Sweet Potato update

Tommy had a decent night last night! He doesn't seem to have any negative side effects from the sweet potatoes! 4 more spoonfuls today. Fingers crossed!

Tommy's Tummy

My poor baby has a sensitive tummy. We found out at 8 weeks that he has a dairy sensitivity so I cut all dairy out of my diet. Then, right before he turned 4 months old, our pediatrician asked us to try rice cereal so we would know how he reacted before his 4 month appointment. After a few attempts, he liked it but it really upset his stomach. We decided that we were in no rush so we waited a month before trying again.

A month later, right after Christmas, we tried again and again, he had stomach pains. He was up at night crying in pain. I tried oatmeal after 2 nights of pain and it was even worse. He cried all day and then woke up at 10:30 screaming louder and with more force than I've ever heard from him. It was 15 minutes of inconsolable screaming. I was about to call the doctor when he just stopped. I kept him in the PNP next to my side of the bed because I was so freaked up.

Luckily, we had an appointment scheduled for the next day to re-check his breathing (back to normal!) after his chest cold so I knew I could discuss it with her then.

I told the pedi all about what happened and she was perplexed. She said that she wasn't thrilled that he reacted that way but it didn't seem like an allergy, just a sensitive belly. She suggested that we skip cereal for now and move on to veggies. As long as he tolerates veggies for a bit, we can try and mix in a tiny bit of cereal and see how he responds. She does want him on cereal for the iron content but isn't too worried about it until he's 6 months old.

So we skipped all solids yesterday and HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Woohoo!!! I needed that after 3 straight nights of little sleep. Today, I fed him 4 little spoonfuls of sweet potatoes. I figure that if his tummy is sensitive, it's best to do a little at a time. He LOVED sweet potatoes! No tummy trouble so far. We'll see how he does tonight. If all goes well, I'll give him some more tomorrow. Fingers crossed that this goes over well.

Optimistically, I started making baby food today. I had no desire to make my own until I started looking at the pre-packaged stuff. Some brands have all kinds of other ingredients in them. Not something I want being put into my son, especially with his tummy. Then the organic kind is SO EXPENSIVE! We had some Babies R Us gift cards so I bought a Baby Brezza baby food maker and tried it out this morning. I'm in love! It makes it all so easy! I bought a package of carrots for $1.25 and made up 2 batches in less than an hour!

I put the puree in the BPA-free ice cube trays I have here and froze them and popped them into a freezer-safe ziplock bag. The most work for me was peeling and chopping. The Baby Brezza is awesome because you just put the food in, turn on the steam and blend and let it go. Tommy started crying and needed a nap while I was doing the second batch so I took him out of his highchair where he was playing and put him down for a nap. By the time I came back, it had finished steaming and blending and was just sitting there waiting for me!

I realized that I can probably use frozen veggies and prep time would be practically nothing! A bag of frozen carrots is $0.99 at my grocery store without any sales or coupons. Tons of baby food for $0.99 with no additives. Sounds good to me! Once spring rolls around, I can buy fresh, local produce at the farmers market! I'm excited to try other veggies and fruits. Hopefully Tommy's tummy will hold up!

Merry Christmas!

Tommy did so well this Christmas! I was very worried that the change in his schedule would throw him off but he really did great! Saturday morning we went and saw Santa since he had been sick the previous two weekends. We actually got a great picture too! The guy taking the pictures kept trying to get a better picture because Tommy wasn't looking straight on but I loved this one!Then we went home and wrapped presents and spent time, just the three of us. After that we went to 4:30 mass with my family. It's a mass that's geared toward kids so there's lots of music and it's not super long. Tommy was awake the whole time but did really well.

After mass, we went to my uncle's house for dinner with my dad's side of the family. Tommy had a slight melt down at 7 but after some soothing, he was wide awake and happy to be passed around to my family members. Around 8:30, he was exhausted and went to sleep. We decided to go home at that point and Tommy slept pretty well that night.

Sunday morning, we opened presents at our house and Tommy had a ball ripping the wrapping paper off of the presents! Then we got dressed and went up to my parents' house and opened presents there with my sister and Granma. From there, we went up to my Granma's house to spend time with my mom's side of the family.

Then we went to Bill's mom's house where we spend a few hours with Bill's mom and her husband, Bill's dad, brother, his girlfriend, and sister. Tommy only took a few catnaps and was a little fussy at this stop but nothing too terrible.

We left Bill's moms at 5:30 and Bill went home to go to bed since he had to work at 4am on Monday and off Tommy and I went to another one of my uncles' house to spend time with my dad's side of the family again. We only stayed there until about 7:30 and brought Tommy home to get him to bed close to his normal bedtime. He went to bed very easily and slept through the night! He must have been exhausted.

Overall, the two days were wonderful. It was so nice to spend so much time with all of our family and to celebrate Tommy's first Christmas.

I hope your Christmas was wonderful as well!

Breathing Re-check

We brought Tommy back to the doctor on Wednesday for his breathing re-check He's doing MUCH better but still has a slight wheeze so we're going to continue to give him the nebulizer treatments for another week and bring him back to be checked yet again.

In the past week, Tommy's eating habits have been odd. I've kind of chalked them up to him being sick. He was leaving more at feedings at daycare and for 4 nights straight, he refused to nurse before bed. He'd take a bottle, but would not nurse which is strange because he'd nurse in the evening and throughout the night just fine. Then two nights ago, he woke up every hour starting at midnight to eat and yesterday at daycare he ate 3, 8oz bottles! He's been eating 6oz bottles with an occasional extra oz or two added to one bottle. Poor guy must have been really hungry!

Today is my last day of work before holiday break and I absolutely can't wait to have some time off to spend with family, especially my little guy!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sick Baby

Tommy is sick. We really try to keep our hands clean and always clean and sterilize his bottles and pacifiers but I'm a teacher and around germy kids. Bill is a delivery driver and around dirt and germs. And of course, Tommy goes to daycare which, while they do a great job cleaning, is full of germs.

About a week ago, Tommy started being congested in the morning and coughing from time to time. By Tuesday, he had a pretty nasty cough going and I was worried but he had no fever and was eating and sleeping fine. By Wednesday night, he had a bit of a wheeze. He slept terrible that night and I ended up holding him semi-upright on my chest for most of the night. Thursday morning, I called into work and called the pediatrician's office as soon as they opened.

We got an appointment for 10:30 and by then, I was really freaked out by the amount of wheezing Tommy was doing. They weighed Tommy and he's up to 15lbs 1oz! The doctor listened to his chest and agreed that he had a nasty wheeze. She did a swab to test for RSV. Luckily, that came back negative.

They determined that he had a cold virus but his little body wasn't tolerating it like most people would. They decided to give him a nebulizer treatment of Alubterol to see if that help his wheezing. He HATED the treatment. He tolerated it for about a minute and a half but then he was done and screamed his little head off for the rest of the 10 minute treatment. The doctor came back in and listened to his lungs and they were much clearer. The doctor prescribed a treatment of Albuterol 3-4 times a day for a week to help clear him out. We bring him back to the be rechecked next Wednesday. So a company delivered the nebulizer to our house and we've been doing the treatments as best as we can. Daycare is able to take care of 2 treatments a day so yesterday I only had to do 2 at home. Tommy hates it. It's like we're torturing him.

