Our last day in the NICU the nurse was changing Christopher. I had noticed earlier that he kind of had three explosions before he was done. But she was the nurse and I figured she knew what she was doing (and bless her heart she didn't ask me if I wanted to change him!).
Jared decides to ask... "Do babies projectile poop? I know they projectile vomit, but can they poop like that too?".
As if God were waiting, Christopher showed us that yes, indeed, babies do projectile poop. Jared jumped about ten feet sideways while the nurse just stared at him in shock. It was everywhere!
Way to go Little Dude! Can't wait to tortue you with that one!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
New Normal
I was sitting with Christopher in his room a few days ago and thought...gosh I can't wait until everything gets back to normal. Thankfully I didn't cry. Just realized that life as we know it is gone and we're into a whole new world!
His nights are getting better. The last three nights were OK where I have been able to rock him back to sleep and put him right back in his crib after a diaper change and bottle. The little stinker sure loves to snuggle. Sometimes I find I've fallen asleep while rocking him. God I hope I don't ever drop him. I'll have to rig up some sort of seat belt system for the two of us. Poor kid is gonna have to go to therapy someday, I'm SO neurotic.
We had our one month check-up yesterday. He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 9 oz. Definitely doing very well. He will officially be 1 month on July 27th! I cannot even believe that he has been here a month already. And dare I say, it is getting easier? Nah, I know we have a lot of nights to look forward to yet.
I took him into the Doctor this past Monday as well. Sunday morning, after my dearest husband let me sleep in (love you), we noticed that Christopher's right eye was a little gloppy. I called the on call MD and they suggested we get in on Monday. It isn't conjunctivitis and the Doctor didn't think it was a clogged duct either. Of course his eye looked fabulous at the appointment. It has been gloppy off and on all week (again looked good on Friday when we were in). Honestly I'm fruiting out about it a bit, but am trusting the physicians.
We're also struggling with MONSTER gas. Him, not me. I swear he could fart any of us under the table. He just cries and cries right before he poops. Not constipated, thankfully but just lots of air. He is so difficult to burp too. I asked the MD yesterday about Mylicon drops and we're going to start them today. Hopefully they will provide him some relief. Poor little peanut.
So enough about him, let's talk about meeeeee! I am so thrilled to announce that I bought new bras today. EVERYTHING from my neck to my knees seems to have fallen about 10 inches including the girls. I was so excited to get nice new bras! I told Jared I'd like a "redo" at 40 - maybe even them out and lift them up a little. We'll have to start saving now!
I also rejoined Weight Watchers. I am excited to say that I am 40+ lbs less than what I was when I found out I was pregnant with Christopher (down 56 total!!). It gives me mega motivation to keep it going. I'm hoping to have some good results by my birthday and even better by New Years. Meh...I can get hopeful, right? Leave it to me to be the conundrum of all things, most women gain weight while pregnant...not me...I lost! Let's have another baby!!! (Trust me, I'm not that crazy!)
Finally, to close here are a few of my new favorite things:
That fake farty smile (oh the benefits of being gassy) that Christopher displays.
The way he opens one eye while being rocked as if to check that I am still there.
The look he gets on his face after a good burp - I need to get a picture of this, it is priceless and probably won't last much longer.
The fact that diaper changes are getting easier & faster. Gosh we were all thumbs!
That I have a great support system, including my husband. I am hard on him but I know he is as new to this as I am.
His nights are getting better. The last three nights were OK where I have been able to rock him back to sleep and put him right back in his crib after a diaper change and bottle. The little stinker sure loves to snuggle. Sometimes I find I've fallen asleep while rocking him. God I hope I don't ever drop him. I'll have to rig up some sort of seat belt system for the two of us. Poor kid is gonna have to go to therapy someday, I'm SO neurotic.
We had our one month check-up yesterday. He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 9 oz. Definitely doing very well. He will officially be 1 month on July 27th! I cannot even believe that he has been here a month already. And dare I say, it is getting easier? Nah, I know we have a lot of nights to look forward to yet.
