Musical Beds, Colic, and Girls

It is so hard to believe that the last four weeks have flown by. The little man is officially a month old now, and it is amazing to see how much he has already changed in a month. He is starting to stay awake more and pay attention to different things. His favorite so far is the ceiling fans. He has also started making sounds and cooing to us. My favorite thing is to watch his facial expressions throughout the day. He has this one face I call the duck face because he looks purses his lips together so they look like a duck bill. He has also developed the old man face when he concentrates really hard. I swear he is missing sometimes, but Brett thinks it is just gas.

While it has been an amazing experience with Grayson, we have had our fair share of difficulties. One of the major ones is the curse of the bed. Even in the hospital, we had trouble with keeping him in the consistent sleeping place. I had to have him sleep with me during our hospital stay, and that continued when we got home. We could put him down most places while sleeping during the first week in the daytime, but nighttime was a completely different. He would be fine for the first few minutes of being in the pack-n-play, but it seemed that once he figured out that he wasn't with us that he was screaming off his head. We could only get sleep if he was sleeping with us in the bed. This made us a bit nervous because he was so small, and we worried about something happening to him while in the bed. To help with that, we got a co-sleeper bed, and this worked for a short time. Suddenly last week, we started having trouble again with him sleeping. He started being extremely fussy about being in the co-sleeper. He was also having issues with sleeping just with us in the bed. However, once Brett took him to the living room, he would fall asleep instantly on the couch next Brett. Plus he had developed a horrible spit-up problem, which will come late. Needless to say, we had several very rough nights. We took the weekend to recharge, and I managed to get a copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block dvd. We had been told about the 5 s's, but we were still unsure about somethings. The dvd was great at explaining all the elements to us. We implemented it Sunday night, and it has been much better at night. We also made the decision to make the transition to him sleeping completely in crib. We could have gone to the pack-n-play, but we felt that it was better to have one transition rather than having to make another one while I am back in school. I wasn't thrilled by this option because I was worried it was a little soon, but as Brett pointed out, it is more logical to do it while I am still home and get extra sleep than when I return to school and need more sleep. The first night was really rough on me. I had trouble sleeping because he wasn't an arms reach for me to check-on. So far, things have gone fairly smoothly thanks to the 5 s's. Brett is definitely better at using them than me. There are still some rocky moments, but it looks as if we will be on smooth path hopefully by the time I head back to school.

Last week also saw his spitting up become a problem. He had had what we considered normal amounts, and he was nursing like a little piglet so it was nothing to write home about. First, he started to spit up more after feeds, and then he was spitting up during feeds. He also became really fussy and difficult to feed, and he also started have more volume, coughing, and wheezing when he was spitting up. I finally had it and called the nurse at the doctor's office on Saturday. She said that it sounded like a possible case of acid reflux. Since we had company on Saturday, I couldn't take him in until Monday. They weighed him first to see if he was gaining weight, and he weighed in at 6 lb 5.5 oz. This meant he had gained 10 oz since his last weigh-in, and he was up to an oz gain a day, which was fantastic. After a quick exam, Dr F came to the conclusion that Grayson has colic. He said since Gray had gained weight along with the major fussiness and spitting up happening at night. Unfortunately, colic seems to be just a classification for fussy babies from what we can tell, and there isn't really a solution. Colic can be caused by other sources, but the doctor didn't seem to think anything major is going on. Dr F gave me a lesson on burping (thank goodness because I was doing it wrong) and made a suggestion of after eating placement. The only other hope we have is that he should outgrow it by 3 to 3 1/2 months. Here's to crossing our fingers that this does happen.

Tuesday was the last day of cheer camp, and the new varsity coach invited me to come to their afternoon performance. She kept it a surprise from the girls so they were really shocked when I walked in the door, and Gray got his first taste of girl adoration. They all wanted to hold him over and over again, and they couldn't help but coo over how little and cute he was. One of the girls swore to me he couldn't be real since he was so little. Two of them also told me they were taking him home. I said go ahead and see how they liked the 2:30 screaming matches! It was great to see them and the improvement they have made. If they can keep it together, I am sure this year will be great for them. I am a bit sad I don't get to be apart of it as their coach.