My poor little guy.

Today, we waited until he was napping and did the treatment then. It worked but he isn't always going to be sleeping when he's due for a treatment. As long as it makes him better, I'll do it. An interesting comment the doctor made was that she has noticed that infants who react to cold viruses in this way, often end up with some form of asthma later in life. I have exercise induced asthma that I've pretty much outgrown but both Bill and I have aunts with severe asthma. I really hope Tommy doesn't have to deal this. I'm not going to worry about it yet though, even the doctor said to just keep it in mind for later. She said she isn't going to make any predictions and we'll deal with whatever Tommy throws us later on. Until then, I'm hoping my poor little guy is 100% better soon. He sounds much better today!

4 Months Old!

Tommy is 4 months old! He is 14lbs 4oz and 25 inches long. He is in size 2 diapers during the day and size 3s at night since he has been wetting through. He is still wearing some 3 month size clothes but we are starting to put him in 6 month size in some things. He is still drinking 6 oz bottles while at daycare and breastfeeding at night and on the weekends. We tried rice cereal as directed by the pediatrician and while he liked the taste, it gave him terrible gas pains. We are putting cereal on hold for another month. He is still teething and although you can see his little top teeth right below the gums, none have popped out yet. He is batting at toys and just yesterday realized that he can pull down the vibrating toys and does it constantly! He getting so aware of his surroundings!

I am so thankful that we have such a happy, healthy boy!

My Big Boy!

We took Tommy to his 4 month doctor's appointment (a weed before he turned 4 months) on Wednesday. He weighed in at 14lbs 4oz and is 25 inches long. This keeps him in the 50th percentile for weight and length. I don't remember what his head circumference was but I know that he was in the 50th percentile for that too. Perfect!

The pediatrician said he looked great and asked if we had introduced rice cereal yet. We had since she instructed us to do so at the 2 month appointment. We told her that he was very disinterested one day, loved it for about 7 spoonfuls the next, and disinterested again the third day. She said to keep trying it from time to time and when he starts taking to it, give it to him daily. She told us we are welcome to start vegetable or fruit purees once he is comfortable with rice but to keep feeding him rice too. She said the most important thing is the breastmilk, followed by rice for the iron, then purees.

This is interesting to me since there are a bunch of girls on the bump who claim that rice is just empty calories. I think I'm going to do a bit of research on this. We have decided that we won't start purees until at least Christmas but probably not until 5 months or later. We haven't decided if we're going to make our own or buy the pre-made stuff. I'd like to make my own but I'm not totally sure I'd keep up with it. We kind of suck at making food for ourselves. We also don't have a food processor so we'd have to buy one of them or a baby food maker. We'll think about it in the next few weeks. If we decide to make our own, the baby food maker/food processor could be a Christmas present for Tommy!

Oh, by the way, Tommy took his shots like a champ! He cried for a minute but was fine. His appointment was at 3:45 but he didn't get the shots until around 4:30. We came home and he slept on and off until bedtime then slept from 7:30-5 and went back to sleep until I got him up at 7:15 to take him to daycare!

So much to be thankful for

This week has been full of activity and excitement. Wednesday I was off of work so I spent my morning at my Grandmother's house helping her and my mom make Thanksgiving pies. We do this every year together and it's really a lot of fun. Thursday was Tommy's first Thanksgiving!
He did great! I was concerned since we wouldn't be home for his afternoon nap and though he didn't get a great nap in, he did sleep for about an hour and a few cat naps. The hardest part of the day was watching everyone eat all of the delicious, dairy-filled foods. I made stuffing with my Earth Balance butter substitute and mashed potatoes with Earth Balance and Coffee Rich, a lactose-free coffee creamer. I was able to eat turkey too of course! But no pie, no squash souffle, no candied sweet potatoes, no green bean casserole, etc. It's worth it, but days like this one are really hard.

Friday was Bill's 30th birthday! It also happened to be the day last year that Tommy was conceived ;) Unfortunately, Bill had to work and he had a long day. While he was at work, Tommy and I made him a sign to wish him a happy birthday.

(sorry it's so blurry)

While Bill was working, we went out to lunch with my friend Melissa who lives in DC but was in town for the holiday. It was so nice to introduce her to Tommy and catch up! We went to a pizza restaurant and I got Tomato Pie without the parmesan cheese and it was heavenly. I miss pizza! I made Bill his traditional birthday dinner of hot dogs, mac & cheese, and tater tots. It's the ultimate, kids meal that he loves because it makes him feel young!

Today was an exciting day since it was Tommy's baptism! We had the ceremony at the church where Bill and I were married and where I grew up. After, we had a party in the parish center of the church. We had a great time and it was so nice to celebrate our beautiful baby boy with our family.

(I'll add a picture when I get one!)

Teeth and Cribs

Since my last post, we've been dealing with teething. My poor baby has tons of teeth trying to poke through right now :( The strange part is it seems that the top ones will come in first, at least those are the most prominent ones right now. I thought the bottom teeth came in first and that it wouldn't be until, like, 6 months. I hope they come in soon though because baby boy is a drooly, hand chewing mess. Some nights he just whimpers and cries all night. Sunday night, he was awake every hour and the only thing I could do to console him was nurse. At least I had that. The good news is that he is pretty happy and unfazed the majority of the time.

On a completely unrelated note, we decided to transition Tommy from the PackNPlay to the crib. Our goal was to have him transitioned by Christmas and he is rapidly outgrowing the bassinet part of the PNP. We decided to go ahead and give it a try this week while I'm off of work for a few days and will have help during the day if I need a nap.

So last night instead of his nighttime routine being done in our room, I did it in his room. It took a little bit longer to get him to sleep than it normally does but he went down relatively easily. After he was asleep I went out to the living room and broke down. Bill suggested that we just try and go to bed so I wouldn't be just sitting around upset. We went to bed and I made Bill hug me so that I wouldn't go get him. Tommy slept until 2, ate, then went back down pretty easily. He slept until 6! He might have kept sleeping if I just gave him his pacifier but I missed him and scooped him up without thinking.

He did great! I, woke up A LOT. I was listening for him and waking up thinking I heard him. Then there is the monitor. It has a voice activated setting which means it doesn't make any sound when he's quiet and kicks on when there is a noise. So when Tommy farts, it turns on. When he moves his head around, it clicks on. When he coughs, it turns on. Every time it turns on, I wake up where I used to just sleep through those kinds of noises with him in the room. I'm wondering if it would make sense for me to just leave it on and have the static in the background while I sleep.

The good news is that it went so well. I'm exhausted thinking about doing it again tonight though. I know we can do it but it's emotionally draining.

My poor baby

Today has been a rough day. TMI alert: Tommy needs to poop everyday or we have rough nights. Yesterday, he did not poop. Therefore, we were up 3 times last night instead of 1. Luckily, he pooped this morning at 7 and was in a good mood. Mass was being said in remembrance of my grandfather who passed away 12 years ago this week so since Tommy seemed to be doing well, off we went. He did really well. Then we went for coffee and I nursed in public for the first time!