I took him into the Doctor this past Monday as well. Sunday morning, after my dearest husband let me sleep in (love you), we noticed that Christopher's right eye was a little gloppy. I called the on call MD and they suggested we get in on Monday. It isn't conjunctivitis and the Doctor didn't think it was a clogged duct either. Of course his eye looked fabulous at the appointment. It has been gloppy off and on all week (again looked good on Friday when we were in). Honestly I'm fruiting out about it a bit, but am trusting the physicians.
We're also struggling with MONSTER gas. Him, not me. I swear he could fart any of us under the table. He just cries and cries right before he poops. Not constipated, thankfully but just lots of air. He is so difficult to burp too. I asked the MD yesterday about Mylicon drops and we're going to start them today. Hopefully they will provide him some relief. Poor little peanut.
So enough about him, let's talk about meeeeee! I am so thrilled to announce that I bought new bras today. EVERYTHING from my neck to my knees seems to have fallen about 10 inches including the girls. I was so excited to get nice new bras! I told Jared I'd like a "redo" at 40 - maybe even them out and lift them up a little. We'll have to start saving now!
I also rejoined Weight Watchers. I am excited to say that I am 40+ lbs less than what I was when I found out I was pregnant with Christopher (down 56 total!!). It gives me mega motivation to keep it going. I'm hoping to have some good results by my birthday and even better by New Years. Meh...I can get hopeful, right? Leave it to me to be the conundrum of all things, most women gain weight while pregnant...not me...I lost! Let's have another baby!!! (Trust me, I'm not that crazy!)
Finally, to close here are a few of my new favorite things:
That fake farty smile (oh the benefits of being gassy) that Christopher displays.
The way he opens one eye while being rocked as if to check that I am still there.
The look he gets on his face after a good burp - I need to get a picture of this, it is priceless and probably won't last much longer.
The fact that diaper changes are getting easier & faster. Gosh we were all thumbs!
That I have a great support system, including my husband. I am hard on him but I know he is as new to this as I am.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Breastfeeding is for the birds
I think I may have mentioned the one thing I have truly learned thus far about being a Mommy is that you don't get to make plans. I'm such a Type A need to have everything laid out for me it is really tough to just roll with it.
I knew that having a birth plan was sort of important to me. I wanted a natural, non-epidural, non-pitocin, trust my body birth experience. Someone had other plans! But I knew going into it that I needed to reconcile that and I was okay with Christopher's birth experience.
It never dawned on me that breastfeeding would fall under the same set of don't count your chickens before they hatch rules. Since Christopher was a NICU baby they started him on an IV in his ankle and immediately began to administer sugar water. I wasn't thrilled about this, but given the circumstances I chose to let it go. So out came the hospital's big milking machine and we hooked up several times over next few days. I had also purchased one for home use as I intended to breastfeed Christopher until he was at least six months. There are so many benefits to breast feeding - who wouldn't want to do it for their child...right?
The Lactation Consultant (lovingly referred to as "Nazi" by my family physician) came to visit me on Tuesday and it went pretty poorly. Christopher was not interested in latching for long. Nothing was coming out...who could blame him? Christopher had been supplemented with sugar water and then formula feedings over the last two days. The formula feedings were quite interesting...they dropper fed him like a little birdy. In any case I moved back to my affair with the milk machine while Christopher continued to take supplements. I actually had to leave the hospital to calm myself down. I bawled like a baby in my car feeling less than effective as a Momma.
On Wednesday they switched him to a bottle. Again against all that I had learned in my breastfeeding class...but with circumstances what they were I let it go. I continued to pump and finally over the first weekend we had Christopher home I started to produce...a little.
The next week was kind of hell with the breast pump. I developed blisters, got a clogged milk duct and was generally crabby because my production was so little. The LC suggested I try the herbal supplement Fenugreek to increase my production. Meanwhile Christopher is enjoying formula supplemented with one breast bottle.
The Fenugreek made me smell like maple syrup! YUK. Finally a week ago today I hung up the milking machine. It was too much stress and time...to meet the expectation of the LC I needed to pump almost 5 hours per day. In my spare time, right? I had to pump one last time on Thursday due to another clogged duct.
