WOW! I cannot hardly believe it's been since November since I posted last! I guess that makes me the slacker, ha! Anyways...
Due Dates are REALLY important, even though babies are generally not born on them! Samuel turned 1 year old (is that really possible?!?!) on January 27th, however we have not reached his due date yet, which makes him just over 10.5 months adjusted now.
He's doing great though! During the day he likes to keep busy grabbing any papers/keys within reach, watching Momma work out and just generally causing any mischief he can get his hands on. The music set and little car Oma and Opa gave him last weekend have been great for funneling his energy!
That said he's not mobile.... yet. I truly believe he is able to crawl, just doesn't. He does LOVE being on his tummy and goes in circles like it's nobody's business and eventually makes it a few feet across the floor. He is increasingly enjoying standing (with support), but is definitely not interested in taking any steps at this point. My only request is that he is fully mobile by August (more on that below if you haven't heard our news).
Currently he is also experimenting with dropping his morning nap, which means he will only have 1 afternoon nap. I'm saddened by that because I love having 2 nap times to do things or nap myself, but alas I'll adjust to only 1 nap time!
So I really want him mobile in the next few months because... I want to deal with the challenges that come with a mobile child before we have a newborn! Samuel's baby brother or sister (don't even bother asking if we know the gender, we don't and we're going to keep it that way until birth) is due August 29th. Samuel's due date was April 28th, so I guess we are trying our hand at the other A month.
So far this pregnancy has been easier on my than Samuel's. I believe I had more morning sickness problems (which were still more naseau than actual sickness) this time, but overal my energy level has been much higher. With Samuel I was simply exhausted and everyone would tell me that that is just the way it is when you're pregnant. I really wanted to start asking people if they'd borrow my level of exhaustion for a few days and then tell me that it's normal. It was not normal, I was more tired than most pregnant women and it only went away when Samuel was born.
A contributing factor to my exhaustion level might have been allergies. Due to getting sick a lot last fall I switched doctor's, went on allergy meds and have had more energy than I have had in years. In fact Ben told me one night that he had no idea what to do with me having all of that energy (that was just before we got pregnant). I was definitely tired during first trimester, but it wasn't anything a nap couldn't help. With Samuel sleep did not help my level of tiredness, I was simply tired all the time.
Right now everything is going completely normal with this pregnancy (and other than exhaustion, it did at this point with Samuel as well). At the last check-up our baby was definitely hiding from the doctor and it took her quite a while to find him/her so she could get a decent read for herself (and so I could hear well too of course). So this child is also proving to be quite active in the womb just like big brother. My doctor asked me if I could feel the baby move already, well I hadn't at that point. Since that appointment I think I have felt somethings that felt like it did when Samuel moved, but I am not 100% certain. I'm sure I'll feel the baby in the near future!
That is the big update for now! Hopefully I will not forget about my blog in the future and keep everyone updated! We have been quite busy this winter and the coming months do not appear to be slowing down at all! I'm loving my time home with Samuel!
15 March 2013
05 November 2012
A Baptism, Family and Friends
Last Weekend was a lot of fun, but very tiring for this Mom. Since my husband had responsibilities in Nebraska, Samuel and I made our way to Wisconsin for my cousin's son's baptism. Thankfully, my cousin, Anna, and her husband were willing to drive with me.
Stranger Danger:
We spent a lot of time at my Rachel's (my cousin whose son, Josiah, got baptized) house, with lots of family and friends. With how Samuel has been starting his stranger danger phase I was reasonably concerned that I would have a little cling-on the whole weekend. My Dad arrived at my house on Thursday so he could caravan with us on Friday and his arrival proved to me that my concerns were valid. Samuel did not warm up to his Opa until he played cello for him, then he was more willing to go him.
On Saturday morning when we first went to Rachel's house, Samuel was somewhat apprehensive, so I kept him with me mainly at first. I was very thankful that he didn't burst out and cry the minute he saw someone new! As the day went on he warmed up nicely to everyone that was there. I was even able to hand him off to someone without him fussing at all! The rest of the weekend was that way. He was held by plenty of family without me even in the room and didn't fuss at all. Thank you Lord for a calm baby!
He may have been a calm and happy baby around people, but he wasn't really much of a sleeping baby, the entire weekend. Friday he started his night early due to the car ride and after getting everything set up at the hotel and fed it took him 45 minutes to fall asleep (normally he falls asleep within 5). At least it was more of just an off and on whimper and not a full out cry! Then when 4am came around he was ready to be up and awake! So I held him in a sitting position after feeding him thinking to myself, kid, I only got about 3.5hrs of sleep.... He did let me sleep a little longer so I was able to start the day feeling reasonably rested.
On Saturday he barely napped however. Which when he barely naps it never bodes well for the night. We did drive over and see my college flute teacher and I dropped my cousin Anna off at CUW to see some missionary friends that were there for the missions conference. While there she get to be part of a historical event. A deer jumped through a window into the cafeteria (which apparently sounded like several stacks of coffee cups piled to the ceiling had just fallen over), ran around the cafeteria for a while and chased a student before jumping back out a different window. Oh and by deer we mean buck! If you are a facebook friend of mine a posted a video that I found on another friend's wall of it. How fun would it be to be the student that could say, "Remember when we were eating supper and the deer chased you?"
Back to the topic. :-)
So Saturday night was theoretically a great night because we got to turn our clocks back and get an extra hour of sleep right? Not for me. Samuel woke up just about every hour being somewhat inconsolable, so that extra hour just made a long night longer... Ahh the joys of being a parent! Needless to say I was rather tired yesterday after 2 days of very little sleep. In fact I had an eye twitching all day I was so tired. It was then that I was very thankful to have gone with my cousin and her husband, it would not have been safe for me to drive home!
At Church on Sunday I ran into two of my college friends. Which was not really random. One of them was a missionary in Taiwan with my cousin Anna and was in her wedding and the other has also been a missionary to a few places and know my cousin, Tim. So it was very good to be able to catch up with them and hear about how things are going for them.
The baptism went very well, Josiah didn't even fuss for it. That afternoon we welcomed him into God's family with a huge lunch! All afternoon it seemed people were stopping by to say hello and congratulate the family.
All in all, despite the huge lack of sleep, it was a very good weekend. Thankfully after I fed Samuel when we got him he went right to sleep and stayed asleep until his normal wake-up time (despite the time change even, we are soo thankful!). The last thing both Ben or I wanted to do was be up with a baby with how tired we both were from our weekends. So thankfully Sam played along with that idea quite nicely!
Stranger Danger:
We spent a lot of time at my Rachel's (my cousin whose son, Josiah, got baptized) house, with lots of family and friends. With how Samuel has been starting his stranger danger phase I was reasonably concerned that I would have a little cling-on the whole weekend. My Dad arrived at my house on Thursday so he could caravan with us on Friday and his arrival proved to me that my concerns were valid. Samuel did not warm up to his Opa until he played cello for him, then he was more willing to go him.
On Saturday morning when we first went to Rachel's house, Samuel was somewhat apprehensive, so I kept him with me mainly at first. I was very thankful that he didn't burst out and cry the minute he saw someone new! As the day went on he warmed up nicely to everyone that was there. I was even able to hand him off to someone without him fussing at all! The rest of the weekend was that way. He was held by plenty of family without me even in the room and didn't fuss at all. Thank you Lord for a calm baby!