By that point, Tommy was ready for a nap so we went home and I tried to get him down for a nap. He fell asleep but would wake up screaming. The only thing that would console him was nursing. We spent 4 hours with him nursing to sleep to jar awake and scream a few minutes later. Finally he fell asleep and took an hour long nap.

I was hoping this was the end of it but instead of going to sleep at 7:30 like he does every night, here we lay at 8:30 doing the whole, nurse-sleep-scream routine. I think he's teething but it seems too early for that. He has been sucking on his lower lip almost constantly for 3 days and chews on our fingers when we let him. He also has been a drool monster and hardly ever drooled before the last few days. I don't see or feel any teeth though. I don't care what it is as long as it goes away soon. Poor Tommy.

Ps. This is my first post from my phone so I appologize if it's full of typos. I promise to fix them as soon as I can get to a computer!

A Couple of Sad Firsts

Today is the first day that I did not nurse my baby even once. He woke up a couple of time last night but just wanted his pacifier and went back to sleep. I woke up at 6, pumped, and got Tommy up in time to bring him to daycare where they give him his first bottle. I then went to work. The students had a half day due to parent-teacher conferences which ran from 12:30-3:30 and 5-8. Luckily, my dad was able to pick up Tommy from daycare since Bill had a late day today. My dad picked him up at 3:30 and he had just finished his 3:00 bottle. He then brought Tommy to my school so I could see him for about an hour then he picked my mom up from work (she isn't driving right now, she needs cataract surgery and can't wear a contact in one eye for 2 weeks) and brought him to our house. Bill was able to give him a bottle and put him to bed (another first, I have put him to bed every day that he has been alive). By the time I got home he was asleep for the night. I've spent waaaaaaaaaaay too much time with my pump today.

Funny story: I usually pump in a "teacher's work room" in the basement of my school which is a big closet with a phone, printer, and a filing cabinet. After my 3:00 conference was over, I went down to pump. My DO NOT DISTURB sign was on the door and I could hear one of my coworkers on the phone. I waited for about 15 minutes before I decided to just go to my classroom to pump. Most everyone was gone for the break and I figured I could get away with it if I sat at my desk and turned away from my door. I was almost done when someone walked in my room!!! I should have locked my door but somehow forgot. It was a parent of one of my students! Her conference was scheduled for Monday at 3:50 but came today at 3:50 instead. I sputtered, "I'm in the middle of something, I'll be right with you" and she waited outside of my door while I unhooked myself. I explained what was going on and she laughed and apologized. Oh well, I learned to remember to lock my door!

The good news is that I almost pumped enough to cover the day even though I'm dealing with a slightly low supply caused by the stomach bug I had yesterday. I woke up early Wednesday morning with it and was sick all day yesterday. I pumped my typical 10 oz this morning but at my 10 pumping session, I only got 4oz where I usually get 7. I pumped again at noon, 3:30, and 8:15 when I got home and have about 22oz total. He drank 24oz. It's kind of nice to know how much he takes in a day I guess!

Sorry I've been MIA

It has been far too long since my last post. This is mostly due to the fact that life has definitely picked up! Work days consist of getting ready, going to work, picking up Tommy, cuddling/feeding Tommy, bottles and prep for the next day, bed, rinse, repeat. Weekends are filled with laundry, lesson planning, grocery shopping, and trying to see family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it doesn't leave me much free time for things like blogging!

So a rundown:

Tommy is 3 months old!!!
He's still in size 1 diapers but will be graduating to size 2s once this box of 1s is used up.
He is wearing size 3 month clothes comfortably.
He is drinking 6oz bottles while at daycare and I'm almost pumping enough so that he can have all breastmilk.
He is taking at least one nice long nap a day as well as a few shorter naps.
HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Last Friday night, he slept from 8pm-7am!!! Then Sunday night he slept from 7pm-5am, ate and went back down until 7. Last night he slept from 7:30-6:30 waking up once because he was all congested. Once I held him upright for a couple of minutes, he went right back to sleep.
He is consistently rolling from belly to back and is trying to go from back to belly.
He is smiling daily and babbling away.

An update on the dairy sensitivity, Tommy is a completely new baby! His gas has decreased considerably. He is much happier and is much more relaxed. I used to lay my hand on his belly and feel gas bubbles moving around. He would pull his legs up to his belly and wince in pain everyday, multiple times a day. This is completely gone! Now, he basically cries when he's hungry or tired.

Being a mom is very hard and giving up dairy is difficult but it's so worth it. I'm so in love with my little guy!

1 Week Down!

Today was the last day of my first week back at work. Luckily, it was a four day week because of the Columbus Day holiday so it was a nice, short week. Tuesday was really hard. I got up, got myself and Tommy ready, and brought Tommy to daycare. I'm so glad that we decided on this center. I really trust them and know that Tommy will be in good hands while he's there which makes leaving him a lot easier. My cousin's two kids go there and I was very fortunate that his wife was dropping their kids off at the same time as I was on Tuesday. She waited for me and walked me out. I was crying of course and she gave me a hug and told me that he would be great and that it would get easier. She was right.

Wednesday, Bill dropped Tommy off and it was a lot easier leaving Tommy with Bill than at daycare but I was still leaving him for the day. Thursday and today were each easier than the previous time I left him. I only teared up for a quick minute today, no actual crying!

Tommy only ate 2 oz at a time on Tuesday so only 6 oz total for the whole day. He cluster fed like crazy that night but I didn't mind. By today, he was eating 3, 4oz bottles. I'm glad that he is taking to them. He has only been cat napping for the most part but today he did take one, hour and a half long nap! I think they'll get him on an eating and napping schedule before we know it!
For now though, they are feeding on demand.

That brings me to pumping. I have a small freezer stash but can't use any of it since it all was pumped before I found out that Tommy is sensitive to dairy, which I'll add another post about later. We can't use any of that milk. Pumping at school has been interesting. Technically, my employer is required to provide a place to pump and a time other than my lunch or planning period but that really isn't practical. If I pump outside of those two times, I have to leave my class with someone which means writing sub plans everyday. It just won't really work. So I've been feeding Tommy around 5:30 then putting him back to bed while I get ready for work. I pump at 10:00 during my planning period and at 12:00 during my lunch. I pick up Tommy by 4:00 and feed him when we get home if he's hungry, if not, I pump then too.

This has worked alright so far but I don't pump enough. My first pumping session usually gives me a good amount, about 7oz. However, I get 5oz from the right side and only 2 on the left. During my lunch I've been getting about 3-4oz, 2-3 on my right and only 1 on the left. I've only had to pump once when I get home and I got 3oz on the right and 1oz on the left. My left boob is a dud. I bought some fenugreek and planned on starting to take it this weekend in hopes of boosting my supply but now I'm not sure if I should or not. I get a good amount on the right side, I just want to boost my supply on the left. I leave the pump going on the left the whole time I'm getting milk from the right. It takes about 10 minutes to get the right completely "emptied" and only about 3 on the left. I think I'm going to try to call the lactation consultants on Monday and see what they suggest. I have noticed that Tommy definitely eats on the right side much longer than the left irregardless of which side I start him on. I've tried offering him the left side again after be pulls off and he just gets frustrated.

