Since we last spoke...

Tyler has been sick since that last post! Yes, you can count 'em, we are in our 7th week of illness. We went thru 2 rounds of antibiotics there, and chalked it up to a cold, but after week 6 we decided we had to do something else, and got a referral to a ENT. We met with them last week and although they didn't tell us much that we hadn't heard, they did take a sample of the mucus and sent it off for culturing. Turns out its bacterial (moraxella catarrhalis), and can be treated with a stronger, different antibiotic. So we started that on Thursday and are hopeful.

In other news...

- we have added a 3rd meal of solids in now, and he's still a good eater

- he is still not crawling, but scoots around like crazy

- this past weekend he started pulling up to a standing position

- Eric got a new position at work that he will start toward the middle of Feb

- he's enjoying his new room and teachers at daycare

- he has 8 teeth

Omnibus Blog Update!

We've had a lot of excitement in our house the past few weeks.....

Tyler had his first plane trip! He got to meet his grandparents, great-uncle, and many of our friends who live in Texas. We stayed 2 nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, and then one night with Pam, John and Kathryn. He did great on both plane rides (even with teething on the way home) and got to go into a swimming pool for the first time too.

On 10/16 we went to a wedding (3 hours away) and were lucky that his daycare teacher also does babysitting so she watched him from about 2 in the afternoon until midnight. It was a great success - the only reason she called us was to ask if it's normal for the dog to chase the cats like crazy! (and the answer there is yes). They had a great time together including a long walk. The wedding went well, too! :)

On 10/23, Eric and I flew up to Boston for another wedding. We were gone just over 24 hours. Grammy (Kay) watched him Saturday morning and then Kristen watched him from around noon on Saturday until we got in around 9 am on Sunday. We missed him like crazy but he was having a great time. The wedding was great fun - got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a long time and Boston was beautiful. We survived the first night away from him.

We've added a second meal of solids, moved up to Gerber stage 2, and even given the meat varieties a try. So far he seems to like everything, although he has his days when he's just not feeling what we've chosen for him. Overall he's a good eater and is good with the spoon.

He has a total of 6 teeth, and 2 more on the way.

He's sitting up really well and gets up on all fours too. He will rock in that position but its not crawling yet.

We attempted to wean him off of his reflux meds (the doctor said that we should try around 7 months), but that didn't work out so well, so we put him back on them 2x per day. This past week we went to the doctor for a full evaluation regarding the reflux, and ended up upping his dose. The doctor took the time to walk us thru why he does not recommend doing anything add'l (further testing, different meds, etc) and it all makes sound, logical sense to both Eric and me. It was great to hear his logic and fully understand that we're addressing it appropriately. 1:10 kids will stay on reflux meds past 9 months and it looks like Tyler will be the one.

This past week was Spirit Week at daycare. Monday was Pajama Day, Tuesday was Team Colors (Tyler wore his Aggie jersey), Wednesday was Wacky Tacky day (we didn't participate; couldn't handle him being non-matching!), Thursday was Classroom Colors Day (yellow, we went out to get another yellow outfit but had a big spit up, so we wore a backup outfit w/yellow in it), and Friday was Halloween (he had a Halloween t-shirt plus his Skunk Halloween costume). Fun fun!

We thought that would help out the spit-up issue that seems to have reoccurred, but it got way worse over the weekend. We are pretty confident that this is due to his being sick and all the associated mucus hitting his belly, and making him throw up. Since was sick all weekend, he's home with Dad for the day.

Today was supposed to be his first day in the next room in daycare; hopefully tomorrow. Daycare sent some wonderful pictures too (including a few with his little girlfriend!). He'll be in a room with some of his friends and a few older kids. At first I was wary (we love Ms. Robin) but I think it will be good for him to be with the older kids and see what they are doing.

sitting up!

So within the last 10 days, Tyler's had apples, pears, and peaches. Fruits are a hit in this household. :)

Tyler's working toward sitting up too. He leans himself forward all the time, rather than leaning back. So cute. And he gets into crawling position but hasn't made many motions to crawl (yet).

Grammy watched him last Friday night so Eric & I could go to Lewis Black. You may recall this was Eric's Father's Day present this year. Tyler was very good for grammy!

We've moved his bedtime up from after the 10pm bottle to after the 8pm bottle (that 10pm bottle got moved up). I'd found that getting Tyler up in the morning was tough, so it makes sense that he goes to bed earlier and gets some good sleep. Its worked out great and a couple of mornings he's woken up on his own around the right time (6am). Its fun to go in to find him laying in bed smiling.

And he's upped his eating to consistently 27+ ounces per day. Two or three days this past week he was over 30! That plus one package of Gerber stage 1 food, which we're about to up that to 2/day.

Prunes are now banned!!

Wednesday morning I wake Tyler up like normal at 6 am and we come downstairs to eat.

The general routine is before he eats I change his diaper and his clothes like normal. The he eats and usually poops again, I change him again, and then we get our stuff together and go to daycare/work.

So he's laying on the changing pad, jammies are off and underneath him, under than is a towel, then the changing pad (part of the Pack & Play). I get the jammies off, old diaper off, new diaper in place but not pulled up and fastened yet, and he starts pooping. Pruney poop. Ok, so I think he's done after a little and I move the new, now dirty diaper out of the way, and lift his legs to wipe. He wasn't done. Pruney poop comes shooting at me and gets EVERYWHERE. ALL over the changing pad, his jammies, the towel, everywhere. I had some on my foot, it was
so bad.

