4 Months Old

Sorry I missed posting a few days ago, we didn't have internet until today.  Long story.  Don't use Bell.  ANYWAY, here's the latest.

We took Eli to the allergist this month and the scratch test (which included all main allergens plus sesame, sunflower, and corn) came back entirely negative!  Based on what I told the allergist about re-introducing foods and his reaction, she guesses that it's a milk protein allergy and recommended staying off of dairy and soy for the first 2 years of his life.  However, when I tried to re-introduce other foods (fish, sunflower) he reacted again.  So I got him sent for the IgE blood test to see if we get any different results.  He could just be gastronomically sensitive to certain processed foods.  We hopefully get the results of the blood test next week when we go for his 4 month shots.

As for me, I do, in fact, have gallstones and have my first meeting with a surgeon at the Queensway Carleton hospital on the 25th.  I have no idea when the surgery will be, but it's for sure happening.  If I have even a little bit of red meat, my gallbladder gets swollen and sore so I'm strictly avoiding it.  My food options feel pretty depressing, but I've found a few gems here and there that I love.

Eli is growing like a weed.  He and Avery are now in the same size of diapers.  It's crazy!  What a chunker.  I love it.

Length: 27.5 inches

Weight: 19lb 1oz

Hair Colour: Light brown

Eye Colour: Light blue

Eating and Sleeping Habits: Getting better!  Now that he's finally starting to outgrow the moro reflex he doesn't scare himself awake so much any more.  He can sometimes snuffle himself back to sleep.  He usually does two short naps in the morning (usually 30-40 minutes each) and then one long nap with Avery in the afternoon (usually 1.5 hours with a nursing break in the middle for comfort), and then two more short naps before bedtime around 8pm.  I love that he's fairly predictable in this department.  At night he wakes 2-3 times, sometimes to eat, sometimes because Avery wakes him up, but he did one night of 6hrs straight this week, so that's progress.  Nursing is still the same.  About 2.5-3 hours between feeds, sometimes less if he didn't get a full feed in or if he wants to nurse to sleep.  I'm just letting him steer this time.  I tried the schedule thing with Avery and she didn't gain as much weight so Eli can eat whenever he wants.  

New Skills:  Scooting in a circle on his tummy, holds head steady, holding toys with two hands, sometimes passing them from one hand to the other (if he doesn't drop it first), saying new consonant sounds like "bbbbb".  Learning how to sit (he falls to one side and can't stay upright but he can prop himself on his arms, so it's a start).

Favourite Things: The exersaucer, tummy time, looking at himself in the mirror, "talking" to anyone who will smile at him (though he saves the loudest and highest pitched sounds for me and Jon :D ), giggling at me when I say "Mamamamamama".  He also loves watching Avery play.  He just stares at her and takes it all in.  Whenever she makes eye contact with him he just breaks into the biggest smile.  It melts me.

I'm so in love for this 'little' guy and his big sister.  How they interact with each other and the fun we have together is just great.  It is exhausting and busy, but I am generally very happy to have such awesome human beings to spend my days with.  

3 Months Old!

My little chunker is 3 months old today!  This month I've stayed off of all the allergens and added a few more foods to take off the list (legumes and corn) to see if he keeps improving.  Once all those are taken out and he's consistently better then I might try to reintroduce stuff again.  Still no word from the allergist office.  His eczema was cleared up but then came back (not super bad, just flaky and kinda gross) so hence adding more to the "no-no" list for me.  I'm having fun experimenting with alternative protein though.  I made some protein balls that were fairly good, though they make me gassy, so I think quinoa is not something I can eat.  I've had everything else that was in it with no problems.  I had my ultrasound and was supposed to get my results this week but I haven't heard from my doctor yet.  I'll wait another week before I give him a call.  I had gallbladder pain almost constantly after the ultrasound.  I think they irritated it pretty badly.  They were shoving the ultrasound camera up into my ribs for over an hour.  Hopefully we will find out soon.

Eli also had his baby blessing this month.  It was very special and we were happy to have Grandpa out for it.

Length: 27 inches long

Weight: 17lb 4oz (my chubster!)