This week is half way over, and then I will only have three more weeks left with my little man full time. Since things were timed just right, my doctor's leave ends the week before school starts. I would love to take the remaining 4 of my 12 week FMLA, but since I can't use any of my days and get docked pay, it wouldn't be financially responsible. The time off will come in handy later in the year. It is scarey to know that soon I will have to take some time to prep for the new school year. At least I don't have to put together stuff for a sub, which is one of my least favorite things about being a teacher. Well, I guess I will leave this evening with some new photos of Mr. Grayson.

Week 4 Chair Pictures

Mommy's fingers are the best

Up close and personal

One last one of what I am saying is him smiling

Week 1-3

I actually started this post about a week ago, but unfortunately, the internet decided to eat it instead. I had written it on Monday since it was our original due date. Still hard to believe that rather than celebrating just one week of life, we are celebrating the beginning of week 3. I had hoped to keep this up once a week, but with someone clustering feeding and being a cuddle bug, I haven't had much time with free arms lately. So I am playing catch up with the last three weeks.

Week 1

Most of week 1 was spent in the hospital due to my c-section. We were in the hospital for 4 days and 3 nights. The worst day for me was the first really. I had to remain in the bed due to the anesthesia, and that meant having to have a catheter and these leg things to keep my circulation going. I was also not allowed any solid foods since the anesthesia can cause problems with the bowels, and since my water broke early in the morning, I didn’t get a chance to eat anything before we left home. Needless to say, Monday morning couldn’t come fast enough, and I was very thankful that I got the okay for both regular food and a shower the next morning. The nurses were actually pretty amazed about how well I was doing since I was up and about without pain meds about 24 hours after the surgery.
The first night with Gray was a little rough. Every time we put him in the bassinet, he would be okay for a few minutes and then start screaming his head off. Honestly, some things haven’t changed much yet. We finally caved and had the baby nurse take him early in the morning so we could get some sleep finally. While in the nursery, they checked his weight and blood sugar. They discovered that his weight had dropped down to 5 lb 1 oz, and his blood sugar was low. Babies naturally drop some weight after birth due to lose of water after birth, but since he was already a bit small, the 6 oz drop was a cause for concern. At this point, they started having us supplement with formula to help improve his blood sugar and weight. The formula thankfully helped with the blood sugar, which stabilized later on Monday, but he continued to lose weight. He actually managed to hit the 10% max they are okay with babies losing when he dropped down to 4 lb 14 oz. We had to keep supplementing my breastfeeding with formula until my milk came in, and once my milk came in, I could start pumping to use the breast milk instead. We also started having him sleep with me during the night to see if that would help with his crying fits. So even though I hated being in the hospital and will hate the bill when it comes, it was ending up being a good thing that I had had a c-section because of the issues Mr. Gray was having. I was terrified that they wouldn’t let us take him home with us if he didn’t put some weight on. I was relieved when the nurse let us know early on Wednesday morning he was back up to 5 pounds, and minus some sore nipples, I seemed to be getting the hang of breastfeeding.

They released us from the hospital in the early afternoon on Wednesday, and Brett and I were thankful to be home finally. We had worried that our dog Dante would not take well the baby so we had spent some time working with him on that. While he was a bit excited, we were thrilled to see that he took positive interest in the baby rather than getting aggressive. In fact, his behavior the last three weeks has reminded me of the dog from Peter Pan oddly enough. He constantly wants to be near us when the baby is near, and he has been doing very well with commands. We took Gray for his first visit to the doctor on Thursday. We discovered that he had put another oz on since leaving the hospital to be 5 lb 1 oz and had grown ½ an inch to be at 17 ½ inches. The only major problem the doctor could see was his weight so far, and he made some suggestions about feeding and supplementing. I started pumping when we got home because I would rather supplement with breast milk than formula. We took him in to be weighed in Saturday, and he did gain another 1 oz to be 5lb 2 oz by the end of the week. Breastfeeding at this point was still a bit rocky. One minute I had it, and then the next I didn’t. We did discover that Gray was a fan of music during this time. Other than that, he spent most of the day napping.
Here are his week 1 chair photos:

Week 2
Week 2 was definitely more of an adjustment period than week 1. Brett had seen something that was a cause for concern for my incision so my doctor’s appointment got moved up a week. Dr. L luckily said things were fine, and she cleared me until my 6 week appointment. She also said it was okay for me to start driving and caring things again starting the next week. We took Gray into his 1 week appointment with Dr. F on Tuesday, and we discovered that he had grown another inch, and his weight was up to 5 lb 3.5 oz. The weight gain made me feel better since breastfeeding had been difficult, and I was worried he wasn’t getting enough. We also got a chance to talk to the lactation consultant briefly, and she said some of the things we were experience were normal. Since he was having a good schedule with his bowel movements and colors, she didn’t seem too worried about things. She did suggest getting him weaned from the nipple shields as soon as possible and not to pump as often as I had been to help slow down milk production a bit.