He may have been a calm and happy baby around people, but he wasn't really much of a sleeping baby, the entire weekend. Friday he started his night early due to the car ride and after getting everything set up at the hotel and fed it took him 45 minutes to fall asleep (normally he falls asleep within 5). At least it was more of just an off and on whimper and not a full out cry! Then when 4am came around he was ready to be up and awake! So I held him in a sitting position after feeding him thinking to myself, kid, I only got about 3.5hrs of sleep.... He did let me sleep a little longer so I was able to start the day feeling reasonably rested.
On Saturday he barely napped however. Which when he barely naps it never bodes well for the night. We did drive over and see my college flute teacher and I dropped my cousin Anna off at CUW to see some missionary friends that were there for the missions conference. While there she get to be part of a historical event. A deer jumped through a window into the cafeteria (which apparently sounded like several stacks of coffee cups piled to the ceiling had just fallen over), ran around the cafeteria for a while and chased a student before jumping back out a different window. Oh and by deer we mean buck! If you are a facebook friend of mine a posted a video that I found on another friend's wall of it. How fun would it be to be the student that could say, "Remember when we were eating supper and the deer chased you?"
Back to the topic. :-)
So Saturday night was theoretically a great night because we got to turn our clocks back and get an extra hour of sleep right? Not for me. Samuel woke up just about every hour being somewhat inconsolable, so that extra hour just made a long night longer... Ahh the joys of being a parent! Needless to say I was rather tired yesterday after 2 days of very little sleep. In fact I had an eye twitching all day I was so tired. It was then that I was very thankful to have gone with my cousin and her husband, it would not have been safe for me to drive home!
At Church on Sunday I ran into two of my college friends. Which was not really random. One of them was a missionary in Taiwan with my cousin Anna and was in her wedding and the other has also been a missionary to a few places and know my cousin, Tim. So it was very good to be able to catch up with them and hear about how things are going for them.
The baptism went very well, Josiah didn't even fuss for it. That afternoon we welcomed him into God's family with a huge lunch! All afternoon it seemed people were stopping by to say hello and congratulate the family.
All in all, despite the huge lack of sleep, it was a very good weekend. Thankfully after I fed Samuel when we got him he went right to sleep and stayed asleep until his normal wake-up time (despite the time change even, we are soo thankful!). The last thing both Ben or I wanted to do was be up with a baby with how tired we both were from our weekends. So thankfully Sam played along with that idea quite nicely!
01 November 2012
Winter Months and RSV
Winter is coming! Though it really doesn't seem that way... My car read 70 today and I thought to myself how odd it is that it is November 1st and the car reads 70. I would say we have had very mild weather overall this year, especially considering it is not uncommon to have already seen snow (I know, it's a dirty 4 letter word to some...).
I just wanted to use a post to talk about RSV one more time (yeah I kind of already talked about it a few months back, but it wasn't RSV season then, so I thought I should just revisit it really quickly. Some may think the snow is the worst part of winter, but I think this year for me it is having a preemie and winter meaning RSV season. Thankfully our doctor told us yesterday that there has not been much RSV in the area as of yet, let's just pray it stays that way.
We also have a situation that greatly reduces the risk of RSV, by that I mean that I stay at home with Samuel and therefore he isn't in daycare. It also helps that he has no older siblings in school that could get it and bring it home. Basically in older healthy children and adults RSV seems just like the common cold, so what is the big deal about RSV?
Well, with babies that are high-risk for RSV it is unfortunately not as simple as a common cold. RSV frequently lands a premature baby or a baby with other health concerns in the hospital over night or longer. I think the desire alone to not spend another night in the hospital with Samuel is a big enough one for me to be protective! Basically high risk babies (like Samuel due to being born premature) have big problems breathing due to RSV and RSV can cause complications that can affect them for many years.
The good news for Samuel is that he thankfully qualifies for synagis, which I was recently told is actually an antibody and not a vaccine. Synagis does a lot of good in preventing the more severe symptoms and complications from happening when a baby gets RSV. So it does not necessarily prevent RSV, but tends to make it more manageable. Synagis is VERY expensive, so we are happy Samuel qualifies. It's expensive because not it cost $800+ per shot, but it is a shot that has to be given once a month during RSV season, that means Samuel will likely get 5 synagis shots this winter, that's $4000!!! Thankfully our insurance will help pay for it, if it did not we would not be getting it because that is just really expensive. We'd probably just never go anywhere with Samuel during RSV season. :-)
There is a blog I read geared towards everything preemie. Recently one of the Mom's wrote a really good post about RSV, please click this to read it. This is also a really good blog to pass onto someone you know has a preemie, is going to have a preemie or knows someone who has a preemie. It really is written primarily for the parents, but if you want to have a better understanding for all things preemie, it's a good read.
I guess I just wanted to let people know that I am not trying to be mean when out in public and I don't just pass Samuel around (besides he's going through stranger danger right now anyways, he gets very unsettled with the wrong people...), I am just trying to do what I need to do to keep my son healthy. Don't worry he does get exposed to other people and I don't mind when people hold him and play with him in a smaller, more private setting. Just with him being a preemie I'm not comfortable with playing pass the baby until we get out of this RSV season. Then I will be able to breathe easier knowing that he is bigger, stronger and more capable of fighting anything he catches himself!
His 9 month check-up went very well if you were wondering. He still growing fine and the doctor said he looked healthy. Based on what we told him about Samuel's development his ped would say he is developmentally on track with a 6 month old, which is perfect because that is his adjusted age!
Until next week... Have a great weekend!
I just wanted to use a post to talk about RSV one more time (yeah I kind of already talked about it a few months back, but it wasn't RSV season then, so I thought I should just revisit it really quickly. Some may think the snow is the worst part of winter, but I think this year for me it is having a preemie and winter meaning RSV season. Thankfully our doctor told us yesterday that there has not been much RSV in the area as of yet, let's just pray it stays that way.
We also have a situation that greatly reduces the risk of RSV, by that I mean that I stay at home with Samuel and therefore he isn't in daycare. It also helps that he has no older siblings in school that could get it and bring it home. Basically in older healthy children and adults RSV seems just like the common cold, so what is the big deal about RSV?
Well, with babies that are high-risk for RSV it is unfortunately not as simple as a common cold. RSV frequently lands a premature baby or a baby with other health concerns in the hospital over night or longer. I think the desire alone to not spend another night in the hospital with Samuel is a big enough one for me to be protective! Basically high risk babies (like Samuel due to being born premature) have big problems breathing due to RSV and RSV can cause complications that can affect them for many years.
The good news for Samuel is that he thankfully qualifies for synagis, which I was recently told is actually an antibody and not a vaccine. Synagis does a lot of good in preventing the more severe symptoms and complications from happening when a baby gets RSV. So it does not necessarily prevent RSV, but tends to make it more manageable. Synagis is VERY expensive, so we are happy Samuel qualifies. It's expensive because not it cost $800+ per shot, but it is a shot that has to be given once a month during RSV season, that means Samuel will likely get 5 synagis shots this winter, that's $4000!!! Thankfully our insurance will help pay for it, if it did not we would not be getting it because that is just really expensive. We'd probably just never go anywhere with Samuel during RSV season. :-)
There is a blog I read geared towards everything preemie. Recently one of the Mom's wrote a really good post about RSV, please click this to read it. This is also a really good blog to pass onto someone you know has a preemie, is going to have a preemie or knows someone who has a preemie. It really is written primarily for the parents, but if you want to have a better understanding for all things preemie, it's a good read.