Hair Colour: Red/brown

Eye Colour: Blue

Eating and Sleeping Habits: He's breastfeeding usually every 2.5-3 hours now during the day.  He's nursing more effectively and I'm not letting him nurse to sleep as often because he gets more gassy when I do.  He isn't sleeping great, but there are many factors in that I'm sure.  He does usually stretches of 2-3 hours with an occasional 4 hour stretch in there too.  We co-sleep part of the night and he sleeps in the pack and play beside me part of the night as well.  Avery sometimes wakes him up and Jon's snoring sometimes wakes him up, and gas sometimes wakes him up, so it's not really his "fault" per say.  He's getting more consistent for naps now too.  He will be awake anywhere between 1.5-2 hours between them and nap for 30-90 minutes, depending on the time of day.  I think I've got him into the habit of having a longer afternoon nap because we usually sleep together while Avery is sleeping and he is down for 2-2.5 hours when we do.  Yay for coordinated naps! :D

New Skills: He can grab and hold onto the hanging toys now.  He even pulls them to his face so he can chew on them.  It's super cute.  He can keep his head up without support about 90% of the time.  He's started imitating sounds as well.  I am totally convinced he's said a few words here and there  haha.

Favourite Things: Avery.  He loves to watch her play and he smiles every time she comes over to talk to him.  He loves her squishy hugs and kisses, even when she almost suffocates him doing them.  He loves talking and people in general.  Very sociable.  I've also noticed he loves being warm, almost excessively so.  He likes to be so hot he sweats.  He cries when he's a little bit cold.  Definitely a summer baby.

I feel like Eli and I are best buds.  He knows just what to do to make me feel happy.  I love how Avery is with him and the enthusiasm she has for him.  First thing in the morning she asks "Baby? Baby?" because she wants to play with him.  My heart melts.  I wouldn't have it any other way!

Two Months Old!

Eli is two months old today.  He's super strong and growing very fast.  He has rolled over from tummy to back (consistently) and can almost go back to tummy, he just has to figure out how to go farther from his side.  His eczema is almost gone.  I've tried re-introducing soy, wheat, and nuts so far and he's reacted to all of them.  Soy was the worst.  He also seems to react to my prenatals (which I started up again) so either there's soy in them (not labelled) or he's reacting to something else in them.  It's a bit of a guessing game.  Talked to his doctor today and we're getting an allergy test for him.  Not sure when but the referral is in so that's progress.  I'm gonna wait to re-introduce anything else until we have a date set for the test.  He also seems to have a hard time with the probiotic drops, so we stopped giving them for now.  I'm basically eating all forms of rice, veggies and fruit, and chicken.  Red meat has given me gallbladder issues (I'm going for an ultrasound to check for gall stones) so I've mostly cut that out for now as well.  It's been rough, not gonna lie.

Length: 25 inches long
Weight: 14lb 8oz
Hair Colour:  Red
Eye Colour: Blue
Eating and Sleeping Habits: Eats anywhere from 1.5-3 hours during the day.  Longest stretch of sleep 4.5 hours.  I am hoping this will improve once we resolve his allergy issues.
New Skills: Rolling tummy to back, smiling and cooing, laughing, swatting at hanging toys, following moving targets with his eyes and head, turning to look at noises.
Favourite Things:  talking to Mama and Daddy, being held, rocking in the swing, cuddles with Avery

He's really great.  The days he starts feeling better from the re-introduction of foods he is so calm and happy and naps really well.  He's so happy.  He smiles and coos when he sees me.  I can make him laugh and smile so easily.  Just a great temperament, I love it!

Real Postpartum Body

Hi everyone,

This is a first for me.  It's a bit scary, but very liberating at the same time.  I will begin by saying the idea for doing this formed from following Birth Without Fear and Take Back Postpartum during my pregnancy.  I really believe that seeing women who celebrated their postpartum bodies has really strengthened my self esteem and has made postpartum a lot easier this time.  It changed my perspective and makes me look at other women very differently.  Rather than judging them on muffin top or squishy belly, I find myself wondering if they've had children and how many and how long ago.  It helps me to smile when I see them because I hope they see the beauty in that.  So my hope is that in doing this post I may inspire other women I know to celebrate their bodies (in whatever form) and love them for what they can do!

Alright, here's the scary bit.  Here's where I show you what my real postpartum body looks like.  No filters, no photoshop.  Just raw low-quality images.  Here's a quick "before and after" from my last days of pregnancy until today (6 weeks difference):

I can honestly say that doing this has made me realize just how far I've really come, and that's just from living life.  I've been seeing physio and chiro for the last 4 weeks and haven't been physically able to even walk more than 5 minutes at a time without some pain, so this is just from eating well, losing the swelling, and giving birth.  I lost 23 pounds just from this.  I have 2 pounds left to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (7 pounds from before Avery).  I got the go ahead from physio today to start working out (I hopefully am done with treatment $400 later, yay!) so I joined a gym and start working out Monday (I have to do orientation and assessment before I start).