At this point, he was starting to wake up a bit more. Brett and I had been enjoying getting to watch the little faces he was making. It was so funny to see him develop little by little. I followed the LC’s suggestions, and I seemed to get him weaned from the nipple shield fairly quickly. He did well without them most of the first day, but I started having issues again the next day. I spent an hour and ½ fighting to feed him in the middle of the night on Wednesday, and it sent me into frazzled mess. We made the decision to try this Baby Café place Brett had heard about on the news the next day after we took him to have some testing done. We got up and cancelled several of the scheduled visits we had the next morning, and Brett called and made a tentative time for us to go in that afternoon. After getting ready, we took Gray to the hospital to have his PKU testing done. I am still not sure what this actually is for, but it was hard to watch them poke his foot to fill the card for the testing. I am assuming that things came back clear as of right now because we have not received a call from the doctor in regard to something bad, and it has been over a week. Once that was finished, I attempted to feed Gray, and he wasn’t having any of it so we went ahead and went straight to the Baby Café. I am very grateful we did, and the woman who worked with us is a god-sent! She was able to quickly figure out that his latch wasn’t good, and she helped reteach him. With her help, I was able to get him back on track. Since making the visit, the only problem we have really experienced with feeding him is that  he wants to eat all the time!
Here are his week 2 chair pictures:


Week 3
Week 3 has been a much better week. Gray seems to have the hang of eating finally-maybe a little too well. He is also starting to stay awake more now. We are still having issues with him sleeping in the pack-n-play at night, and we are having to sleep with him in the bed. We did finally cave and purchase a co-sleeper bed for him to sleep in while in our bed. We had tried to use the travel bassinet for this purpose, but it was a little too big. We were hesitant to purchase one due to the cost, but it has actually been one of the better purchases we made so far. I got the Snuggle Nest Surround by Baby Delight, and we have both slept better having him in it while in bed with us. We are just hoping that that the review that said it helped prep the child for a bigger alone sleeping area like a pack-n-play or crib are true. Gray had been sleeping well in his crib during the day, but he has suddenly developed issues with it similar to the problems we had in the hospital. He will be fine for a short period a time, and then he gets upsets for no reason. He can sleep fine on his Boppy pillow or co-sleeper near us so we think it might be a noise thing. It seems as if he prefers some noise to keep him comforted and asleep. We may try to use some white noise or classic music to see if it helps him stay in bed. Since he is awake more, we have started using the play mat and doing a little bit of tummy time. He seems to actually like his tummy so far. He only gets mad or frustrated with it when he begins to get tired. I took him into the doctor’s office for just a weigh-in, and he was up to 5 lb 10.5 oz and 19 ½ inches. I guess my womb was just a bit small for him, and we are happy that he is over his birth weight.
It was a good thing that we had a good week with Gray because my recovery has been more of a struggle this week. I work up Wednesday more to my incision having a clear drainage, and we had to make an emergency  trip to my doctor. While little bit nerve racking to us, it turned out to be something that isn’t uncommon, and Dr. L was able to fix it with only opening a small part of my incision and prescribing antibiotics. While it isn’t abnormal for some women to have this problem, she suspected it was a problem with a skin problem I have. We figured that it most likely over after that, but unfortunately, it happened again. Things seemed to be clearing up on Thursday, but I woke early Friday not once but twice with more drainage. Brett discovered what seemed to be another spot so I called the doctor office. I went in, and Dr. L quickly found the spot and took care of it. I have an appointment on Monday to see how things are going.
Here are his week 3 chair pictures:

The last three weeks has gone by so fast. I am thankful that Brett’s company gave him both paternity leave and a chance to work from home because it has been a big help. Tomorrow is going to be the first day I am going to be home without him, and it is going to be hard and probably a bit lonely. I am just glad that several people have asked to come visit, and my Maga is also going to come help me out a few days this week. Next week will definitely be an adventure.

Surprise Arrival!

