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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Yesterday my little man had his last Synagis shot. Less than 10% of all suspected cases of RSV are proving to actually be the dreaded illness. This means that in areas where there is little-no RSV reported, we should be safe to live like we have a normal baby boy!
He also weighed in at 11 lb 4.5 oz (though last time that scaled weighed him 2.5 oz lower than his pediatrician's scale the day before) and was 22 3/8 inches long. I can't believe how quickly he's growing!
He hasn't done much babbling/cooing -- just a couple of noises a day out of him. It still frightens him when he makes a sound and he looks around confused. Tuesday night he actually giggled two times, but again got that frightened look on his face (the look that says, "What the heck was that???") and hasn't done it since no matter how hard we try. The most we can get is a huge smile, with little squinty eyes and shoulders scrunched up. He'll get there though.
The first week of May I will be filling out a questionnaire from the early intervention office in our county. Basically, we have to attempt several different tasks with him and see what he does -- things like handing him a toy and seeing how long he holds it for and whether or not he tries to put it in his mouth, placing a toy in front of him and seeing if he'll reach for it, etc. I went through it the other day just for fun and in all but one category he falls in the "see a specialist" category. Granted, these are tasks that should be done by a 4 month old and he's only 11 weeks adjusted, so we've got 5 weeks until he should be able to do them. Really hoping we get there by then.
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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Isn't he the cutest little lowercase???
Firsts of note:
March 22 -- First sleeping through the night (midnight to 7 am; repeat last night, hoping two in a row is the start of a trend)
March 23 -- First coos/gurgles
March 23/24 -- Midnight feeding, held his own bottle of prune juice (granted it's only 10 ml [appx 1/3 oz])
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006
What we did
I talked to my lactation consultant and she thought it sounded like he was ready for solid food, too. So we tried it.
We mixed up the oatmeal. I nursed him. Then we set him down and prepared to feed him the cereal. He was interested in the first bit that hit his mouth but by the second spoon decided he wasn't so much "interested" as "repulsed." He spit every bit of it out and cried hysterically.
It was bad. He was totally not ready, or maybe he was just too hungry as he did follow up with a 4 ounce bottle (giving him a total of at least 5 ounces taken in as he still refuses to finish a feeding by nursing -- he still does about half and half, but his nursing that time wasn't very effective and he refused to latch for long at all). So, maybe we'll try again in another week or two or three. We'll see.
I'm contemplating starting him on prunes rather than cereal. We bought some and the ingredients are prunes and water. He drinks prune juice twice daily to keep his bowels in check and the ingredients of his juice? Prunes and water. I'm thinking if we use that it isn't an entirely new taste sensation and we know the food won't cause a bad reaction since the juice doesn't. This way the only thing he's adjusting to is the spoon and the texture and not something entirely new. Of course, I'll talk to his pediatrician before I do anything that way.
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Monday, March 20, 2006
To feed or not to feed?
I should post about my weekend trip to my in-laws, but my mind has exhausted that topic as I keep replaying the whole thing in my mind. In short, it was not so good. The only thing I'll say is that from Friday evening until noon on Sunday, my mother-in-law held my son for all of twenty-five minutes.
Instead of that, lets talk feeding. My little man is five months old today. At his four month visit, the pediatrician said that most babies begin eating solid foods between four and six months of age. He said that while we might feel it's a little early we should begin thinking about it. He stated that he felt that premature babies should begin with cereals a little earlier than full term babies as they will exhaust their iron stores sooner (and my little one does have a tendency toward anemia that required one blood transfusion and even with supplemental iron he still drops down to the "borderline" area). His suggestion was that perhaps we should start cereal at five months.
I'm looking at him and I just can't see it. I'm guesstimating his weight at around 11 pounds. He sits well in his bumbo seat (and looks quite funny in it being that he's so small).
I guess I'm just having a hard time right now dealing with the dichotomy. He's five months old. He should be 2 1/2 months old. He sits with support, he holds his head up well, he loves to bear weight on his feet and does so for long periods of time. But he's also just begin responsive smiling. He doesn't coo or make much vocal noise other than crying. He's fascinated by mobiles and likes to hit one toy (a ball with a bell inside and Winnie the Pooh sitting on top), but otherwise doesn't play with any toys. He won't grasp a rattle (but he will shake his pacifier at you on occasion and yesterday he liked playing with his new spoon).
I just don't know how to do this part...this making decisions as to when to move forward. I know my pediatrician told us to think about it and in our discussions said he thought five months would be a good time for it, but now that the time has come...is it really the right time?
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Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Since the birth of the lowercase, I haven't let myself take time to think about how much weight I had gained. I haven't stepped on a scale since before I became pregnant. My last known weight was around 110-115. I was wearing a size 4 or 6 depending on the style and clothing brand.
Since delivery, I'm still wearing my knock-off Juicy tracksuit. I have one pair of track pants that I bought at Target, size Medium, that also fit. Obviously I haven't even considered pulling out my size 4 jeans. That would just be crazy.
I truthfully don't know how much I weigh and am frightened to find out. I'm guessing it's somewhere between 130 and 140 but that's a truly arbitrary guess.
And I want to take the weight off. BUT...with the issues that I've had with milk production, I'm afraid to mess with my caloric intake too much (FYI, I increased the Reglan to 2/day and it's back up; will soon alternate 1 and 2 pill days until things stabilize, then back to 1/day for a while).
