats are a big stresser on preemies, but he did very well. In the meantime the test came back and it was decreased slightly so they took him out of the lights! He got to come be with us at that point. Hooray! When they told me that I burst into tears and sobbed. I called my parents when I got myself under control but it didn't last long - I was sobbing by the time my dad picked up. When I finished telling him the situation there was a pause... "So... that's a good thing right?" Oh yeah. I should have started with 'good news!'. The sobbing must have thrown him off :).
We went to an infant CPR class and Grammy and Papa and Jaime came to visit again afterward. They did another bilirubin test and he looked good so we got the official OK to take him home. My parents took a load of stuff home with them, we had a final chat with the lactation folks and returned our rented breastpump, then homeward we went!
What a relief.
More to come soon, right now Kian's asleep and I need a shower!
Labor Story
OK, now that I'm not sleep deprived, and the laundry is caught up, and Brian isn't watching baseball on my computer, and my mother-in-law is here to keep my hands free... *pant, pant* I am going to get caught up here! So to start with, the labor story. I'm going to try not to go into too much gory detail, but my perception of TMI is rather skewed right now :).
Wednesday, July 11th 3:15pm
My sister Jaime and I went to rent movies and get some food at the grocery store. When we arrived at home I leaned into the backseat to get a bag of groceries and paused. Um... I must have had a funny look on my face because Jaime asked me, "What?"
"Either I am wetting my pants or my water is breaking. And I don't think I'm wetting my pants."
It became even more clear as I walked into the house and there was a little gush of fluid with every other step. Jaime kept saying that it was OK and not panic, but really it sounded more like she was panicking and I felt surprised but not too terribly upset. I took care of myself (changed pants, etc) and then we started making calls.
Brian wasn't answering his cell or office phones, so I called the scheduling desk, asking them to help me find him. When he responded to the page he didn't believe them when they told him my water broke - he thought it was a pretty mean joke to play. When they stuck to their story he called me right away. I told him I wasn't having contractions yet so I didn't think we had to get to the hospital, but that it would be a good idea for him to come home. I called my OB next, and he didn't quite seem to believe that my water had broken at first. I convinced him and he said I did need to get to the hospital right away. Apparently 5 1/2 weeks early plus broken water is not a good mix. Of course, he still said that they would check and make sure it was amniotic fluid, then they would let him know.
I was planning to pack my hospital bag that afternoon, so Jaime and I rushed around throwing things together while Brian drove home. It was around 4:15 by the time we got to the hospital. They got me right upstairs and into a triage room, instructing me to get undressed and wear only my bra and the gown. *WARNING - icky detail coming* The body continues to make amniotic fluid until the baby is born, so I was still gushing fluid. By the time I got back out of the bathroom I swear I was leaving a puddle trail. "Do you want the pad I was wearing?" "Oh, if we can swab that it will be easier on you." "Um, how about you just swab what's running down my leg?" Yeah. Gross. Incidentally the little swab changed color immediately and they decided my water was indeed broken. No kidding! A towel and a wheelchair helped things immensely, and I never even sat on the triage bed. Off to our labor and delivery room we go!
We got a room with a view of the mountains which was really nice. I got all set up with an IV (the first one blew which hurt really bad), and monitoring equipment. All this time I wasn't sure if I was having contractions or not - things felt achy but I wasn't able to tell when one stopped and the next started. Apparently that is because the contractions were 2 minutes apart at most and about 1 minute long. Basically one on top of the other, making it hard to tell them apart. Luckily Kian handled it very well and his heartrate was nice and level and within normal range.
At 5:25 I was dilated to about 1.5 cm and they told me they weren't going to check me too often to avoid greater risks of infection. They worry about that with broken water anyhow, and with him being so early that is an even greater concern. Our nurse mentioned starting pitocin, which I was very against. I wanted the labor to progress naturally if possible, plus my contractions were already coming so hard and fast I didn't think it was necessary. She said she'd talk to the doctor. A few minutes later a note appeared on our monitor (it's all connected and we are nosy so we were watching it) saying that Dr D was ordering pitocin to be started. By the time the nurse came back in I was ready for the argument. No pitocin until I could talk to the Dr about it. When he called a while later he was pretty grumpy. "You refused the medication I ordered?" I tried to explain I just wanted to know his reasoning, and that I really didn't feel that it was necessary, but I would do whatever he felt needed to be done. He didn't want me to labor for more than 16 hours, but that was a long way off so I asked for a few more hours at least. At that point he basically said I had to have it. Happily for me, before they could give me the drugs he called back, apologized, and said we'd give it some time. Yay!