Tommy has also started to get a hang of our bedtime routine! He even moved his bedtime up for me! He was going to bed around 10:00 but decided on Monday night that he was tired around 8:00 so I started our routine then and he was asleep by 8:00 and slept until I woke him up at 7:00am just waking up long enough to eat twice! He kept his early bedtime all week and went to bed about an hour ago tonight!

Overall, my first week back went pretty well. Things are a bit crazy at school and I have to put in some hard work to get my class the way I would like them but it will be fine. My sub did a great job, there are just some things that I do differently! I'm glad to be back at work and even though I miss Tommy terribly, I think it's good for both of us!

Back to work

I go back to work tomorrow. I'm really excited to get back to school and my students but I'm really nervous. I'm not really very nervous about leaving Tommy at daycare, I really like and trust the center but I have this irrational fear that Tommy will forget that I'm his mom or something. It's a weird thought because I know I'm being ridiculous but I feel like I'm handing the responsibility of raising my child off to someone else. I will be okay and so will Tommy.

Ok, I can do this.

Feeding...again

So there have been two major issues that we've been dealing with so far: sleeping and eating. We have started to get the sleeping issue under control but the feeding issue has gotten worse. I wrote about it here, here, and here. I mentioned what was going on to the pediatrician at our appointment on Monday and she said that the reaction Tommy's skin had to the formula would make her think it was a milk protein allergy but since he didn't seem to have any problems with my breastmilk and the soy formula was going fine, then to keep doing what we were doing.

Of course that meant that on Tuesday he started rejecting the soy formula. Yesterday he started rejecting the breast. Well, rejecting is the wrong word. He would suck then pull of and cry, suck and pull off and cry, until he finally gave up. I called the doctor and they got us in this morning. They think Tommy is allergic to dairy. I should also mention that Tommy cries all the time. Like he's either sleeping, eating, or fussing. He rarely will entertain himself and even if we're holding him, he's usually fussing. I really thought this was just normal, that we just had a fussy baby but the allergy could be the cause of this.

The pediatrician said to eliminate all dairy from my diet for at least 3 weeks and when formula is needed, we should give him Nutramigen which is a hypoallergenic formula. They said it tastes terrible and we should mix it with breastmilk until he got used to the taste.

I am more than willing to cut dairy out of my diet but I'm nervous that it's going to be really hard. There is milk in a lot of things. I started looking at labels of things we have around the house and you wouldn't believe the weird things that have milk in it, like chewable vitamin C. I did find this website, The Fussy Baby Site and there is a page devoted to non-dairy diets and resources.

So here I am, cutting out dairy. I really hope it works. Poor Tommy has terrible gas and is so uncomfortable all the time. The doctor said I should have a new baby within 3 weeks. I hope she's right.

Two Months!

Tommy is 2 months old today!!!
Tommy is 11lbs 14ozs and 23 inches long. He is getting much better at napping and sleeping at night by himself. He's definitely not sleeping through the night but he does sleep all night long. He goes to sleep around 10 and sleeps until about 8am just waking up to eat every 3 hours or so. He was sleeping longer stretches but has been waking up more since he's been in his PNP. It's okay though, I think he'll start lengthening the stretches soon. I'm not sure what will happen when I go back to work next week but I'm hoping he'll adjust easily! Happy 2 months Tommy, we love you!

Hopfully I Don't Jinx Myself

Monday morning, Tommy fell asleep for a nap and I put him down in his Pack N Play. He slept for 2.5 hours. That afternoon, he slept for another 2.5 ours in it after his shots. That night, he slept for 3 hours in it. Yesterday he took one 45 minute nap and slept from 10pm-4am (waking up every 2 hours) in it. Today, he took a 3 hour nap in there and he even went down drowsy but awake!

I'm not going to get excited or anything but could we have made progress????

8 Week Appointment

Today was Tommy's 8 week doctor's appointment. He is weighing in at 11lbs 9oz and 23in long. His head circumference is 39.5cm. This puts him in the 50th percentile in all three areas, perfectly average! He was given 3 shots (Hep B, Pneumococcal, and Pentacel) and a drinkable (Roto Virus) immunization and I cried longer than he did. He cried so hard and kept looking at me like, "why are you letting this happen." I had heard how hard shots are on parents but had no idea until it was my baby.

I went into the appointment with a whole list of questions and things to discuss with the pediatrician and here's a quick run down. He has an umbilical hernia but that's nothing to be concerned about until he is 3 years old, it should fix itself by then. The number of times a day he gets the hiccups is normal (3 on average!). She is confused by the whole formula thing, she said that if he was exclusively formula fed, she would think that the reaction he had to the Gentlease was a milk protein allergy but the fact that he doesn't react adversely to the breastmilk means he probably doesn't. She said to keep him on the soy formula if it seems to be working. His fussiness is probably gas but there isn't much that can be done, he's just a gassy, fussy baby.

Then I brought up his sleeping issues. She told me I need to get him to sleep on his own. She told me that as long as he's fed, changed, and comfortable when held, to put him down and let him cry. She told me to let him cry as long as I am comfortable with, that in her medical opinion, there is nothing wrong with letting him cry. I'm not sure what to do. I don't believe in letting a baby cry it out this young but I really don't want him sleeping in our bed either.

Completely randomly though, he is currently taking his second nap of the day in his Pack N Play. I put him down in it this morning for his nap and he slept for an hour and a half in there and I just put him down in there again. I put him down on his side both times since he hates being on his back and both times he wiggled himself to his belly. So he's sleeping soundly in his Pack N Play, but on his belly. I'm fine with it for naps since I can sit right next to him and keep an eye on him but I don't know about letting him do it at night.

This whole being a mother thing is really hard.

Soy Formula, School Visits, and Sausage

My little piggy boy ate 6 oz. of soy formula in one sitting yesterday!!! I couldn't ever get him to take more than 2.5 oz. of the other formula. Obviously he was having some adverse reaction to the other formula, whether it was him being fussy or if it was hurting his body somehow. I have to do a little bit more research on soy formula because it has been brought to my attention that it could be bad for him due to the levels of estrogen. I will look into it some more and I'll discuss it with his pedi on Monday.

Yesterday I went into school and had lunch with some coworkers and got to see my class! It was so great seeing the other teachers and getting an overview of how this year is going so far and it was awesome seeing my class! I taught first grade last year and looped up to second with my class. I do have about 6 students that weren't in my class last year but I know 3 of them from other homerooms last year. It was really great to go in because it makes me feel excited to go back and reassured that I'll pick things up really quickly. I'm glad I don't have to get to know the kids, I'll just have to get used to a new curriculum. The woman who is subbing for me is going to meet with me one afternoon next week to go over what they've been doing.

I go back to work in 11 days and I'm actually more excited than nervous at this point!

One more thing, Lauren over at Our Little All-American Family does a Food Friday post every week. I'm not a great cook and we're working on replacing our broken oven right now so recipes are limited but I have a great one I want to pass on today. I made this today for dinner and it took less than a half hour. I've come to really love the blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything and this is my take on one of her recipes.

