Tooth #2

CJ has both bottom teeth poked through now.  He's been a drooly boy today. 

First tooth!

Just like his big sister did, CJ likes to chew on my fingers. She had her first tooth by 6 months old so I expected that he would too. When six months past and he didn't have any yet, I would ask him every day "where are your toofers?".  Because he was chewing my fingers every day I could feel his gums every day and didn't even feel a bump.

On Tuesday, he was chewing on my fingers and I finally got to exclaim, "CJ! You have a tooth!  His bottom left tooth broke through.  I'd noticed on Monday that his gum was really swollen and red and he had been cranky the last week or so but it still surprised me to see that tooth come through.

Another first down!

6 months old!

CJ is 6 months old already!   He weighs 16lbs 6oz, is about 26 inches long and is wearing mostly 3-6 months clothing.  He's a solid big boy!

He finally started rolling succefully and purposefully from his back to his belly on November 5, but I didn't manage to catch it on camera.  He still really doesn't like being on his belly, so he quite often will just roll back over again right away.  A few times he's tried to pull his knees up underneath him though. He may crawl earlier than his sister did.  

He dressed up for his first Halloween, during the day as a mummy and for a quick tour of our neighbours in the evening as a dragon. 

Despite all the drool, there is no sign of teeth yet.  I really thought he'd get some early, following in his sisters pattern, but he's past the age where she got her first tooth now.  I'm kind of glad he has no teeth still, because biting mommy while eating is one of his favorite games.  As for solids, he kind of regressed on them.  I didn't give him any on our two week vacation, and he hasn't seemed interested in eating solids since we've been home.  He barely tolerated rice cereal again, actually gagged on oatmeal on November 1st. We tried mashed potatoes on Nov 3rd, but didn't seem to care for them.  Same reaction with yams on November 7th.  I think I'm going to give him bananas again because he did like those and then try carrots.  I also bought melting baby cookies, so I'll see what he thinks of those too.  He still loves drinking water from an open cup. I ordered a couple of special no spill cups that aren't sippies, so hopefully they work for him.  I'm resisting giving him a sippy cup since he is still exclusively nursing and I don't want to confuse him with anything that acts like a bottle.  I'm sure he'd be okay with one since it would only be water, but I haven't wanted to chance it yet.  If the other cups don't work well, I'll get him a sippy. 

We went to Disney World from November 11-25th. He did amazingly well.  The flight down was a bit rough because he wasn't feeling well. I didn't figure that out until about halfway through.  He had been fussing and crying most of the flight up to that point and I ended up standing in the isle with him.  Then he threw up three times in about a 30 minutes period and fell asleep. He slept for most of the rest of the flight, including the entire descent. He was so good the whole trIp, really only fussing or crying when he needed something.  He got to go swimming a few times, but only in shallow water.  He hated the life vests, so I couldn't take him into any deeper areas. He also got to go on several rides in the different parks. I love watching the wide-eyed wonder of children taking in all the sights.  Disney is like sensory overload.  We went to an interactive show based on the Beauty and the Beast movie, and the talking armoire was in it.  CJ got so excited every time the armoire spoke.  He would stick his arms straight out and wave them and would nearly hyperventilate with huge eyes and a huge grin on his face.  It was so funny, he had everyone near us laughing.  The flight home was great, because he slept the entire 6 hours, only rousing slightly to latch on to eat.  I kept him under the nursing cover the whole time so he didn't have to wake up at all and he wasn't disturbed by anyone. 

Since we've been home, he settled back into his normal routine nicely.  He is such a content boy most of the time.  

His next big milestone will be sitting up on his own.  He can get a few seconds at a time right now, but no more than that before he either pushes himself backwards or topples sideways or forwards.  He wants to sit though, because when he's on his back, he is constantly pulling himself into little baby crunches, lifting his head and shoulders right off the floor. 

There are a few other things he can do right now.  He babbles a lot and says Mama, though I don't think he knows what he's saying yet. He knows how to play peekaboo himself, by pulling off a cloth or blanket he puts on his own face.  He'll giggle when I ask "where's Colby" and say "there you are!".  He reaches for the toys he wants and can pass them between his hands.  He puts everything in his mouth and he can also put his own soother back in his mouth. 

