4 Months Old!

This was originally written on Saturday, August 16, 2008:

I wanted to report how Logan's 4 month appt. with the pediatrician went. . Logan officially turns four months old on Monday! :)

Joe, Logan, and I went to the doctor's office last Wednesday and for the first time there were no negative surprises! The appointment went so fast I was like, wait a second, that's it?! Is this how most people's visits are?

I much preferred this trip to any other! Logan came out to be 17 lbs, 1/4 oz. and 25 inches long. That makes him in the 90th percentile as far as weight and 50th percentile as far as height. We asked if he was "too chubby." Our pediatrician was like "no way!" The chart is just based on the average, but from a medical standpoint at this age "bigger is better." It's the smaller babies doctors keep their eye on. So that was a relief. Our doctor was like, "He's a great, healthy eater, keep it up!" I'm sure if Logan could have understood he'd have been happy! :)

Ironically, though, my milk supply has been decreasing AGAIN lately (despite still taking fenugreek), so I'm pumping all day every day again to see if I can bring it back up. Whenever I go a week without pumping a bottle I notice that my supply goes down despite Logan still wanting more! I didn't think that was supposed to happen at this point. Also, now that I can go longer between pumps, it hurts when I do it, whereas it never used to--not even in the beginning. Needless to say, I used to think I could open my own milk bank, I had so much stored in my freezer, but now I can count how many storage containers are in there because I've had to use them. :-(

Back to Logan. . .his head is in the 10th percentile (where it was when he was born) but the doctor wasn't concerned about that, either, because it's still bigger than it was at his two-month check-up (even though at that time it was in the 30th percentile)--so as long as it keeps growing and stays consistant with where it usually is, that's good. (It measured 16 in. circumferance.)

I also asked about his bad dreams, which I mentioned in a previous post he has for over ten minutes! Our pediatrician said that is normal with some babies and it is a good time for them to learn how to calm down/relax themselves. So we aren't to wake him up or soothe him at this point. It's true that when he wakes up he seems to have no memory of it (as he is always happy in "real life") so it's strange!

Our pediatrician loved him--Logan kept smiling & laughing at him!!! He had Logan do all of the tests they make 4 month-olds do, and Logan passed all of them with flying colors (holding his head up, following him with good eye contact, grasping anything within his reach, standing with assistance, etc.) He said Logan was really strong.

I didn't know that you can start feeding 4 month-olds baby food if you want. . .we're going to wait another month, though, as there are less chance of allergies that way and more chance that his digestive system is completely developed. You can read more at the following link: Parenting iVillage

For vaccines, we split Logan's up again. (We're doing half at the standard times and waiting on the other half until after he's two. Other posts I wrote about vaccinations can be found here: One. Two. Three.)

There's a good book out by Robert W. Sears (one of the most respected & famous pediatricians in America), called The Vaccine Book: Making The Right Decision For Your Child. The reason why the book is good is because it's completely both sides. Most books are either one way or the other--vaccinate or don't vaccinate. But he gives an honest approach from a board-certified medical standpoint, explaining how to to tailor your child's shot schedule to minimize risks and satisfy state requirements, how common or rare, as well as how serious each disease is, what the vaccine ingredients are, which ones are controversial and why, what side effects might occur, how to recognize, treat and prevent side effects, which brands and types of vaccines are the safest, and what precautions unvaccinated children should take to stay healthy.

The day before Logan's appt. Joe and I read the book together and feel good about continuing our decision to do the same shots that we had done at two months old, rather than skipping them all or adding the others at this time.

For the vaccines that we didn't do, as I said in the linked post above that I labeled "three," skipping polio is because there hasn't been a U.S. citizen with the disease since the 1970's. The vaccine is made of monkey kidney cells, cow serum, and human blood proteins. The chance of Logan contracting the disease any time soon is pretty much 0.

For DTaP, the controversy is because it's made of a lot of chemicals. Aluminum, formaldehyde (which is toxic), and polysorbate (also toxic) just to name a few. The "P" in DTaP is for the disease pertussis, and when the entire germ is used in the vaccine, it often causes shock, seizures, and brain dysfunction. For the DT, Dr. Sears writes, "In truth, tetanus is not an infant disease, and virtually all cases occur in adults. Also, diphtheria is virtually nonexistent in the United States. So, one could create a logical argument that a baby could skip the tetanus and diphtheria shots for a few years and be just fine. This child could then get the tetanus series as a teenagers and the diphtheria shots before traveling the world. He could even get them together as the DT shot."

As with all of the diseases, statistics show that breastfed babies who don't attend daycare (i.e. Logan) are at very low risk of contracting them. Breast milk has antibodies that coat the lining of the nose, lungs, and intestines, so most germs that get inhaled or swallowed are killed.

Still, I read about the awful diseases, such as rotavirus, and know that I couldn't handle the possibility of Logan somehow contracting it. Rotavirus is the most common of any of these vaccinated diseases, affecting 2 million worldwide, with 1/2 million dying. There is no medication to treat it if you get it, aside from IV fluids to help with dehydration. Since it is most common in babies under a year old, that is why we chose to do that one now.

It's gross that the vaccination is a live virus (containing monkey kidney cells, fetal cow blood, polysorbate, and live, genetically altered organisms) with side effects that include seizures and intestinal complications--but if not vaccinated, Dr. Sears points out that at sometime in the child's life (unless you're planning to keep them home 24/7) he will contract it. "It's a matter of when will he catch it and how severe will it be." (Update: I must point out that I have since heard of several children in circles with people I know who have still contracted rotavirus despite being vaccinated, so it is not guaranteed your baby will not get it if given the shot. All of these babies recovered, although even with IV fluids they still weight.)

If I had to do it over again I probably wouldn't have given him the Hib. The reason why it's controversial is because the disease Hib is rare these days and treatable, and the vaccine contains aluminum. . .studies show that aluminum may lead to autism, ADD, hyperactivity, and other brain disorders. Fortunately, since we didn't get the DTaP at the same time, Logan received far less alumnium than the "average" child, which lowers his chance of having a toxic effect.