I was excited over the weekend when the temperature rose to the upper 50s/low 60s. We bundled up the lowercase and put him in his stroller for a nice walk around the neighborhood. I was winded after 30 minutes, but I felt so good! Of course, today there are snow flurries. Not anything that's even come close to sticking just an occasional flake floating by the window. Thank you Western NY and your damned lakes!
So...what's a girl to do? I can't handle living in sweats forever and I'd like to fit into some of my summer clothes once it gets warm. My college roommate is coming to visit in April and I really can't stand the thought of her seeing me the way I look now. Not that she would care because she's one of the least superficial people I know, but I would feel better. I was putting some photos in albums the other day and saw some of me when I was in college and damn was I skinny. Granted I lost 15 my freshman year (90 lbs) and had an accidental relapse of my high school eating habits (I didn't eat) during my junior year and dropped to 87 lbs (incidentally that low was reached after the weekend I met Mr. W in NYC -- too much walking around Manhattan and kissing to remember to eat!).
Still, I need to get this weight off or it could be years before I do. I know me. I get lazy. I get comfortable. I don't do it. What is a good plan for a mom with milk supply issues who really can't screw around with her diet too much and a baby who still eats every 3 hours (corrected age almost 9 weeks and STILL not increasing his amount per feeding enough to go more than 3 hours between)? I have a mom and baby yoga dvd that I just bought but haven't had time to do yet. I honestly don't have much time for anything.
My daily schedule looks like this:
9:00-9:05 -- Diaper.
9:05-9:15/30(ish) -- Nurse.
9:15/30(ish)-10(ish) -- Bottle feed.
10(ish)-10:15/30(ish) -- Pump.
Play with the baby, go to the bathroom, eat, etc.
12:00 repeat the cycle...and again at 3...and 6...and 9...
So...where do I find the time for me in there? The time to "exercise" and pay attention to my diet? And take a bath and brush my teeth?
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Thursday, March 09, 2006
Things have been crazy and it finally hit me that I haven't posted in over a week. My little man's fever lasted just over 24 hours and was not affected by the Synagis shot he had the day after his 4-month visit. That same day he had another follow-up exam to check for retinopathy of prematurity at the eye doctor. We had good news on that front -- the vessels have all grown in and matured and are NORMAL. This doesn't mean he won't have any of the other complications of prematurity (primarily strabismus), but it does mean that he doesn't need to be seen in the eye clinic until September!
On Thursday afternoon, we took our first road trip. We drove ten hours to visit my family. Of course, lake effect snow between Buffalo and Cleveland cropped up and made the trip take twelve hours. But, the little man handled it like a trooper. He didn't cry (until it got dark and we discovered how intensely he is afraid of the dark -- at that point, I held a small flashlight in his car seat, pointed away from his eyes with a blanket blocking it from shining outside of the car). He was very agreeable to being fed a quick bottle in the car and being changed on the folded flat front seat.
We had a great time with my family and it really cheered my grandfather up. He had a heart attack and two extensive surgeries to place stents in under two weeks and our visit was timed for a week after that. We only allowed my parents and grandparents to come into the house as everyone else has kids and we didn't want to let some in and not others based on their exposure -- the kids are all young enough that they just wouldn't understand that. My niece, however, did have her cousin drive by and let her come to the door to see the baby. She's usually such a tomboy that I wouldn't think she would care about seeing a baby (I know she didn't care when her brother was born), but she was determined that she *had* to see him.
In other news, my pumped volume of milk has drastically dropped upon returning home despite the fact that my drug dosage hasn't changed. I decided to up the prescription amount since it doesn't do me any good to take it for six months at the current dosage if I'm not getting any milk. Every extra pill I take cuts my length of time on the drugs down by one day however since my doctor refuses to up my dosage or let me stay on them for any longer than six months.
And in the last two days, my little man has taken to waking every two hours at night and then will take only about an ounce to an ounce and a half of milk (night time is bottle time in our house). It's got me at my very end since he's so awake and alert now during the day. I can't do that "sleep when he sleeps" thing because the few times he sleeps I like to actually eat something. And of course, lately the sleeping for him will only occur in my arms. It's all just very frustrating. (For example, this morning, he was fussy after eating and crying in his sleep. I let him lay on my chest in bed and he quieted and slept. I needed to use the bathroom, so I laid him down in his bed. He was instantly awake and wailing. I feel terrible about it, but there are times now when I just have to ignore his crying or I'd never get to go to the bathroom!)
(Not sure if I posted this when he had the fever...his appointment that day weighed him at 9 lb 5 oz and either 21 or 22 inches long)
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Baby's First...Fever?
My lowercase had his 4 month physical this morning (at 7:40 am -- WHAT was I thinking???). He was poked, prodded, weighed, thoroughly discussed and then given his four vaccines.
He weighed in at 9 lb 5 oz and 22 inches long. His head circumference is now on the 7th percentile curve. His length and weight are nearing the curve. The ped is quite happy with his progress.
And then tonight he got his first fever. When it hit 100.5, we called the doctor to find out what dose of infant Tylenol he should take. It's dropped since his first dose at 8:30pm, but it is still above 99 when he typically runs around 98.0-98.3.
It's breaking my heart to see my little man not feeling well. And first thing tomorrow morning, he gets his eyes dilated to do an ROP check followed by a Synagis shot to fend off the evil RSV at noon. My poor, poor little man.
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