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

About 1 pound of Sweet Italian Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
5-6 big leaves of fresh basil, chopped
1 lb penne pasta
grated Parmesan for topping

Directions:
1) Cook the pasta in salted water al dente, according to package directions.
2) While pasta is cooking, crumble and brown the sausage.
3) Add the onions and garlic to the sausage and saute for a couple of minutes.
4) Pour in the entire can of diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce and heat through.
5) Pour in the cream and heat through. The longer you cook the sauce the thicker it will get so simmer it until it is the consistency you want.
6) Add the fresh basil and let it simmer for a few minutes.
7) Finally, mix the sausage sauce with the pasta and serve. Top each serving with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Bottle feeding update

So I gave mixing the formula in advance a try yesterday and just as I feared, it didn't fix anything. Tommy was still pulling away and crying so I nursed him and called the pedi back. I don't think I mentioned yesterday that his skin also seems sensitive to the formula. When he eats from the bottle, milk dribbles down his mouth and into his little neck rolls. I try to keep a burp cloth to catch it but Tommy's arms are ALWAYS moving so it doesn't stay put. Well his poor neck has gotten so raw unless I immediately wash his neck after he eats.

Anyway, I called the pedi back and the nurse said the neck thing is probably just sensitive skin and he probably just doesn't like the taste of the formula and suggested I try soy. My mommy's intuition tells me that it's more than a picky palate but I will try soy since that should solve either problem.

Currently, Tommy is nursing then we're off to Babies R Us armed with formula checks to buy a small can of soy formula and a baby shower present for a coworker who is pregnant. Then Tommy and I will be going to school today to meet my coworkers!

Keep your fingers crossed that the soy works!

Bottle feeding

I go back to work on October 11. Eeek. Tommy will be going to daycare at the center for employees of my school district. I feel really good about this. We went and visited today and Bill and I just love the teachers and so did Tommy! He snuggled right into the arms of Rosa, the lead teacher! The other babies were all napping or playing quietly. Side note: the babies sleep in PNPs but there are 2 others who won't so they nap in bouncy chairs for now and they attempt the PNP everyday until they will!

Anyway, I've been pumping and have a small supply and will continue to pump as much as possible when I go back to work but I won't have enough to satisfy Tommy while at daycare so we have been forced to introduce formula. He's been taking 1-2 bottles a day of Enfamil Gentlease which was suggested by our pedi for his gassiness. Every time he takes the bottle, he drinks about an ounce before he startes moaning and pushing it out, then pulling it back in until he stops eating after 2 oz. It's like he's struggling to eat. I just thought it was the bottle itself. Until yesterday. Yesterday I pumped an extra time and fed it to Tommy in a bottle to see if he would act the same way. Nope. He calmly gulped down all 4 oz.

This morning I called the doctor to see if they thought we should switch formulas or if there was something else we should do. They suggested mixing the formula in the morning and letting it rest in the refrigerator to let the bubbles that are formed when mixing, pop. They said that's probably the problem, that it's like he's drinking a carbonated drink and his belly is getting full of bubbles.

So, we'll give it a try and see what happens. I hope that solves the problem but I have a bad feeling that it won't be that easy...

6 Week Check-Up

I just got home from my 6 week postpartum doctor's visit and all is well! Everything looks great and I got my flu shot so that's one less thing I have to worry about. I spoke with my doctor about birth control options. Basically they are: mini-pill which has to be taken at the exact same time every day, shot which will probably make me gain a bunch of weight, IUD which will cost about $1,000, or condoms. Bill and I discussed it a bit and decided that the shot was out because I just don't like it. IUD is out for now until we're done having kids. I don't want to spend all that money to take it out again in a couple of years (assuming we decide to have more kids ;)) The mini-pill would be an option but I know myself enough to know I wouldn't take it at the same time every day and we'd end up using condoms anyway. So for now, we're going to just stick with condoms until I'm done breastfeeding, then I'll go back on the pill I guess. I wish my insurance would cover birth control but it doesn't :(

Sleep

Last night we went to a graduation party for my cousin Joe. He graduated from Syracuse University this past August and his parents decided that a fun way to celebrate would be to have everyone over to watch an SU football game! The game this week didn't start until 8:00 and I was a bit worried about taking Tommy to a party so late. We usually start our little bedtime routine (clean diaper, PJs, swaddle, nurse) at 9:00 and I knew we wouldn't be home by then but figured that we won't be able to be home at bedtime every night, so let's give it a whirl when Bill would be off the next day.

Tommy did great! He hung out and let lots of my aunts and cousins hold him. He ate once and my cousin's wife, who has 2 kids, kept me company in the other room and was so funny! I brought my Udder Cover and when I was putting it on, she said, "OMG don't even worry about covering up in front of me! I mean, you can if you're uncomfortable but I don't care at all!" So, I free-boobed it!

We stayed until halftime which was slightly before 10:00. Tommy had gotten grumpy and tired and I was feeling just as tired! We got home and it took almost an hour to get Tommy fed and asleep. By then it was 11:00. I put Tommy in his bouncy chair and went to sleep, bracing myself for a possible rough night. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to a hungry baby at 4:00!!! I was in such a deep sleep that I was confused. I haven't slept that deeply in, well, a long time! I fed him and got him back to sleep and slept until 8:30! I woke up feeling great! Keep it up Tommy!

Fun stuff

I saw this little survey on the blog, Stay-at-Home {MOM}ents and thought it would be fun to do. Thanks Jen!

a {age} 27

b {bed size} queen

c {chore you hate} folding and putting away laundry

d {dogs} a Goldendoodle named Hojo

e {essential start to your day}computer time and a shower if I want to be productive!

f {favorite color} Purple!

g {gold or silver} definitely silver...or white gold

h {height} 5'8"

i {instrument you play} I am not musically inclined at all

j {job title} I'm so happy to be able to say: Mommy! I'm also an elementary teacher :)

k {kids} Thomas Harrison

l {live} Central NY

m {maiden name} Dougherty

n {nicknames} I don't really have any...

o {overnight hospital stays} only when having Tommy

p {pet peeve} Having my neck touched...weird, I know

q {quote} A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. - Jackie Robinson

r {righty or lefty} righty

s {siblings} One sister, Joelle

t {time you wake up} When Tommy tells me it's time to get up!

u {university attended} SUNY Geneseo for undergrad and SUNY Cortland for grad

v {vegetable you hate} Asparagus

w {what makes you run late} poor time management

x {xrays you've had} I was hurt all the time as a kid so I've had many

y {yummy food} I love sweets, I could live on candy, cake, brownies, etc

z {zoo animal favorites} Penguins

Ok, I'm feeling much better since the last post. I've decided to stop pushing the whole sleeping-in-the-Pack-N-Play thing. If Tommy will sleep in the Rock-N-Play or bouncy chair, then great.

Ok, Tommy is 5 weeks old! Let's celebrate some milestones!