There was a shift change and we got a new nurse (all of the staff was fabulous by the way). Around 8:10pm I decided it was time for the epidural. The pain wasn't unbearable, but the contractions were still coming so hard and fast I was having a hard time keeping my breath. Besides, if I know I'm going to get pain meds, why wait and suffer? They thought it might help even my contractions out a bit too, which I thought might be better for Kian even though he was handling them just fine. At that point my blood pressure was up a little too, and the epidural helped with that. Dr R the anesthesiologist was fantastic! I was really worried about the epidural but it wasn't bad at all. A little pressure, some warmth, but that's about it. And then it was time to sit back and wait for the pain to slowly abate.
At 8:30 the nurse checked me again - 3cm - and put in the urinary catheter. I wasn't totally numb yet and apparently folks in my family need a pediatric catheter (I did not know this) so it was extremely painful. I mean, EXTREMELY. Other than the very end of labor it was by far the most painful thing I experienced. In fact, it might have been the worst part bar none. Horrid.
Around 10pm or so we all decided to try to get some rest. Brian was out pretty quickly, and I dozed a little. I ended up waking up in pain again around 1am and laid there trying to breathe through it, thinking that if I told them I was hurting they would have to re-place the epidural. When it got to be pretty bad I finally paged the nurse, and lo and behold, the anesthesiologist came in and upped my dose! Apparently I was on a low dose anyhow, and that really did the trick. Silly me for suffering. The nurse said that increase in pain is usually caused by 'something going on down there' so she checked me. 6cm! We called to let my parents know and my mom was instantly sure they weren't going to make it.
Increased pain again around 2:30, and I was dilated to 9cm! Wow, that was fast! Really the 9 was conservative and I was basically fully dilated and almost completely effaced. I got a little more pain meds - the last I would get. She called Dr D, but he was in the middle of a C section at another hospital. I didn't feel the need to push at all and wanted to try and wait until my parents arrived anyhow, so all was well. When the doc got there he said he could feel Kian's head with just his fingertips inside and I could push whenever I was ready. I told him I wanted to wait and he was OK with that. I was in a ton of pain with every (still fairly close together) contraction now, but they didn't want to give me anything more - that way I could feel when to push. I just breathed through and held on. OK, and moaned and squeezed Brian's hand and rolled back and forth a little. No screaming or mean name calling or crying though! Woo!
Somewhere in here I asked the doctor if there was any chance that he wouldn't have to go to the NICU. By now I was really, really worried that he was going to have a very hard time. The doc said anything is POSSIBLE but not to get my hopes up. Basically, get ready for him to have to be whisked away and to have to spend time in the NICU. I just tried not to think about it.
My parents arrived around 4am and it was decided that my dad would wait in the waiting room since we could only have 3 people in there. My mom held one leg and Brian held the other. My mom helped me count out my pushes while Jaime looked on. I guess watching tons of baby TV shows paid off because I was a good pusher (apparently). I knew not to make any sound and to try to keep my face relaxed and to put all of my strength into the push.
I ended up pushing for just under an hour. Dr D never told me to push more gently or to let up or anything. Usually they have you stop pushing when the head emerges so they can suction and check the cord isn't wrapped around and all of that. Not in this case! It was push as hard as you can until there was a huge woosh and an icky sound and he basically came shooting right out! The doctor literally had to catch him as he plopped into his lap! Right away he was crying and pinking up, and we could tell he didn't look like a preemie at all. And he was huge! Brian and I both pretty much sobbed at this point. I don't think I've ever seen Brian cry like that. Our special little miracle was here!
They whisked him over to evaluate him (no snuggle for me), and Brian was stuck on the far side of me while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up. That hard as you can stuff resulted in a pretty severe tear, but it was still worth it :). His APGAR scores were 9 and 9, which basically means he was doing great from the start. He never needed any oxygen and it was clear that he wasn't going to be whisked off to the NICU. What a miracle! No problem nursing from the start either, and soon enough we realized that though early, we had a very healthy baby. What an amazing ride!