I guess I just wanted to let people know that I am not trying to be mean when out in public and I don't just pass Samuel around (besides he's going through stranger danger right now anyways, he gets very unsettled with the wrong people...), I am just trying to do what I need to do to keep my son healthy. Don't worry he does get exposed to other people and I don't mind when people hold him and play with him in a smaller, more private setting. Just with him being a preemie I'm not comfortable with playing pass the baby until we get out of this RSV season. Then I will be able to breathe easier knowing that he is bigger, stronger and more capable of fighting anything he catches himself!
His 9 month check-up went very well if you were wondering. He still growing fine and the doctor said he looked healthy. Based on what we told him about Samuel's development his ped would say he is developmentally on track with a 6 month old, which is perfect because that is his adjusted age!
Until next week... Have a great weekend!
29 October 2012
The Last 3 Months
Hey World! We're still here.... Though we have gotten quite busy! I have not forgotten about posting, just all but forgotten about posting. Once I give a quick drive by of what has been happening since the end of July I'm sure you'll understand!
I think we started August at a sprint. Samuel had been sleeping through the night or waking only once in July, but a trip to Minnesota for a wedding, some diaper rash and 6 month shots all kind of stopped that I think. It would not have been soo bad on his sleep, but once we were making progress I started teaching an online class.
To sum up my experience as an online teacher was that overall I really did enjoy it. Now my first time doing it was rather trying... During the second week I got Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease and doing anything with my hands and feet caused me pain. I could not walk well, I could not change diapers and I definitely could not type. I emailed (by that I mean pecking out the email with the least pained fingers) the class coordinator because of course this happened the weekend before Week 2 of an 8 week course. Great way to start teaching, with a sub during the second week!
Needing a substitute teacher in my class really threw me off. I was just starting to figure out what it was I was doing and then I was knocked out miserably sick. So it took me a while to get my feet fully under me again and I pretty much was working the class at a sprint until the end. Then throw in a parent that was difficult to work with and I was ecstatic for the class to be over. Thankfully it was a rather unusual term and I know that. It is not scaring me away from teaching online again. I look forward to a (more than likely) better experience next go, but for my sanity I took this term off!
When I was sick we had to call in back up! My poor husband was getting quite drained from taking care of Samuel (even though we nurse it really hurt my hands to latch him, so Ben even had to latch him for me so I could feed him), taking care of me and trying to keep up at work. So we called my Mom after a few days of the misery and she really helped loosen up Ben's time and everyone was happier.
Of course the days she got here she comments, "So Samuel got a tooth!" And I responded with something like, "Uh... Yeah... He got a tooth!?!?!?" With how the week was going we didn't even notice it sneak it. We're guessing it came on August 22nd or 23rd, she noticed it on the 23rd. About two weeks later he got his second tooth (so now he has two bottom front teeth). Honestly the teething leading up to the teething actually cutting through wasn't that bad (this time around, we'll see what happens next time!).
We also started Samuel on solids. First we did rice cereal for about 2 weeks, which he gobbled up. Then we gave him oatmeal and he refused to have anything more to do with rice, because oatmeal is much tastier. Then we gave him banana, which he loved. Moved onto peas next, then sweet potato and then apple. All of which he thought was the best thing invented since milk (have I ever mentioned Samuel's favorite activity in all the world is eating?). Next we gave him avocado, which was definitely not a hit. In fact he got VERY grumpy during the 2 days we tried to feed him some. So we stopped and he instantly became happy again! Then we did butternut squash, which he wasn't fond of by itself, but mixed with apples he thinks its just fabulous! Finally we have introduced him to pears, which was also a hit. I have zucchini and pumpkin waiting to be made into baby food, so those will be the next ones (I plan on getting the zucchini ready yet today for tomorrow, we'll see if that happens). He's starting to get so many different foods that he doesn't zoom through what I make in less than a week now.
Of course he likes eating so much that I am going to ask his Doctor as his appointment on Wednesday about 3 meals a day instead of 2 and if we should start adding meats. From when solids really started getting going (which I would say was when we did sweet potato first) he has really been packing on the weight. Last week at Mommy and Me (did I say I go to a weekly play group with Samuel?) he weight 13# 9oz, but that was with his cloth diaper on, so he probably was just over 13# (not real sure how heavy the diaper is). Wednesday we'll know his naked weight, then Thursday is Mommy and Me again, so I can get a rough estimate of the weight of the diaper.
Also at the end of September we made a trip back to Nebraska to visit Ben's Mom. We were going to go on to Colorado and maybe Wyoming, but with how stressed I was between a son that wasn't sleeping and sprinting to keep up with my online class, we did a much shorter trip. Hopefully we can do the longer trip soon, because I was definitely bummed to not do it all.
This weekend Samuel and I are heading to my cousin's son's baptism in Milwaukee then the following weekend we'll be doing Thanksgiving with my side of the family at our house, so I am headed into another busy month! Also I am still working on my German I course that I will be teaching with the Wittenburg Academy starting the end of November. It's an online classical Lutheran high school. I'm very excited to be teaching with them!
Anyways I have a few more posts I want to write before I leave town for the weekend, so expect another post from me in the near future. For now that is a quick run down of the last months' activities! Oh and we have really been working hard on Samuel's routine since my class has ended and since we have gotten him back on it, he has been ridiculously happy and a solid sleeper!
I think we started August at a sprint. Samuel had been sleeping through the night or waking only once in July, but a trip to Minnesota for a wedding, some diaper rash and 6 month shots all kind of stopped that I think. It would not have been soo bad on his sleep, but once we were making progress I started teaching an online class.
To sum up my experience as an online teacher was that overall I really did enjoy it. Now my first time doing it was rather trying... During the second week I got Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease and doing anything with my hands and feet caused me pain. I could not walk well, I could not change diapers and I definitely could not type. I emailed (by that I mean pecking out the email with the least pained fingers) the class coordinator because of course this happened the weekend before Week 2 of an 8 week course. Great way to start teaching, with a sub during the second week!
Needing a substitute teacher in my class really threw me off. I was just starting to figure out what it was I was doing and then I was knocked out miserably sick. So it took me a while to get my feet fully under me again and I pretty much was working the class at a sprint until the end. Then throw in a parent that was difficult to work with and I was ecstatic for the class to be over. Thankfully it was a rather unusual term and I know that. It is not scaring me away from teaching online again. I look forward to a (more than likely) better experience next go, but for my sanity I took this term off!
When I was sick we had to call in back up! My poor husband was getting quite drained from taking care of Samuel (even though we nurse it really hurt my hands to latch him, so Ben even had to latch him for me so I could feed him), taking care of me and trying to keep up at work. So we called my Mom after a few days of the misery and she really helped loosen up Ben's time and everyone was happier.
Of course the days she got here she comments, "So Samuel got a tooth!" And I responded with something like, "Uh... Yeah... He got a tooth!?!?!?" With how the week was going we didn't even notice it sneak it. We're guessing it came on August 22nd or 23rd, she noticed it on the 23rd. About two weeks later he got his second tooth (so now he has two bottom front teeth). Honestly the teething leading up to the teething actually cutting through wasn't that bad (this time around, we'll see what happens next time!).