I balled up the jammies and towel and threw that away, cleaned him again, and got a new diaper on there quick!

and that night he had green beans. :)

6 months already??!

We have been really bad about keeping you updated on what's going on! Here are some highlights of the last two months:

• Eric's shoulder injury healed on it's own without surgery (hooray!). Just as the doctor said, at around 6 weeks or so post-injury it started to feel better and he's all back to normal now!
• He started working M-F a week or so ago, so he picks Tyler up every day after work
• We switched Tyler to Gentlease formula. The transition went pretty well and now we can get a giant can of formula at BJ's for $33.
• Forgot one dose of Zantac about a month ago and poor little Tyler was pretty miserable. I felt horrible about it too :(
• We started him on solids (first foods) about 5.5 weeks ago. He's had rice, squash, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, and this week we're on prunes. He's liked everything so far, but had to warm up to the peas a little. He's getting really good with the spoon thing!
• we've done two Skype conference calls with my parents and have booked tickets for our trip to Texas later this year
• Daycare is continuing to go well. One day about a week or so ago he went thru 4 outfits in one day (2 spit ups and then he peed on himself!) which was a new record.
• He's gotten really good at grabbing things and enjoys time in his activity gym. He likes the rings, keys, and a big ball. This past weekend we got him a few other toys that he likes.
• We bought an Exersaucer a couple of months ago, but he wasn't quite big enough to play in it. We tried again this past weekend and he seemed to enjoy it more.
• He is getting two teeth!! We figured out this weekend that there are two coming in on the bottom. He's been drooly for a while now, and so far hasn't been too fussy (knock wood!)
• He tries to put anything and everything into his mouth
• He has rolled over back to tummy at home and at daycare, but is kind of lazy about it. He can roll from tummy to back no problem. And overnight he scoots all around in his crib.
• He's been smiley for a while now, and just this past week or so has started to laugh. He smiles at his daddy on sight; it's so cute to watch.
• He tries to have a conversation with you - using that voice as much as you can when you don't know any words! Again, very cute!

All in all it's been a great two months. Will try and be here more often!!

June was a blur!

June flew by in our household this year. With getting into the daycare/going back to work routine, I guess I didn't have time to post. Here's what we've been up to:

 

• Tyler is continuing on his schedule of eating at 10pm, sleeping thru until his 6 am bottle, and then eating again at 10 am, 2pm, and 6pm. Most days I have to wake him for 10pm and 6am, but its going well. He went to the pediatrician on the 11^th because he had a few big spit-ups and we thought the reflux was acting up again. We saw a different doctor in the practice and she thought we were feeding him too much. She recommended cutting back to 5 oz per feeding and adding 1 teaspoon of rice cereal to his bottle to thicken it up just a little. We tried that and it seems to be working out well.
• He had his 4 month appointment yesterday, and is doing great. He's in the 37^th percentile for weight, so he is maintaining his growth well. He's 23.5 inches and his head circumference is 16.5 inches. Physically and developmentally he is doing great. The doctor said at his age he can sleep 10-12 hours at a time, so we can cut out the 10 pm feeding (that we're having to wake him up for) and each of his other daily feedings he will likely want more. So, we're going to work on that and getting him into his crib over the next few weeks. Once we get that under control, we'll think about moving him to regular formula (as opposed to Alimentum), perhaps stopping his Zantac, and then starting him on solids (well, baby food). Exciting stuff!
• My mom and dad sent him a really cute outfit that was a shirt and shorts. He mostly wears onesies, but looked so cute in the shirt and shorts that I had to buy him some more. Love Kohl's.
• He and I got Eric tickets to Lewis Black for Father's Day.
• I got a new car! Well, new to me. It's a 2007 Ford Explorer, so I'm back in an SUV again. I loved my last SUV and had searches set up at Carmax.com for Toyota Highlanders, Toyota 4Runners, and Honda Pilots. One of my coworkers just bought a 2007 Ford Explorer and really liked it, and I had already been warming to the idea of a Ford, so I added that to my searches and one popped up a couple of weeks ago. It was equipped just how I wanted it (loaded), and had just under 47k miles. The price was right, CarMax was great to deal with (as always), and USAA financed it with no headaches. My payment went down, our insurance stayed the same, and I might even love this car more than I loved my Highlander. Now it's time to find a new car for Eric.
• Eric hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the month and for a few weeks was unable to even hold Tyler. He's been keeping it iced and trying not to use it, which helped it heal, but we were both worried that he'd have to have surgery. Thankfully, at his last doctor's appt, they said it was healing well on its own and he should be as good as new in another 3-4 weeks. I know it bummed him out to not be able to hold Tyler, or help with feedings, so I'm glad it's healing well.
• My work moved buildings and the new building is closer to home. It's about the same distance from daycare, but less traffic stops so I get to work sooner. We've gotten into a routine where I'm dropping Tyler off around 8 am and am at work by 8:15 at the latest. I pick him up on M, T, and W and then Eric picks him up on Th and F. Once Eric goes to a M-F schedule, he'll do pick up each day after he gets off at 4pm. Hopefully that will be soon. J
• New work location is right across the street from a Starbucks. Danger!!
• Tyler seems to like daycare too. He is in a room with 7 other babies, and his two main teachers are wonderful. We've been really pleased with the daycare we chose.
• We bought a pile of kid books, and are trying to read to Tyler every so often, and will incorporate it into his nightly routine (once we get one established). We also bought some kid songs on iTunes (the CD is called "Party like a Preschooler", LOL) for us to have on in the car. So, each day I come into work with a different kids' song stuck in my head. Do your ears hang low…?