Wednesday, July 11th 3:15pm
My sister Jaime and I went to rent movies and get some food at the grocery store. When we arrived at home I leaned into the backseat to get a bag of groceries and paused. Um... I must have had a funny look on my face because Jaime asked me, "What?"
"Either I am wetting my pants or my water is breaking. And I don't think I'm wetting my pants."
It became even more clear as I walked into the house and there was a little gush of fluid with every other step. Jaime kept saying that it was OK and not panic, but really it sounded more like she was panicking and I felt surprised but not too terribly upset. I took care of myself (changed pants, etc) and then we started making calls.
Brian wasn't answering his cell or office phones, so I called the scheduling desk, asking them to help me find him. When he responded to the page he didn't believe them when they told him my water broke - he thought it was a pretty mean joke to play. When they stuck to their story he called me right away. I told him I wasn't having contractions yet so I didn't think we had to get to the hospital, but that it would be a good idea for him to come home. I called my OB next, and he didn't quite seem to believe that my water had broken at first. I convinced him and he said I did need to get to the hospital right away. Apparently 5 1/2 weeks early plus broken water is not a good mix. Of course, he still said that they would check and make sure it was amniotic fluid, then they would let him know.
I was planning to pack my hospital bag that afternoon, so Jaime and I rushed around throwing things together while Brian drove home. It was around 4:15 by the time we got to the hospital. They got me right upstairs and into a triage room, instructing me to get undressed and wear only my bra and the gown. *WARNING - icky detail coming* The body continues to make amniotic fluid until the baby is born, so I was still gushing fluid. By the time I got back out of the bathroom I swear I was leaving a puddle trail. "Do you want the pad I was wearing?" "Oh, if we can swab that it will be easier on you." "Um, how about you just swab what's running down my leg?" Yeah. Gross. Incidentally the little swab changed color immediately and they decided my water was indeed broken. No kidding! A towel and a wheelchair helped things immensely, and I never even sat on the triage bed. Off to our labor and delivery room we go!
We got a room with a view of the mountains which was really nice. I got all set up with an IV (the first one blew which hurt really bad), and monitoring equipment. All this time I wasn't sure if I was having contractions or not - things felt achy but I wasn't able to tell when one stopped and the next started. Apparently that is because the contractions were 2 minutes apart at most and about 1 minute long. Basically one on top of the other, making it hard to tell them apart. Luckily Kian handled it very well and his heartrate was nice and level and within normal range.
At 5:25 I was dilated to about 1.5 cm and they told me they weren't going to check me too often to avoid greater risks of infection. They worry about that with broken water anyhow, and with him being so early that is an even greater concern. Our nurse mentioned starting pitocin, which I was very against. I wanted the labor to progress naturally if possible, plus my contractions were already coming so hard and fast I didn't think it was necessary. She said she'd talk to the doctor. A few minutes later a note appeared on our monitor (it's all connected and we are nosy so we were watching it) saying that Dr D was ordering pitocin to be started. By the time the nurse came back in I was ready for the argument. No pitocin until I could talk to the Dr about it. When he called a while later he was pretty grumpy. "You refused the medication I ordered?" I tried to explain I just wanted to know his reasoning, and that I really didn't feel that it was necessary, but I would do whatever he felt needed to be done. He didn't want me to labor for more than 16 hours, but that was a long way off so I asked for a few more hours at least. At that point he basically said I had to have it. Happily for me, before they could give me the drugs he called back, apologized, and said we'd give it some time. Yay!
There was a shift change and we got a new nurse (all of the staff was fabulous by the way). Around 8:10pm I decided it was time for the epidural. The pain wasn't unbearable, but the contractions were still coming so hard and fast I was having a hard time keeping my breath. Besides, if I know I'm going to get pain meds, why wait and suffer? They thought it might help even my contractions out a bit too, which I thought might be better for Kian even though he was handling them just fine. At that point my blood pressure was up a little too, and the epidural helped with that. Dr R the anesthesiologist was fantastic! I was really worried about the epidural but it wasn't bad at all. A little pressure, some warmth, but that's about it. And then it was time to sit back and wait for the pain to slowly abate.