Meanwhile, the disease for the PC shot is common and can be very serious, but is treatable and also contains aluminum. I still would have had him get the PC since the disease most often occurs in infants, and just like the rotavirus is not a matter of if he'll get it, but when and how serious. I'd prefer not to play russian roulette to see how serious Logan would get it.

Fortunately, Logan showed no side effects from the vaccines at either two months or four months. (Probably a plus to being 17 lbs!) Last time he didn't even cry when he was given the shots; this time he did but was quickly quieted with milk. Neither time did he develop a fever, redness, or swelling which are common, although this time he pooped a lot which is common to get rid of the rotavirus (that's the live virus, given as an oral drink)--but I think that was a good sign because hopefully it's out of his system now. (He had 4 explosive diapers both on Thursday and Friday.) Some children also lose their appetite. . .but not Logan, LOL.

Still, I did the things that Dr. Sears recommends after giving your child vaccinations:

1) Breastfeed (since there has been controversy with vaccines making immune systems weaker, this is the #1 thing to do to make immune systems stronger!)

2) Minimize sugar and junk food (all doctors agree it weakens immune systems)

3) Minimize other chemical exposures (unfortunately, the amounts in vaccines are unavoidable at this time but we can control many in our environment)

4) Use omega-3 oil supplements (I recommend the DHA brand--I took them while pregnant and continue to while nursing)

5) Probiotics (these healthful bacteria live in our intestines. They play a critical role in regulating both our intestinal immune system and our internal immune system. Antibiotic use destroys these bacteria, leaving a child more susceptible to a host of illnesses and intestinal problems. Taking probiotics on a continuous basis can really do wonders for the immune system. I take the Duo-Dophilus brand.)

6) Fruits and vegetables (can help prevent infectious diseases and may limit vaccine reactions)

7) Vitamin A (helps with neurologic health; protects brain from vaccine side effects)

8) Vitamin C (helps boost the immune system and may decrease vaccine side effects; I've been giving this to him every day this week.)

Speaking of the litte guy, he's awake from his nap so this will be it from me for a while!

My Son's Brachial Cleft Fistula

This was originally written on Monday, June 23, 2008:

June 18th was Logan's two month birthday and also his two month pediatrician's appointment. When Joe came home from work to go with me, I said, "I have bad memories from the last time we were there and we kept having to go to the hospital for his jaundice. Hopefully this trip will be more positive." We had no reason to think otherwise--Logan's been thriving and doing excellent. Weeks 2 thru 8.5 were the best weeks of my entire life! Now, of course, I've come down from my high.

The appointment started off well. Logan was weighed and measured, ending up in the 90th percentile when it came to his weight (13 lbs, 6.5 oz!!!) and 55% when it came to his height (23 inches) and 45% when it came to his head (15.5 inches). All of the nurses said he was pretty solid--he has a lot of muscle--and after the PA checked his heart, lungs, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, etc. she said that everything looked really healthy.

Then our pediatrician came in the room and did a more thorough check of everything. I noticed that he kept focusing on Logan's neck. Joe & I both thought maybe we hadn't cleaned it well enough, haha. But the doctor pointed to a dimple on Logan that Joe's mom had first shown me when I was in the hospital after giving birth. During Logan's first couple of days of life I really didn't inspect his body. He was just so fragile-looking that I was scared to touch him much! In fact, I didn't even kiss him until day 3. After his jaundice experience, though, I realized that babies aren't as fragile as they first appear, and so since then he's had kisses galore! :-) Needless to say, that's why it was my mother-in-law who first pointed out the pit on his neck. I had been holding Logan in my hospital bed and she said she'd looked for unique features and the only thing she'd found was a tiny little dimple. The way she said it sounded concerning (she might have even used the word "hole"), but I assumed that if it was anything serious a doctor or nurse would have said something--so I just brushed it off.

For the past two months I've seen it, my parents have seen it, Joe has seen it, etc.--and none of us thought it looked like anything that needed special attention. So when our doctor focused on it, I was surprised. Joe and I moved closer to him and were shocked when he said, "Do you see this hole? It's a brachical cleft." Obviously that went right over my head, but he continued, "Do you see how there's fluid around it? That's not supposed to be there."

Sure enough, the area inside the dimple was wet. I knew right then that this appointment was not going to be any better than our last. The pediatrician explained that at first he'd thought maybe the wetness was caused by one of Logan's tears (Logan was crying at the time) but every time he wiped it away it reappeared. We had never noticed the area getting wet before, probably because the liquid never dripped down--it was the smallest amount you can imagine.

The doctor said that as our heads and necks develop they fuse together like a zipper down the middle. A brachial cleft occurs when it doesn't finish at the end and leaves a hole above the collarbone. Sometimes this happens and it's just something to keep an eye on, but when there's fluid leaking it's serious because that is a sign that it's only a matter of time before infection will occur. He said that unfortunately Logan is going to need surgery to fuse the area together and so we needed to call his plastic surgeon as soon as possible to meet with him within the week.

Of course tears started to form in my eyes, which must have been what the doctor had expected because he talked directly to Joe and didn't look at me at all until the very end, when he was very sympathetic and gave me a box of Kleenex. He also wrote down the name of Logan's condition since I was speechless at that moment and didn't know what questions to ask.

I couldn't believe this was happening--surgery on my two month old baby? Did this mean he wasn't going to be "normal?" I thought about a little girl who had been in the waiting room before our appt--she was deformed and I couldn't help but worry Logan's neck now would be. A million depressing thoughts ran through my mind as the doctor left and the nurse came in with vaccinations. For those of you who read my pregnancy blogs, you know the vaccines had originally been the part of the appt. I'd been dreading.