He seems to be growing so fast, and we are so busy that the days just fly by.  I'm sad my little, bitty newborn has gone, but I'm excited to see who he is becoming. :)

5 months old!

It seems that I only manage to get around to updating once every two months.  Thank goodness I take lots of pictures so that I can remember the milestone dates, because I've been awful at recording them. I'll try and remedy some of that in this post.  

First in the milestone department is exclusive breastfeeding - we finally got there!  We went on a vacation (more about that later) and CJ started to nurse better while we were away. He had his last bottle when we got home on August 30th and he has been exclusively breastfeeding since then.  He plateaued in his weight for about a week afterwards and then he started gaining quickly.  He put on 23 oz from August 30th to September 28th. I've met all my nursing goals so far, so I am setting a lofty goal this time... 1 year. I am really hopeful that we will be able to make it to a year of breastfeeding.  

As I said, he put on 23 ounces in a month. He is 15 lbs 8 oz now and is about 25 inches long. He is nearly bigger than what my daughter was at one year old.  He jumped from the 6th percentile when he was born up to the 23rd percentile.  It's amazing how big he is now.

The next milestone is rolling over. CJ rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time on August 23, did it every time he was on his tummy for about a week and then stopped.  He decided he hated tummy time again and just lays there and cries each time I put him that way instead of rolling over.  He rolled from his back to his belly on October 7th, but it wasn't exactly purposeful. He had a toy and when he clutched it to his chest he turned to his side and the momentum made him go the whole way over. We've been working on getting him to sit on his own but he throws himself back almost every time, so it will be a while before he gets that, I think.  So far his favorite way to be is standing. He also loves to jump in his jolly jumper. 

We started him on some rice cereal for the first time on September 20.  It was hit and miss with whether he'd eat it for the first few days, then he decided he liked it.  I made him some chicken and he ate that well enough. He's has also had some banana, which he seems to love. I plan on making carrots for him next.  

As I mentioned before, he also went on his first vacation. We took a road trip to Washington, and went into Idaho to go to Silverwood. He did really well on the trip.  He went swimming for the first time and seemed to enjoy it. He also went to his first baseball game.  While we were away he started to breastfeed better, and went a day here and there without needing a bottle.  After we got home he kept up with his improved nursing, and we are now exclusively breastfeeding.  I can't describe how elated I am that we did it.  I now fully understand why some moms give up. 

Up next is another major milestone for CJ. He will be going on his first airplane for his first trip to Disney World! 

3 months!

The days are going by so fast and my little man has grown so much!  He weighed 12.5lbs at 3 months and is 23 inches long now.  

We are still struggling with breastfeeding and are doing half nursing-half pumped/hand expressed bottles.  CJ's a challenge to figure out in that department for sure. Sometimes he'll latch and eat, sometimes he'll latch on and off repeatedly and not take in much and sometimes he'll flat out refuse to latch at all.  Night time is the only time he will always successfully latch on and eat. During the day it's really hit and miss.  It makes it very difficult to decide when and if to pump or not.  And the pump doesn't pull much out for me anymore either. I've ended up having to hand express afterwards and am usually able to double what I pumped that session. 

Aside from that we are doing well. He's become so interactive in the last couple of weeks, starting to "talk" a lot and to grasp toys. He's got the cutest grin and such expressive eyes and eyebrows.  He literally lights up when's he sees me. It's one of the best feelings in the world.  He also really loves his big sister and smiles and talks to her a lot. She loves him too and has been such a big help both with her brother and around the house in general. 

I really need to write more so that I have a record of what CJ has reached for milestones and when.  I'm still so consumed with the task of feeding him that it seems like everything else just slips by. 

We've been able to do more and more tummy time the last week or so. Before then he would cry within seconds. He's holding his own head fairly well, but still wobbles and bobbles it a bit.  We've got a bumbo seat, but that hasn't been a hit just yet.  The favourites are the swing and bouncy chair that were his big sisters.  He does most of his daytime naps in the swing and likes to sit in the bouncer and look around and talk.  He sleeps good at night, though he does stir every 3 hours or so to eat. I'm okay with that because as I mentioned before, it's the only time he will successfully nurse. I have a feeling that without those sessions, I would likely loose my milk. 

I think we will have another early teether, since he produces drool by the bucket full already.  I bought an amber bracelet and have an amber necklace to use, I just have to figure out where I put it.  