We also started Samuel on solids. First we did rice cereal for about 2 weeks, which he gobbled up. Then we gave him oatmeal and he refused to have anything more to do with rice, because oatmeal is much tastier. Then we gave him banana, which he loved. Moved onto peas next, then sweet potato and then apple. All of which he thought was the best thing invented since milk (have I ever mentioned Samuel's favorite activity in all the world is eating?). Next we gave him avocado, which was definitely not a hit. In fact he got VERY grumpy during the 2 days we tried to feed him some. So we stopped and he instantly became happy again! Then we did butternut squash, which he wasn't fond of by itself, but mixed with apples he thinks its just fabulous! Finally we have introduced him to pears, which was also a hit. I have zucchini and pumpkin waiting to be made into baby food, so those will be the next ones (I plan on getting the zucchini ready yet today for tomorrow, we'll see if that happens). He's starting to get so many different foods that he doesn't zoom through what I make in less than a week now.
Of course he likes eating so much that I am going to ask his Doctor as his appointment on Wednesday about 3 meals a day instead of 2 and if we should start adding meats. From when solids really started getting going (which I would say was when we did sweet potato first) he has really been packing on the weight. Last week at Mommy and Me (did I say I go to a weekly play group with Samuel?) he weight 13# 9oz, but that was with his cloth diaper on, so he probably was just over 13# (not real sure how heavy the diaper is). Wednesday we'll know his naked weight, then Thursday is Mommy and Me again, so I can get a rough estimate of the weight of the diaper.
Also at the end of September we made a trip back to Nebraska to visit Ben's Mom. We were going to go on to Colorado and maybe Wyoming, but with how stressed I was between a son that wasn't sleeping and sprinting to keep up with my online class, we did a much shorter trip. Hopefully we can do the longer trip soon, because I was definitely bummed to not do it all.
This weekend Samuel and I are heading to my cousin's son's baptism in Milwaukee then the following weekend we'll be doing Thanksgiving with my side of the family at our house, so I am headed into another busy month! Also I am still working on my German I course that I will be teaching with the Wittenburg Academy starting the end of November. It's an online classical Lutheran high school. I'm very excited to be teaching with them!
Anyways I have a few more posts I want to write before I leave town for the weekend, so expect another post from me in the near future. For now that is a quick run down of the last months' activities! Oh and we have really been working hard on Samuel's routine since my class has ended and since we have gotten him back on it, he has been ridiculously happy and a solid sleeper!
27 July 2012
Happy 6/3 Month Birthday Sam!
So today is a BIG day! Sam turned 6 months today and he turns 3 months old tomorrow. We are happy to also announce that we have a very healthy normal baby! Last Tuesday (after driving back from Fort Wayne on Monday) we went in to have a post NICU developmental check. He checked out great! Nothing too unusual came up, which I count as a win. The one thing we have to watch out for is how he holds his head. He does a fantastic job at holding his head up... tilted to the left. They found that he has some tight muscles on that side of his neck because of it, so now we get to do some stretches to help him fix that.
They weren't really worried about it though. They said that babies that tend to favor one side like that (in Sam's case the left side) tend to also have issues turning their heads completely both directions, which is something Samuel did just fine with. So as long as we are stretching him and encouraging him to hold his head straight, it should be something that corrects fairly quickly. If it's not working we might have to explore different avenues to correct it.
We have not seen any rolling over as of yet and no, he's not crawling. But that's fine! I'm sure before we know it we'll be chasing him around the house and wishing he weren't doing any of those things! At this point, neither of those are reasons to think he's behind developmentally, he's doing just fine, and I'm sure he'll start them both soon enough.
He has started to enjoy standing on his feet when you're holding him. Normally he only ever did it when he's angry (what baby does when they're angry?). Now he's starting to do it from time to time when he's not angry!
They told us Samuel will probably start squealing more and sure enough I think we've heard him squeal more this week than ever before! It's like he was waiting for permission! ;-)
To celebrate Samuel's birthday my Mom is coming out for a visit! Ok, maybe she just happens to be coming now... Regardless she's driving out here. We're going to have someone watch Sam while we go get massages. Something I practically never do, but there was a groupon for a really good price!
I think he's decided to nap really well today to celebrate. He hasn't seemed to nap well in the last few weeks, but his night sleep has been fantastic!
We'll take a photo with the bunny today, then you'll really be able to see the difference!
They weren't really worried about it though. They said that babies that tend to favor one side like that (in Sam's case the left side) tend to also have issues turning their heads completely both directions, which is something Samuel did just fine with. So as long as we are stretching him and encouraging him to hold his head straight, it should be something that corrects fairly quickly. If it's not working we might have to explore different avenues to correct it.
We have not seen any rolling over as of yet and no, he's not crawling. But that's fine! I'm sure before we know it we'll be chasing him around the house and wishing he weren't doing any of those things! At this point, neither of those are reasons to think he's behind developmentally, he's doing just fine, and I'm sure he'll start them both soon enough.
He has started to enjoy standing on his feet when you're holding him. Normally he only ever did it when he's angry (what baby does when they're angry?). Now he's starting to do it from time to time when he's not angry!
They told us Samuel will probably start squealing more and sure enough I think we've heard him squeal more this week than ever before! It's like he was waiting for permission! ;-)
To celebrate Samuel's birthday my Mom is coming out for a visit! Ok, maybe she just happens to be coming now... Regardless she's driving out here. We're going to have someone watch Sam while we go get massages. Something I practically never do, but there was a groupon for a really good price!
I think he's decided to nap really well today to celebrate. He hasn't seemed to nap well in the last few weeks, but his night sleep has been fantastic!
We'll take a photo with the bunny today, then you'll really be able to see the difference!
 |
| Sam at less than a week old and at just over 6 months. I promise you it's the same bunny! |
Weddings!
So last weekend was the weekend of weddings! We have been invited to 8 weddings this summer and 3 of them happened last weekend. Of course they also happened in 3 different states: Iowa, Missouri and Indiana. So how do we decide whose wedding to go to? How about my cousin's and the only relative getting married? We spent 3 nights and 4 days in Fort Wayne last weekend to help my cousin celebrate her marriage.
Before we went to Fort Wayne I was thinking I would start doing things after coming home to encourage Sam to drop his middle of the night feeding. Well, Sam had different ideas and last week Wednesday he did it all on his own! Everything I was going to do to encourage it he simply did and then proceeded to sleep through the night! It was a glorious 8.5 hours! Although he started waking a little in the middle, so I got things ready to feed him (like glass of water, use the restroom, things like that) and in the couple of minutes it took me, he fell back asleep. When he awoke again at 6am, I was somewhat annoyed he was waking early (normally wake up is around 7am), but then realized he slept through the night and all my annoyance was gone!
I assumed that with the trip that meant we'd take a step back from sleeping through the night, but it didn't. The first night there he woke up every 3 hours like he used to, but the second and third night he managed 6+ hour stretches, so that was good. The first night home he also didn't sleep well, but since then he's been doing about 9 hour stretches. My body is finally adjusted to the fact that I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night and I am also finally sleeping as well!
Anyways, during our trip to Fort Wayne we were able to relax a little about Sam. First of all, we knew we would have more than a tiny bit of time to see these relatives, so we were stricter about making sure he got his naps in and stayed on his routine a little closer. Then every time he needed to eat, I took him off somewhere quiet to nurse him. Between that and him being a little older I think that helped him not get over stimulated. All these things together made a very happy baby overall and helped him remain a good sleeper at night!
It was really exciting at the wedding though because my whole Dad's side of the family was there! My Dad has one sister who has three children. It used to be family gatherings on that side were really tiny, there are 5 of us in my immediate family and 5 in my aunts family, then add my Grandma and that made a whopping 11 people. This time, however, there were several more! With 3 of us married and 2 with kids our numbers are growing! We had 16 of us!! Plus one in utero (not me, my cousin who already has one) so that would actually be 17! It's quite exciting to me that our family is now growing.