1. The newborn sized diapers are too small now. We're on to size 1s!
2. Along with the diapers, newborn sized clothes are mostly too small too! On to 0-3 month size!
3. My little man is incredibly strong! He's holding his head up longer and moving it from side to side with ease while laying on our chests. He's also bearing weight on his feet. We will hold him up in front of us and he straightens his legs right out and loves when we bounce him on his feet (not too much weight though!).
4. This isn't a great milestone but we had our first "sick" visit to the doctor. Last Monday, we woke up to Tommy's eye glued shut with goop. I used a warm, wet washcloth to clean it off and checked him out. The whites of his eyes weren't pink or red so I didn't think it was pink eye but I called the pediatrician anyway. They had us come in the next day since Monday was a holiday and it turns out he has a blocked tear duct. They said to use cotton balls to keep his eye clean and to massage the tear duct several times a day. Luckily for us, it hasn't seemed to bother Tommy at all.
5. This is a big one, Tommy went from 12:30pm-6:00am last night without a feeding! Now, he did wake up twice with gas bubbles so we didn't really sleep straight through, but I have high hopes that this will come soon!
6. Tommy took a bottle of formula last night without a fight and actually seemed to like it! While Bill gave him the bottle, I pumped and got 4.5 oz! This gives me high hopes that I'll be able to get some good amounts when I go back to work and hopefully will have a big enough freezer stash that if I stop producing much milk, we'll still be able to feed him breastmilk for a while.

In other news, my maternity leave is officially up as of September 21 when I go to the doctor for my 6 week postpartum appointment. I have enough sick time accrued to get me through mid-October if the school district will approve the leave. However, this year is my tenure year and I can't get a straight answer as to whether taking more time will affect my tenure date. I've been calling, emailing, and even visiting personnel and can't get an answer. The woman who should have the answer told me she had to "research it further" and would get back to me. That was yesterday and she won't answer my calls today. So frustrating! I can't be the first teacher to go out on extended childcare leave during her tenure year.

In mommy news, I tried on a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans today. They were the first ones I could find and are a pair of the smaller ones, but they went on and zipped! They button, but not comfortably and I have a lovely muffin top, but the fact remains that I can put them on! It gives me hope that I'll get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes soon enough!

I took this video this morning, my baby boy must have been having some sweet dreams!

Having a rough day

It's 9:30am and I've already cried multiple times today. First, Bill had to work today because of the massive flooding in Binghamton. They weren't able to deliver to any of their stops in that area the last couple of days so Bill and 2 of his coworkers had to work today. Luckily, Bill only had one stop but it is 2.5 hours away. He should be home by noon.

The major reason I've cried today, though, is I just feel like I suck at this whole mothering thing. First, we've started supplementing with formula. Just one bottle a day for now. The reason being, that pumping is not going well for me. I get MAYBE 2 oz every time I pump and Tommy eats more than that at a feeding. When I go back to work, I'll be lucky if I can get 2 pumping sessions in each day between my lunch and planning period. 4 oz will not be enough to get Tommy through a day of daycare. I spoke to the lactation consultants at the hospital and the pediatrician and decided to give in to formula. I'm going to keep breastfeeding at night, hopefully. So for now, one bottle a day of formula. And Tommy does not really like it. So I feel guilty that we're introducing formula at all and I feel even more guilty that my baby doesn't like it.

The second reason I feel like I suck at being a mother is because I can not get Tommy to sleep at night consistently. I had one night where I really felt like I had a clue, then we had last night. At 8:00, I nursed Tommy to sleep and got him comfortable in the Pack N Play. 15 minutes later he started squawking so I went in to check on him and he started projectile vomiting, choking, and gagging. I scooped him up and cleaned him while Bill cleaned up the Pack N Play. Then Tommy was awake. I didn't want to try to nurse him again because I was afraid he'd vomit again, and he didn't seem hungry. I finally nursed him at 11 and he fell asleep and I got him in the Pack N Play again but he spit up and woke up again. This time I couldn't get him put back down in the Pack N Play and, if I'm being honest, I was too tired to try. So I let him sleep on my chest until 2. At that point I fed him again and he was WIDE AWAKE and FUSSY. Bill eventually got up with him at 3:30 and walked around with him for an hour so I could sleep. Then I nursed him again. Bill had to get ready for work and left by 4:30 and I was alone with a baby who had spit up twice and still hadn't pooped all night (this kid poops EVERY TIME he eats normally). So I gave up. I nursed him laying down and we slept for 3 hours together in our bed. Not good. If I was a good mom I would have stayed up with him or kept trying to put him down in the Pack N Play. If I was a good mom I wouldn't have given up.

What are we going to do? I need to get him sleeping on his own. He can't sleep in bed with us and he can't sleep on my chest forever. I need to get this figured out. Until then, I'm going to keep plugging along. And wiping my tears.

Lessons for Mommy

Sleeping on Mommy

So we've been having some difficulty sleeping at night. Tommy will go to sleep somewhere between 7 and 10pm and sleep for 3-4 hours but then, the rest of the night is a struggle. He will wake up to eat and fall back to sleep, but not want me to put him down. He wants to sleep on mommy. Well, that doesn't really work for mommy because then mommy can't sleep!

Confession: two nights ago, after Bill left for work, I let Tommy sleep in bed with me. In my defense, I fell asleep while I was nursing laying down and it kind of just happened...but I didn't move him when I woke up and noticed. I hadn't slept more than 3 hours that night and he was quiet. This scared me though. We have a pillow-top mattress and it's really not safe for him to be sleeping there.

So after talking with my mom and grandma I decided I needed to get this figured out. I decided that I was going to break this sleeping-on-mommy habit. Last night I took my shirt that I'd worn all day off and laid it down in the pack-n-play and turned on the Sleep Sheep to rain. I then nursed Tommy to sleep. I carefully got up and laid him on his side (more about this in a minute) on my shirt. I kept my arms wrapped around him while he settled in. After about a minute I pulled my arms back slowly. AND IT WORKED!

So, I got him to sleep in the beginning of the night. Three hours later, he woke up to eat. I followed the same routine AND IT WORKED AGAIN!!! He woke up to eat every 2-3 hours all night and I was able to get him back to sleep each time! In the process though, I learned something: Tommy is a VERY loud sleeper. He grunts, and sighs, and moans, and occasionally cries but he does it in his sleep. I think I've been hearing him make these noises and immediately picking him up, subsequently waking him up. Last night I waited him out. Maybe his poor nighttime sleeping habits are my fault. I'm really hoping that we're on to something here. I'm going to try this routine again tonight and see how it goes.

One of the big problems we've had with Tommy sleeping is that he really doesn't like to be flat on his back. He'll nap in his Rock n' Play and bouncy chair but I really don't want to get him used to sleeping in them at night. I'm afraid I'd have a hard time transitioning him to his crib. So, after careful research and discussion, Bill and I decided to let him sleep on his side. He really would like to sleep on his belly but I'm not willing to do that, so side it is.

Here's the thing though, if he's making all of these noises and waking me up all night, should we move him to his crib? I don't know if I'm ready for that. His room is literally right across the hall from our room. And the hall is only 3 feet wide. He wouldn't be far away. But I don't know if I want him out of my eye sight. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

1 Month

Tommy is officially 1 month old today!

He is 9lbs 4 ozs as of yesterday's trip to the doctor (clogged tear duct)! I'm so happy he is gaining weight and growing like a weed. He celebrated by sleeping from 9pm - 2am last night! That's 5 hours! Of course, the rest of the night didn't go quite as well but hey, it's a start!

It must be documented

Tommy slept GREAT last night!

