Friday, October 21, 2011

1 year

It was one year ago today that I had my second IUI which resulted in my BFP with Chase. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Today also marks the first time he sat up by himself. I usually recline him back into the boppy next to me while I check email or watch tv, but today he decided that he didn't want to recline and pulled himself up into a sitting position. So, I plopped him in his bumbo seat and he sat in it, big as he pleased, kicking his feet and jabbering and drooling all over himself. My baby is getting so big :`(

He is a stubborn one too. Cereal time with a bottle is a daily battle of the wills and usually takes him about an hour of goofing around with it before he relents and takes it. Funny thing is, if I take the bottle away and say "ok, you must not be hungry" he fusses loudly. Stinker.

We had the appointment with the GI specialist about his reflux last week but didn't get much out of it except a prescription for prevacid. The prevacid isn't doing much either (he threw up quite a bit of milk today) but then he probably isn't getting too much of it because he does everything he can to not let me put the dropper in his mouth, then he spits it out. It's a liquid and the pharmacist had to mix it. After I turned in the script, they called and said I couldn't pick it up for two hours because they had to mix and watch it. Whatever that means. Anyway, I get it and it's sodium bicarbonate mixed with lansoprazole. Yum. No flavoring or anything and if the faces he makes are any indication, it's utterly disgusting. I'm about to scrap the whole thing and just deal with the vomiting. He hasn't had any of the weird spazzing spells lately and I'm hoping he's just grown out of that. But then again, maybe the medicine is working...I don't know.

He has his 4 month check up next week and it will be interesting to see what his stats are then. I don't think the nurse there does a very accurate job of measuring him. We'll see how they compare with what we got at the GI specialist office, 16lbs 4oz, 26.5 inches tall.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

13 weeks/3 months

Chase is 3 months old already and I just can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Every night when we get ready for bed I look at the clock and think, "where did the day go!?" Of course, sleeping in until 10am will skew your days for you, but what can I say? He's an awesome baby. He goes to bed around 10:45pm and sleeps until  9am - 10am. I have been staying up pretty late, doing things like paying bills, checking emails, working on my job applications (trying to get back home to my family) so I need that late morning sleep. Sometimes I have to go in and get him up so he won't sleep the day away (he must get that from me) or because I'm so engorged I wake up with milk running along my chest and neck. Sometimes I think he wakes up and entertains himself in his crib before nodding off again. One morning I was spying on him with the video monitor and I caught him rolling around in his crib, laughing and sucking on his fingers. Either way, he doesn't fuss or anything. He rarely cries, and is pretty clear in his communications with me. His reflux is still an issue though, and at our 3 month checkup Friday the pediatrician gave us a referral to a GI specialist but the damn appointment isn't until mid Nov and I'm trying to get an earlier one. He definitely isn't losing any weight or having developmental issues, but the constant spitting up, projectile vomiting and weird choking spells have me pretty concerned.

He HATES tummy time with a passion and I find myself not wanting to do it. Partly because of the reflux and because I hate getting him so upset. It takes a while to calm him down and it just doesn't help the vomiting. It is a little funny watching him get so mad though. He just lays there face down, kicks his feet, pounds on the floor with his fists and chews on the blanket while angrily hollering. He is sooooo close to rolling over from back to front and he definitely can hold his head up and sit in his booster chair and bumbo seat for a while though so I keep telling myself it's okay to not be crazy about doing tummy time everyday.

The doc told me I could start him on cereal which would help with the reflux. It makes me sad though because he's growing so fast, and I didn't want to start solids until he was around 5 months or so. Anyway, we went to the store and got some cereal and spoons. I could put it in a bottle, but he doesn't like bottles (gotta work on that) so I thought we'd try a spoon. Yesterday I mixed up some runny cereal and I fed him while he was in his carrier. We'd just walked the dog and I thought it would better for his digestion to be inclined a bit. He ate from the spoon like he’s been doing it all his life and even opened wide for me. He seemed to like it and had a good time. I skipped it today to give his digestive system time to adjust. We'll probably have some tomorrow because it did seem to lessen the amount of spit up afterwards.

I haven't decided when to go back to work. I keep putting off contacting the daycare center, but I know I really need to. I need to find out where we are on the waitlist, as that will determine a lot of things. Right now, I can take the rest of the year, but that leaves my sick leave and vacation leave balances at next to -0- which is not good with an infant. I just really don't want to go back to work here. I am trying for a position back home, and PRAY that I get something soon and can just move back there before I have to go back to the office here. My chances for the two jobs I put in for are pretty slim though. Not much I can do on that but wait. I know I really should go back to work after this month and save my leave, but it just breaks my heart. I fall more and more in love with him everyday (I didn't even think that was possible) and I can't bear the thought of putting him in daycare for so many hours a day. I can't go part time (daycare doesn't do part time and the job won't allow it) and financially I have no choice but to do the daycare center. ~sigh~The things we go through...

His 3 month stats:
15.75 lbs and 25.75 inches long

Sweetness overload

New booster chair

First cereal

Wipe my face!