During my all-day sickness period I watched a lot of television and read several magazines, and there was a lot of stuff about vaccinations and their link to autism (esp. in boys), ADD, hyperactivity, other brain disorders, and immune disorders (why children get sick more now than when my generation was growing up). At first I didn't want to hear or read about it (my mom was actually the first to bring it to my attention a couple of years ago when it all first came out, but the controversy was too complicated to think about when I wasn't even planning to get pregnant at that time). I had hoped that by the time I had a baby I could just trust the American Academy of Pediatrics because there wasn't an easy answer for me to make on my own, and I didn't want to make the wrong decision.

Unfortunately, the evidence is coming out at an extremely slow pace since the studies are basically on an individual basis (why are some children affected and others aren't?), and so in the meantime the American Academy of Pediatrics is still giving out the vaccinations because otherwise the alternative is an outbreak of the diseases.

But, after doing my own research, I couldn't ignore the facts. I'd never forgive myself if my son was negatively affected by the vaccinations since now I knew better. At the same time, I'd never forgive myself if Logan ended up with a deadly disease. Therefore, Joe & I didn't want to NOT vaccinate AT ALL, but rather compromise so that we can know we did the best we could if either scenerio happened.

Just like how I chose my birthing hospital (the one that does the most births in my city, as well as the one most medical personnel choose to have their own babies in), it was important to me when I was finding a pediatrician to select one that was knowledgeable about both sides of the vaccination controversy. There are a lot of biases BOTH ways (half of the pediatricians here will not allow parents to choose their own vaccination schedule, while there are holistic doctors who don't encourage parents to give any vaccines at all). I wanted someone who was open-minded and would tell me the truth of both sides.

Fortunately, my actual pediatrician specializes in autism and so he knows that many of his patients' parents are adament that the vaccinations were to blame (because their babies were perfectly normal and responding intelligently prior to the vaccines) and he can not argue with them. No matter how much the American Academy of Pediatrics stands by their vaccination schedule, they can't prove that their vaccines aren't risky. Therefore, our pediatrician told us right away that he is not going to insist that we do things his way as a doctor, but rather he will give us the freedom to do what we feel most comfortable with as parents. With that said, as more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate at all, children are starting to contract more diseases.

So, we asked him what he recommended for parents like us. He said to wait on the "controversial vaccines" until after the age of two. By that time the brain is done being formed, so it's not as likely for children to develop these brain disorders, and childrens' immune systems are stronger and better able to handle the vaccines so then they're not as weak and susceptible to contracting viruses and other illnesses. They are also still young enough when getting the vaccines that they're not likely to be exposed to the diseases (especially babies like Logan who aren't in daycare).

Since, fortunately, thimerosal has been removed from vaccines (what started the controversy, as it is mercury--which, even the small amount in vaccines has been linked to late walking, talking, abnormal neurological scores, and nueurotoxicity in infants), now most of the controversy lies with the vaccines that have more than one dose in them, such as DTaP, which Logan was supposed to get this time but did not because it contains the vaccination for Diphtheria, Tetanus, AND Pertussis all in one. (Plus, I got the tetanus shot when I was pregnant and I read we should both be safe for five years). He also did not get the Hep. B vaccine (just like he didn't get it at birth) since it's basically an STD, or polio since there hasn't been a case of it in the United States since the 1970's. Instead, Logan received the Hib, Rotavirus, and Pneumococcal Conjugate. (The Hib and PC were shots, while the Rotavirus was a drink.)

By the time Logan is five yrs old and ready for school, he will have caught up to the standard schedule and will have all of his vaccinations. But in the meantime he'll be on a delayed schedule, where we'll do just half of his vaccines each time. I feel good about this, as it is more in line with the schedule that was followed when I was growing up (now kids are given triple the amount of vaccines).

Hopefully soon the American Academy of Pediatrics will come up with an entire new schedule and parents won't have to make these tough decisions ourselves. I pray Logan won't be exposed to such diseases as measles, mumps, and rubella--as the MMR is the most controversial shot of them all, usually given at 12 months, but Logan will definitely not be getting that until way after the age of two. Especially with his surgery coming up I don't want to make him weaker and more susceptible to brain and immune disorders.

Anyway, but the vaccines ended up being the last thing on my mind on Wednesday. Once we came home from the pediatrician's appt. I realized I had a lot of unanswered questions about brachial cleft, and so I looked up on the internet to see what I could find.

I was disappointed by the lack of information. Because it is rare and there are several types (it's something adults can get, too--only as an actual cyst/growth on their neck) it was hard to find facts about the kind Logan has. What I did determine from several websites was that it is something that occurs within the first four weeks of development within the womb and also that it is genetic.

Yesterday I learned that my mother-in-law, her dad, Joe's sister, two of Joe's nephews, and one of their babies all have this on their ear, so it appears Logan inherited the same trait but ended up with it on his neck instead! Joe's mom said that her dad's drained fluid as well, and one of Joe's nephew's has been infected; maybe it's not as serious when it's on the ear. So at least I'm not beating myself up about it anymore. At first when I learned it was a birth defect I was like, but I followed all of the rules to avoid them while pregnant, what did I do wrong?!

Also, when my pediatrician said that we needed to make an appt. with the plastic surgeon within the week I was thinking this was something urgent/emergency that needed to be done ASAP. But we called the plastic surgeon's office that afternoon and they said the doctor was out of town until July 1st and would be back for two days and then gone again until the 24th. They said we could come in on the 1st to get our questions answered, find out his opinion on what we should do, and probably schedule the surgery for the end of the month. When we called our pediatrician's office and asked if this was okay, they said "yes." In the meantime, we are also getting a second opinion from an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor that our pediatrician recommended, and then will choose between the two as far as who does the surgery. I still have a lot of questions.

The fluid is from the sinuses, and surgery always corrects the problem, so I'm glad that it is fixable and that afterwards it should be like it never happened. There are definitely a lot worse conditions Logan could have and it has helped a lot to hear from family and friends who have had babies or have known other babies who've gone through surgeries and have turned out okay and are now happy & healthy.