It is still hard for me to believe sometimes that I have a new little baby boy.  I feel very blessed and I am very excited to watch him grow and develop.  He is changing so quickly, especially in his looks.  I'll have to do a picture post to show the changes.  For now, here are a few recent pictures. 

1 month old!

I still need to finish writing out my birth story.  This month has passed in a blur mostly because of feeding difficulties. Both Colby and I are fine, though it's really been a time consuming struggle to get my precious boy fed.  He's spent most of the month either nursing, sleeping in my arms or crying, and I've spent time latching and relatching him, pumping and cleaning bottle supplies.  All of which hasn't left much time for writing, especially when his big sister has lots of extra curricular stuff happening too. Luckily she's been a great helper and has tried to be as understanding as she can. 

I'm hoping in the next couple weeks things will start to work out better, so I can get a bit of free time.  For as rough as it's been though, we are all completely smitten with this adorable little boy! 

 

Introducing...

Our little BOY! 

C*olby J*erome 

Born May 8th at 8:49am at 6lbs and 18.5 inches long. 

39 weeks 4 days

Still hanging in there!  I've been in full on nesting mode for weeks now.  We got the entire main floor of our house painted (it was supposed to be a two day job by painters two weeks ago, and ended up turning into them being here on and of for about 6 days over the two weeks).  Because of that, we had the entire main floor completely dismantled and it still is, because then DH started nesting too.  He decided to move the wires around behind the wall that our entertainment system is on, since all the components and wall until were moved so that means that the living room is still dismantled, because he's not completely done yet. It will look better when he's finished though, having all the cables and wires hidden. 

Because everything is not put back together, I figured it was as good a time as any to have the carpets cleaned, so the guy is coming for that today.  DD and I also spent most of the weekend going through her play room and reorganizing all her stuff.  It's way tidier now, and now I just have to get her to agree to purge. At least she comes by her/my pack-rat tendencies honestly. 

I had a surprise non stress test at 38 weeks, after baby decided not to practice breathe on my BPP ultrasound. It went fine, the baby had two big accelerations and a couple of smaller decels in the heart rate, and movement was great so the on-call ob said I was good to head home and wait it out.

We had maternity pictures done at 38 weeks 1 day and most of them turned out beautifully.  I'd been having tons of braxton hicks leading up to that Friday, so I was a little concerned that I wouldn't make it, but I did and I'm so glad.  We were able to get some wonderful images.  

The braxton hicks contractions have still been a constant companion, though they so far haven't seemed to be doing anything much.  I had a Dr. appt at 38 weeks 6 days.  I'm up between 18-21lbs, depending on the scale and time of day.  The morning of my Dr. appt. my home scale said I'd lost 2 lbs, putting me back at 18lbs gained, but the scale at the Dr. said I was up 1 lb putting me at 21lbs gained.  Either way both my Dr. and I are happy with my weight.  My fundal height measured exactly at 39 weeks, and the ultrasound and NST at 38 weeks showed baby's heart-rate in the high 120's and low 130's.  I can't remember my blood pressure, but I know it was in the normal range. 

I started losing some of my mucous plug on Friday at 39 weeks 1 day, and its continued in small amounts over the weekend.  I am a bit crampy in my lower back and abdomen this morning, but the BH contractions are still painless.  Any which way, I don't think I have much time left.  I am still hoping, along with my family, that I deliver right on my due date, May 8th.  It was my grandfather's birthday, and I know that would make it an extra special day.  

37 weeks!

I've been having braxton hicks contractions for awhile, but in the last week or so there have been a couple of days where they have been so frequent I thought I may need to take a trip to L&D.  They seem to stop when I rest and drink more water, so I haven't had to go in yet. I have also had a few instances of some pretty intense lightning bolt pains through my cervix.  All of that together made me feel like I was running out of time, so at my OB appt yesterday at 36 weeks 6 days, I asked her to check me.  She said that although my cervix is softening, it is still long and closed.  I'm actually really relieved that is the case, because we have so much happening next week, I need this little baby to hold on and not come early.  She also said that baby has his/her head right on my cervix, so that is where the shockwave pains are coming from.

