Health Update

I got a call from our pediatrician yesterday regarding the results of the scintiscan. It appears that Jacob has some issues with slow stomach emptying. That can lead to reflux (which there was evidence of ), which can lead to some irritation of the throat, which can lead to his cough. She prescribed some medicine for him, which she thinks the pulmonary specialist would have put him on anyway, with the thought that we could get started on it before our appointment on Tuesday and see if we saw any change by then. By doing that, we could potentially avoid the, "Well, let's put him on this and follow up later" step. While she said that the stuff is safe, the possible side effects I've been reading about are a little disturbing (among them are muscle spasms--and the thought of watching Jacob go through something like that...well, I can't even fathom...). I definitely need to call the doctor and chat about that. I'm actually still not convinced that that is his issue, which I'm sure we will discuss at length at the appointment on Tuesday. I mean, he's been on reflux medication for a while now, so I would think that we'd see an improvement in the cough just from that, if that was what was causing it. And it still doesn't explain the wheezing. And if this isn't what's causing his problems, and the slow emptying isn't causing any other issues that the reflux meds can't handle, I really don't want to put more medication in Jacob's system than he already gets. Poor kid has more prescriptions on file at Wegmans in eight months than I think I've had ever.

Last night we thought we might be in line for another one...because day care thought Jacob might have pink eye. His eye was a little swollen and red, and it was a little watery/crusty. He woke up with a little watery-ness, and the skin around it still looks a little red, but I definitely think it would be worse if it was pink eye. I guess we'll just have to keep watching it.

In the meantime, Jacob has really become our main source of entertainment! He is so funny sometimes. From his tendency to want to chew everything (he's got some cannibalistic/vampire tendencies....does this mean he's going to be the biter at day care?), to his frequent smiles, to his obsession with drinking glasses (I need to get that on video one of these days) to his pre-crawl rock, he's got us laughing a lot. I found myself marveling at him last night when we were out to dinner, as I looked at my big boy in his high chair...he was happy, well-behaved, and eating eagerly (when he wasn't completely distracted by looking around the restaurant). I can't believe he's so grown up already! From his smiley, happy, active moments to his sweet, peaceful sleepy moments, he is such an amazing little boy. I'm so thankful for him every day.

Busy, busy, busy...

The past couple days have been downright exhausting. Yesterday's 2-3 hour visit to the hospital was enough for a whole day, but then we added a trip to and from Buffalo into the mix. Jacob did very well, sleeping both ways and providing plenty of entertainment for the folks at the fundraiser. His smiles received rave reviews! We left earlier than we have most years but it was still late night--Jacob had yet another tough time going down. Even a feeding didn't do much good...Craig still had to come in and relieve me from trying to comfort him because I was just exhausted. Jacob slept until 4:15am (the same time we had woken up the previous morning for his pre-hospital feed--ugh!) and we each took a turn comforting him. He settled back down fairly quickly, but that didn't prevent us both from feeling pretty beat this morning. Despite all of the frustration we generally feel at night, Jacob usually makes up for it in the morning with a big smile...tough to hold a grudge with that face looking at you each morning!

We had to go back to the hospital this morning for a quick followup scintiscan. It was quick and fairly painless. The doctor called earlier and said that the chest x-rays look good, but the scintiscan results aren't in yet. Still, hopefully they have something of note to tell us at our appointment next week. Craig was working an event tonight, so it was just Jacob and me...it's been like that a lot lately, which is par for the course in February with the Amerks & Knighthawks. I don't miss it one bit! Jacob had his third bottle that he usually has a little before we pick him up from day care after we got home tonight (it was either use it or toss it), but still managed to eat most of a good portion of pears and cereal. He pooped mid-meal, which scared the crap out of me (no pun intended) because he was pushing like crazy. I was afraid he'd be sitting in a pile of poo when I pulled him out of the high chair, because the last time that happened he blew out all over. This time, thankfully, he didn't. Solid food poo may be a little harder to clean off, but it doesn't travel as much either...which is huge when you have a blow out specialist!! After a bath, a couple books and a nebulizer treatment, he was good and tired. But then he started fussing the second I put him in the crib. I decided to trying singing to him a little and it worked! He fell asleep with a minimal amount of comforting after that. Whew. Amazing how much more time I have in the evening when I'm not spending a half hour or more trying to get him to fall asleep! So, all in all, a good night.

One other thing of note is that in the past couple days Jacob has started rocking a lot more, which we all know is the precursor to crawling! Recently he's been doing it once in a while...maybe for a couple seconds every day or two. Tonight he did it a few times in a row and was really getting going. It's only a matter of time before he figures out how to move those legs. He's already pretty mobile with all of his rolling, but once he starts crawling, we will have our hands full! He's very curious and likes to touch and grab everything, so when he can actually get to things, we will be in trouble! Lots of babyproofing to do! And soon!