Daycare

So far so good on the daycare front!

 

Tyler has put himself on a schedule of waking around 6 am and taking a bottle, eating at 10 am/2pm/6pm, and going to bed after his 10pm bottle. Eight hours between feedings overnight is a dream! Getting him to daycare adds about 30 minutes to my morning commute but it's not too bad. I have started taking my shower at night so that in the morning I just have to feed him, get myself dressed, and get him ready and out the door. Usually he's back to sleep for the ride to daycare.

 

The first week Eric and I went up there at lunch as much as we could to check in on him. We're trying to learn the other babies in the room as well. The teachers in his room (Robin and Tonia) say he is doing well and is a good baby overall. And we peek in on the  webcam a lot.

 

I'm back to work now, and it's like I never left. Many things have changed, but at the same time, many things have not. I'm lucky that they are letting me ease back into it, instead of being thrown back in on day one.

Eric injured his shoulder at softball last Friday, so he went to Urgent Care on Saturday morning and now has a sling to try and keep his arm in place so that his shoulder can heal. He'll start physical therapy soon and hopefully we can avoid surgery.

 

Daycare day 1!

Daycare day 1 went really well. I'm kinda scared because now the bar is set really high! 

He got up at 6, he ate (had a big spitup), and I got ready. We were out the door by 7:40 am, and I dropped him off and was at work by 8:15, after a stop at Dunkin Donuts. The coffee stop plus a lot of deep breaths kept me from bawling from daycare to work. He ate well at daycare and both Eric and I went by during our respective lunches to see him. When I picked him up, they said he had a good day and was a good baby. 

And it was great to be back at work - I did next to nothing. When I left we had 4 managers and were sourcing a 5th one, so now that i"m back we're going to take the 4 teams and make 5 out of them (and get a 5th manager in place). It's a good opportunity with all the stuff going on between now and the end of the month to mix things up a lot and until then I don't have a team! So I had zero responsibilities today. I met with my boss, got my access all set up (desktop and blackberry), which took a while...I also did a few online trainings, and looked in on the daycare webcam a bit. :)

a nice surprise!

So I last posted that Eric was working M-F this week since he was in training, right? He left for work Monday morning, and I'm doing the normal stuff and hear the garage door open. Eric's back from work, apparently the training was cancelled but no one was notified, so he got there and found out. He talked to his boss and since he was scheduled out all week on their end, he was able to take the whole week as vacation and has been home with us all week. YAY!

Tuesday we followed up with the doctor about how the Zantac is working out. We initially talked to a nurse, but the doctor called us back and talked to us for a bit. He feels like we should up the dose of Zantac and see if that helps before trying one of the PPIs. We've tried that since Tuesday and it does seem to be helping. He's sleeping more soundly and doesn't scream with reflux pain as much. Hopefully we're on the right track there.

Wednesday we went to Babies R Us and got an exersaucer for Tyler. He's still a little small for it, but soon he'll be ready for it. We also got him an activity gym which he seems to like a lot - all the bright colors!

Wednesday night we went to Eric's parents house for his dad's b-day. With everyone there and the cousins running around Tyler was a little overstimulated, so we took him into a quieter room which helped. AND, get this, Tyler went 6.5 hours between feedings overnight -hooray!!

Thursday we took him up to daycare to meet his teachers. I like them a lot so far. Got a pile of paperwork turned in, a few more forms to get filled out. He'll be in a room with 7 other babies and 3 caregivers - two main teachers plus a floater. We are getting our online access setup, and our codes and such too. Lots of security is a good thing. The room is pretty quiet, except for a crying baby here and there..although there was one moment when the "baby chorus" was going - all the babies crying at the same time! I give the teachers a lot of credit for being able to work thru all of that.

And today was the trial run - we took him up there at 9 and left him there for 2 hours. I was a little worried that he'd just sleep the whole time, but he was up and got some Bumbo time, and some other play time, while he was there. He did pretty well and the teachers say he is a cutie. We put together a document of tips and things for them and hopefully that will help the transition so that daycare is a good experience for him.

Regarding the daycare...so far so good. I turned in all the paperwork and wasn't sure who or when they'd look at it. Today they had tons of questions/clarifications for me, which tells me they looked it all over quickly and actually paid attention to it. And they follow the letter of the law on all issues, no cutting corners, which again makes me happy.

Tomorrow morning we're doing a Skype call w/my parents. My uncle will be up there visiting and has a computer, so they can finally "meet" the little man. Then, we're having Jill, Dan, Amanda, and Rob over for lunch (grilling out) - yay! And then we're having a photographer come out and take family photos - casual ones, mainly focused on Tyler. He's 3 months old today too!

Various & Sundry...

- Regarding Greys....Yes, it was intense, but I'm over it. I will probably still watch, but am so over that  show. I was over it last season when they killed off George out of the blue. And then this uber-drama just cemented the fact that they're making it all about the doctors and making every horrible thing imaginable happen to them. I don't want to give up any info for folks that haven't watched it, but there was one scene last night where I just went UGH. 