I fed him at 9:30 and Bill took him to the living room so I could go to sleep (Bill was supposed to be off of work today but ended up getting called in this morning). Apparently, shortly after Bill took him out, he fell asleep in Bill's arms. He brought him in and put him to bed. Next thing I knew, it was 2:30am! Tommy went for 5 hours! I fed him and put him back to sleep pretty quickly and he slept until 6:30! I think he woke up because Bill's phone rang but a 4 hour stretch on top of a 5 hour stretch?! Amazing! I fed him and we fell back asleep until 8:30. I seriously have not slept that good since I was about 7 months pregnant! I feel great today.

Let's replicate it tonight Tommy!

3 weeks

The 3 week growth spurt is no joke. And no fun. Ouch.

Yay for small victories!

This is Tommy. Napping. In his Pack N' Play. ON HIS BACK!!!

(No, there is no sheet down. I just had the idea to try it out today when he had finally passed out at noon after being awake since 5 this morning. I'll put a sheet on after he wakes up.)

5 things

What I have learned in the 2 weeks that Tommy has been alive:

1) The baby blues are really rough on me. The changes that have taken place as well as the hormonal imbalance have been enough to really throw me. It's getting better but the cloud I was living in was a very scary place.

2) I have the best husband ever. If it wasn't for him, I don't know where I'd be.

3) A close second place tie goes to my parents and grandmother. They have been here every day whenever I need them.

4) Newborns have no schedule. Some nights Tommy will sleep and some nights he won't. We had two sleepless nights in a row this weekend and he was awake pretty much all day yesterday. Luckily, last night was a great night. He only woke up long enough to eat every 3 hours from 8-5. I'm working on keeping him awake as much as possible today to hopefully recreate that tonight.

5) My whole life is different now but that's ok. I'll get used to it. Change is very hard for me but I will be okay. This will be the most amazing thing to ever happen to me, once I get my hormones under control and can start to live my life a little bit more. I look forward to being able to take him more places. We've gone out to eat and to the grocery store, the three of us, but I haven't taken him anywhere myself yet. Of course, I haven't been able to drive until today so that's part of it. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday so I will definitely be taking him somewhere myself by then. I'm thinking about attempting a trip to Target or something tomorrow though, just to give it a try.

Sometimes Tommy's a Night Owl

Wide awake at 1:00 am

Last night I fed Tommy at 8:00 and went to bed. I slept blissfully from 9-11 when I was awoken by Tommy's little hunger noises. I took him from his chair and fed him. Usually, I have to change his diaper between each side to wake him up enough to eat again so I changed his diaper and he hungrily ate from the other side. At this point, he's usually in a milk coma and I can go back to sleep. Not last night! My little man was still looking up at me like, "now what do we do?" when he had finished eating. I tried putting him back in his chair but he started crying. I held him and rocked him hoping he'd go sleep. Nope. He was WIDE awake. After about an hour, he started to drift off. I waited until I thought he was sleeping deeply enough to put him in his chair but he bolted right awake again as soon as his bum hit the seat. I ended up feeding him again at 1 and he finally went back to sleep at 2. Bill got up and left for work at 3 and I told him that if he woke up the baby I'd kill him. Luckily, he slept through the noise and didn't wake up until 6. I was able to go back to sleep for another hour after I fed him again but those 3 hours in the middle of the night were a killer.

I tried to figure out why he was so wide awake and I have 2 theories. One is that my grandmother ended up coming over yesterday and held Tommy for 5 hours, only giving him up so I could feed him. He slept soundly the whole time. Not only did he get a lot of sleep, it was also all while being held. My second theory is that I might have accidentally hopped him up on caffeine. I got a migraine yesterday afternoon and drank two caffeinated sodas to get rid of it. I drank them around 5:00 so I'm not sure if there would be a 6 hour delay in effects but who knows.

Or maybe Tommy doesn't sleep between 11 and 2 anymore. I hope this isn't the case.

In other news, I ordered a Fisher Price Rock n' Play. I know the pediatrician said it was ok for him to sleep in his bouncer but I did some searching around online and saw that a lot of moms recommended this product for babies who don't like to sleep flat on their backs. I finally signed up for Amazon Mom and bought a Rock n' Play. It should arrive today and we'll give it a shot. I'll let you know how it works. I also ordered a nursing bra. I have 2 that I wore at the end of my pregnancy but they have underwire and I read that you're not supposed to wear underwire while nursing because the pressure can block ducts. We'll see how a supportive a non-underwire bra is for me. I have a rather, um, large chest. I've been living in nursing tanks so far but I'd really like something with more support to wear out in public. We'll see how this goes.

ps. I'm going to brag for a minute, I got on the scale today and I'm down 20 of the 40 pounds I had gained! Yay!

We're home!

The couple of days in the hospital were a blur of getting checked by nurses and trying to get a hang of nursing. I was excited to be released and get home on Tuesday, but also very nervous and scared. Would I be able to do this? Bill was able to take Monday and Tuesday off but needed to return to work on Wednesday. My dad is a teaching assistant so he is off in the summer and would be able to come over to help and my mom was taking Thursday and Friday off of work to be available to help me too. Thank god for family.

I took Tommy to the pediatrician on Wednesday and his jaundice was still in full force but the doctor just said to get him in the sun and keep feeding him and have him poop it all out. Tommy had also lost another 2 ounces and was down to 7lbs 2oz so she wanted to see us back on Friday. By Friday, his jaundice had reduced considerably and he had gained 6oz! He was up to 7lbs 8ozs! I was so proud of my little piggy!

We also have figured out sleeping at night. It's not exactly the way I envisioned but it works. See, Tommy doesn't really like to sleep flat on his back. He fusses and squirms and just wants to be held. Thursday night, I was holding him in the living room so he wouldn't wake Bill up when I decided to try to put him in his bouncy chair. He had slept in it a lot during the day for my mom and needed to try to sleep some. I put him in the chair at 9:00 and we both fell asleep. I woke up in a panic at midnight because he was still quiet. He was still asleep! I woke him up to feed him and put him back in the chair. He then slept until 3:00 when I woke him up to feed him again, then slept until 7:30! I couldn't believe it! I mentioned that he slept well in the bouncy chair to the pediatrician and she told me that if he wouldn't sleep otherwise, then go ahead and let him sleep in the chair. She also told me that as long as he is eating every 2-3 hours throughout the day, then to let him sleep as long as he wants at night. We've been getting 3.5-4 hour stretches! I'm still tired, probably because I'm still recovering and not getting a full, uninterrupted night, but it's MUCH better. I'm hoping that once we get him on a semi-regular sleep schedule, we'll try putting him back in the pack n' play but for now, I'm good with him sleeping in the chair!

So that's what's been going on so far. Today Tommy is one week old! The doctor told us to expect a growth spurt between 7 and 10 days. They said he would want to eat constantly and not to get frustrated. I'm anticipating this with some trepidation. At least I know it's coming and won't freak out that I'm starving my baby!