I'm sure the week Logan has surgery will still be emotional for me, though. I'm glad that he's too young to know what's going on. . .he won't know beforehand, or during (since he'll be "out"), and I'm sure they'll give him something for pain afterwards--so the surgery will probably be harder for me than him. At least he is a strong baby so that should work to his advantage, and by the time he has it he'll be a month older which means he'll be that much tougher.

Of course I've been obsessed with watching the hole now, like when he's drinking from a bottle I do notice the area becoming wet. I was hoping maybe the fluid draining was a one-time-thing that just happened to be at the ped.'s office (because then he wouldn't need surgery yet) but it seems to be getting more regular.

I'm trusting God that everything will be okay. Hopefully this will be it for hospitals for Logan!!! He couldn't possibly have any more love in his life so that's the main thing.

On a brighter note, Logan met his first friend on Friday, June 20th. You might remember me mentioning that Joe used to work with a guy (Matt) whose wife coincidentally also found out she was pregnant on Labor Day. They were due a couple of weeks before us but ended up having their baby six days later. Even though Joe doesn't work with Matt anymore, they golf every now and then with the company's league and compared stories while us wives were pregnant. We all thought it'd be fun to get together for a playdate once the boys were born, and so they invited us over last weekend--but that's when Joe went to his class reunion. Originally, I had thought about going to my class reunion this past weekend, but decided not to, so we invited them over to our house to grill out. It was so much fun, we've decided to do it regularly and watch the boys grow up together :-) They have their two month check up on Tuesday and are guessing Jaxson is in the 90th percentile with his weight as well. He was almost 9 lbs at birth and was--and is--taller than Logan, but feels equal in weight when holding him.

On Saturday, we invited Nick & Heather over. (Like Matt, Nick used to work with Joe at his old place of employment.) I haven't scrapbooked since the end of March so Heather brought over her stuff and we did that while the guys installed our second garage door opener. The last time Nick was here was when we installed the first garage door opener on Labor Day. . .just hours before I found out I was pregnant :-) Hopefully I can return to the actual scrapbooking nights at the store in July. Also, my neighbor Jenn said she's still doing every other Thursday at her house, so maybe I'll re-join her in July as well. I need to get going on Logan's scrapbook!!!!

Anyway, it was the first time for having Heather over at our house so she got to meet my doggies and we ordered Gambino's pizza and chatted while the guys played guitar hero before calling it a night. I was glad I had these distractions on Fri & Sat, and am getting together with Lisa P for lunch this Thursday (she & her husband used to work with Joe as well) so am very much looking forward to that as well!

Otherwise, that's about it for my update. I went back and read my blogs so far and there are some things I accidentally left out, so I'll conclude with them:

1) For my first two weeks after giving birth I kept waking up in the night drenched in sweat. I was never hot or sick so I thought it was really weird. But on day twelve I went to get my hair high-lighted and my stylist asked, "Have you had the night sweats?" I was like, "OMG yes! I didn't know what they were!" Apparently it is normal in the couple of weeks following birth to sweat, as your body's hormones return to normal. Ironically, it stopped after that.

2) I also leaked breast milk constantly at night from two weeks up until around my "Breastfeeding Rollercoaster" blog. Now that I'm basically just breastfeeding, I'm not waking up drenched if a feeding is delayed. I think it's because Logan doesn't really have a pattern or schedule, so my milk holds off until I pick him up or take off my shirt--then it starts SPRAYING which can be crazy when I'm not prepared. Like, when I get out of the shower I have to hurry up and cover my chest with a towel because it will just go all over the bathroom! Ah, the things we never knew. . .

Anyway, when I pumped all of the time, my breasts hurt & leaked every two hours on the dot. Logan was taking his bottle like clockwork (pretty much the same minute, every two hours). But brestfeeding has made him much less predictable. He might want to eat an hour after the last feeding--but then not again for 5 hours! At first this made me uneasy because I'm a structured person and liked the predictability, but since Logan has been so content and doing so well with breastfeeding (and obviously isn't lacking any nutrients) I realize that I need to just let him guide me and not force him to be on the time-table that I'd prefer. I've learned that he knows more about himself than I do and so I trust his signals as far as what is best for him. I don't want to take that away because hopefully that will help him to continue to be assertive and in tune with himself as he gets older.

Don't get me wrong--this doesn't mean I'm going to cater to his every need as he gets older, but right now it appears that nature is taking more of its course than Logan trying to be spoiled--and I think its like that for a reason so that he is at his healthiest.

I don't quite understand it because on average he nurses for only ten minutes at a time, while when I pump it's for twenty minutes and he always demands the entire bottle (so when nursing, the amount has to be half that and yet he's okay with it). But there's no reason to complain, he's even been sleeping better and longer during the night since breastfeeding all of the time.

Except for last Monday night, however. I was up with him for 5 hrs straight (from 2-7 AM)--ICK! I felt very run down and was worried I was going to get sick. Last night, though, he only got up twice from 11 PM to 11 AM. (He was very awake earlier that day when Nick & Heather were here, but not at all when Matt & Stacy were on Friday.) I ended up pumping the most I ever have--10 oz in one sitting! But he slept six hours straight. So even though each day is different, as long as the majority of the night Logan is sleeping, and the morning & evening he is awake (which seems to be the case) I don't mind. (FYI babies at this age generally sleep 15 hrs total a day.)

He appears to be a morning person (unlike me) and is at his most active between 7-10 AM. He is full of smiles and laughs and curiosity. He especially LOVES his mobile. Every morning I turn it on and his entire face lights up and he grins from ear to ear. It brings him so much joy and happiness, it really melts my heart and is the highlight of my day!!!

Every now and then we'll have a relapse with breastfeeding (for example, once in awhile he seems addicted--like he just wants to breastfeed forever--but an hour is my limit so I usually keep one bottle in the fridge each day incase of times like that) but 99% of the time it is easy now, I can't believe it. It's how I always imagined & hoped in the beginning!!!