I'm up a total of 20-21lbs, my blood pressure is good (120/78 I believe) and the baby is doing well.  She didn't tell me the heart rate, but on my own doppler it was about 140 bpm still, around the same as the last ultrasound.  Baby seems to be head down and staying that way now, finally.  I've been going to the chiropractor a few times a week for the last couple of weeks, and it has immensely helped the sacroilliac and tailbone pain I was having, and I'm pretty sure that is the reason baby is now able to stay head down.  The Dr's I've been seeing are prenatal chiropractors, and they have a table I can lay belly down on.  It is so nice to lay like that.  :)

This next week is Spring Break from DD's school, and DH has taken it off too.  We have painters coming, I have no less than 4 appointments (ultrasound, OB, chiro and some me time for my hair!), then we have a maternity photo session booked for Friday.  I've washed all the newborn gender neutral clothes and mostly packed the baby's diaper bag but I still need to pack my own bag, put in the car seat and pick up a few more things I want for before baby comes.

I'll get there.  I still feel a time crunch, but I feel better knowing that I'm not around the corner from active labor just yet.  It's a little surreal still that there is only about 3 more weeks to go!

Baby Shower pics

35 weeks 6 days

I'm doing well with this pregnancy, enjoying every minute of it!  I've only had minor aches and pains, that the new chiropractor I found has been able to help immensely, so I don't have any real complaints at all.  I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow, and I am not in any rush for this time to end.

I've had a slew of appointments since the last time I wrote.  I had another growth scan done at 34 weeks, and baby was head down, still hiding his or her face in my placenta.  We are still going for a gender surprise, and I've done so well with telling each technician that I don't want to know and to let me know so I can look away when they go near the genitals so I don't accidentally see what I'm not supposed to see.  :)  Baby looked great on the ultrasound, the heart-rate was at 141 bpm and baby was measuring pretty much right on.  The tech estimated weight at around 5.5lbs.

Since that head down ultrasound, I am relatively certain that the baby has done a few full 360 turns.  I'm able to feel two distinct lumps on either side a lot of the time, so I'm pretty sure baby like the transverse position best, and then I've had a bowling ball right at the top of my uterus a couple times, with hiccups near my ribs, likely meaning baby was head up at that point.  More than once I've had what I'm sure are feet poke out near my ribs, hiccups near my hip and lightning bolt shock waves as a head connects with my bladder and cervix.

Here's a couple of pictures from the last session, where baby is hiding behind placenta and cord:

I saw my hematologist as well, and as of 36 weeks I will be taking a different anti-coagulant until I go into labor.  After that I will switch back to the one I've been on for the whole pregnancy until I'm 6 weeks post-partum.  With the clotting disorders that I have, I will not be able to get an epidural if I am too close to having taken the medication before I go into labor.  I am truly okay with that, since I don't intend on getting one anyway.  I was med free with my daughter and that is my birth plan for this one too.  The only thing that scares me a little is that if I need a c-section and don't have time for an epidural to be placed due to either the medication or an emergency, I would be put under general anesthetic.  While I'm not planning for that happenstance, the thought of not being awake for the birth of my baby, and my husband not being there to witness it, bothers me a lot.  I'm trying not to dwell on that though, instead using my hypnosis birthing techniques to visualize the birth I want to have.

I'm not sure if I mentioned the hypnosis birthing before now.  I'm doing a home course to help me control my responses during labor.  I labored med free without hypnosis the first time, so I'm believing that I can do it again and that the relaxation techniques I'm learning will help make this an "easy, comfortable birth", like the program suggests.

At my last Dr's appt, at 34 weeks 6 days, I was up 18lbs, so I'm on track for my goal of 25lbs total.  I'm actually gaining weight at pretty much exactly the same pace as I did with my first pregnancy.  I gained 26lbs with my daughter.  I'm carrying about the same too, just slightly lower and slightly more out front.  I go back and forth nearly daily as to whether or not I've got a boy or a girl in there.  Only about 4 more weeks till we find out!

I had my baby shower on the weekend, and had a great time.  I got spoiled rotten, with lots of stuff, and a ton of blankets!  I'll put up some pics from the shower in another post.

In the meantime, here's a recent pic, from 35 weeks 3 days.

29 weeks!

I have a feeling the next 11 are going to fly by.  