Hospital visit #1

So, today was our first visit to the hospital for Jacob's eventual visit to the pulmonary specialist. He needed to get two procedures done that will help them evaluate him at the appointment next week. He had to get a scintiscan, which checks to see if he might be aspirating food into his lungs, which can masquerade as asthma. He's got a persistent wheeze, and there's a chance that that's the cause. He wasn't allowed to eat for three hours before the 8am procedure, so I had to get up at 4am to feed him. He barely woke up but ate well and went right back to sleep. He woke up about 7:15 and we immediately got him dressed. Shortly thereafter we were in the car and on the way to the hospital. I think the change in his schedule was enough to keep him from realizing he was hungry, because he was in a pretty good mood the whole time. Once we were there he had to drink some formula with a tracer mixed in, which helps them see what's going on inside him. He was strapped into a soft vest which kept him from moving around the table, though we could still play with him and give him toys during the scan. The scanner machine moved in above him and he had to lay there for a half hour. Then he had a short break, then back under for another minute. I think that depending on what that minute showed he might have had more coming, but he had digested enough of the tracer that they couldn't do any more. He cried for about the second half of the half hour, so I spent most of the rest of the time trying to sing him songs, which quieted him down a bit. Overall he did pretty well.

Then we were off for a chest x-ray. That was interesting. They had an apparatus where he more or less sat on a bicycle seat (legs hanging down through holes, basically), and a clear plastic tube held him up. The tube kept his arms in the air, too. He screamed through the whole thing, but they said that was good because it provides a better picture of the lungs. After two pictures, he was done and was happy to be in Craig's arms. He screamed through getting dressed and bundled back up, but was asleep by the time we made it to the parking ramp...guess he wore himself out!

Overall it wasn't too bad. I mean, I won't lie...it's not fun to watch helplessly as your baby gets scanned or is stuck in a tube, but I suppose it could have been worse. Out in another room of the radiology department was another little baby (12-18 months) who was hooked up to an IV and looked like he was actually a patient in the hospital. So even in this situation, I felt pretty lucky. I really wished in the middle of it all that I had some medical training and could read the scan and x-rays as they were happening, but I guess we'll just have to wait until next week to see what they have to say. One thing that freaked me out was that the paperwork said that they were also checking his heart size. I have no idea what that might have to do with any of this, but that was a little scary to see. Hopefully it's nothing and just a really precautionary measure for some really rare, random thing (you know, "while we're in there..."). Anyway, it's good to have it over. We do have to go back for a quick scan again tomorrow (a 24-hour followup, I think to see if the tracer is completely out of his system or if some of it is stuck in there), but that should be quick and painless...I hope. No more fasting, at least. But on the bright side, we've had a nice day as a family. Soon we'll be off to Buffalo for Craig's mom's annual Mardi Gras campaign fundraiser, which should be a good time as well...with great food!! Have a great day!

Great day!

We had a really great day today. I couldn't have really asked for anything more, actually. Here's the rundown...

Jacob slept through the night and woke up at 7:15. I fed him, we hung out for a bit, he took a little nap on me, and when he woke up I got him dressed. I put him in the Jumperoo so I could take my shower (Craig was out shoveling and had to go to work shortly thereafter). Another feeding, and then I got ready for the day. We played for a while and then it was lunchtime, so Jacob and I both ate lunch...and as usual (I can finally say that!) he did great with his peaches and cereal. At some point (might have been during lunch) he pooped, but it didn't escape the diaper...yes!! After lunch I could tell he was sleepy so we sat down and read a couple books and then I just rocked him in the chair in his room until he drifted off. I put him down for a nap, then took a nap myself. I decided to not worry about cleaning or anything else I should be doing around the house, and just take the nap I've been dying to take all week. It was AWESOME. I slept for about an hour. I think I dozed a bit after that, and Jacob made a little noise but fell back to sleep at some point. Lori called me around 4ish to make plans for the evening. After that conversation, I got up and did some quick cleaning that I had been meaning to do for a while. Jacob kept sleeping, and when I finally went in to get him around 4:30 (he took a nearly 3-hour nap, I think!), he was awake and happy. I fed him, packed up the diaper bag, and headed out for dinner and shopping with Lori. He was a really good boy at dinner. He sat in the high chair, ate his carrots and cereal, and sat patiently while we ate. He played with some toys, looked around the restaurant, and eventually started grabbing at my food, glass, and napkin. We shopped a bit at Target (at which point he fell asleep for a while--it was little awkward since we were trying out sitting in the shopping cart for the first time, so Lori and I took turns carrying him), and then we headed over to the new Buy Buy Baby store, which is like Babies 'R' Us but owned by Bed Bath & Beyond. Seriously...you walk into the store and it could be BB&B, except that everything on the shelves is baby-related. The shelving, setup and the signage is all identical. Prices are competitive, as far as I could tell. And honestly, their selection might even be better with a lot of stuff. Very interesting trip. Jacob was perfect until the very end of the evening when we got back in the car to head home. I spent the whole trip singing him songs to calm him down, which sort of worked until the end. Once we got home he calmed down, I got him in his PJs, fed him, and gave him his nebulizer treatment, during which he fell asleep...so putting him to bed was easy as pie tonight. Whew. But seriously, it was as good of a day as we've had. He was smiley and happy most of the day, and we had a great time. I definitely needed a day like this, since all of the rough nights and general sleeping problems had me a little frustrated this week. But today was awesome...