I'm excited for this journey and really hope this will help to strengthen my body.  My goal is not focused on losing weight, but in gaining energy, tightening and strengthening my body, and getting into better shape so I can keep up with my kids.  

I feel good.  I'm not self-conscious at all.  For the first time (I think, ever) I walk out the door not worrying if I have muffin top or if I look "fat" because I don't care.  This body has grown and carried two beautiful children and will carry more.  It has stretched to accommodate them and will never be the same again, and I'm ok with that!  When I look at or feel my marshmallowy stomach with my saggy skin and stretch marks, I feel proud.  I feel strong.  I love this body more than the one I had before my babies because it has given me so much to be thankful for.  My hope is that the women (and men) I know can appreciate their own bodies, regardless of how they look, because of all the amazing things they can do.  

All that matters are the people who love and support you.  If there's someone constantly ragging on you about your body, get rid of that negativity.  It's not helping anyone.  I'm glad that I have such a supportive husband who feels proud of me for feeling good about myself and who loves me more now than he did when we got married.  He has been a real strength to me and my cheerleader throughout this whole process.  His support has really helped to change me and see myself in a better light.  Take heart everyone.  Take back postpartum!  Celebrate your body!

One Month Old!

Eli is one month old today!  How the time has flown.  As far as we can tell his collar bone is fully healed.  He is moving both arms really well, though his left is a bit weaker, and he's now turning his head towards his left shoulder too, so that's really good.  He's been doing some tummy time and is already very strong.  He started getting eczema on his face and scalp but it's slowly going away.  I've been off all the BIG 8 allergens for 2 weeks now (dairy and egg for almost 3 weeks) and we're fairly confident that his poops are normal.  No more mucous, no green, and no diarrhea.  So there's progress.  I'm going to start reintroducing foods this week (waiting 4-5 days between just to be sure).  I'm pretty sure if it's anything it's dairy and/or egg.  If it's dairy, then soy may be an irritant too.  We'll just have to wait and see. I'm going to reintroduce dairy near the end. We also started Eli on probiotics to help heal his gut.  All signs point to a positive outcome.  He's still fussy and cries when he needs to poop, but he's not inconsolable, gripe water helps now, and he doesn't cry for very long.  

Length: 22 inches

Weight: 11lb 11oz

Hair Colour: Red

Eye Colour: Blue

Eating and sleeping habits: Went from eating every hour to eating ever 2 hours.  Longest stretch of sleep 3.5 hours (usually 2.5-3 hour stretches at night).  

New skills: holding his head up a lot, grasps hands or fingers of others and pulls to his face, rolls onto his side from his back or tummy.

Favourite things: bath time, staring at Avery, and musical mobile.

He's a great little baby.  We love him to bits.  Avery can't wait until he's big enough to play with.

 

Healing Slow and Steady

I can't believe how the time has flown.  Eli is almost 3 weeks old already!  At 6 days old he was measuring 20.5inches long (just like his sister) and 9lb 2oz (about the same weight he was when we left the hospital so I knew he was gaining weight instead of losing it at this point.  At CHEO (8 days old) they said he was healing really well already and should be fine in about 2-3 weeks.  They also said he was crazy strong and that his range of motion for the left arm was really good considering the broken collar bone.

I never heard from the physio referral from the hospital so a friend of mine referred me to the clinic she went to that does chiro, massage, and physio all in the same place.  They did some chiropractic massage on me (they can't do adjustments while you still have stiches) and gave me some home exercises to do.  I found out that my right sacroiliac joint is rotated about 45 degrees forwards, which was likely the cause of all my pelvic pain during and after pregnancy.  Even just a light massage and icing it made me feel a lot better.  Within 2 sessions I could sit for more than 5 minutes without considerable pain.  The last two sessions she used the TENS machine on me and it helped a whole lot.  I'm now icing my hips 2-3 times a day to try and keep the swelling down.  I'm also able to go most of the day without taking any pain killers or anti-inflammatories.  I see their pelvic floor specialist on Friday.

Eli has been a very fussy baby.  He has had mucousy stools since day 1 and they wouldn't go away.  He also had a few projectile vomits of about 1-2oz of milk, which is not good.  He then had blood in a couple of his diapers (which I know is a sign of a food allergy) so I immediately cut out all egg and dairy (the two most common and ones we have a family history of allergies with) out of my diet.  After 4 days there was no improvement so I've decided to go whole hog and cut out all main allergens (dairy, gluten, soy, egg, nuts, shellfish) for at least two weeks then re-introduce one at a time.  I also stopped taking my prenatal vitamins, as some other moms in forums online have said that they also bother their babies.  Since I cut the prenatal vitamins 2 days ago his poops went from green back to yellow so that's a clear indicator to me.  It's hard, but it will be worth it to know sooner this time.