3) Logan has outgrown his first outfit (a onesie that says "Nothings wrong, just testing you") and has almost outgrown another (the shirt & pants he wore home from the hospital that's in his hospital picture). Considering 0-3 month clothes are for up to 14 pounds, I'm guessing he'll be in the 3-6 month clothes any day. He's already worn two of those--it's bittersweet :/ I love that he's going on to a new phase in his life (more interactive and fun) but I've really loved the newborn phase (he's just the sweetest thing ever, he can do no wrong) and I don't want his childhood to go too fast!

4) Logan has started scooting (actually moving, but with his limbs straight out) already when he's on his tummy! He also has waved and said hi. Hear me out, LOL! The first day was at four weeks old. I said "Hi Logan" and he went, "Hi!" I told Joe and he was like, "Um, I think you need more sleep." Of course he didn't believe me. . .until he heard it for himself. Obviously I know Logan isn't seriously saying "hi" but you know how all babies have a favorite sound they make? Well, his is "hi." He says it every day, sometimes it's a happy "hi," other times it's a mad "hi" and other time it's just a regular old "hi." He'll be in his pack n play and we'll walk by as he says "hi," so we'll say "hi Logan"--it's so funny. As for the wave, the first time happened at seven weeks old when we were back in Iowa at my dad's house. My grandma waved to him and he waved back. I actually didn't see it, but four other people witnessed it. But I had my own experience just this past week. He was in his carseat looking at me so I waved and he brought up his hand and waved it. Once again, I know it wasn't real, but the timing of these make it fun. :-)

5) He has both Joe & my cowlicks, poor guy, haha! I have one in my bang area (although it's not as bad now as when I was little) and Joe has a Dennis the Menace one in back. Both of Logan's are small, but it's cool to see our traits in him (since we still can't really pick out his other features).

6) I've started cutting his fingernails! This is a big deal, I've been scared to do it my entire life. I remember thinking in high school that I dreaded when I had a baby and would have to do it. But from the day Logan was born he's been scratching his face and so I knew I'd have to get over my fear. For the first eight weeks the doctors recommended we just file them, but we couldn't seem to do it often enough because when he got frustrated he still scratched his face pretty bad (as well as me--and it hurts). My stepmom had bought me some baby safety clippers for Christmas and so I got them out this past week and went for it. . .and it was so easy! I don't know why I was so chicken. In fact, I think I'll probably do it every day now because even just a couple of days after I did it last week he scratched his face again. They grow a mile a minute.

As of last night (Sunday) we're also giving him a real bath every night. Up until then we were just doing wet washcloths irregularly (which doctors recommend for the first two months). I'm hoping the daily shampoos will get rid of his cradle cap because he still has the newborn dandruff. He seemed to like the "real bath" much better (I think it was like a hot tub for him)--he actually smiled a few times when normally he cries.

7) We're supposed to keep Logan pretty covered when he's outside. Our pediatrician said that he can't wear sunscreen yet, and even so it isn't enough to protect babies' skin before six months of age. We've still been taking our walks about three times each week in the evenings so that's been fun. I've only done my aerobics that one day I mentioned, though, but fortunately I still lost my final two pounds of my pregnancy weight by Logan's two month birthday!

8) Just a random thought--I really don't understand child abuse. Not that I really did before having Logan, but now it's even more insane to me that anyone could hurt a baby. Even when he's fussy it's not something that could provoke anger in me--he's too innocent!!! What is wrong with people? I can't stand to hear the news of shaken baby syndrome or parents murdering their children.

9) Joe & I have come to the realization that we need godparents and have no clue who to put in our wills if something was to happen to us. Hopefully it never happens because right now we don't know who we'd want to raise Logan. We either don't know the people in our family well enough or we know them too well, haha. But we're going to try to make a decision by the time of his dedication in July.

10) Sarah S. (another wife of one of Joe's old co-workers, who is due in November) found out this week that she's having a boy! Welcome to the club! Joe wasn't surprised because there's a jinx at his old office (where Sarah's husband works) that makes everyone have the sex that they are. Maybe Lisa P. will break that jinx if she has a boy (since she works there). . .

Pregnant and Sick

This was originally written on Thursday, February 07, 2008

Unfortunately my nausea hasn't quit from Tuesday. I had a bad night last night, which meant Joe also had a bad night. I told him maybe I should sleep in our guest room the rest of my pregnancy so I don't bother him. He said "no," but suddenly our queen bed feels terribly small and I wish we had a king.

Aside from feeling sick, I kept getting hot then cold (and never felt comfortable), and so finally I went downstairs to lay on the couch--but apparently the dogs then starting crying as they do whenever they know that I'm not in bed (bad news for when L.J.'s here and I'm up constantly for him). So then Joe let them out of the closet (where they sleep) so that he could get some sleep, but they wouldn't stop crawling all over me. News for those with lap dogs: they will annoy you when pregnant. Prior to being pregnant, I enjoyed them always cuddling and wanting to be close. Now, it's like "give me some space, let me breathe, get away!"

Joe finally put the collar on Cosmo, yelled at Bella, and put them back in the closet, and from 4 am on we were able to sleep well. But, due to the hours prior (and now) I had to call Jenn next door and tell her I'll have to take a raincheck on scrapbooking (which she invited me to do at her house every other Thursday). Hopefully I'll feel better tonight for our second childbirth class.

I hope my parents have a good week in Chicago, as they are going to be in the audience of the Oprah show!
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This was originally written on Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I thought I'd post a picture of L.J.'s swing! It arrived a couple of days ago from my aunt (mom's sister-in-law), her two daughters (my cousins), and her daughter-in-law (my other cousin's wife). It's called Nature's Purest Swing-Hug Me by Summer Infant from Babies R Us. Isn't it soooo cute?!?!?! It has three different speeds and plays music & other sounds. Our house is looking more and more like a baby lives here :-)--------
This was originally written on Thursday, February 21, 2008

I'm up early this morning, due to having menstrual-like cramps during the night. They are better now (due to drinking a lot of water, going to the bathroom, and walking around), so I'm not going to freak out. . .plus, I have my next doctor's appt. tomorrow.

