Showing posts with label poop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poop. Show all posts

Thursday, October 8, 2015

All About Henry- 7 months

I can't believe Henry is already 7 months old. It makes my mommy heart really sad to think about how fast he is growing. Why can't he stay little forever?!

Henry has been loving trying all sorts of new food. So far he loves: peas, green beans, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, and oatmeal. He has also enjoyed some ice cream, pineapple sherbet, ketchup, and dill pickle.

His very first attempt at solid food was with avocado. And it did not go well at all. I'm pretty sure it's because the avocado wasn't ripe yet, and therefore super bitter. Sorry buddy! He's pretty much loved everything else he has tried, so that's why we think it was a bad batch.

He loves drinking water out of his sippy straw cup. I'm not entirely sure how much he actually drinks... A lot of times I see him suck water up and then it dribbles pours right back out of his mouth and down his shirt. But he has a lot of fun trying and I know he gets some of it down.

Right now, he eats while in his bumbo with a little tray that clips on. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to squeeze his chubby thighs into it though.. We might need to invest in a real highchair sooner than expected.

I always put a bib on him before we start, but it doesn't always last very long. He isn't used to a bib, so he is constantly looking down, chin to chest, to examine the bib and try to eat it, while simultaneously trying to pull it off.

His favorite toy is his purple teething hand. He also really likes his plastic keys.

No teeth yet. He chews on anything he can find with his mouth, but luckily (for me), nothing has cut through yet.

He loves story time and holding onto his books and putting them in his mouth.

He loves to talk and sing to us all day. It's very high pitched and extremely cute. I sing back to him and we have lots of singing/squealing conversations. I love my job.

He is still obsessed with Cameron's voice. If Cameron is within hearing distance, Henry is looking for him. And he just stares at Cam until he stops talking.

You know how if one baby cries, usually the other babies start to cry too? Well I don't know what kind of sick humor Henry has, but he has been known to laugh when another baby starts to cry. We're going to have to work on the whole empathy thing...

He can officially sit by himself! I strategically always have a pillow behind him since he has a tendency to tip over, but he can last a really long time. When he tips forward or to the side, he's really good at pulling his arms out and staying on his tummy. He usually doesn't get too upset, unless he lands on a hard toy or something. But he seems to love this new-found independence. He can sit forever and ever and just play with his toys on his own. It's great!

Still no rolling over yet. But that's fine by me. When he is on his tummy, he can pivot all the way around in a circle, like the hands of a clock. It's really fun to watch. Usually I'll put him down facing one direction, and when I turn around a few minutes later, he's facing the opposite wall. So, he gets around, even without rolling over.

Some friends of ours recently brought over a jumperoo, which Henry has LOVED. It sings and lights up when he jumps (which is a lot), and he is surrounded by bright, fun toys that are new and so fun to him. He spends lots of time jumping and sucking on the butterfly. He is very good at the spinning toys, as well. He is such a curious little guy.

He gets very focused on things. For example, he will be wiggling and squacking like normal and then all of a sudden finds something interesting to focus on (usually his hands) and then he just zooms in. Doesn't notice or care about what else is around him. Then he just dives in and quickly puts whatever said object is into his mouth to devour. This makes for very fast mom-eyes and hands, as some of these objects are inedible/too small/not for Henry's mouth.

We have recently been transitioning from 3 to 2 naps a day. Our typical day looks like this: wake up around 8:30/9 and take Dad to school. Come back and nurse. Eat oatmeal/applesauce. Play. Nap from 10:30-12. Wake up and nurse. Eat/Play/Errands/Etc. Nap 2-3:30. Wake up and nurse. Eat/Play/pick Dad up from school/Etc. Nurse around 6:30 and down for bed by 7. Sometimes he falls asleep nursing, but if not, he falls asleep as soon as he's swaddled and alone in his crib.

Recently, we have been putting a stuffed animal in his crib with him to keep him company. We rotate between Mickey Mouse, Elephant, Polar Bear, Giraffe, to name a few. He still loves talking to his quilt when he wakes up, but sometimes he wants something different to stare at as he falls asleep. Mickey usually does the trick :)

I have been off of dairy for about 3 weeks now and Henry has been sleeping through the night more often than not. Which is great! Except it sucks. I never realized how much dairy is in my everyday foods until I started reading labels and realized that I can't eat anything. I live off of soy milk now and steer clear of any cheesy or creamy foods (which are the most delicious). Mac N Cheese anyone? Pizza? :'( It's only for a few more months. It's only for a few more months. It's only for... I can do this. Or maybe we'll switch to formula?... Haha. We'll see how long I last.

Basically, Henry is such a joy to be around. He is such a happy kid. As long as he is sleeping well and pooping well, he is content as can be!