Tomorrow will be interesting. It will be my first day completely on my own. Well, kind of. I know my dad is around if I need him and will drop everything to come help, but I'm going to see if I can do this on my own for a day. Tuesday my friends are coming to meet him and Bill has a softball game that I might try to bring him to. Wednesday we go back to the doctor and my uncle's political fundraiser. I haven't decided if I'm going to go or not. There will be A LOT of people there but if he doesn't mind the Moby Wrap (still have to try it out) I might give it a try. The hardest thing is knowing whether I should take him places or not. We were going to try going out to breakfast this morning but Tommy was fussy and wanted to eat every hour from 7:30-10:30 so we decided to put that trip on hold. I do know that I need to start going somewhere from time to time because I'm starting to feel pretty cooped up!

Some Pictures

The hospital where I delivered has a company, Charley's Angels, that comes around and takes newborn pictures. The session is free and you have no obligation to buy so we said, sure why not? They did a pretty good job I think so we bought a small package as well as a CD with the images on it with a release so we can print more if we want. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Day Tommy Was Born

Introducing......
Thomas Harrison!
Born Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 9:10 am
7 pounds 10 ounces
20.5 inches long

So here's the story, on Saturday I felt crampy and just plain blah all day. I couldn't sit still and just wanted more and more things to do. I swept, dusted, arranged, rearranged, and basically drove Bill nuts all day. Finally I looked at Bill and said, "you know, we haven't put the car seat bases in yet, the baby won't come until we do that." Bill laughed and reminded me that if I gave birth without the car seat bases in, he could always come home and do it before we were released but he humored me anyway and we went out in the rain and put a base in my car.

At around 7:00, Bill went over to our friends' house to watch the Mets game and I snuggled in on the couch to watch some TV. At 10:30 I went in to bed to watch TV in there. At 11:00 I felt this very strange POP in my belly. I waited to see what was going to happen but nothing did. About 5 minutes later I decided to get up and go to the bathroom. As I stood up, fluid started running down my legs. Not a lot, about as much as peeing yourself. I made it to the bathroom and realized that I had lost my mucus plug as well. I went and laid down to see what would happen and sure enough, more came pouring out. I called Bill and told him to come home, that my water had broken. He rushed home and we called the doctor who told me to go to L&D to get checked out.

We got to the hospital around 12:15 and by that point, the contractions had started and were about 8 minutes apart. They did an internal and I was about 3-4 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. They admitted me and offered to let me get in the tub. It was about 2 am by that point and the hot water felt great. The contractions were painful in my hips and legs and the hot water really helped me to relax. However, it only felt good for about 20 minutes then I just felt restricted since it was a standard sized tub and I couldn't really move around.

At that point, my contractions were really close together and very strong. I was having a hard time concentrating on breathing and was in a whole lot of pain. The nurse offered to give me Nubain but I didn't want to get it because it's in the same family as Morphine and when I've had that in the past, it has caused me to become extremely loopy and fall asleep even in a small dosage. I was afraid that I'd take it and not be able to push. I was open to an epidural and asked for it at 3:00. The anesthesiologist was in an emergency cesarean and wasn't able to come to me right away so I tried to labor through the contractions but they were coming so fast and so strong that I was crying and shaking.

At 3:30 the nurse told me that the anesthesiologist was finishing up in the OR and that he'd be coming by soon but told me that I'd have to be able to sit still while he gave me the epidural. She asked if I thought I could do it and I just cried harder. She left so Bill and I could discuss what to do. I told him I didn't think I could sit still. He told me he thought we should try some sort of meds and I gave in to the Nubain. The doctor checked me and I was 5 centimeters dilated so they approved both the Nubain and the epidural. The nurse gave the Nubain to me and I instantly felt limp. I didn't feel any contractions, in fact, I didn't feel anything. She had me sit up so that the anesthesiologist could start the epidural and I just slumped on her. I remember her talking to me but not being able to respond, as if I was asleep. Bill told me later that she kept checking to make sure I was breathing because I was so unresponsive.

After the epidural was in, the nurse had me lay on my side and go to sleep. She came in to have me roll over a couple of times but the relief I got from sleeping was amazing. It wasn't good, deep sleep, but it was something. I was glad because Bill got to get some sleep too.

At 6:00 they inserted a catheter and I was 8.5 - 9 centimeters dilated. They had me sit more upright so that gravity would cause the baby's head to get me to 10 centimeters.

At 7:00 I started to feel discomfort on my left side. It quickly turned into being able to feel all of the contractions on my left side. The epidural had worn off on that side. This was also the time that the nurses changed. The nurse I had all night was nice but the nurse that came on for my delivery was AMAZING. Thank you Nurse Deb!

At 7:50 they checked me and I was at 10 centimeters and ready to start pushing. The first few pushes felt amazing. It was such a relief. However, this was short lived. Soon the pushes started to hurt. I could feel the contractions and pushing was hurting my hips. They had me roll to my side and push that way. That felt better for a little bit. Then they had me switch to the other side. The nurse kept telling me I was doing a good job but I just didn't feel like my pushes were that productive. I'd start pushing and I'd finally feel like I got it right and I'd run out of breath. The nurse grabbed a blanket and tied a knot in it. She had me grab hold of one end and she held the other. Bill had one leg and a nursing student had the other (oh yeah, forgot to mention, my brother in-law's girlfriend is a nursing student on the L&D floor where I delivered and I agreed to let two of her classmates participate in the birth). When I pushed, we kind of did a tug-o-war and my pushes became MUCH more productive.

After an hour and 20 minutes of pushing, at 9:10am, Tommy was pushed out and placed on my chest. He cried almost instantly and was absolutely perfect. They cleaned him up and let me hold him and nurse him for an hour before they took him to the warmer.

I did end up needing some stitches for a third degree tear but I honestly didn't care. It was the worst pain with the best result ever. I'm totally in love with my new little guy and watching Bill with him makes me fall farther and farther in love with him.

***It took me a few days to write this out. I'll add more information about the following days in a later post.***

To-do (update)

A couple of weeks ago I posted a list of things I had to do before the baby so I thought I'd update it:

* Buy whatever is left from registries - Done!
* Arrange Baby Room - Done!
* Get/Set up Pack & Play - Done!
* Install Car Seat - Done!
* Get cars cleaned inside - Still need to do this
* Get animals Groomed - Still need to do this, may not be done
* Get blinds for baby room - Done!
* Wash baby clothes and bedding - Done!
* Pack my hospital bag - Done (except for last minute things like laptop)
* Order more contacts - Done!
* Write 2 weeks worth of sub plans - Actually found out I don't have to do this
* Decide, then tell custodians how to set up classroom - Pretty much done!
* Decide if I want to rent or buy a breast pump and do it (after BF class on 7/25) - Going to buy one, I need to call the hospital and order it (they sell them at cost!) worst case scenario, I can actually buy one while I'm admitted to the hospital and they'll send it up to me. I'd like to have it before hand though if possible.
* Buy another nursing tank or 2 - Done!
* Decide which pediatrician will be our primary one (group is already chosen) - Waiting until after baby is born since they don't all do interviews. We'll get assigned one and can just change it if we like someone else in the group better

So I've pretty much accomplished it all. We installed the car seat base in my car today but then it started pouring so we'll do Bill's tomorrow. I'll call to make an appointment to get them checked when they open on Monday.

Alright, I know I have 11 days until my due date so I shouldn't be rushing this but, baby, if you're ready to come out, WE'RE READY FOR YOU!!!