In the mean time, Eli has a really hard time with gas and discomfort.  Even gripe water doesn't help calm his sore tummy.  He also has a crazy bad diaper rash (not surprising if it's a food allergy) so we're trying to give him some diaper-free time during the day when we can.  Thankfully he's gaining weight like a champ.  He's weighing in at 10lbs 12oz as of yesterday.  Another good thing is that he does seem to do ok at night time.  He's been sleeping 2-3 hour stretches back to back from 4pm-5am and then gets fussy after that and stays awake for hours.  We're doing what we can and hopefully this elimination diet will help him.  It's so hard to see a baby in pain and not be able to do anything about it.

We're taking it one day at a time.  Once he and I are physically healed I think things will be a lot better.

 

Eli's Birth Story

To preface this, it's going to be a long story.  Kudos if you make it to the end.  Also, though it seems traumatic and scary, I can honestly say I felt peace and reassurance throughout the active labour experience and complications that followed thanks to our revelation in the temple back in May and the various priesthood blessings I've had over the last few weeks.  

In my last post I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, but that was just the start.  I had a membrane sweep on the morning of Wednesday June 24th.  It was painful and I was only 1.5cm dilated, baby at -3 station (so not engaged at all).  Thursday at around 5am I started having contractions.  I knew this was a common side effect of the sweep so I just decided to wait it out and not get too excited. They were quite painful but irregular so we just went with it.  When I went to put Avery to sleep that night they almost stopped completely, so I went to bed.  They started again Friday morning and kept going.  By 5pm I was in a lot of pain (we had walked a lot that day to try and speed things along) so we decided to go get checked at the hospital just in case.  They said I was 4cm, baby at -2 station but the cervix was really thin, so once active labour started that it would go quickly.  They sent me home.

2 more days of contractions later and I started vomiting and visiting the washroom very frequently.  The contractions kept going even when I would lie down, so I thought they were real again.  Once again, sent home.  Still at 4cm, zero progress since Friday.  At this point I wanted to curl up in a ball and stay there.  I felt like my body was failing me and I was ready to give up.  My OB scheduled an induction for Saturday the 4th, but assured me I would have the baby before then.  I didn't believe her and resigned myself to another 5 days of misery.

Avery cuddling with the belly

Canada Day.  I felt awful, and was having pain (not new) but it just felt like I was constipated.  I kept having cramps that didn't tighten my belly so I assumed that's what it was.  They were bad enough to wake me up all night so in the morning at around 9, I put Avery down for a nap and sent Jon for some prune juice (lol).  2 minutes after Avery fell asleep I decided to try and visit the bathroom again.  I only peed a little and when I reached for the toilet paper this giant forceful gush "fell" out of me.  It was like a faucet was turned on full blast for 2-3 seconds.  I checked the toilet bowl and it was clear.  I wasn't ready to believe that it was my water, but I texted Jon and called my mom just in case. I hopped in the shower and contractions started when the hot water hit me.  They were bad, but not much moreso than the ones I'd had all week.  I was negative for GBS so we didn't have to go to the hospital right away.  

Around 11:30am I was in enough pain that I was tentatively convinced it was the real thing so we headed off to the hospital.  They checked me at triage and said my water was broken and I almost cried out of relief.  I wasn't going to be sent home.  I was 6cm, in active labour and baby still at -2 station.  They said there still was a bulge of water so they thought my hind waters were broken but fore waters still in tact.  

Originally I had planned to try a natural unmedicated birth this time around, but my body was so wrecked from having been in labour for a week that I was already exhausted and in a lot of pain.  I knew that because I was 6cm and baby still wasn't engaged that the likelihood of having my labour "augmented" with pitocin was fairly high.  So I opted to get the epidural about an hour after we were checked in.  Thankfully the anesthesiologist was much better this time, didn't miss my spine on the first attempt and finished putting it in within three contractions (last time it took at least twice that long).  He also kept the dose fairly low, which I was very happy about.  Last time I couldn't even move my legs, but this time I could lift my legs off the bed and flip onto my side all by myself.  It was wonderful.  And I still felt no pain, just some pressure with the larger contractions.  