Now here are some pics (the real reason you clicked on our blog):

Henry's first flight 9.1.15
I forgot to mention our trip to Texas! Cameron had a conference in Austin over Labor Day weekend, so Henry and I decided to tag along and make a trip out of it. My in-laws live in San Antonio, so Henry got to spend some much needed quality time with Granby and Papa while Daddy went to his conference. My in-laws are in the process of moving, so there was a lot of renovations going on while we were there (bad timing on our part- Sorry!), but Henry was finally able to meet his Aunt Krista, Uncle Paul, and cousins Paul, Michael, and Asher. We had a lot of fun with all the Brown Boys together. We had a really great time hanging out with our Texas family and can't wait to visit again.

Our trip to Texas marks Henry's first flight! I was really, really nervous about timing and air pressure and nursing and sleeping and carseat versus lap and all the things a new mother stresses about for baby's first flight. Well, to our luck, there was extra seats in 3 out of our total 4 flights, so Henry was able to sleep in his carseat just fine for almost all the flights. Our last flight on the way home was full, so he had be be in our lap (and if you don't know, he is NOT a snuggly/cuddly baby. Translation: He Will Not Sleep In Our Arms). Or should I say, MY arms. Cameron, on the other hand, must be a baby-whisperer, because he somehow settled the crying, over-tired Henry and got him to fall asleep and stay asleep the rest of the flight. Which reminds me... Right before he got real tired, he had a poopsplosion, which Cameron also dealt with.

I had just very uncomfortably nursed Henry in a middle seat, squished between Cameron and a very tall man who took up every square inch of his allotted space by the window. And as I was burping him (and trying to block Henry's very persistent attempts at grabbing my neighbor's sleeve), I felt an explosive rumble. I peeked through the top of his onesie and saw the slime creeping up to the brim of the diaper. I elbowed Cam and told him we needed to change him NOW, before it seeped out and got all over. Cam's like, Well, he's just going to have to wait until we land. Approximately 4 seconds later, I peeked into his onesie again to see that it had spilled over the top and it was game over. I handed Cameron the baby, the changing pad, and a new outfit and said, Good luck! It was a good long while before they came out of that tiny lavatory. Apparently it was a sight to see. Let's just say, there was poop inside the diaper, on the backside of the diaper, all up his back, and everywhere else it could go as Cam changed him in this tiny bathroom, where everything is within grabbing distance for a 6 month old. He was royally grossed out and I was put on diaper duty for the next month. Hahaha Oh the joys of parenthood :)

First Carrots 9.2.15
Cam doing his thang at AAMFT
Henry's first trip to the zoo
9.11.15
Jumperoo in his adorable plaid flannel shirt 9.13.15
First time sitting in the shopping cart. He loved it! 9.19.15
6 months 8.31.15
7 months 10.4.15
Now that I'm all caught up, I hope to be more on top of this blog. Maybe I'll even write fun posts, not just boring month to month posts. That's the plan! Stick around and you might see who has the best Oreo Churros in town...

Friday, July 24, 2015

Henry Stomach Virus

So I had every intention on writing a 3 month and 4 month update, but time escaped me and all of a sudden Henry is 5 months old. Not quite sure how that happened!

Well, I do have a legitimate excuse for missing his 3 month mark and that's because Henry got sick. Like really sick. Like we ended up in the hospital twice and spent 3 nights there sick. 

For those who don't know, here's what happened-

The day after Memorial Day (5/26), Henry started being fussy, which is very abnormal for our happy-go-lucky, always content baby. I didn't think much of it and couldn't really complain since it was just a little fuss and I'd already gotten three months out of him without any real cries. A few days went by and I thought about calling the doctor, but he didn't have any other symptoms other than just being a bit fussy. That weekend, Cam and I babysat for a family at our church who has 5 kids. 4 days, 3 nights. Henry was still fussy and started to always seem to be sleepy, but we were staying at a new place and he was sleeping in a pack-n-play, there were 5 kids all over him, etc. etc., so we didn't think much of it. He started to have diarrhea around this time, but since he's breastfed, we didn't really know it was diarrhea. 

I knew something was wrong when he stopped peeing. They always say to count how many wet/dirty diapers baby has everyday, but who does that? I didn't, until I noticed he hadn't peed all day long. The next time he peed, it was like 2 drops and brown. Bad news bears. This happened a couple times over the next few days, so on Monday I finally called the doctor and they got us in. 

Monday, Henry was suuuper sleepy. Like awake for a grand total of 15 minutes the entire day and when he was awake, he was CRANKY and just wanted to go to sleep. Of course when we got to the doctor's that evening, he perks right up and is smiling at her and charmed her into thinking he wasn't really sick. She told us to feed him 2 ounces every hour, or a minimum of 4 ounces every 3 hours in order to prevent dehydration. Let me emphasize that, 2 ounces EVERY hour. At this time, Henry was only waking up once at night to eat, so this meant getting him up every 3 hours and forcing him to eat. In order to know exactly how much he was taking, I had to pump, while Cameron force fed him with a syringe every 3 hours. This is when the vomiting began. He couldn't keep anything down, which was very discouraging for 2 exhausted parents who have been up all night pumping/syringing. 

We continued our pumping/syringing throughout the day and got another doc appt set up for that night. We get there and he weighs less than the day before (which was less than he was a month ago at his 2 mo appt) and they sent us to the hospital for dehydration. 