- Thursday night we went to the service anniversary party last night (for work), which was nice. They have a dinner each year celebrating associates reaching 10, 15 or 20+ years of service that year. I will be celebrating 10 years this year. I needed a dress and ended up finding one at Kohl's for $12. I also had to get a couple of shirts for Eric, and ended up getting a couple more things for me plus some clothes for Tyler. The location of the dinner was fancy, food was yummy, and I even had 1/2 a glass of wine! 

- Tyler's still being fussy, and had two giant spit-ups on Wednesday so we took him to the pediatrician that afternoon.  The doctor thinks he's got the classic signs of reflux so he's now on Zantac twice a day. Should take about a week to kick in, if its gonna work. I sure do hope it does. It just tears me up when he screams because of it. We're keeping him on the Alimentum; the doctor wants to change just one thing at a time. From what I've seen on the internet Zantac seems to work about 1/2 the time; I really hope we're in that half!

- met Jill for lunch yesterday at Tasu which was yummy and fun. 

- Today we're going to a housewarming party for our friends Nick and Kristen. Will be fun. They build a beautiful house about a mile from their old house.  We'll see Ed & Kristen there too! :) 

 - Eric's home on Sunday then has training all next week so he works Mon-Fri. Likely will get out early each day, which is nice. Theres a possibility he'll go to a regular schedule the following week - we shall see!

- And we're closing in on a week until the little man goes to Daycare. I'll go up there with him for about an hour or so on Thursday, and then we're doing a trial run on Friday (leaving him there for 2 hours or so). I have a pile of forms to fill out for them too. I know it will be tough leaving him there but i'm also looking forward to getting back to normal..or the "new" normal!

- Got Father's Day figured out already - whoo hoo!! He didn't have anything on his "I want..." list, and I've been lamenting the fact that there is no Pandora bracelet equivalent for men!! But, I found something that I am pretty sure he will like. Gotta keep a lid on it for another month though!! 

My first Mother's Day!

What a wonderful first Mother's Day!

My parents sent me flowers on Friday. My Uncle Bob sent flowers on Saturday. My Uncle Jim called yesterday. Eric got me a Pandora Charm for my bracelet. My MIL and FIL got me a Pandora gift card. And Eric gave me a sweet card plus a cute one from Tyler. All of that plus a lot of well-wishes from friends made for a wonderful first Mother's Day!

We went over to Adam and Amy's last night to celebrate with Eric's family and Amy's family. It was nice to see everyone and Tyler was oohed and aahed over a ton. He got to hang out with grammy, grampy, his cousin Rachel, plus Amy's family. Poor kiddo was passed around a ton but didn't seem any worse for the wear.

It's funny - I was never one of those women who was dying to be a mom, but I'm loving every minute of it. Ok, so when he's screaming, it's tough, but when he snuggles with me it makes it ok. Its the toughest job I've ever attempted, and I just hope I'm doing it all right!

Pediatrician Trip!

Tyler's fussiness has continued, and over the last couple of days he wakes up from a dead sleep, screams bloody murder for a while, then toots. I know a bit of gas is expected, but it making him cry that badly made us call the pediatrician this morning.

At first they told us to continue to observe him this weekend and come in Monday if it continued. I didn't really like this suggestion as that is what we've been doing over the last few days, so I pressed the nurse on it, and they saw us today. His regular doctor, Dr. Gessner, was out, but Dr. Fletcher was in.

They always weigh him and today he weighed in at 11 lbs! That means in a week and one day he has gained 1 lb 2 oz. That's over 2 oz per day! So, that is good news. His stomach muscles are all strong and no signs of an ear infection. The bottom line is the doctor thinks it might be a formula intolerance, so we're trying Similac Alimentum to see if that helps. We've been on the Enfamil Gentlease for a while now and it doesn't seem to have helped with the fussiness, and she said other parents have told her the same. So we're gonna try the new stuff (thanks to some samples she provided) and hopefully that will do the trick. She also recommended trying to wean him from being held all the time, so I have to work on that. We'd already planned to start having him sleep in his crib soon, so we're starting that now (thanks to the Angel Care Deluxe monitor).

Adventures!

Friday, we took a family adventure out to Southpoint Mall. We had to get a b-day present, a graduation present, and a mother's day present (all at Pandora). We also popped into Hallmark (yay for Gold Crown coupons) and Gymboree (nothing we had to have and all expensive). Fun trip!

Then we went to dinner at Nick & Kristen's, which was tons of fun. Their new home is beautiful. And they gave us some tips to combat Tyler's gassiness.

Saturday we were planning to go to a dinner surprise party and take Tyler with us. Then, my SIL, Amy, asked if she could come by and see Tyler that evening. I took a chance and asked her if she wanted to watch him while we went out to dinner. She snapped up the opportunity which was so generous of her. Knowing that he was with someone who had a vested interest in him (his aunt), and who has 3 children so she knows what to do made the evening really easy for both Eric and me. He was a good baby for her, and MIL and FIL came by to see him over there too. They had been up at the lake that day or we'd have asked them to watch him. :)

We had a nice night out to celebrate Amanda's birthday and graduation. Yummy Mexican food, and fun times with good friends.

Tyler's still eating an avg of 7 times a day, and he'sup to 6 bottles of formula per day, 1 bottle of breastmilk, so I'm working on reducing my supply by pumping once a day (as opposed to 7, then 5, then 3, then 2).