It was really good to see everyone and for everyone to meet Sam. Now some of the family did get the opportunity to meet him already, but some hadn't. My parents and brothers pretty much had a monopoly on Sam's time the day of the wedding. Which was fine because my parents had to go home the next day and the rest of us would be still around for at least another day. The next day we went to my Aunt and Uncles for gift opening, then I hung around for a while. The cool thing was we had an opportunity to get a photo of Grandma with her 2 great-grandkids!
Before we went to Fort Wayne I was thinking I would start doing things after coming home to encourage Sam to drop his middle of the night feeding. Well, Sam had different ideas and last week Wednesday he did it all on his own! Everything I was going to do to encourage it he simply did and then proceeded to sleep through the night! It was a glorious 8.5 hours! Although he started waking a little in the middle, so I got things ready to feed him (like glass of water, use the restroom, things like that) and in the couple of minutes it took me, he fell back asleep. When he awoke again at 6am, I was somewhat annoyed he was waking early (normally wake up is around 7am), but then realized he slept through the night and all my annoyance was gone!
I assumed that with the trip that meant we'd take a step back from sleeping through the night, but it didn't. The first night there he woke up every 3 hours like he used to, but the second and third night he managed 6+ hour stretches, so that was good. The first night home he also didn't sleep well, but since then he's been doing about 9 hour stretches. My body is finally adjusted to the fact that I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night and I am also finally sleeping as well!
Anyways, during our trip to Fort Wayne we were able to relax a little about Sam. First of all, we knew we would have more than a tiny bit of time to see these relatives, so we were stricter about making sure he got his naps in and stayed on his routine a little closer. Then every time he needed to eat, I took him off somewhere quiet to nurse him. Between that and him being a little older I think that helped him not get over stimulated. All these things together made a very happy baby overall and helped him remain a good sleeper at night!
It was really exciting at the wedding though because my whole Dad's side of the family was there! My Dad has one sister who has three children. It used to be family gatherings on that side were really tiny, there are 5 of us in my immediate family and 5 in my aunts family, then add my Grandma and that made a whopping 11 people. This time, however, there were several more! With 3 of us married and 2 with kids our numbers are growing! We had 16 of us!! Plus one in utero (not me, my cousin who already has one) so that would actually be 17! It's quite exciting to me that our family is now growing.
It was really good to see everyone and for everyone to meet Sam. Now some of the family did get the opportunity to meet him already, but some hadn't. My parents and brothers pretty much had a monopoly on Sam's time the day of the wedding. Which was fine because my parents had to go home the next day and the rest of us would be still around for at least another day. The next day we went to my Aunt and Uncles for gift opening, then I hung around for a while. The cool thing was we had an opportunity to get a photo of Grandma with her 2 great-grandkids!
09 July 2012
Busy Summer!
Summer is seriously flying past! I can't believe that it's already AFTER the 4th of July! Which I should because I did the fifth seasons race again (5K) and it was blistering hot when it started at 8:15 that morning. It was probably the worst I felt after the race too, between the heat and my asthma deciding to act up a little). One of my former Regina students came in 1st at the race, I was so proud! I do miss those students!
At the end of June we made a quick trip to NE to visit Ben's Grandma. She hasn't been doing as well lately (prayers are asked for) and so we wanted to make sure she met her Great-Grandson sooner than later! Overall it was really a good trip. We stayed the first night at my parents, then drove the rest of the way into Nebraska. Spent the afternoon with her and then went to one of Ben's Aunt's houses for supper. The plan was to stay there the rest of the evening, but other things came up. Another one of Ben's Aunt's had the whole family in town and on of the cousins and his wife needed to leave sooner than later because of the fires out west, so they ended up going in to visit Grandma yet that night. As this was going to be the only opportunity to see some of them we made the trip into town after feeding Sam.
This unfortunately put Sam over the top. He was doing well up until then, but going back into town and seeing all those people was just a little too much for the poor baby. We did have fun talking with the relatives and letting them see Sam for the first time however.
That night we paid for our actions by the 3 of us all getting little sleep. Morning came way too quickly and we reluctantly started the day. We started by driving into town to visit Grandma again before going home. After a nice visit with Grandma we headed to have lunch with another Aunt and Uncle and cousin of Ben's then started the trek home.
Thankfully Sam does really well in the car! The drive with him wasn't such a big deal (of course it takes longer because you have to stop, feed and burp him!), but then we ran into construction on I-80 and it sounded like maybe a few accidents down the road as well. We bailed and took the scenic route before we could find out. I think all the stuff on 80 added at least an hour to our drive, which meant we had to stop again to feed Sam on the way home (one more time than we should have needed to because of 80).
We've been home for a week and a half now and Sam is finally getting back on routine. Now before anyone thinks I am only blaming the trip to NE, let me add this little bit. It seems pretty clear that shortly after we returned Sam started teething!! Yup, he's only 2 months adjusted and teething! Now it could be another month before we see teeth, but he's definitely teething. That HAD to have contributed to his extra grumpiness over the last week...
Now we are looking forward to Sam being he's happy content self again. Ben is at guard all week, so we look forward to having him home again (though life will not be slowing down by no means when he does get home). This week, I plan on enjoying a fairly relaxing week with my son. :-)
At the end of June we made a quick trip to NE to visit Ben's Grandma. She hasn't been doing as well lately (prayers are asked for) and so we wanted to make sure she met her Great-Grandson sooner than later! Overall it was really a good trip. We stayed the first night at my parents, then drove the rest of the way into Nebraska. Spent the afternoon with her and then went to one of Ben's Aunt's houses for supper. The plan was to stay there the rest of the evening, but other things came up. Another one of Ben's Aunt's had the whole family in town and on of the cousins and his wife needed to leave sooner than later because of the fires out west, so they ended up going in to visit Grandma yet that night. As this was going to be the only opportunity to see some of them we made the trip into town after feeding Sam.
This unfortunately put Sam over the top. He was doing well up until then, but going back into town and seeing all those people was just a little too much for the poor baby. We did have fun talking with the relatives and letting them see Sam for the first time however.
That night we paid for our actions by the 3 of us all getting little sleep. Morning came way too quickly and we reluctantly started the day. We started by driving into town to visit Grandma again before going home. After a nice visit with Grandma we headed to have lunch with another Aunt and Uncle and cousin of Ben's then started the trek home.
Thankfully Sam does really well in the car! The drive with him wasn't such a big deal (of course it takes longer because you have to stop, feed and burp him!), but then we ran into construction on I-80 and it sounded like maybe a few accidents down the road as well. We bailed and took the scenic route before we could find out. I think all the stuff on 80 added at least an hour to our drive, which meant we had to stop again to feed Sam on the way home (one more time than we should have needed to because of 80).
We've been home for a week and a half now and Sam is finally getting back on routine. Now before anyone thinks I am only blaming the trip to NE, let me add this little bit. It seems pretty clear that shortly after we returned Sam started teething!! Yup, he's only 2 months adjusted and teething! Now it could be another month before we see teeth, but he's definitely teething. That HAD to have contributed to his extra grumpiness over the last week...
Now we are looking forward to Sam being he's happy content self again. Ben is at guard all week, so we look forward to having him home again (though life will not be slowing down by no means when he does get home). This week, I plan on enjoying a fairly relaxing week with my son. :-)
25 June 2012
Transformations
So often I have been writing about things that affect Samuel because he's a preemie, I would to take a few moments to share how much he's been changing and hitting some full-term baby milestones during this month. He is sure growing and changing fast! So much so that when Ben has to be gone for Church or guard, he is always amazed at how much he's grown and changed while he was gone!