It was really tough for me to reconcile giving up breastfeeding. I felt really incompetent and less of a woman. I'm sort of okay with it now. I will probably always question it but...it just wasn't an effective us of my time. Stupid boobs.
I knew that having a birth plan was sort of important to me. I wanted a natural, non-epidural, non-pitocin, trust my body birth experience. Someone had other plans! But I knew going into it that I needed to reconcile that and I was okay with Christopher's birth experience.
It never dawned on me that breastfeeding would fall under the same set of don't count your chickens before they hatch rules. Since Christopher was a NICU baby they started him on an IV in his ankle and immediately began to administer sugar water. I wasn't thrilled about this, but given the circumstances I chose to let it go. So out came the hospital's big milking machine and we hooked up several times over next few days. I had also purchased one for home use as I intended to breastfeed Christopher until he was at least six months. There are so many benefits to breast feeding - who wouldn't want to do it for their child...right?
The Lactation Consultant (lovingly referred to as "Nazi" by my family physician) came to visit me on Tuesday and it went pretty poorly. Christopher was not interested in latching for long. Nothing was coming out...who could blame him? Christopher had been supplemented with sugar water and then formula feedings over the last two days. The formula feedings were quite interesting...they dropper fed him like a little birdy. In any case I moved back to my affair with the milk machine while Christopher continued to take supplements. I actually had to leave the hospital to calm myself down. I bawled like a baby in my car feeling less than effective as a Momma.
On Wednesday they switched him to a bottle. Again against all that I had learned in my breastfeeding class...but with circumstances what they were I let it go. I continued to pump and finally over the first weekend we had Christopher home I started to produce...a little.
The next week was kind of hell with the breast pump. I developed blisters, got a clogged milk duct and was generally crabby because my production was so little. The LC suggested I try the herbal supplement Fenugreek to increase my production. Meanwhile Christopher is enjoying formula supplemented with one breast bottle.
The Fenugreek made me smell like maple syrup! YUK. Finally a week ago today I hung up the milking machine. It was too much stress and time...to meet the expectation of the LC I needed to pump almost 5 hours per day. In my spare time, right? I had to pump one last time on Thursday due to another clogged duct.
It was really tough for me to reconcile giving up breastfeeding. I felt really incompetent and less of a woman. I'm sort of okay with it now. I will probably always question it but...it just wasn't an effective us of my time. Stupid boobs.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Life in the NICU
As I mentioned in my previous post, Christopher spent the first four and half days of life in the NICU. It was pretty surreal and scary. I pushed him out, they threw him up on my chest, I blinked and he was gone. I don't even remember them wheeling him out of the room...just telling Jared yes please go with him.
The NICU Doctor came in around 4:30 to explain the situation to Jared & I. It was so difficult for me to comprehend - probably because I don't comprehend much at 4:30 a.m. and because I was still pretty dopey.
We finally got to see Christopher around 10:00 a.m. or so on Sunday morning. I remember the NICU nurse telling us that we couldn't hold him or touch him because it would be too much stimulation for him. How heartbreaking. He was on 100% oxygen through a C-PAP and they were still talking about doing a ventilator if he didn't improve. Dr. Modi showed us Christopher's x-rays and they had already ruled out fluid in his lungs as well as the intestinal blockage. He also said babies with these breathing problems sometimes get worse before they get better.
We had several visitors on Sunday and I spent a lot of time in my room as my blood pressure was still pretty wacky. I wanted to go upstairs to the NICU and spend as much time as possible with Christopher but between visitors and just feeling generally crappy I spent a lot of time in bed.
Overnight they took Christopher off the C-PAP and reduced him to 30% oxygen through the isolette and let us know that he was doing much better. The main issue on Monday was his retaining water. He wasn't peeing much so we really weren't 100% out of the woods. Monday I was released from the birthing center and was finally able to hold my baby boy!
Tuesday we had a consultation with the Lactation Consultant - it didn't go real well and I left the hospital pretty upset. Christopher wanted IMMEDIATE milk and my production was pretty limited.
Wednesday Christopher's medical team thought that he may be able to go home on Thursday! That was phenomenal and awesome to hear. They took him out of the isolette and put him in an open air basinett.
Thursday came pretty fast and before we knew it they were helping us get ready to take our little dude home.