He's still very gassy so yesterday I packed him up and we went to BRU to get some Gripe Water. That is supposed to help with gas. It was actually an easier than expected trip. The Gripe Water seems to help, but we gave it to him before bedtime last night and he would NOT fall asleep for anything!

2-month appt!

We went to Tyler's 2-month appointment today. He is 9 lbs 14 ozs now - which is great! I can't remember exactly but I think he's 20.5 inches long now. He got his shots today too, so we can now go out and about in the world now.

The pediatrician says we are on the right track with his feedings, including being on the Gentlease. His fussiness and such should all settle down in the next couple of weeks, and if it doesn't then it might be reflux, but more than likely he will grow out of it. BTW, he is now pooping once or twice a day pretty regularly, which is normal for his age. We had several blowouts to get to this point though, which were quite messy! One required cutting his onesie off of him because there was poop all over his back and no way to get that off without spreading it more.

The nurse that gave him his shots was super quick at it; apparently she's been doing them for 30 plus years. They asked us a lot of developmental questions and he's dong well there too. Overall he got a clean bill of health and we have another appt scheduled for 6/29 (4-month appt). I'm sure we'll be there sometime between now and then since he starts daycare on 6/1.

After that, we went for his first shopping trip - to BJ's. We were out of all the household essentials - paper towels, toilet paper, etc, plus we needed meat and formula.

He's been sleepy all day today, we figure this is an after-effect of the shots. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be back to his happy little (ok, not so little) self. :)

Thrush & Fuss

Figured out earlier this week that Tyler has thrush (a very common yeast infection in his mouth), so we started treating that with oral antibiotics (Nystatin). It is administered by "painting" it on his tongue 4x/day and that's been going well, except for when I spilled it all and had to get a new prescription for it!

We've continued to work on the formula thing, and that's been a continuing challenge. Last I posted, we were on Similac Advance. He still seemed fussy so we called the pediatrician's office and the nurse recommended to try Similac Isomil (their soy formula), so we did. This was Wednesday. Since then, he hasn't had a real poop. Seems to be trying to work things out, but no progress. He is continuing to be hungry, so that is a good sign, but we're still concerned about the no-pooping thing. We called the pediatrician's office again today and talked to a different nurse. She gave us a couple of options for getting things moving, and also said to try the Enfamil Gentlease formula - she said she wouldn't have recommended the Isomil and would have recommended this the other day. I made a quick Target run to get that plus a few other things for him, and hopefully this will all work out soon.

Aggie went to the vet yesterday, and is all healthy. She had something wrong with her eye (I think one of the cats got her) but the vet looked at it, and it seems to be healing fine. The cats go today.

Tummy Time & other updates...

- we've been giving Tyler some tummy time over the past couple of weeks and he is a pro at turning his head from one side to another! He will do that on his own several times during a session - yay Tyler!

- he's now fitting in the 3-6 month onesies. I think Gerbers are sized slightly off, but he fits in the 3 month Carters too.

- We had a few tough feedings today - he would stop and just yell or scream for no apparent reason. So we tried the Dr Brown's bottles again and now he likes them. A few weeks ago (you might recall) he did not take to them well at all, so this is a new development. Which is good since we have a boatload of them!

- had my 6-week follow-up appt today - clean bill of health; yay!

Transitioning to Formula

The biggest challenge of having a baby for me has been breastfeeding. Tougher than 11 weeks of bedrest, childbirth with no meds, and even than powering thru on an hour or two of sleep.

Tyler had a tough time with feeding from the breast, which is normal since he was a preemie. (BTW, we past his real due date this past weekend!). They have a tough time learning the suck-swallow-breathe thing initially but usually get it by when they would have been full-term. For us though, we decided to have me pump exclusively, and then feed him the breastmilk from a bottle. This was double work for me, but it worked out well because Eric could help out with feedings. And, my production, up until recently, has been more than what he takes in a day. We've been freezing the breastmilk and then each evening I would prepare the bottles for the next day.

This past week we've moved his bottles up to 120 MLs per, and we're at the point that his consumption is more than I am producing per day. I'm already on Fenugreek to increase my supply, and given that he is now 6 weeks old, have decided to introduce formula. I thought this would be easy peasy, but not so much....

We were given formula samples at the hospital, which came in handy. Sunday I put 1 oz (30 MLs) of Enfamil formula in one of his bottles. He seemed to take it ok, he was a little fussier and maybe took a little longer to finish the bottle but that was ok. Monday I added the same amount to every other bottle, and he continued the fussiness plus took almost an hour on these bottles too (usually he takes 30 mins to finish a bottle). So yesterday, I used the Similac formula and put that in every other bottle, and it seemed to go down much better - didn't take as long, and he wasn't as fussy. Eric also gave him 30 MLs of pure formula, followed up by 90 MLs of breastmilk, for one feeding, and that went well. He's even eating more - hungry after finishing one bottle... Last night he was really fussy after his 2 am bottle (all breastmilk) so we gave him 50 MLs more of breastmilk and he seemed full but still fussy.

This morning we started the day off with one full bottle of (Similac) formula and he is snoozing. We'll see how this goes. The plan is to slowly move him to formula over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for updates!

In other news, I weighed him on our home scale and he says hes around 8 lbs! We've been on a couple more stroller rides and might try and fit one of those in today too.

Week two down!