In May I started to hear some cooing sounds, but then I didn't for a while. Well, in June, he's picked them back up, big time! After a feeing when he's awake he will sit there and just make cooing noises. I'll be in the kitchen washing out my pump and here a bunch of "ooh's" from the other room.
He's also gotten to be quite smiley! Smiling and cooing seem to go hand in hand. We learned that if we tap his lips gently with our finger it encourages more smiles and coos! He has the cutest little smile (at least we think so, but hey, we're his parents!) and even a little dimple on one side! Last night Ben was playing with him and did an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression and that even elicited a laugh from him! Probably the first laugh he's done!
Between the cooing and smiling Sam's beginning to be quite fun to play with. It seemed like we were locked so long in a pattern of changing diapers, feeding and burping and that was pretty much the only activities he participated in and he hated the diaper changes. So it is nice to start seeing him become playful! We have been ready to see this start and glad he is too!
Lately he's also stopped viewing diaper changes as the worst form of torture known to man kind. In fact he sometimes seems to even like them! He tends to really like them we he has a particularly messy diaper, which used to be when he howled the loudest and hardest. Now he sometimes even smiles and coos while we change his diaper. Of course there still are a few changes in a day where he's a little fussier during, but hey, this is a vast improvement!
We've also started allowing Sam to sleep longer at night. Now he wakes up 1-2 times at night. That's fantastic for all of us! He tends to be more awake and playful in the day now and more sleepy at night. We have notice a few fussy times however. He really doesn't like being put down to sleep that first time at night and he really doesn't like to pause eating to burp! Yesterday he was being especially dramatic about the burping, so I was calling him my drama king.
On another note, we did another overnight trip to Milwaukee. His first out of state adventure! He did great! We stayed at my cousin's house. They are expecting a little boy in the fall and already have a 2 year old daughter so that was fun. Their daughter got to learn a little about how to act around a baby (gentle touches). We went to a wedding and Sam did great through it all! On the way home we were going to try to stretch his feedings out a little and make the drive in one shot, but about a half hour from home he decided he was hungry, so we stopped (we would have made it, but we were somewhat slow at leaving the reception). Oh well, we tried and he did great! We are starting to really get this overnight traveling down! Which is good and we have 1 more to go this month (We'll be visiting Ben's Grandma who has not been doing well. We weren't planning on going out that direction until later this year, but we want to make sure she gets to meet Sam.).
In May I started to hear some cooing sounds, but then I didn't for a while. Well, in June, he's picked them back up, big time! After a feeing when he's awake he will sit there and just make cooing noises. I'll be in the kitchen washing out my pump and here a bunch of "ooh's" from the other room.
He's also gotten to be quite smiley! Smiling and cooing seem to go hand in hand. We learned that if we tap his lips gently with our finger it encourages more smiles and coos! He has the cutest little smile (at least we think so, but hey, we're his parents!) and even a little dimple on one side! Last night Ben was playing with him and did an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression and that even elicited a laugh from him! Probably the first laugh he's done!
Between the cooing and smiling Sam's beginning to be quite fun to play with. It seemed like we were locked so long in a pattern of changing diapers, feeding and burping and that was pretty much the only activities he participated in and he hated the diaper changes. So it is nice to start seeing him become playful! We have been ready to see this start and glad he is too!
Lately he's also stopped viewing diaper changes as the worst form of torture known to man kind. In fact he sometimes seems to even like them! He tends to really like them we he has a particularly messy diaper, which used to be when he howled the loudest and hardest. Now he sometimes even smiles and coos while we change his diaper. Of course there still are a few changes in a day where he's a little fussier during, but hey, this is a vast improvement!
We've also started allowing Sam to sleep longer at night. Now he wakes up 1-2 times at night. That's fantastic for all of us! He tends to be more awake and playful in the day now and more sleepy at night. We have notice a few fussy times however. He really doesn't like being put down to sleep that first time at night and he really doesn't like to pause eating to burp! Yesterday he was being especially dramatic about the burping, so I was calling him my drama king.
On another note, we did another overnight trip to Milwaukee. His first out of state adventure! He did great! We stayed at my cousin's house. They are expecting a little boy in the fall and already have a 2 year old daughter so that was fun. Their daughter got to learn a little about how to act around a baby (gentle touches). We went to a wedding and Sam did great through it all! On the way home we were going to try to stretch his feedings out a little and make the drive in one shot, but about a half hour from home he decided he was hungry, so we stopped (we would have made it, but we were somewhat slow at leaving the reception). Oh well, we tried and he did great! We are starting to really get this overnight traveling down! Which is good and we have 1 more to go this month (We'll be visiting Ben's Grandma who has not been doing well. We weren't planning on going out that direction until later this year, but we want to make sure she gets to meet Sam.).
21 June 2012
Baby Wearing :-)
Today I just really wanted to share why I often wear Samuel when we are out and about. There are really two reasons why I do this. The first reason is probably pretty obvious (and for this reason I would have been wearing him even if he came full-term), hands free! He gets to snuggle in close to his Mommy and I get my hands to use for other things.
I was in Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and saw this Mom and her three children. Now I'm guessing on their ages, but one looked like preschool, another toddler and the third newborn (like she even looked smaller than Samuel that day kind of newborn). The two older kids were running around, obviously excited to be in a store and exhibited the typical behavior that goes with that. The baby started to get fussy sitting in her car seat in basket of the cart, so Mom picked her up. Now what does this Mom have to do? She has to pick up groceries, keep the two older kids with her and push her cart--all 1 handed! I say no thank you! Granted, at this point we don't have any other children, but have you tried to push some of those carts with one hand? That can be a challenge in itself, never mind everything else!
Along with handsfree, it also turns out that baby wearing is quite effortless (until you go for a half hour walk like that, which I did and it turned out much more tiring than a half hour walk with him in the stroller, good exercise right?).
Reason #2 (which is actually reason #1 with our preemie) is to keep him tucked away from people, especially large groups of people. This is not because I don't want anyone to see or touch Samuel, but because I want to keep him as safe as I can and I'd rather have things like touching and holding him done in a controlled environment. Out in public (especially in larger group settings) who knows who's been exposed to what, and who's hands have been shaken already. You might be just fine, but can you assure me that everyone's hands you just shook are also just fine? So until we're ready to just pass him around in groups of people, allow my husband and I to lead when it comes to showing him to people.
Expect me to loosen as summer goes on. Then expect me to keep him tucked away more during the next RSV season (RSV is dangerous to preemies and young babies). Then expect me to relax a lot! Samuel's an amazing baby in my eyes and I want to share him with you, but just for a little longer, please allow me to do that in my own way. I promise I won't keep him from people completely! I just ask your patience in the meantime!
I was in Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and saw this Mom and her three children. Now I'm guessing on their ages, but one looked like preschool, another toddler and the third newborn (like she even looked smaller than Samuel that day kind of newborn). The two older kids were running around, obviously excited to be in a store and exhibited the typical behavior that goes with that. The baby started to get fussy sitting in her car seat in basket of the cart, so Mom picked her up. Now what does this Mom have to do? She has to pick up groceries, keep the two older kids with her and push her cart--all 1 handed! I say no thank you! Granted, at this point we don't have any other children, but have you tried to push some of those carts with one hand? That can be a challenge in itself, never mind everything else!