Last time I posted, I was 36 weeks along, and one would think that I would be making an update about the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy and our plan for week 39 and 40. Well, that was apparently not to be so since Mr. Grayson decided that 1 day short of week 38 was time to come into this world. So here is my record of his birth.

I had made progress with finishing cleaning the house, and on the night of the 12th, I got a call from coordinator for ELA for the district I work for. She asked if I would be willing to work on curriculum for the new school year since a situation had come up with the people working on the 9th grade curriculum. Being asked to work on curriculum is a pretty big honor, and we could use the extra cash. So I ended up answering yes, and I worked on curriculum Wednesday and Thursday of that week and Monday-Thursday the following week. It was fairly interesting, but I won't bore you with the details.
Monday, the 18th, was my 37th week. This meant I had made it to full term, and I was definitely feeling it. I had been luckily enough to have a fairly easy pregnancy minus a few hiccups, and I hadn't gotten that I am done feeling. However, by Tuesday of that week, I had started getting that done and finished feeling. I had told my mom that I didn't think Grayson would make it to July. I felt horrible on Friday, and everything I was doing took double or triple times to do. Saturday, I felt much better, and we got the house ready for our friends, the Martins, to come over for dinner. We had a great time visiting with them and their four kids. Of course, we talked about Grayson coming early for them see him before they were going on their cruise.

At about 6:50 in the morning, I got up because I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. This wasn't abnormal since I normally got up at this time to do this activity. This time was different because I didn't make it before having what I thought was an accident. I started cleaning up and noticed things were clear rather than yellow. Something flicked on in my brain, and then I was like "nah, it can't be my water." I hadn't had any contractions at this point. I cleaned up and got ready to get back into bed. On the way to bed, it happened again, and I figured that this must be my water. I woke Brett up to let him know that my water broke, and we got ready to go to the hospital still not 100% sure it was my water.

Since it was so early Sunday morning, we headed to the ER entrance of the hospital. When we arrived at labor and delivery, we were taken to a room, and I was asked to change into a hospital gown. At this point, we were still thinking it might be a false alarm. As I was putting my gown on, there was a huge gush of water, and there was no denying what it was at that point. All I could do was stand there and laugh, and then I started trying to clean the mess up. Brett convinced me that being in the bed was a better idea instead thankfully.

Once in the bed, the nurse gave me a test to make sure it was my water and check to see how far along I was, which wasn't much. The test did turn fairly quickly to assure the nurse and us that indeed my water had broken. They hooked me up to the monitors, and we started calling people to let them know that Grayson would be arriving sometime today. We told people not to rush since we figured we were in for a long haul. I was having contractions, but they weren't very bad. We were kinda left alone because there was a c-section going on along with another woman who came in 9 centimeters dilated.

When two nurses came rushing in, I knew something was up. They check the monitors and got me to put an oxygen mask on. They tried to put a monitor inside, but Grayson was too far up to do that. I also noticed that my contractions were getting strong. After things settled a bit, the nurses let us know that Grayson had gone into distress with my major contraction, and his heart beat had gone down to 80 beats for 8 minutes. If it had continued, they would have had to knock me out and take me in for an emergency c-section. I hadn't had an epidural because I had hoped to go as natural as possible. The main nurse let us know that most likely my doctor would be performing a c-section especially if he went into distress again, and if I didn't have an epidural, they would have knock me out. That meant Brett wouldn't be able to join me. So I got the epidural-not a fun experience. Shortly after speaking to my doctor's partner and getting the epidural, Grayson went into distress again. They came in to give me something to stop the contractions and prep me for the surgery.

Things in the operating room are a little fussy due to the medication. I do remember I got to pick the pandora radio station, which was Glee of course, but I couldn't hear it. Everything happened so quickly it seemed. Within a few minutes, we heard Grayson come out crying. They showed him to us over the curtain, and then they took him over to the side of the room to get weighed while I got stitched up. He came out weighing 5 lb 7 oz, and he measure at 17 inches. Plus he came out with a full head of dark hair-so I had at least one prediction right. After a little bit, they did let me hold him for a bit before they took him to our labor and delivery room. I followed shortly. When I got back, they let me begin breastfeeding, and it was amazing to finally get a chance to hold what I had been cooking in my tummy for almost 9 1/2 months! He was perfect in every way.

Hard to believe it has already been 1 week since we brought him home. We are already have seen so many changes in just one week. That update will have to come later sine I am going to attempt to get some shut eye before dinner and the next feeding.