Eight Months

Today marks eight months since Jacob was born. Amazing. I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone, or how much he has changed since then...even though some days he's still my little baby and I still feel like we're adjusting to life with a baby on an almost daily basis. There are days when I look down at him when he's nursing and can't get over how much bigger he is than he was in those first days in the hospital, when he was so tiny in my arms and his little mouth seemed to barely fit around the nipple. I kept having to nudge him to keep him awake when he ate. He didn't do much other than eat, sleep and cry. Nowadays, he's doing more every day. He can sit up pretty well, he's (finally) eating solid foods, he's grabbing at everything, rolling all over, and getting ever closer to crawling every time he's on his belly. This morning I swore I was hearing music and a banging noise over the monitor, and when I walked in, Jacob was laying at the far end of his crib from where he usually is, banging on the on/off button of his Fisher-Price aquarium (a lights and music thing that we always turn on when he goes to bed), repeatedly turning it on and off. It's a far cry from the early days when the huge crib seemed like a waste of space because he was such a little baby and never moved from the spot we put him in! Now we're thinking it's about time to move the mattress down because he could be pulling himself up on the sides any day...yet it seems like yesterday that we were sweating up a storm on a mid-June evening trying to get the darn thing together.

His two teeth (they're still not fully in and seem to be driving him nuts at night--another rough night last night) are a constant reminder of how he's getting older. Every time I see them it makes me realize yet again that he's on his way to becoming a little boy, as opposed to my little baby. Of course, as I said, it seems like we're still making adjustments to life with a baby...but maybe that's just because we're back to waking up in the middle of the night! Last week I was obsessing over his eating (I'm still perplexed by finger foods and wheat), but now that he's figured out how to open his mouth, his sleeping has become the new issue du jour. He fights it constantly. Whether it's just a nap (I see this on weekends, but he does it at daycare too) or putting him down for the night, he just will not settle down and sleep. I don't know if we've spoiled him by going back in and holding him when he's cried after we put him down, or if he's a victim of something I read about last night--that the pain of teething is magnified at night when there's nothing to distract him from it like there is in the daytime. He's wide awake when he should be sleepy, and even if he seems sleepy he wakes up the second we put him down in the crib. He'll smile like crazy when we're there, but will start crying right after we leave. No amount of rocking seems to get him drowsy...he just keeps looking around. It gets incredibly frustrating and both Craig and I are very tired from the 3 am wake-up calls. Craig's been working a lot this week--and it continues right through the weekend--so I've been on my own a lot. I've come to dread bedtime, even though once we get through the frustrating part I'm finally free to start my to do list! We've pondered the various pain control options, from Tylenol to Motrin to teething tablets. So far we've stuck with Tylenol, but I'm ready to call the doctor and see if one or two doses a day for an extended period of time is a problem. While I'd love to just give him a teething ring and call it a day (like so many sites recommend), Jacob's attention span isn't long enough to hold it or chew it for any reasonable amount of time. Let's just hope this phase passes soon. Though I'm sure once it does we'll have something else to leave us perplexed!

So, yeah...eight months. A year will be here before we know it!

Thinking back...

Last Friday a co-worker of mine (granted, he's three hours away in Toronto) became a first-time dad. This morning a friend of mine from college had her second baby. I know a bunch of people (mostly casually) that are pregnant...in fact I just sent some baby registry recommendations to another college friend that I reconnected with on Facebook. All of this baby stuff has had me thinking back, from this time last year when I was just starting to show, all the way through to those crazy first couple months. It's been quite a whirlwind. This time last year I was just starting to experience all of the changes my body was going through, dealing with some of the good and bad of pregnancy. I was still trying to figure out maternity clothes and adjusting to frequent doctor's appointments, enjoying being able to eat more and drink beverages with calories, and doing my best to stay active even if I didn't feel too great sometimes. Through it all, I was still immensely scared of becoming a parent. My Canadian co-worker definitely reminded me of me when he talked about their impending arrival. While he was very excited, he was extremely nervous...you could just hear it in his voice. He'd joke a lot about the nervousness, but you could tell it was real...and I could completely relate. I was always more nervous than excited, right up until the end.