Today's Eric's "Friday" (since he works S, M, T, W 10 hour shifts) so we have survived another week; hooray! Eric was home sick on Monday so it kinda doesn't count, but still. Today's schedule was a little messed up - he's taken to eating every 2 to 2.5 hours and that is throwing things off. Plus, I am meeting the girls for dinner and was trying to mentally schedule everything so I can head out as soon as Eric gets home. I think we're back on track for the most part now.

I have no bottoms that fit. And mostly t-shirts to wear. I didn't know that my maternity/post-partum wardrobe would be yoga pants and t-shirts but that's what it turned out to be! I would like to have something a little more presentable pants-wise but I still have a few pregnancy pounds (and my old jeans were tight to start out), so I'm stuck with the yoga pants.

I made appointments today to get my haircut (haven't done that since October!), and to get hte animals all to the vet. Cats are overdue and the dog needs her 6-month shots. So I got all that taken care of today - whoo hoo!

Off to dinner soon!

Accomplished!

Had a great week last week. Survived all week on my own while Eric worked, and went for the pedicure (and brow wax) on Thursday. We didn't do anything exciting - the week was more about getting a routine down. I added shows to the DVR list so that I have things to watch in the middle of the night for feeding/pumping time. Ordered a few things online to help make things easier. And later in the week (was it Saturday), we took Tyler out on a stroller ride thru the neighborhood. Tyler had his first easter this week and we didn't do much since he's just 5 weeks old. My friend Amanda got him a cute onesie that he wore, and that's about it for this year. Pumping is going well although his intake is going up too - so I think we'll be supplementing in the next month or so. He's at 100 ml/meal, and I weighed him on our scale - according to it, he's 7.5 lbs. Can't wait til the pediatrician appt later this month! My parents also sent an Easter card, and signed it "Grandma & Grandpa" which I thought was cute :) And Eric's parents brought us Easter dinner -yum! He's also gaining strength in his neck and back. We started him doing "tummy time" and today he lifted and turned his head several times.

In other news, we got our tax refund in already - well, our federal. Still waiting on the state of NC. Also got the credit reports checked, caught up on thank you notes, and cleaned the house on Sunday.

Moving forward day by day!

Flying Solo!

Today was my first day with Tyler all on my own. I'd had him on my own here and there when Eric would run errands but hadn't had him all day until today. And we both survived; yay!

I was very apprehensive and overwhelmed by the thought of having him all on my own for the day. With his feeding schedule and my pumping schedule, I was worried about getting everything done on time and how I'd react if he got super-fussy while I was pumping or something. Poor Eric had to deal with me worrying about this (again), but I eventually got over it and made a plan of doing one "thing" each day - either one load of laundry, vacuum one floor of the house, etc. Normally I'd be doing ALL the laundry on one day, or vacuuming the WHOLE house on one day, but with everything else that's just not possible, so the new plan is one thing at a time. I still have to figure out how to fit my meals in there, but Eric went to the store to get lots of quick-to-fix stuff so I am set there.

So the day went ok. First feeding went great - ate like a champ then snoozed. Second feeding was tougher, then the later feedings in the day went fine. Kay (MIL) came over and held the little one for a while too so that helped. :)

I decided that if (when!) I make it to Thursday, I am getting myself a pedicure since Eric will be home. :)

Eric got home and fixed dinner while I showered, and he took care of the evening feedings. And then we started all over again today.

Got the taxes done on Sunday - hooray! Next up is to pull our credit reports; I try to do that every few months and have fallen out of the habit.

Pediatrician Report!

We had our checkup at the pediatrician yesterday and Tyler got a clean bill of health. He now weighs 5 lbs 13 oz, up 12 oz from last Thursday (6 days). He's eating well and this shows that its all working. The doctor checked hm out from head to toe and all is well so we go back in a month for his 2-month appointment, which will include shots (boooo!). After that poiont we can take him out to the mall and such so I'm hoping we can take him to work to meet everyone, which will be fun!

We've upped his feedings to 70 ml per feeding and will continue advancing that over the next few weeks until he's around 90 ml per feeding. We talked to the doctor about how to introduce formula and although we're not ready to do that, we probably will over the next month or so. We also got the greenlight to let him sleep at night until he wakes up to eat, rather than waking him up every 3 hours to eat. He seems to get hungry every 3 hours anyway, so I'm not sure that will gain us any more sleep, but we'll see.

Not much else is going on here. Eric goes back to work on Sunday so we're trying to figure out how that will work with Tyler's feeding schedule - he's been a huge help but with having to work 10 hours/day he may not be up for the late night feedings on the nights before he works the next day.

the last week or so in bullets...

Not a whole lot to report yet...Tyler is doing great.

- Continuing to eat like a champ, and sleep (and pee and poop).

- He's geting too big for his preemie diapers, so we got some newborn sized diapers and will start using those in the next few days.

- The cats and dog have sniffed him and apparently approved.

- I'm continuing to pump and we're feeding him using a bottle, which is working out great. We added Tri-Vi-Sol per the doctor's recommendation.

- Tyler's very fussy/burpy and has recently started spitting up, which is completely normal but messy!

- everything in his room finally has a place (yay!) and we rocked in the glider the other day for the first time. That chair is comfy!

- baby monitor came in today - yay!

- Amanda & Rob came over last weekend and we cooked out - fun! They also brought Tyler a cute little outfit for Easter (which is next weekend! eek!).