I have been "out of commission" since Saturday, Feb. 9th. I began to feel I may be in jeopardy of catching a virus a couple of days before, but had hoped I could prevent it. That day (Thurs, Feb. 7th) Joe left work early because we had a ton of stuff to do. At night we had to rush to our childbirth class which, even though the topic was "relaxation exercises" to do while in labor, it was exhausting. All I could think about was getting home and going to bed. Unfortunately, we still had some last-minute stuff to do. I was so run down that I was going to leave Joe my cell phone and go home, but instead I left with my cell phone, and so I realized I was going to have to go back where he was because otherwise I wouldn't know when to pick him up.

First, though, I stopped off at home to let the dogs out and was greeted with a not very nice present: there had been a trash bag sitting by our garage door that was now in shreads. Kleenex or toilet paper was strewn all over our living room. Tears that had been on the verge of coming--came. I haven't had to dog-proof my house since they were puppies--what in the world?! Ugh.

Anyway, I drove back to Joe and finished helping him. I was so happy when I finally went to bed.

But on Friday I had to go "out and about" and felt run down again very quickly. So I e-mailed my writers critique group to let them know I wasn't going to be able to make it that night. I needed to go to bed at 8 pm! Needless to say, the following week I decided to resign permanently. I just can't seem to commit to being a member these days. Plus, I don't know what my life is going to be like once L.J. is here. I've had a really hard time working on my manuscript lately, but am hoping to keep on trucking because if I put writing on hold then it will be that much longer before my dream comes true. So, I'm still keeping in contact with everyone in the group and will attend the main writers group meetings.

On Saturday morning we had the meeting for this month, which was very motivational. Amber joined me and then we met our husbands afterwards for lunch.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and have gained 25 lbs., so I'm on track again. I already grew out of one of my pair of maternity pants, though. They were the first jeans I bought last fall. So, I bought myself a new top yesterday!

After lunch on the 9th Joe and I picked up our car seat/stroller. It's been sitting in our living room since, and I smile every time I see it :-)

We also went to Verizon to finally get Joe a cell phone! I've had a plan with them for a year-and-a-half and so we got a family share plan and changed my phone # to an Omaha number. It took nearly two hours (thus why it's taken us five years to get Joe a cell phone) but I feel a lot better now knowing I should be able to get a hold of him whenever I go into labor.

By the time we were finished, though, I was coughing like I had bronchitis. We came home and I put on my pjs. . .but it was too late. I got worse each hour. By Sunday morning I was a wreck. I couldn't get out of bed all day. Monday was the worst. It had developed into a painful sore throat (and still the bad cough), as well as a headache, stuffy nose, earache, and I even threw up that morning. Joe worked from home so he could keep an eye on me, as I also kept getting sweaty (burning up) and then cold. Fortunately, I never had a fever and so supposedly L.J. was/is okay. (I kept turning on a fan or placing a cold washcloth on my forehead when I became hot.)

Joe called my doctor's office to find out what I could take, and they said that Robitussin is all right. So, he went to the store and bought me some, however, it didn't work (I might not have taken it enough; I just didn't want to risk it, so I only took it four or five times throughout the week). I was still a disaster in bed all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, drinking tons of orange juice and eating chicken noodle soup.

Joe spent every night in our guest bedroom, but still managed to get sick as well. I'm not sure if he caught the same virus because his wasn't as serious, or if it just affected him differently. He mainly just had a runny/stuffy nose and a slight cough. But he worked from home again on Wednesday.

Thursday was the first day I noticed some improvement. I still had a sore throat & cough, but my other ailments went away (although I'd still been having nausea since before my virus). I was able to go to our childbirth class that night, but that was it for Valentine's Day.

For our childbirth class, we received a tour of the hospital. It was another realization that "the end is near!" Without these moments, the whole thing still doesn't seem real sometimes! How can I really experience labor and childbirth?!?!? Wow, it's really going to happen. . .!

The hospital was really cool. The rooms were bigger than I had imagined, and it sounds like we can pretty much do whatever we want--their goal is to give us the birth plan that we want, so Joe and I wrote out ours this past weekend! (I'll explain in a future blog.)

The next day (Friday, February 15) I took it easy again so as to finish recovering from my illness.

Saturday I finally felt up for keeping our tradition of going to my favorite restaurant to celebrate holidays/special occasions (since we didn't go on Valentine's Day). We also went to the mall and then crashed for the night.

On Sunday, Joe and I packed the recommended bags for the hospital so that we are now prepared to leave at a moment's notice!

Monday I could tell I was almost recovered (and Joe was fully recovered). All I had left was a slight cough. So I was able to go to the grocery store.

Tuesday I stayed home, and by that evening felt as if I was my old self (well, old pregnant self) again. Since then, my nausea has been gone for good again.

So, yesterday (Wednesday, February 20) Joe and I were able to meet our pediatrician! Originally, we'd had the appointment scheduled for the previous Wednesday when I was sick, so we were glad we could make it this time. We loved him!!!! At first I didn't know if I'd be up to driving 20 minutes (when there are several much closer to our house). But it seems worth it. The facility was nice and he was awesome. He was so friendly and knowledgable and experienced. We were really impressed; he seemed to have all of the traits anyone would want (and he answered most of my questions before I even asked).