Along with handsfree, it also turns out that baby wearing is quite effortless (until you go for a half hour walk like that, which I did and it turned out much more tiring than a half hour walk with him in the stroller, good exercise right?).
Reason #2 (which is actually reason #1 with our preemie) is to keep him tucked away from people, especially large groups of people. This is not because I don't want anyone to see or touch Samuel, but because I want to keep him as safe as I can and I'd rather have things like touching and holding him done in a controlled environment. Out in public (especially in larger group settings) who knows who's been exposed to what, and who's hands have been shaken already. You might be just fine, but can you assure me that everyone's hands you just shook are also just fine? So until we're ready to just pass him around in groups of people, allow my husband and I to lead when it comes to showing him to people.
Expect me to loosen as summer goes on. Then expect me to keep him tucked away more during the next RSV season (RSV is dangerous to preemies and young babies). Then expect me to relax a lot! Samuel's an amazing baby in my eyes and I want to share him with you, but just for a little longer, please allow me to do that in my own way. I promise I won't keep him from people completely! I just ask your patience in the meantime!
11 June 2012
Iowa East District LWML Convention
On Friday and Saturday we went to Dubuque as a family for the Iowa East District LWML Convention. I was supposed to talk about my experiences as a YWR (Young Women Representative) at the National Convention in Peoria last summer. This was somewhat nerve racking because it was the first time we were taking Samuel on an overnight trip!
On Thursday I put together a list of things to pack for Samuel (in the process though I found out I left some things I needed at home, but oh well, I made do!). Trying to make sure we had everything we need. In the end I didn't bring near as much stuff along as I envisioned I was going to have to take for him.
Things went well overall, so that was great! We left Friday after feeding Sam. We got there in time to get our room, grab registrations and our box lunch, feed Sam and eat our own lunches, just in time for the opening service. Which I would have to say was a nicely done opening service of the convention!
We stayed at the afternoon meeting session for most of it, until I had to leave to nurse Sam. Ben then joined us a little later and took a nap. We went down to the banquet that evening, which Sam did very well at, unfortunately we kept him out a little too long and he got a bit over stimulated. We fed him a bottle while we were there, which he did great with. When he was getting a little fussy around 9:30, I took him back to the hotel room so he could sleep and not be around all those people and the noise. Well, that was the right decision, because by the time we reached the room Sam had worked himself up into quite the fit! Once I got him settled down, I fed him and Ben showed up.
Sam wasn't so keen on sleeping that night, but again, we over stimulated him and I am sure that had something to do with it (not to mention he wasn't sleeping in his usual room!). The next morning I got up, fed him and went to breakfast. We didn't register Ben for the 2nd day, so he chilled in the hotel room during the morning. When it was time for Sam's mid morning feeding I went back to the room and nursed him. Then I took him along for an interest session and lunch, just to give Ben a break (and he had to load up and check out of the room!).
I gave him back to Ben during lunch. During the afternoon session I got to talk about my experiences at the national convention last summer. You can read my top tens post about it here. I opted to use humor when I talked about it, because most of the people there attended the national convention. I closed with a few points on participation of young women in LWML. Hopefully I was able to give them an idea of something they can do to encourage it! (the idea was personal invitations-not expecting the note in the bulletin to attract them)
I can say our first overnight was a success and the convention was good! I do regret that we didn't have time to walk through the exhibit hall. We just kept missing them! Oh well, that does happen! At least I have probably seen most of the booths present at different conventions and gatherings. With that though, now I sometimes personally know the exhibitors! So it would have been nice to go through and see who was there that I knew.
After being at convention I have a renewed interested in trying to get young women involved. The things that LWML does is truly amazing! I think us younger women have things to learn from those lovely older ladies who work so hard at doing all that LWML does. No, I really don't appreciate sitting through business meetings, but I love that missions are being funded so that God's Word can reach more people!
On Thursday I put together a list of things to pack for Samuel (in the process though I found out I left some things I needed at home, but oh well, I made do!). Trying to make sure we had everything we need. In the end I didn't bring near as much stuff along as I envisioned I was going to have to take for him.
Things went well overall, so that was great! We left Friday after feeding Sam. We got there in time to get our room, grab registrations and our box lunch, feed Sam and eat our own lunches, just in time for the opening service. Which I would have to say was a nicely done opening service of the convention!
We stayed at the afternoon meeting session for most of it, until I had to leave to nurse Sam. Ben then joined us a little later and took a nap. We went down to the banquet that evening, which Sam did very well at, unfortunately we kept him out a little too long and he got a bit over stimulated. We fed him a bottle while we were there, which he did great with. When he was getting a little fussy around 9:30, I took him back to the hotel room so he could sleep and not be around all those people and the noise. Well, that was the right decision, because by the time we reached the room Sam had worked himself up into quite the fit! Once I got him settled down, I fed him and Ben showed up.
Sam wasn't so keen on sleeping that night, but again, we over stimulated him and I am sure that had something to do with it (not to mention he wasn't sleeping in his usual room!). The next morning I got up, fed him and went to breakfast. We didn't register Ben for the 2nd day, so he chilled in the hotel room during the morning. When it was time for Sam's mid morning feeding I went back to the room and nursed him. Then I took him along for an interest session and lunch, just to give Ben a break (and he had to load up and check out of the room!).
I gave him back to Ben during lunch. During the afternoon session I got to talk about my experiences at the national convention last summer. You can read my top tens post about it here. I opted to use humor when I talked about it, because most of the people there attended the national convention. I closed with a few points on participation of young women in LWML. Hopefully I was able to give them an idea of something they can do to encourage it! (the idea was personal invitations-not expecting the note in the bulletin to attract them)
I can say our first overnight was a success and the convention was good! I do regret that we didn't have time to walk through the exhibit hall. We just kept missing them! Oh well, that does happen! At least I have probably seen most of the booths present at different conventions and gatherings. With that though, now I sometimes personally know the exhibitors! So it would have been nice to go through and see who was there that I knew.
After being at convention I have a renewed interested in trying to get young women involved. The things that LWML does is truly amazing! I think us younger women have things to learn from those lovely older ladies who work so hard at doing all that LWML does. No, I really don't appreciate sitting through business meetings, but I love that missions are being funded so that God's Word can reach more people!
07 June 2012
4 Month Check-Up
So a week ago today we went in for Sam's 4 month check-up. It went really well! But let me give you some background before talking about the actual check-up.
We had decided to switch pediatricians. Sam just really needed a doctor that understands the prematurity side of things (oh and one that would actually address his oxygen needs!). So we switched to a doctor that saw Sam in the NICU a few times and also happens to be a pediatrician. He's a great doctor, which means we had to ask special permission to be a patient of his and had to find times to squeeze us into his schedule.
We had our first visit with him 3 weeks ago. At that point we had already had his 4 month visit scheduled, but his office called wanting to schedule a special appointment just to address his oxygen needs! That made me really happy, because I did not believe Samuel actually NEEDED to be on oxygen, but we were left having him on oxygen because we didn't want to fully take him off without having confirmation of what we thought.
So we went in for that check-up. Ben and I explained to him what had been going on and got the green light to take Sam off the oxygen, but keep him on the monitor. Oh and we also got to change his O2 parameters on the monitor. They were originally set at 95-100 and now they are set 90-100. He's still supposed to be in the upper end of the range, but as he was already declared ROP free weeks before that appointment it's fine when his O2 is a little lower than 95 (higher O2=lower ROP according to some studies).