Weight check!

We went to the pediatrician today for a weight check - Tyler weighed in at 5 lbs 1 oz today - that is up 5 oz from Monday's weight of 4 lbs 12 oz - whoo hoo!!! The doctor said everything else looks good - not jaundiced, HB was good, circ is healing up well. Time to start him on Vit D supplements too (which is normal for a newborn).

We ordered a baby monitor yesterday - thanks to Mom and Dad saying "just order it, we'll send the money!". We'd planned on buying the Angelcare Deluxe monitor, and just couldn't find it in stock anywhere. Should be here in a couple of weeks!

He seems to be holding his head up a little too, which is nice. Between Monday's car ride and today's you could tell a difference in how he sits and holds his head up in the car seat.

A couple of my online friends from the April due dates board are delivering or will be soon. So exciting!

Catching up!

Tyler is continuing to do well at home and we're thrilled to have him home. It is quite an adjustment having a baby in the house, that is for sure! :)

The cats and dog are inquisitive and very gentle when approaching him. They have all checked him out and gotten a good sniff of his baby cuteness. They also have checked out the Pack & Play and the bassinet (but not gotten into either). So far so good.

Tyler's been eating well every 3 hours. Initially we were using the single use bottles the hospital provided, but once we ran out we started using the Dr. Brown ones we got from our registry. His intake of breastmilk went down and Eric and I realized that the decrease seemed to be when we started using those, so we put them away for the time being (I am sure we'll get them out again soon!), and got some inexpensive bottles from Target that seem to work just fine. He's back up to his previous eating levels and even surpassing them. He was up to 4 lbs 12 oz as of Monday's pediatrician appt, and we go in again on Thursday for another weight check.

Yep, 1st pediatrician appt was on Monday. We're very pleased with the pediatrician's practice we've chosen. We chose them because they were on our insurance, close by, and the neonatologists (although they could not endorse anyone) use them. We found this out when Dr. Bastick (neonatologist) came by to visit with us and discuss how a 32-week preemie will do. I'd asked if there's anything special to look for in a pediatrician since we'd have a preemie, and we got to discussing who we were considering. Like I said, they can't endorse/recommend anyone but she did say that several of the neonatologists use the practice we were considering (Raleigh Children & Adolescent Medicine). I figure if you can take care of a neonatologist's kid, that is good enough for me! We met with Dr. Gessner and he answered all of our questions without any weird doctor-speak. He's healthy, gaining weight, and progressing.

Eric's parents, his brother and family and Jill have all been over to meet (and hold) him.

And in news unrelated to baby, we bought a new TV today. We have a cutout above the fireplace for a TV and when Eric moved in he put his 37" TV there. Well, over the last few months it's developed a red stripe. We've kinda gotten used to it, and it didn't get much use while I was on bedrest and Eric spent most of his time at the hospital. Now that we're both home, it is kind of annoying, plus it's gotten worse (the stripe had doubled in size!). And, like it or not, we spend a lot of time watching TV. So Eric spent some time searching for the right one to buy. Ended up with a 40" Sony Bravia that we got a great price on (gotta love Best Buy!), and it looks nice! Hooray for new TVs!

They Said the Magic Word!

So Wednesday started out as usual...Got up, ate breakfast, pumped a few times, then headed to WakeMed to see my boy. I got there just before rounds (as usual), and Dr. Kicklighter says something about thinking about discharging Tyler soon. Whoa...I still had the 2-3 week timeframe in my head, and we hadn't even hit two weeks yet. Then he says they'll order the circumcision (which is done by the OB) and Hepatits B shot and if all goes well they'll discharge him on Friday! (he also said that at the time we were the only patients in that section of the NICU covered by private insurance, which surprised me!).


My mind started into overdrive about all the things we needed to get/do before bringing him home and I called Eric to let him know - he was at work and would need to let them know since he was planning to take some time off when Tyler comes home. He was as surprised as I was about the Friday time frame. Plus I was trying to not get my hopes up just in case something went wrong (been there done that while I was on bedrest!).


Wednesday evening's visit and Thursday's both went well. We took the carseat up there for them to do the carseat test (they put him in the carseat for an hour and monitor to ensure that none of his vitals change). We also took an Infant CPR class. And Friday morning we headed to WakeMed for (hopefully) the last time for a long time. Dr. Rush from my OB's practice did the circumcision at 10 am (just before we got there) and he tolerated it well. We were there from 11-3 on Friday, doing a couple of feedings, meeting the pediatrician (so far we like them a lot!), Dr. Rush came by to say good luck and congrats (which was sweet of her; she is the one that admitted me on 12/17, and discharged me on 3/2), and watching a video on baby care.


Then we packed everything up, and headed downstairs. Tyler got to see the world outside the NICU, breathe some fresh air, get his first car ride, and was introduced to his first home (with a stop at Subway - lunch for mom and dad! Tyler and I waited in the car).

He's settled in at home nicely. He does pretty much the same thing he did at the NICU - sleep, eat, poop/pea. The cats are intrigued and a little inquisitive, the dog is slightly less interested. He likes his pack and play as well as the bassinet that Nick and Kristen loaned us. We were up every 3 hours last night with feedings/changings so we took a little catnap today. Gotta get used to those, I guess.