At 8:30 the nurse checked me again - 3cm - and put in the urinary catheter. I wasn't totally numb yet and apparently folks in my family need a pediatric catheter (I did not know this) so it was extremely painful. I mean, EXTREMELY. Other than the very end of labor it was by far the most painful thing I experienced. In fact, it might have been the worst part bar none. Horrid.
Around 10pm or so we all decided to try to get some rest. Brian was out pretty quickly, and I dozed a little. I ended up waking up in pain again around 1am and laid there trying to breathe through it, thinking that if I told them I was hurting they would have to re-place the epidural. When it got to be pretty bad I finally paged the nurse, and lo and behold, the anesthesiologist came in and upped my dose! Apparently I was on a low dose anyhow, and that really did the trick. Silly me for suffering. The nurse said that increase in pain is usually caused by 'something going on down there' so she checked me. 6cm! We called to let my parents know and my mom was instantly sure they weren't going to make it.
Increased pain again around 2:30, and I was dilated to 9cm! Wow, that was fast! Really the 9 was conservative and I was basically fully dilated and almost completely effaced. I got a little more pain meds - the last I would get. She called Dr D, but he was in the middle of a C section at another hospital. I didn't feel the need to push at all and wanted to try and wait until my parents arrived anyhow, so all was well. When the doc got there he said he could feel Kian's head with just his fingertips inside and I could push whenever I was ready. I told him I wanted to wait and he was OK with that. I was in a ton of pain with every (still fairly close together) contraction now, but they didn't want to give me anything more - that way I could feel when to push. I just breathed through and held on. OK, and moaned and squeezed Brian's hand and rolled back and forth a little. No screaming or mean name calling or crying though! Woo!
Somewhere in here I asked the doctor if there was any chance that he wouldn't have to go to the NICU. By now I was really, really worried that he was going to have a very hard time. The doc said anything is POSSIBLE but not to get my hopes up. Basically, get ready for him to have to be whisked away and to have to spend time in the NICU. I just tried not to think about it.
My parents arrived around 4am and it was decided that my dad would wait in the waiting room since we could only have 3 people in there. My mom held one leg and Brian held the other. My mom helped me count out my pushes while Jaime looked on. I guess watching tons of baby TV shows paid off because I was a good pusher (apparently). I knew not to make any sound and to try to keep my face relaxed and to put all of my strength into the push.
I ended up pushing for just under an hour. Dr D never told me to push more gently or to let up or anything. Usually they have you stop pushing when the head emerges so they can suction and check the cord isn't wrapped around and all of that. Not in this case! It was push as hard as you can until there was a huge woosh and an icky sound and he basically came shooting right out! The doctor literally had to catch him as he plopped into his lap! Right away he was crying and pinking up, and we could tell he didn't look like a preemie at all. And he was huge! Brian and I both pretty much sobbed at this point. I don't think I've ever seen Brian cry like that. Our special little miracle was here!
They whisked him over to evaluate him (no snuggle for me), and Brian was stuck on the far side of me while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up. That hard as you can stuff resulted in a pretty severe tear, but it was still worth it :). His APGAR scores were 9 and 9, which basically means he was doing great from the start. He never needed any oxygen and it was clear that he wasn't going to be whisked off to the NICU. What a miracle! No problem nursing from the start either, and soon enough we realized that though early, we had a very healthy baby. What an amazing ride!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Belated Announcement!
Kian is here!
He arrived at 4:52am on Thursday, July 12. He weighed in at 6lb 0.7oz and was 19 inches long. He is beautiful and perfect and doing well. I know I'm way behind here, but I'll be blogging more details soon.
He arrived at 4:52am on Thursday, July 12. He weighed in at 6lb 0.7oz and was 19 inches long. He is beautiful and perfect and doing well. I know I'm way behind here, but I'll be blogging more details soon.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Pictures, For Real! Weeks 32 and 33
Hmm. It appears the picture difficulties may have been a Mozilla problem. It occured to me this morning that it's probably because the pic upload thing is a pop up. I'll have to mess with that.
In the meantime, here are the pictures reluctantly brought to you by Internet Explorer :).
For comparison's sake:
In the meantime, here are the pictures reluctantly brought to you by Internet Explorer :).