That gave us a lot more freedom in our lives. I didn't really want to take him to Church, but now that his parameters were different I felt more comfortable (otherwise off O2 he would do this thing where he'd go to 94 just long enough for it to alarm and then right back up, I really didn't want to go to Church and beep the whole service...). So now I have been able to bring Sam with to Church for the past 3 weekends.
Now zoom forward again to the 4 month check-up. This is one where they get immunizations. Because he reacted so poorly to the first round at 2 months (remember, we ended up staying in the NICU over the weekend instead of leaving just before the weekend) our doctor decided to split them up. He also decided it would be good to keep the oxygen stuff around just in case he reacts poorly. He asked us to monitor his oxygen for a day or 2 and then we could take him off the monitor until we go in to get the rest of the immunizations (later today actually).
Samuel also weighed in at 9# 3oz and is 21.75 inches in length. So he's growing great! He's actually starting to grow out of newborn more and more. We have him primarily in 0-3 mo clothes now as he is too long for most of our newborn stuff. The doctor also said that Samuel is a perfectly normal 1 month old baby now and that if he didn't know Sam previously and I had told him he was 1 month old, he would not have questioned the age at all! We are excited to start seeing more full-term baby milestones (not that the preemie milestones weren't great and hugely important!).
Sam did just fine with the first part of the 4 month immunizations and we pray that he does just as well with the last of it today. He will be going on his first overnight trip tomorrow, so we are really hoping he does well!
We had decided to switch pediatricians. Sam just really needed a doctor that understands the prematurity side of things (oh and one that would actually address his oxygen needs!). So we switched to a doctor that saw Sam in the NICU a few times and also happens to be a pediatrician. He's a great doctor, which means we had to ask special permission to be a patient of his and had to find times to squeeze us into his schedule.
We had our first visit with him 3 weeks ago. At that point we had already had his 4 month visit scheduled, but his office called wanting to schedule a special appointment just to address his oxygen needs! That made me really happy, because I did not believe Samuel actually NEEDED to be on oxygen, but we were left having him on oxygen because we didn't want to fully take him off without having confirmation of what we thought.
So we went in for that check-up. Ben and I explained to him what had been going on and got the green light to take Sam off the oxygen, but keep him on the monitor. Oh and we also got to change his O2 parameters on the monitor. They were originally set at 95-100 and now they are set 90-100. He's still supposed to be in the upper end of the range, but as he was already declared ROP free weeks before that appointment it's fine when his O2 is a little lower than 95 (higher O2=lower ROP according to some studies).
That gave us a lot more freedom in our lives. I didn't really want to take him to Church, but now that his parameters were different I felt more comfortable (otherwise off O2 he would do this thing where he'd go to 94 just long enough for it to alarm and then right back up, I really didn't want to go to Church and beep the whole service...). So now I have been able to bring Sam with to Church for the past 3 weekends.
Now zoom forward again to the 4 month check-up. This is one where they get immunizations. Because he reacted so poorly to the first round at 2 months (remember, we ended up staying in the NICU over the weekend instead of leaving just before the weekend) our doctor decided to split them up. He also decided it would be good to keep the oxygen stuff around just in case he reacts poorly. He asked us to monitor his oxygen for a day or 2 and then we could take him off the monitor until we go in to get the rest of the immunizations (later today actually).
Samuel also weighed in at 9# 3oz and is 21.75 inches in length. So he's growing great! He's actually starting to grow out of newborn more and more. We have him primarily in 0-3 mo clothes now as he is too long for most of our newborn stuff. The doctor also said that Samuel is a perfectly normal 1 month old baby now and that if he didn't know Sam previously and I had told him he was 1 month old, he would not have questioned the age at all! We are excited to start seeing more full-term baby milestones (not that the preemie milestones weren't great and hugely important!).
Sam did just fine with the first part of the 4 month immunizations and we pray that he does just as well with the last of it today. He will be going on his first overnight trip tomorrow, so we are really hoping he does well!
06 June 2012
Moving
So I have been rather delinquent here, but I think with good reason! For those of you who don't know we moved across town to a house that is a little better set up for a growing family. It also has the added perk that Ben is now only 1.5 miles from work instead of 7! So far we are loving the new house and are just praying fervently that God sends us a buyer for the old house. We will be having the first open house for it on Sunday 1-3, so if you know anyone interested...
Moving with a baby is not fun, at least I did not view it as fun. It might not have been soo bad, but we had some issues going into it (not real bad issues, but they still added stress!). Basically Samuel is nursed most of the day and is to receive 3 bottles of fortified milk a day (and I get to pump pump pump...). A few days before we started moving things is when the nursing issues started. He used to nurse 25-30 minutes no problem, but had backed down to 20-25 minutes a few weeks before the move. I take it as he has simply become more efficient at it because he seemed just as full.
Well a few days before the move I would spend an hour or more just to get him to go 15-20 minutes, which was quite unusual. Normally we'd be done nursing in a half an hour then I would spend another half an hour getting him to burp. At the time I thought it was just laziness because it is easier to eat from the bottle, but now I think it might have simply been my stress of moving playing out in his feeding ability, which a few days before the move I didn't think I was THAT stressed!
Anyways, so pretty much to sum up the move, I spent the time fighting with Sam to get him to nurse, getting practically no sleep, which made me really no fun to be around... I was not especially nice to my husband the whole time and he was a saint to have put up with me! Just proof that I have an extremely loving and gracious husband! During the move I basically shut down and barricaded myself off from the world in a room with Sam.
Since that weekend I have slowly been unpacking our house, one box at a time. I have made a small dent into the things that need to happen. Also since that weekend Sam has taken of with nursing again and has been doing just fine! We are all much more relaxed overall. The only thing missing is Ben. He's been spending all this time at the old house getting it ready that we don't see him much. All the more reason I pray that house sells quickly!
Also with the move we didn't have internet until yesterday. So now I am back on and can feel connected to the world again! Over the next few days I am going to be writing different updates about different things that have been happening, other than the move.
Moving with a baby is not fun, at least I did not view it as fun. It might not have been soo bad, but we had some issues going into it (not real bad issues, but they still added stress!). Basically Samuel is nursed most of the day and is to receive 3 bottles of fortified milk a day (and I get to pump pump pump...). A few days before we started moving things is when the nursing issues started. He used to nurse 25-30 minutes no problem, but had backed down to 20-25 minutes a few weeks before the move. I take it as he has simply become more efficient at it because he seemed just as full.
Well a few days before the move I would spend an hour or more just to get him to go 15-20 minutes, which was quite unusual. Normally we'd be done nursing in a half an hour then I would spend another half an hour getting him to burp. At the time I thought it was just laziness because it is easier to eat from the bottle, but now I think it might have simply been my stress of moving playing out in his feeding ability, which a few days before the move I didn't think I was THAT stressed!
Anyways, so pretty much to sum up the move, I spent the time fighting with Sam to get him to nurse, getting practically no sleep, which made me really no fun to be around... I was not especially nice to my husband the whole time and he was a saint to have put up with me! Just proof that I have an extremely loving and gracious husband! During the move I basically shut down and barricaded myself off from the world in a room with Sam.
Since that weekend I have slowly been unpacking our house, one box at a time. I have made a small dent into the things that need to happen. Also since that weekend Sam has taken of with nursing again and has been doing just fine! We are all much more relaxed overall. The only thing missing is Ben. He's been spending all this time at the old house getting it ready that we don't see him much. All the more reason I pray that house sells quickly!
Also with the move we didn't have internet until yesterday. So now I am back on and can feel connected to the world again! Over the next few days I am going to be writing different updates about different things that have been happening, other than the move.
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