I'm up 13-14lbs total so far, gaining 3-4 of those lbs in the last week alone.  I passed my GTT with flying colours, my fundal height is good 26weeks-though this ob seems to measure a little different than the maternity Dr did, so I think her measurements are slightly off on the small side.  The baby is doing great, moving all over the place.  At the last ultrasound, I believe the heart rate was at 150bpm.  My Dr didn't tell me what it was on the Doppler at my last appt and I forgot to ask.  I apparently have an overachieving cervix, that measured at 5.4 on the ultrasound.  

I've had minimal discomfort, some very infrequent mild contractions and braxton hicks here and there. My daily blood thinner injections are going well, and I hardly bruise at all, I mostly just get little red marks instead.  I inject into my love handle or my hips around towards my back.  My biggest "complaint" and I can't even call it one, is near constant heartburn lately.  Tums are my very best friend right now, lol!  I'm tired a lot too, but that's not really out of the realm of ordinary for low-energy me anyway. 

We've started batting around some names, but have nothing concrete yet.  I plan on going to the hospital with several I like and then deciding once we see our new little person.

C is super excited to become a big sister. She has been really getting into the "helping" aspect.  She has been helping me carry groceries and laundry and is always asking what the baby is doing. She loves to feel the movements and talks to my belly sometimes too.  It's pretty cute how excited she is now.  Most of the movements are still very low in my abdomen, but I've been getting a few up near my ribs, and we've been able to see my whole belly shift and roll a few times.  It's fun to watch and even more so to see C's reactions to it.  

I've finally started to get a few baby items now, like diapers when they were on sale and a couple of new swaddle blankets. There isn't much I will really need, aside from a few gender neutral sleepers and onesies, and then a couple of take home outfits from the hospital. A big must is a new infant car seat, and I plan on having that before the end of March. 

I've also started a hypnobirthing home course, as I plan to go natural again. I'm going to join a prenatal yoga class that begins in March too.   All in all things are going great and easy, and I'm hoping that it really stays that way, right though to baby being born. 

Here's a pic from last week, at exactly 28 weeks. 

3D ultrasound

Baby was hiding behind hands and placenta, so this is about the best shot the tech could get.  She did get a pretty good 2D one...little one seems to have perfected the "duck lips" pose perfectly already.  :)

24 weeks!

I can't believe how quickly time is passing.  The second trimester has pretty much flown right by me.   

After I wrote last, I had the anatomy scan done.  We have decided to not find out the gender of this baby.  Well, my DH has decided that, and really has his heart set on calling our DD after the delivery to tell her the news.  Since he agreed to go shopping with our DD to buy baby clothes while I'm in the hospital with the baby after delivery, and to not complain when I buy things that I just can't resist in both genders right now, I agreed to go along with a delivery surprise. 

The anatomy scan went well, baby was still measuring on target for a projected due date of May 8th. The heart, spine, brain, bladder and kidneys all checked out perfectly. The tech counted all ten fingers and ten toes, and was able to see that everything looked as it should.  She referred to the baby as "perfect" several times.  I had a great tech who was so happy to show me the different things she was looking at.  I think it helped that I was able to verbally identify nearly everything she was scanning before she said a word.  She had great bedside manner and it was a very fun scan.  

She got some cute profile shots for me too.  

Since that scan at 18 weeks, my belly has grown a lot!  I am definitely needing to wear maternity shirts now.  I'm still in two of my really stretchy pre-pg pairs of jeans, one pair I think may actually go the entire way through.  I plan on going to get another pair or two of stretchy non-maternity jeans that fit nicely.  The maternity jeans I had for my daughter's pg are still all way too big.  The rest of my pants are mostly yoga pants. :)

I was able to stop taking the nausea meds just after Christmas, so around 20 weeks.  At that point I was up about 6-7lbs, and now at 24 weeks I'm up 9lbs from my pre-pg weight. 

I met with the high risk OB who's team will deliver this baby.   Because of the blood thinner injections I'm on with this one, I'll be monitored more closely than the norm.  I will be getting more ultrasounds, likely monthly from here on out.   I've got one coming up this Friday, and I'll be able to get some 3-D pictures, which I'm looking forward too. 

I've been taking belly pictures every two weeks like I did with my daughter, but it haven't arranged them in a sideshow yet. As soon as I do that, I'll post it.   In the meantime, here's a shot from today, in my 24th week.