Seeing all of the baby pictures has reminded me yet again how much Jacob has grown and changed. That tiny little baby has grown into a little boy full of laughter and smiles and a bit of a stubborn streak. He's so big and getting more coordinated every day, and it's a far cry from the early days when we just wanted him to do something. I do get a little sad when I see other people's baby pictures from the first few days. I'm still sad that those days we're robbed from us by that darn fluid in Jacob's lungs. I mean, we never got that traditional picture of me looking like crap in the hospital bed, holding my perfectly swaddled baby in his little hat. I think I was too exhausted and knew I looked like crap immediately following the birth to want to bother with a picture (if nothing else, it was 3am by then and I hadn't slept well the night before to begin with--and exhaustion had definitely set in), and then Jacob was only in our room for a few hours before he was whisked off to the special care nursery, and he stayed there for a week. Any pictures we took that first week tended to be a little awkward, with tubes and wires. I didn't get to change his first few diapers, and it took a little while before I could feed him again (after the initial couple attempts right after he was born) because he was getting IV fluids. It was so awkward holding him and changing his diaper when we finally could, because he was hooked up to so many machines. I remember feeling so helpless...that I couldn't make him better, that I couldn't take him home, that I couldn't physically be with him all the time and learn his idiosyncrasies right away. I was watching the show Wipeout the other day--the crazy one on ABC that's based on a Japanese game show--and couldn't help but think back to my nervous breakdown that first week, when I was exhausted from being at the hospital all the time and frustrated by breastfeeding, and how Wipeout premiered on that night and finally made me laugh after a couple hours of crying.

These days life is a little more normal, but it's still hard and I still get nervous whenever I'm facing time alone with Jacob, knowing that I may have to deal with a diaper blowout or a rough bedtime (both of which happened tonight). I'm learning slowly but surely but still have a long way to go. Still, I look forward to having another shot at the newborn phase, knowing all that I know now. That's still a long way down the road, so for now I will just have to enjoy everyone else's babies :)

Getting better...

Well, knock on wood...but it appears that Jacob is finally figuring out the solid food thing. Thank goodness. It amazed me today how much of a load off it was to have him actually opening his mouth! He's been getting progressively better the last couple days, which I have a hunch could have something to do with the fact that he was eating pears, which appear to be one of his favorites. To be fair, he was doing pretty well before that, but with the pears he was opening his mouth really well for the first time ever. He actually did pretty great with squash tonight as well, which was also a relief since it's good to know he likes a vegetable too! I think the only reason he didn't finish tonight's squash (but very close) was because he was full from a good nursing beforehand. I only fed him the solids because he seemed like he was still a bit hungry...or maybe he was just enjoying his time breastfeeding (and based on yesterday's video, we all know he's a boob guy! And how could you blame him, since that's where 90% of his nourishment comes from?) Anyway...he still did really well and didn't fuss at all today in two solid feedings.

Now I'll have to keep working on broadening his tastes. I don't think we've tried peas yet (not sure why...just hadn't gotten around to them) and we still have peaches, too. He's done sweet potatoes, applesauce, bananas, carrots, and green beans, though we haven't gone back to green beans since the ill-fated night where the Jumperoo shook him up. I do have a couple stage 1 meats on hand. I've heard babies generally don't like those (God knows I can't bring myself to smell them at any of those "Guess the Baby Food" shower games), but I had a coupon for money off of eight jars and Wegmans' selection wasn't great, so I figured I'd just get them and try it sometime. I bought some frozen mixed veggies this weekend and may try cooking them up nice and soft and giving Jacob a few peas, carrots and beans to kick off finger foods. My only other nagging issue right now is that everyone recommends things like Cheerios and small pieces of bagel and other various finger foods, but they all seem to contain wheat, which is a common allergen. That confuses me. Even oatmeal contains wheat, and most people start their kids on that pretty early since rice cereal isn't exactly the peak of taste. However, they say that if there's a risk you should hold off until the first birthday, but it really limits what he can eat. It's tough to say how risky it is, because I don't have any food allergies, and neither does Craig as far as we know (though he's had this recurring itch in recent months that seems like it has to be caused by something he's eating--we're thinking it could be a reaction to caffeine or nutrasweet), but seeing as how Jacob's cousin is allergic to peanuts and egg, you never know what might be lurking deep in the genes. I don't really want to take the risk unless the doctors can assure me it's not a big one. We shall see.

It was a pretty good long weekend other than Jacob's sudden aversion to sleeping. He woke up twice last night and fought napping big time the last two days. Not sure if it's just teething or if something else is bugging him. He's also picked up this screechy cry in the last week or so, and that's been horrible to listen to when he's miserable. But outside of that issue, it was really a pretty good weekend. Back to the grind in the morning...