In all the NICU experience was good despite the fears that we had about the situation. I loved the majority of the staff and was thankful for such excellent care. We will definitely go back in a year or so to visit some of our favorite nurses!
The NICU Doctor came in around 4:30 to explain the situation to Jared & I. It was so difficult for me to comprehend - probably because I don't comprehend much at 4:30 a.m. and because I was still pretty dopey.
We finally got to see Christopher around 10:00 a.m. or so on Sunday morning. I remember the NICU nurse telling us that we couldn't hold him or touch him because it would be too much stimulation for him. How heartbreaking. He was on 100% oxygen through a C-PAP and they were still talking about doing a ventilator if he didn't improve. Dr. Modi showed us Christopher's x-rays and they had already ruled out fluid in his lungs as well as the intestinal blockage. He also said babies with these breathing problems sometimes get worse before they get better.
We had several visitors on Sunday and I spent a lot of time in my room as my blood pressure was still pretty wacky. I wanted to go upstairs to the NICU and spend as much time as possible with Christopher but between visitors and just feeling generally crappy I spent a lot of time in bed.
Overnight they took Christopher off the C-PAP and reduced him to 30% oxygen through the isolette and let us know that he was doing much better. The main issue on Monday was his retaining water. He wasn't peeing much so we really weren't 100% out of the woods. Monday I was released from the birthing center and was finally able to hold my baby boy!
Tuesday we had a consultation with the Lactation Consultant - it didn't go real well and I left the hospital pretty upset. Christopher wanted IMMEDIATE milk and my production was pretty limited.
Wednesday Christopher's medical team thought that he may be able to go home on Thursday! That was phenomenal and awesome to hear. They took him out of the isolette and put him in an open air basinett.
Thursday came pretty fast and before we knew it they were helping us get ready to take our little dude home.
In all the NICU experience was good despite the fears that we had about the situation. I loved the majority of the staff and was thankful for such excellent care. We will definitely go back in a year or so to visit some of our favorite nurses!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Long time coming - I'm a Mommy
I've had Christopher home for two weeks and have been meaning to write everything I'm thinking. The number one lesson I've learned is there is no making plans with a baby! So I hope that I do my thoughts and feelings justice almost three weeks after the fact.
The "big day" was scheduled for Wednesday June 30 via induction due to gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Christopher decided - or perhaps it was my body - that enough was enough and it was time to evacuate a little sooner. Jared and I went to dinner with his parents on June 25th and I just wasn't feeling right. I figured it was my BP but was too tired to run around to have it taken. We went home and I went right to bed. I woke up Saturday morning and still felt like crud so I ran to Walmart at 6:15 to take my BP. It was a "little high" at 177/110 so I called L&D and they asked me to come in for monitoring. I was also contracting about every 6 minutes - sounds like someone had a master plan!
By 2:00 they decided to move my induction up to Sunday morning. Around 4:00 the midwife came in and said I'm going to break your water now and we're going to have a baby! I had just gotten off the phone with Jared to update him and let him know that I would be okay if he didn't come to the hospital right away. Needless to say I called him back and he came running!
By 5:30 nothing had really progressed and the dreaded Pitocin was introduced. I managed to hang in there with those contractions for about an hour and a half before I called for an epidural. I had envisioned a drug free labor - no dice - again no plans in this whole baby process!
As a surprise my Sister and Grandma came to see me. That was quite shocking (good shocking) and we managed to visit a little. I think my Sister had an eyes open experience/moment. She is expecting and I tried to be brave for her...hope I didn't scare the pants off her! Poor girl!
The next couple hours were just more contractions. Jared said he left to get something to eat and I don't even remember that. By midnight it was time to push! It all happened pretty quickly and I was pretty scared but so excited to meet our little guy. I threw up every time my OB came into the room. Thank goodness he stopped me from eating earlier in the day. Still not sure what came out of me - Jared said he'd never seen anything like it before! Ewwww!
Christopher finally made it into the world around 1:55 a.m on June 27. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. Those last pushes were the most amazing experience of my whole pregnancy. I remember looking down at Dr. AJ and thinking he was so far away and worrying that he wouldn't catch Christopher. When Christopher left my body it was such an amazing rush. They threw him up on my chest and were wiping him down. I don't remember if I touched him but kept saying "my baby, my baby".