For comparison's sake:
Week 32, taken June 28th
Week 33, taken July 5th
Week 32, front view
Week 33, front view
Yikes. I guess I really am growing as fast as I think I am. And for some reason my belly button continues to be all skewed to one side bizarrely. Silly baby, center yourself! Hee.
The plan is to take another set this week and every week hereafter so we can watch with amazement as I manage to not explode.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Pictures!
For some reason Blogger is not letting me upload any pictures right now. I have had a very busy and intermittently rough day (I'll tell ya all about it later), and right now I do not need this aggravation!
So yeah, sorry to get your hopes all up and then fail you so miserably, but there will apparently be no pictures today. I uploaded them and edited them and everything. Just ask Jaime. Maybe tomorrow.
So yeah, sorry to get your hopes all up and then fail you so miserably, but there will apparently be no pictures today. I uploaded them and edited them and everything. Just ask Jaime. Maybe tomorrow.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Week 33: June 29-July 5
Lots happened this week!
First of all, I had a routine doctor's appointment on Monday. Things are looking good. I'm 2 cm bigger than I should be as usual. The Pea's heartrate sounded great and my blood pressure is normal. When I was getting measured the doc asked me if I was having a contraction. Nope, that's just the baby... I think you said this was his butt last time? He felt around then just shook his head. He's really "prominent" (yeah, tell me about it). According to doc it's a testament to the fact that I haven't gained much weight. Apparently he means like, unnecessary non-baby weight because I HAVE gained plenty. Trust me. I finally chatted with him about my feeling that I might be farther along than we think. I have hit every milestone at the very earliest end of the normal range, and he just seems enormous to me. I felt him kick at 16 weeks, when most of the other first time moms around me didn't feel anything until 19-20 weeks, one girl 25 weeks! By 17 weeks BRIAN could feel him from the outside, and by the time my parents were here around 20 weeks he was kicking hard enough to be seen across the room. Obviously I'm measuring big, and my Braxton Hicks contractions hit as soon as they could. He explained that the best indicator of gestational age is when the ultrasound and your last menstrual cycle agree or nearly agree. Mine were just a few days apart. Also, most healthy babies are approximately the same size until week 20, so if you get the ultrasound before that it's extremely accurate (ours was at 18 weeks I think). Basically, the early movement feelings and his current prominence are a combination of not much being between him and the outside world, and now he's just big. Really big. The doc says he's guessing he'll be around 8 pounds - no 5 or 6 pound baby for me! We talked a little about the fact that that sort of concerns me, and he said once I hit 38 weeks, as soon as I start dialating they can induce me. Of course, it might all just happen at that point anyhow, but the last lady in our squadron who just had her baby was at 2 cm for like 10 days before she actually went into labor. So, that's cool I guess.
The other thing he told us was that at 34 weeks they no longer stop pre-term labor. So if I go into labor anytime after then they just let it run its course. This is sort of good because the meds they use are seriously unpleasant and it rarely works anyhow. As we left he grinned and said that he's the one on call this week so if anything happened he'd be around. So... nah you aren't farther along than you think, but if you go into labor this weekend let me know. Yikes? :)
Brian took Monday-Wednesday off and he worked on painting the nursery the whole time. He's so great! It's all primed and the walls (yellow on top, sage on bottom) are done. He's going to paint the trim and doors white this weekend. If only the people we bought this house from hadn't painted the room 5 shades of atrocious minty blue-green INCLUDING THE TRIM AND DOORS, it would be done by now. It's getting close. We're supposed to have our nursery furniture no later than next Friday, so we'll see how that goes. We want to do a white chair rail but I think we're going to hire a handyman to actually do the cutting and installing because few corners are actually square and apparently it's a big pain in the butt. Too bad we don't have a handyman in the family!
My sister arrives on July 6th for a week or so visit. I'm so excited! Other than when I first found out I was pregnant I haven't seen her, and I'm sure she's going to totally freak out. I don't think it's quite real to her yet, but it's sure going to be! I think we're planning a pretty easy going week, though my mom sent some money so we can get our baby swing so we'll be doing that. Hooray. It's so cute! I'll take pictures.