Monday we go to the pediatrician for a check up. I have been working on breastfeeding with him but can't figure out if he gets enough out of it. When we were at the hospital they could weigh him before and after to determine how much he'd taken and the most at one time was 16 ml. His feeding schedule has a minimum of 35 ml, so that means he's taking a bottle after breastfeeding, and it ends up being a 2 hour ordeal to breastfeed, fix a bottle, pump, and clean everything. So, Eric and I have decided I'm going to pump and we'll bottle feed him with my breastmilk. If my supply doesn't keep up with his feeding amounts we'll supplement but hopefully if I keep up with my pumping it will work out. This way we can tell exactly how much he is getting and he is getting the best nutrition early on.

And, we got an non-itemized bill for my 2 days in L&D when we got to WakeMed, plus my 74 days in antepartum/postpartum (so it does not include the delivery or NICU time)....the grand total for that was $94k. Phew! Very glad to seee the "This is not a bill" on the statement. And even more thankful for insurance; I am sure we'll have some insurance battles to get this all settled out, but at least the majority should be taken care of.
It's kind of hard to believe that after everything we went thru, starting last May when I met with Dr. Meyer at Carolina Conceptions, to now, that he is here and healthy.

beautiful weather + rockstar parking + Happy Baby = a great day!!

Tuesday, 3/9:

The morning routine started out the same as yesterday. Eric called the NICU before heading to work today, and got a good report from the nurse on Tyler's night. He's been eating really well, and one of his overnight feedings was 50 ml! Go Tyler!

I woke up when Eric left for work, and pumped. Then I did some internet surfing, ate some cereal, got some errand-type stuff done (catching up on the budget, etc), and by then it was time to pump again. I did so, then showered and got ready to head out.

My feet were swollen yesterday so I made a concerted effort to drink more water today. I think by the time I'd left the house (10:30 am), I'd already had 60 oz, hooray!

When I got to Tyler's bedside he was snoozing. A couple of minutes later the doctors came around on their rounds and I got to hear the latest & greatest news on him. His bilirubin level went down again, so that is good news. No As (apnea episodes) or Bs (bradys) overnight (hoooray!) and his temperature was good. He ate well, too. I asked about the heart murmur and Dr. Kicklighter listened to his heart and said he didn't hear it, and the nurse practitioner who had heard it before did the same with the same result. So the plan is to continue feeding and let him grow. Also, they are going to move him to an open crib and see how he does. Good news all around!

We did more breastfeeding, and it went really well. Probably the best session we've had so far. The lactation consultant weighed him before and after so we know how much he got. His schedule is to eat a minimum of 35 mls per feeding, and he got 16 mls during our session, and a bottle of 20 ml. He was very alert when he went back in his isolette, so I bet he would have taken a little more. I hated leaving while he was awake so I just hung out for a bit til he closed his eyes, then headed home.

My feet have been swollen so I have been trying to relax this afternoon with my feet up. I had lunch, pumped, and have been chilling out and watching TV (DVRd shows) for most of the afternoon. I did vacuum the 3rd floor. Normally I'd do the whole house at once but I think I'm gonna do it over 5 days - 3rd floor, stairs, 2nd floor, stairs, and 1st floor.

I also threw a load of Tyler-clothes in the washer since he peed on his preemie clothes today!

Monday - Dad's back to work :(

Monday, 3/8:
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Weekend report

Saturday 3/6 & Sunday 3/7
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Week One in the NICU

Friday, March 5th:

Tyler is doing well! He is apparently a hard stick for the IV, so they've had to move that around a lot (leg, to arm, etc). They were thinking about going with a central line thru the belly button, but have instead ramped up his feedings so that we can take the IV out. We like this better as with the central line they would have to Xray him to verify placement, and any re-placement. And personally, we're hoping that the breastmilk will help build his strength!

 

He's up to 15ml of breastmilk every 3 hours now and will go to 20ml within the next few feedings. I'm trying to keep up but we did authorize the use of donor milk if needed.

He's keeping his temp well in an open bed. He was in an isolette for a day or so and I didn't like that much, hard to get to him.

 

Tyler had jaundice so they had to put the bili lights on him and his temp shot way up due to what the doc called the "greenhouse effect", so they moved him back to the open bed like he had in the beginning. The jaundice is much better now, so he's off the lights completely, thank goodness.
They heard a slight heart murmur which is very common and are thinking it's benign and will resolve itself. Apparently another very normal thing in preemies - not to worry about.

So the big thing now is working on consistent breastfeeding/latching on. We've tried 4 times and 2 went really well and 2 were struggles. So hopefully that will kick in soon.

 

We've figured out that unlike pregnancy where things are week-to-week, life in the NICU is more day-to-day. Things even change during the day. We've been there the last 3 days when the docs are rounding so we get lots of good info. Plus, the docs seem to have a sense of when we get there and always come by to talk to us. It's awesome. Except for a couple of the nurses (who do a good job but aren't as informative sometimes) we've been really pleased with his care there. And even one of those nurses has warmed up to us...the other one is still kinda poopy but she's never been assigned to Tyler, just in the same room so she covers him when his nurse goes to lunch, etc. And they are great about giving us info over the phone - you can call anytime and they will update you.

Another New Blog...

I'm starting a new blog for the next chapter in our lives...one with a new baby! Tyler John was born on 2/28/10 and is spending some time in the NICU at WakeMed hospital in Raleigh. This blog will document his time there and then the adventure of bringing him home and starting a new chapter of our lives....