The OB on call then came in to chat with me and introduce herself.  She seemed very nice and it felt good to let her know about the possibility of dystocia happening.  She was very confident and happy.  I felt good about the whole thing.  She told me she was working until 8pm so she would likely be the one to deliver my baby.  At 2:30pm they broke the rest of my waters and there was meconium in them.  I knew that wasn't a good sign, so we then had to watch for signs of fetal distress and immediately start the pitocin to speed things up, as I'd only progressed 1cm in 2 hours and baby was still at -2.  They also told me that a NICU team would be in the room when he was born just in case he wasn't breathing or had aspirated any of the meconium.  By 4pm I was at 8cm.  6pm fully dilated but baby was still high.  They checked his head position and it was off center so that's why he wasn't coming down.  They had me go on my hands and knees over the back of the bed for half an hour to try and shift him naturally before trying to turn him manually, as his heartrate dipped when they tried to move his head.  

At this point my heart rate and baby's heart rate were so close together that they had to put a probe on his head to read his heart rate rather than use the dopplar.  6:45pm I was checked again and baby was at -1 station, so minor progress.  At 7:15pm his heart rate started dipping really low (into the 80s) during contractions and I started having some gushes of fluid.  The doctor decided to turn his head manually as a last resort.  She tried to turn his head but he kept turning back, so she turned his head and had me push hard through two contractions to get his head to stay down and engaged.  It worked.  He was finally engaged, but his heart rate was still dipping badly.  She told me that we would let him calm down a bit from the procedure and then try to push.  She also said that we were racing the clock and that once I started pushing we needed to get him out quickly and that the chance of emergency C section was still on the table.  That was all the motivation I needed.

My crying for joy while doing skin-to-skin

Around 7:55pm I started feeling like I needed to push.  I told the nurse and she said she would call the doctor and then we could go for it.  I started pushing at 8pm and by the end of the second contraction I could feel baby's head with my hand.  It was so surreal!  My nurse pushed the emergency button to get doctor there immediately.  She barely got there and got her gloves on in time to catch him coming out at 8:04.  They were in the middle of the shift change so I got both OBs to help.  The umbilical cord was around his neck so they said that was the reason he couldn't descend on his own.  The dips in heartrate were because the cord was being compressed during contractions.

I couldn't believe how quickly I pushed him out and I cried for joy when I heard him cry and felt him land on the table.  I felt so exultant.  We did it, we did it fast, and he didn't get stuck!  The second OB stitched me up and told me I had a second degree tear but it looked good.  Eli was getting checked over by the NICU team and within minutes they asked if I wanted skin to skin with him.  I of course said yes as I didn't get that chance with Avery.  I felt so blessed.  He was fine.  I was astonished when they told me that he weight 9lbs 13oz and that his head was 38cm!  I thought Avery's was big at 36.5! 

After that, we had some complications.  We thought I may have dislocated my pubic bone and I was sent for xray.  It wasn't dislocated but I had some SPD which was understandable given the situation.  They put me on dilaudid for the pain and I could still barely walk the 4 feet from my bed to the bathroom.  Eli kept choking on mucous that didn't have time to be squeezed from his lungs during his quick delivery so they made us stay another night to keep an eye on him and his stats.  I noticed that when I went to burp him after nursing that if I rubbed his back he would flinch away from my hand and cry so I thought maybe he had a pulled muscle or something and mentioned it to the pediatrician the next day.  He did some basic tests and you could plainly see that he wasn't using his left arm and wouldn't lift it to his face, so they ordered an xray.  They found a small break in his collar bone and told us we had to modify how we did everything with him until it was healed.  I was a bit shocked that an entire NICU team had looked him over, the pediatrician had already looked him over once, and multiple nurses had been with him and checking him and yet I was the one to notice something was wrong.  Thankfully we found it while still at the hospital and not weeks later at home.  This way he can heal properly and not be in so much pain.

It was an eventful few days but we were finally discharged and sent home.  I can walk without assistance now, but not without pain yet.  I declined taking a prescription for more narcotics as I was feeling a lot better, so I'm in pain but managing.  I don't know how I would have done it without Jon being home full time and without my family here to take Avery for the 3 days we were gone.  We have several follow ups this week with physio for me and my pelvis, orthopedics for Eli, and our family doctor, so it's going to be a bit busy.  We're just glad to be home and that he's finally here!  

 

Avery holding Eli for the first time

Daddy doing skin-to-skin

Our bandaged little guy playing video games with Daddy

Eli's going home outfit

Hello world!