As for me, I am SO in my third trimester! Whenever anyone asks me how I am I want to reply "eight and a half months pregnant". Technically I'm great! The baby's healthy, I'm healthy, he's moving and growing and things are fine. I don't have hemorrhoids or varicose veins, my hands and feet are only a tiny bit swollen, it's all good. At the same time, I'm having a hard time breathing, I feel huge, my abdomen is like, as stretched as it can be and I feel like something's gotta give. I have to pee every 10 minutes, and it's not just a need to go, it's like this crazy uncomfortable pressure... like there's a 5 pound creature ramming his head into it. Yeah, something like that. I can't get up or down or around anymore without a lot of effort. My digestion is all wacky. My back hurts much of the time, and I'm hardly sleeping now. I can't remember ANYTHING and my brain is swiss cheese. Blech. Of course, all of this is totally normal and honestly nothing I can't handle. It's just... getting a little more unpleasant as we go. I'm still hoping for August 1st-ish as a delivery date. We'll see how accomodating this little Pea is!
First of all, I had a routine doctor's appointment on Monday. Things are looking good. I'm 2 cm bigger than I should be as usual. The Pea's heartrate sounded great and my blood pressure is normal. When I was getting measured the doc asked me if I was having a contraction. Nope, that's just the baby... I think you said this was his butt last time? He felt around then just shook his head. He's really "prominent" (yeah, tell me about it). According to doc it's a testament to the fact that I haven't gained much weight. Apparently he means like, unnecessary non-baby weight because I HAVE gained plenty. Trust me. I finally chatted with him about my feeling that I might be farther along than we think. I have hit every milestone at the very earliest end of the normal range, and he just seems enormous to me. I felt him kick at 16 weeks, when most of the other first time moms around me didn't feel anything until 19-20 weeks, one girl 25 weeks! By 17 weeks BRIAN could feel him from the outside, and by the time my parents were here around 20 weeks he was kicking hard enough to be seen across the room. Obviously I'm measuring big, and my Braxton Hicks contractions hit as soon as they could. He explained that the best indicator of gestational age is when the ultrasound and your last menstrual cycle agree or nearly agree. Mine were just a few days apart. Also, most healthy babies are approximately the same size until week 20, so if you get the ultrasound before that it's extremely accurate (ours was at 18 weeks I think). Basically, the early movement feelings and his current prominence are a combination of not much being between him and the outside world, and now he's just big. Really big. The doc says he's guessing he'll be around 8 pounds - no 5 or 6 pound baby for me! We talked a little about the fact that that sort of concerns me, and he said once I hit 38 weeks, as soon as I start dialating they can induce me. Of course, it might all just happen at that point anyhow, but the last lady in our squadron who just had her baby was at 2 cm for like 10 days before she actually went into labor. So, that's cool I guess.
The other thing he told us was that at 34 weeks they no longer stop pre-term labor. So if I go into labor anytime after then they just let it run its course. This is sort of good because the meds they use are seriously unpleasant and it rarely works anyhow. As we left he grinned and said that he's the one on call this week so if anything happened he'd be around. So... nah you aren't farther along than you think, but if you go into labor this weekend let me know. Yikes? :)
Brian took Monday-Wednesday off and he worked on painting the nursery the whole time. He's so great! It's all primed and the walls (yellow on top, sage on bottom) are done. He's going to paint the trim and doors white this weekend. If only the people we bought this house from hadn't painted the room 5 shades of atrocious minty blue-green INCLUDING THE TRIM AND DOORS, it would be done by now. It's getting close. We're supposed to have our nursery furniture no later than next Friday, so we'll see how that goes. We want to do a white chair rail but I think we're going to hire a handyman to actually do the cutting and installing because few corners are actually square and apparently it's a big pain in the butt. Too bad we don't have a handyman in the family!
My sister arrives on July 6th for a week or so visit. I'm so excited! Other than when I first found out I was pregnant I haven't seen her, and I'm sure she's going to totally freak out. I don't think it's quite real to her yet, but it's sure going to be! I think we're planning a pretty easy going week, though my mom sent some money so we can get our baby swing so we'll be doing that. Hooray. It's so cute! I'll take pictures.