Unfortunately, he works with another hospital (Methodist rather than the Alegent Health System) so he won't be able to be with us when L.J. is born at Bergan Mercy, but he has a doctor at our hospital who takes his patients until he can see them on the third day (and he does the same for that doctor when her clients deliver at Methodist). He says a lot of parents are doing the "delay vaccination thing" now, so he will not kick us out of his practice like most doctors if we want to wait. He said that all doctors agree that the one given at birth--hepititus B--is completely unncessary. . .but parents aren't really informed of this. In truth, a baby can only get the disease if the mother is sleeping around or doing drugs. Hospitals are required now to get a parent's consent before giving the baby the shot, but most people still go along with it. He said that his first priority is to the parents and children--not the hospitals--so he will always inform us of all of our options rather than tell us what we have to do.

So I'm glad we have another box checked off our list!

Tonight we have our 4th out of 6th childbirth classes, and then our one "breastfeeding class" on Monday. We decided to postpone our one "new parent class" until April 14th. Originally, we were supposed to go last Monday and so I was hoping to reschedule to March, but that was the next option.

For lunch today I am meeting Melissa. . .as I have some sad news. She and her husband are moving to Arizona :-( It came as a total surprise. A couple of weeks ago, a recruitor asked Jake to interview at a company near Pheonix. He did and he was offered the position of manager. So they put their house up for sale this past Friday, and he is moving the second weekend in March; she's moving the first weekend of April.

I can't believe she won't be around to see the birth of L.J.. . .also, they were planning to start trying to get pregnant this summer, so I had pictured our kids playing together, etc. It's always sad when a friend moves away, and she was my first friend in Omaha.

On a brighter note, my parents had a great time at the Oprah show! They left for Chicago on Feb. 10th and returned home on the 12th. The show aired on Valentine's Day, although they weren't in any of the shots :-( But my parents had great seats and my mom loved seeing Oprah in person, as well as Patti Labelle who was the celebrity guest. I watched and thought it was a good show.
I'll conclude this blog with information on sickness during pregnancy.

Pregnant women are more prone to colds and flu because the immune system is lowered during pregnancy in order to stop a pregnant woman's body from rejecting the unborn baby. Pregnant women may be more vulnerable to infections. Fortunately, the placenta acts as a barrier to prevent the baby from contracting most viruses. For your health, though, take the proper steps (along with washing your hands constantly and taking your vitamins):

Drink eight to 10 glasses of water each day.

Get plenty of rest.

Elevating your head and torso helps you breathe easier as well as stopping post nasal drip.

Use a steamer and/or humidifier to help moisten your nasal passages. You can also drape a towel over your head and shoulders over a pan of steaming water.

For sinus trouble apply warm compresses to help alleviate the congestion.

Make sure you keep track of your temperature at least once daily, and call your doctor or midwife if your temperature rises over 101 F. You should also call your doctor if you begin to cough up green/yellow pghlem or experience shortness of breath, persistent chest pain, or severe sore throat. If you are less than 12 weeks pregnant, or more than 38 weeks, doctors usually advise no medication. Otherwise, the following mecications can be used sparingly for cold symptoms according to package directions:

Sudafed nasal decongestant

Robitussin and Robitussin DM cough syrups

Vicks plain cough syrup

Tylenol (generic name acetaminophen) for aches, pains, and temperatures over 100 degrees.

Hopefully I won't have to go through that experience again during these last 10 weeks. Being sick is bad enough when not pregnant! I hope you are all staying healthy!!!!!

We've Started The Nursery!

This was originally written on Tuesday, January 15, 2008:

It's been over two weeks since I last blogged and that's, unfortunately, because things haven't been the greatest.

To sum everything up, once we came back from our Christmas travels I couldn't seem to do anything. I thought I had chronic fatigue syndrome or something--I couldn't get off the couch.

My energy has continued to take a nosedive as I also seem to need 10-12 hours of sleep each night!!! (For the month of December I was only sleeping about 6, and was very active during the day.) To make matters worse, I started feeling nauseated again. I thought maybe I was just run down after the busy holiday season. . .until I read that many women who experience severe all-day sickness during the first trimester sometimes experience it again around the sixth month. I couldn't believe it! Was one good month (December) all I was going to get during this pregnancy?

Thankfully, things have improved somewhat. I still don't have the energy I had last month, but the moments of nausea are infrequent, so I've been able to handle that A LOT better than the first trimester. On the downside, I have the major back pain again which makes for a lot of discomfort throughout the day--especially during my sleep because it's worse when I lay down. But, my sinuses are getting better (however they're not back to normal yet). Lately, my mood has been added to the mix.

Despite my cousin's baby's death when I was 12 weeks, the severe sickness until my 16th week, the shooting in Omaha when I was 17 weeks pregnant, and my birthday in the ER at 20 weeks--I'd actually managed not to be depressed while pregnant. I was upset at the time of those events, but then I was able to calm myself down and the rest of the time my mood has actually felt more stable than before I was pregnant!

But this month I feel very overwhelmed with all that there is to do, as my due date seemed really far away up until the new year; now (I'm almost 24 wks) I realize I'm getting close to my third trimester! It's not like most things in life that have a "deadline"--our son doesn't have to wait until May to arrive! Hopefully he won't be a preemie (especially after what happened to my cousin--I am two weeks away from when her baby died), but I guess since I was two months premature myself I know that it's not impossible.

So, Joe & I signed up for our childbirth classes which will be from January 31st-March 9th. We are really looking forward to them. They'll be at Bergan Mercy Hospital. (My friend Melissa who is a nurse at a different hospital recommended it because it's the #1 hospital in our area for births, and more doctors & nurses choose to have their babies there, even if they work at other hospitals.) They do a one-day breastfeeding class and a one-day new parent class which are both in February.

This past weekend we registered at Babies R Us which was fun (more exciting than our wedding registry that had Joe laying on the beds at Bed, Bath & Beyond because it was so exhausting for us, haha). We still have some additional things to add, but we're about 80% done. Best of all, we bought the first two items for the nursery: a crib and changing table!!!