It hit the fan pretty quickly after that. He wasn't breathing well and they pulled him from me. Dr. AJ was putting me back together (just an easy episiotomy) and there seemed to be so many people in my room. I don't know if they were distracting me or if I was just in la-la land. Next I know they're rushing Christopher to the NICU. Thankfully Jared went with.
The nurses were so fantastic. I had such excellent care while Jared was upstairs with Christopher. I don't remember feeling panicked - granted we didn't know what the issue was at the time. I had excellent care through my whole stay.
Jared came back downstairs to my room and around 4:30 the NICU Doctor came in to talk to us. I was so out of it I don't really remember a lot of it. They were uncertain if he had fluid in his lungs or air outside of his lungs and were concerned about potential intestinal blockage. It turned out that Christopher had a pneumothorax and it cleared up on its own after a couple days of oxygen.
We were finally able to bring him home on July 1st. It has been a whirlwind to say the least. But...I'm so in love!
The "big day" was scheduled for Wednesday June 30 via induction due to gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Christopher decided - or perhaps it was my body - that enough was enough and it was time to evacuate a little sooner. Jared and I went to dinner with his parents on June 25th and I just wasn't feeling right. I figured it was my BP but was too tired to run around to have it taken. We went home and I went right to bed. I woke up Saturday morning and still felt like crud so I ran to Walmart at 6:15 to take my BP. It was a "little high" at 177/110 so I called L&D and they asked me to come in for monitoring. I was also contracting about every 6 minutes - sounds like someone had a master plan!
By 2:00 they decided to move my induction up to Sunday morning. Around 4:00 the midwife came in and said I'm going to break your water now and we're going to have a baby! I had just gotten off the phone with Jared to update him and let him know that I would be okay if he didn't come to the hospital right away. Needless to say I called him back and he came running!
By 5:30 nothing had really progressed and the dreaded Pitocin was introduced. I managed to hang in there with those contractions for about an hour and a half before I called for an epidural. I had envisioned a drug free labor - no dice - again no plans in this whole baby process!
As a surprise my Sister and Grandma came to see me. That was quite shocking (good shocking) and we managed to visit a little. I think my Sister had an eyes open experience/moment. She is expecting and I tried to be brave for her...hope I didn't scare the pants off her! Poor girl!
The next couple hours were just more contractions. Jared said he left to get something to eat and I don't even remember that. By midnight it was time to push! It all happened pretty quickly and I was pretty scared but so excited to meet our little guy. I threw up every time my OB came into the room. Thank goodness he stopped me from eating earlier in the day. Still not sure what came out of me - Jared said he'd never seen anything like it before! Ewwww!
Christopher finally made it into the world around 1:55 a.m on June 27. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. Those last pushes were the most amazing experience of my whole pregnancy. I remember looking down at Dr. AJ and thinking he was so far away and worrying that he wouldn't catch Christopher. When Christopher left my body it was such an amazing rush. They threw him up on my chest and were wiping him down. I don't remember if I touched him but kept saying "my baby, my baby".
It hit the fan pretty quickly after that. He wasn't breathing well and they pulled him from me. Dr. AJ was putting me back together (just an easy episiotomy) and there seemed to be so many people in my room. I don't know if they were distracting me or if I was just in la-la land. Next I know they're rushing Christopher to the NICU. Thankfully Jared went with.
The nurses were so fantastic. I had such excellent care while Jared was upstairs with Christopher. I don't remember feeling panicked - granted we didn't know what the issue was at the time. I had excellent care through my whole stay.
Jared came back downstairs to my room and around 4:30 the NICU Doctor came in to talk to us. I was so out of it I don't really remember a lot of it. They were uncertain if he had fluid in his lungs or air outside of his lungs and were concerned about potential intestinal blockage. It turned out that Christopher had a pneumothorax and it cleared up on its own after a couple days of oxygen.
We were finally able to bring him home on July 1st. It has been a whirlwind to say the least. But...I'm so in love!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)