As for me, I am SO in my third trimester! Whenever anyone asks me how I am I want to reply "eight and a half months pregnant". Technically I'm great! The baby's healthy, I'm healthy, he's moving and growing and things are fine. I don't have hemorrhoids or varicose veins, my hands and feet are only a tiny bit swollen, it's all good. At the same time, I'm having a hard time breathing, I feel huge, my abdomen is like, as stretched as it can be and I feel like something's gotta give. I have to pee every 10 minutes, and it's not just a need to go, it's like this crazy uncomfortable pressure... like there's a 5 pound creature ramming his head into it. Yeah, something like that. I can't get up or down or around anymore without a lot of effort. My digestion is all wacky. My back hurts much of the time, and I'm hardly sleeping now. I can't remember ANYTHING and my brain is swiss cheese. Blech. Of course, all of this is totally normal and honestly nothing I can't handle. It's just... getting a little more unpleasant as we go. I'm still hoping for August 1st-ish as a delivery date. We'll see how accomodating this little Pea is!
Week 32: June 22-28
As mentioned in the previous post, we started this week with the Babies R Us brunch deal. Very cool. We ate lunch at a brew pub afterward, and it was amazingly good! It's called BJ's Restaurant and brewery, and while I thought it was pretty much a local place, it turns out it's a chain. If you ever come across one, it's worth checking out. I've been told the beer is very good, though of course I did not have any myself. I had a turkey cobb club (roast turkey, avacado, bacon, tomato, lettuce and dijion mayo) and it was just really good, though fairly simple. Brian had fish tacos, and they were smoky (cumin I think) and super tasty, too!
I think I mentioned before that I put the Pea's play yard together. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, and I did it all by myself! I've read a lot of reviews that talk about it being really hard, and taking couples 3 hours together to get it done. Insanity. It's still hanging out in the bedroom and I think it's there to stay. I feel better having it all ready to go.
I went out and got some more basic stuff this week, like long sleeved side-snap t-shirts with the little mitten cuffs. That's what they use in the hospital so I got a few extras to have at home. I'll admit I also bought a really cute little Pooh outfit with a hooded sweatshirt too! Everything says you should have sweaters so you can layer but really it was just a matter of sheer cuteness I simply couldn't resist. THEN I washed stuff! There are supposedly chemicals in the creating and packaging processes that you don't want against the baby's skin so everything has to be washed first. I stuck with basics and gender neutral items mostly, just in case on the off chance he ends up being a she. I think that's highly unlikely, but just in case. My sister was supposed to be a boy after all! All of the baby's bedding for play yard and crib both are all washed and set too, as well as washcloths and towels. Yay! I only have one set of bedding so far, and I'll definitely need a backup set in case of explosions, but for now the basics are all covered. Yet again, a nice feeling of being somewhat more prepared and less anxious.
I continue to get bigger all the time, and the Pea keeps growing and getting big and strong! I'm up to +26 pounds at the end of this week. I'll obviously be at the upper end of the 'normal' range, but I swear most of it is baby! Once again I have pics but I think the hubby has the camera, so they'll be posted this weekend.
I think I mentioned before that I put the Pea's play yard together. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, and I did it all by myself! I've read a lot of reviews that talk about it being really hard, and taking couples 3 hours together to get it done. Insanity. It's still hanging out in the bedroom and I think it's there to stay. I feel better having it all ready to go.
I went out and got some more basic stuff this week, like long sleeved side-snap t-shirts with the little mitten cuffs. That's what they use in the hospital so I got a few extras to have at home. I'll admit I also bought a really cute little Pooh outfit with a hooded sweatshirt too! Everything says you should have sweaters so you can layer but really it was just a matter of sheer cuteness I simply couldn't resist. THEN I washed stuff! There are supposedly chemicals in the creating and packaging processes that you don't want against the baby's skin so everything has to be washed first. I stuck with basics and gender neutral items mostly, just in case on the off chance he ends up being a she. I think that's highly unlikely, but just in case. My sister was supposed to be a boy after all! All of the baby's bedding for play yard and crib both are all washed and set too, as well as washcloths and towels. Yay! I only have one set of bedding so far, and I'll definitely need a backup set in case of explosions, but for now the basics are all covered. Yet again, a nice feeling of being somewhat more prepared and less anxious.