They got his IV in pretty quickly and we set up shop for the night. I didn't have to stress about feeding him and we were both able to get lots of much needed sleep for the night. They released us about 24 hours later when his weight was back up and he was perky again. We were relieved and happy and glad that was over. 

He was happy for about a day or two and then he just stopped eating. Just refused to eat. Every time I would offer my breast, he would take a couple sips and then scream, then sip and scream, over and over again. He was clearly very hungry, but something was bothering him and he wouldn't eat. This went on for a day or two and he started acting lethargic again. Suuuper sleepy, cranky, won't eat, and skinny. I could feel every one of his little ribs and I didn't want to pat him on the back because I could feel his bony spine. We went back to the doctor Saturday morning and he weighed less now than he did at the beginning of the week... Back to the hospital we went. 

Except this time, they couldn't get the IV in. Since he was so dehydrated, his veins were too tiny to find. We had nurses from pediatrics, newborn nursery, anesthesiologist, ER, former NICU nurse, you name it, they poked Henry. And none of them were successful. He was poked probably more than 20 times, a few in each foot/ankle, both hand/wrists/elbow, all over his head. They talked about sending us to the hospital in Topeka where they could try to put in a Central line. It was a rough day. Just imagine a tiny 3 month old lying on a hospital bed with 5+ nurses  hovering over him and restraining him, while one is fishing a needing in his skull. I wouldn't wish that upon any mother (or baby for that matter). 

We ended up just feeding him pedialyte in a bottle all day between pokes. At the end of the day, he got an NG tube put in, which is a small little tube that goes in his nose and directly to his tummy, so that they could just pump him with pedialyte all night, so we could get some sleep. The next day, I gave breastfeeding another shot, and he finally started eating again. He still had screaming bouts, but he was taking in a lot more. The doctor kept us there for another night (since he didn't want to send us home too early like last time) and we did the pedialyte pump for another night. And they sent us home Monday (6/8) morning. We were given a prescription to use in case he started vomiting again, which we filled, but luckily didn't have to use. 

The next few days, Henry was acting much, much better. He wasn't back to 100%, but he was much happier and awake and eating. He would occasionally give us a scare and start the suck and scream routine, which made us really nervous, but he always ended up latched on and eating, so we were okay. There was one night that he was up like every hour or so, just screaming. For no reason, which he has never done before. And he still had diarrhea (going on like 2 weeks I think). 

Side note; A lot of times when Henry is nursing, he likes to poop, so when he was having issues eating, we thought it was because he was trying to poop and couldn't. We went back to the doctor's office because he hadn't pooped in over 12 hours and was having these screaming fits and we were given a prescription for Zantac (which is an acid-reflux medication that I became all too familiar with when I was pregnant. That's karma for you, Henry ;)). The doctor thought that maybe he still had stomach acid built up from the night of vomiting that was bothering him. So we gave it a shot, and it worked! 

Well, I don't know if it actually worked, or if it was just coincidence that he stopped the screaming and got better (he had already been sick for 2 weeks) the same time he started zantac, but either way, he finally stopped screaming. Hallelujah!

About a week later, his diarrhea stopped, which was AWESOME! I didn't think it was ever going to end. Cameron and I actually talked about how we forgot what his poo was actually supposed to look like and we thought diarrhea was his new normal. But it stopped. As well as having to change his clothes every time he pooped which was like 5 times a day and a couple times a night (it leaked out every time since it was so liquidy... and also because I think I moved him up diapers too soon, so they were a bit big on him). I texted my doctor (who gave me her cell- talk about awesome doctor!), and we both did a happy dance. 

So that's the story. That's why I didn't do a 3 month update. Because for 3 weeks, my life revolved around diarrhea and nursing, and going to the doctor's office avg 4 times a week. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you what was wrong with him... Nobody knows!

Well, they say it was a stomach virus. But there's no test for that. They did a million labs on him, including blood tests, pee samples, and poo samples and they didn't find anything wrong. Which is good in that there's nothing "wrong" with him, but was hard because they could never pin point what it was. So yeah, if you're sick, don't touch a baby. 

Please. Do not touch a baby when you are sick. Or don't touch anyone for that matter, But especially not a baby. Because one small stomach virus for you, was a whole lot of heck for us that I hope never, ever happens again. 

And yes, he did have the rotavirus vaccine at his 2 month appointment; thank you very much (directed at the snarky nurse who asked in a condescending manner assuming I didn't let him get his vaccines on time). I AM TRYING MY BEST. HE HAS  ALL HIS VACCINES. DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE I COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. PLEASE JUST DO YOUR JOB AND HELP HIM. *end rant*

that is all. Henry is better. Our happy boy is back and healthy and couldn't be happier. And for that, we are thankful. 

Sick Henry pics:
Babysitting

Hospital Visit 1

Hospital Visit 2
 I couldn't resist embarrassing myself... This is too good not to share:

Nursing
Look for Henry's 5 month update coming soon! 

-Anna