It was quite the ordeal. After going to every crib store in our vacinity, we narrowed our choice to two stores. All week we went over the pros and cons of our favorite cribs at each of these places, and decided that since they were all lifetime cribs (meaning they convert to a toddler bed and then adult bed) hopefully whichever one we chose would end up lasting at least 18 years. Therefore, it seemed okay to not pick the cheapest (like we normally do with things). Even though our favorite crib was honey-colored, opposed to all white (which is what we had planned for our son's room), we were really passionate & in love with it and decided we'd even change our color scheme for it.

However, we were told that the crib had been discontinued so all we could get was their floor model. Unfortunately, there were a lot of knicks in it and there was no way to camoflauge them. We were bummed, but then went to our second choice. It was the same price--and white. But, we were not having good luck that day. It was the same situation: the crib had been discontinued and all they had was the floor model.

The only other crib we liked there was the most expensive. But, I had a coupon for $30 off and they also told us that if we bought the matching changing table (w/ four drawers under it) we'd get another $100 off. Therefore, it turned out to be the best deal. It was also the most similar to our first crib choice (honey colored)--it just had more character which actually made it look fancier, and after really comparing them closely we realized the last one was the best one out of all the cribs we'd looked at!

Even though we'd originally planned on white because of our doors, trim, and windows, we thought their honey color was beautiful--and so that's what we bought! We are really happy with the way things turned out. We like that it's tall in front (safe) but it flips down (for short mothers like me) rather than slides down. We've also selected the bedding/theme for our son's room (moon & stars)--however, we haven't bought the items at Babies R Us yet. Melissa (who we went to dinner with on Sunday to a really good BBQ restaurant in Elkhorn with her husband and two neighbors) said that Burlington Coat Factory has a baby depot, too, with lots of ideas for themes. A good thing about the theme is that we can easily use everything for if we have a girl next. However, we'll probably emphasize the color blue this time. (To see a picture of our crib and theme, click on this future post I wrote in March 2008: For Me, Third Trimester Is The Best. For our chair and dresser, see this future post: Preparing To Breastfeed.)

As for the little guy, I had my most recent doctor's appointment on January 3rd and she was talking (again) about how active he was and so I asked her straight out if he's more active than most babies and she answered, "YES!" We were like, "Is that good or bad?" She said that health-wise it's good, but to prepare ourselves for a wild child around the house!!! We had to laugh, as Joe and I are definitely not high-energy people so we have no idea where he gets it. This could be interesting. . .:p I made a comment that I thought my baby must kick while he's sleeping since I feel him every hour and my doctor said, "Or maybe he doesn't sleep!" Gr-ea-t. :/

Joe was finally able to feel him last week so that was exciting. In the past whenever I'd have Joe put his hand on my abdomen the baby would stop moving! It reminded me of hiccuping--when you have the hiccups if you try and let someone know before your next hiccup, the hiccups usually stop! It's like being prepared/concentrating puts an end to them. But, last week the baby was moving a lot while Joe & I were watching TV on the couch, so I thought there was a good chance. Sure enough, there was a forceful jab! (It's definitely not the gentle "petting" anymore, but it's still all good and not painful or uncomfortable. . .although, every now and then it will be more powerful and will surprise me to the point of me saying "owe!") Joe was able to feel it again last night.

On Sunday we went to church and, as I was looking down, I saw a kick through my shirt! I haven't been able to see anything since, though, because my boobs are so big and are in the way. Also, I can only see the top of my stomach because it's so big, too--shaving my legs has become a very difficult experience! So has turning from one side to the other while sleeping (although, fortunately, I can still sleep on my stomach so that helps a little.) I can't reach my toes at all, so I'm thinking I may have to get a pedicure for the first time.

I guess it's no wonder that I'm so exhausted and have so many of these hormonal symptoms because my son is obviously using a lot of energy. For all babies, this week (24) is a major growth spurt. They double in size! Speaking of which, my weight has suddenly skyrocketed. I'm at 19 pounds gained! I'm only allowed to gain one more pound the rest of this month because I basically doubled the amount I was supposed to gain between December and January. I haven't been doing anything differently, so this has added to my "down" feelings. My doctor said I'm still fine, but just try to watch it during these last three-and-a-half months.

Unfortunately, I can't really exercise anymore because my body is so sore and moves like a 90-year-old's so I'm sure that doesn't help. (Just walking around at a snail's pace shopping for two hours makes my stomach cramp up and my back throb. I won't be surprised if I'm one of those women on bedrest the last couple of months.) Needless to say, I'm still looking forward to getting myself back physically.

This week I saw a People headline from Halle Berry: "I wish I could be pregnant forever." HUH?! Just days later I saw one from actress Jessica Alba (who is expecting a few weeks after me): "Being pregnant is awesome, it's the best time ever." No wonder I had false expectations!!! But, everyone has their cross to bear, so like I said in my "Started Showing At 16.5 Weeks" post, I am fine with mine being pregnancy (which is temporary) rather than something long-term.

Last night I had a dream I gave birth early and so I wasn't able to see my baby for awhile because he was in a special place in the hospital and then when I finally did, I saw that he was a yorkie poo and I was disappointed because I'd wanted a maltipoo.

WEIRD.

Anyway, there have been no negative repercussions from the foot-glass incident. Also, I told my doctor about it and she said the tetanus shot was probably fine, and I trust her a lot more than that resident or whoever my hospital doc was, so that whole experience is in the past.

I did decide to start looking for a pediatrician, though, who is okay with delaying the regular baby vaccinations a little bit, so Joe & I are going to meet with one later this month and if we like him than that's where we'll take our son. As I mentioned in my last post, I have been doing a lot of research on this controversial subject. What some parents are doing so as to "compromise" (still vaccinate but just not immediately so as to avoid brain disorders, autism, and immune disorders) is not give their children shots until their brains and immune systems are stronger. Joe & I have decided this is what we're going to do since the chance of contracting one of the viruses before then is slim--but we don't feel comfortable not giving any vaccines at all. (Here is an article that explains more.)

Hope everyone is having a good 2008, so far!