I continue to get bigger all the time, and the Pea keeps growing and getting big and strong! I'm up to +26 pounds at the end of this week. I'll obviously be at the upper end of the 'normal' range, but I swear most of it is baby! Once again I have pics but I think the hubby has the camera, so they'll be posted this weekend.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Less Anxious!
I had to write that last post being true to my feelings last week, but yesterday things got a little better!
We had a brunch and seminar about registering at Babies R Us yesterday. It was lots of good info and we won a few prizes. Woo! Among other things, there is some great info for anyone who lives far away from us.
***If you choose an item from our registry, you can call the Babies R Us here in town and pay over the phone. They will contact us and hold the item. This way you do not have to pay any shipping! Once again, we're registry #47265930, which can be found at www.babiesrus.com. Their phone number is 520-748-8697. ***
We also added a bunch of stuff to our registry, including a ton of toys. That way if you're more interested in fun stuff rather than practical stuff you should be all set :). We also get a deal on stuff that we end up having to buy ourselves after the baby is born, so we went a little scanner-gun crazy. Clothes are also still totally fantastic! Basics made for hot weather, especially in sizes 3 months and larger are great. It's hard to register for specifics because their stock rotates so frequently, we're just leaving it up to you to pick something cute :).
The anxiety reducing part of the day was when we bought our 'play yard'! It's a fancy name for a playpen (apprarently the latter is offensive and reminiscent of a jail cell or something). The fantastic part about it is that it includes a bassinet portion, and it's where we're planning on having the Pea sleep at first, in our room. So now the Pea has a bed! Woo! It also has an elevated changing table portion which will make midnight diaper changes easier both by location and being easy on our backs. I'll try to remember to get a pic when we take belly pictures this next week. We also had some coupons and got some more small diapers and baby wipes, as well as baby Tylenol, diaper cream and that gas relief stuff. Now I feel much more prepared. Phew.
I am so lucky to have an understanding husband. I totally get that my anxiety is absolutely irrational. It's hormones and nesting and whatever, and I KNOW that it's silly but I can't help it. We have to get a playpen /sometime/ so Brian was very supportive of getting it now. And letting me set it up. Hee. It was actually really easy and it fits in our room, though it's a little bigger than I pictured it. I probably won't leave it set up, but I wanted a few nights to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself on it in the middle of the night. So far so good!
We had a brunch and seminar about registering at Babies R Us yesterday. It was lots of good info and we won a few prizes. Woo! Among other things, there is some great info for anyone who lives far away from us.
***If you choose an item from our registry, you can call the Babies R Us here in town and pay over the phone. They will contact us and hold the item. This way you do not have to pay any shipping! Once again, we're registry #47265930, which can be found at www.babiesrus.com. Their phone number is 520-748-8697. ***
We also added a bunch of stuff to our registry, including a ton of toys. That way if you're more interested in fun stuff rather than practical stuff you should be all set :). We also get a deal on stuff that we end up having to buy ourselves after the baby is born, so we went a little scanner-gun crazy. Clothes are also still totally fantastic! Basics made for hot weather, especially in sizes 3 months and larger are great. It's hard to register for specifics because their stock rotates so frequently, we're just leaving it up to you to pick something cute :).
The anxiety reducing part of the day was when we bought our 'play yard'! It's a fancy name for a playpen (apprarently the latter is offensive and reminiscent of a jail cell or something). The fantastic part about it is that it includes a bassinet portion, and it's where we're planning on having the Pea sleep at first, in our room. So now the Pea has a bed! Woo! It also has an elevated changing table portion which will make midnight diaper changes easier both by location and being easy on our backs. I'll try to remember to get a pic when we take belly pictures this next week. We also had some coupons and got some more small diapers and baby wipes, as well as baby Tylenol, diaper cream and that gas relief stuff. Now I feel much more prepared. Phew.
I am so lucky to have an understanding husband. I totally get that my anxiety is absolutely irrational. It's hormones and nesting and whatever, and I KNOW that it's silly but I can't help it. We have to get a playpen /sometime/ so Brian was very supportive of getting it now. And letting me set it up. Hee. It was actually really easy and it fits in our room, though it's a little bigger than I pictured it. I probably won't leave it set up, but I wanted a few nights to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself on it in the middle of the night. So far so good!
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