Little Piglet

The picture is from 2 weekends ago, but it cracks me up. It's so hard to get a picture with his eyes open, and he looks so irritated to have this one taken.


Despite my concerns of pain with feeding, our little piglet is now 7.7 ounces. He is growing like crazy. He's obviously getting enough to eat even though he regularly pretends he's starving after he just ate. He loves to be held, and either goes through days where he can't be woke or can't be put to sleep. He's so unpredictable. He's very sweet, but I can't wait for him to get older.

We are currently looking for childcare for the part of the day I will be teaching daily. I have a lot of fear about this b/c it looks like we are going to have to put him in someone else's home instead of having someone come to us. We meet with a potential sitter Thursday to see if we are a good fit for one another. I wish I didn't have to go back to work, but it will be good for me I think.

Schedules, laundry, poop, oh my

Colin has made an amazing rebound in weight. He returned to his birth weight w/in 10 days which seems a miracle with all the crazy feeding issues we have had. In less than 2 weeks of life he has been fed: pedialyte pumped through a syringe through a tube inserted into a nipple shield and sucked from the breast, a mixture of formula and pumped breast milk from a bottle, plain pumped breast milk (he couldn't latch correctly), nursed, back to pumped bottles, back to nursing, and now nursing w/a shield. He's got a mean suck and broke my skin really bad, and just about gave me an infection. The shield is great and a pain at the same time, but it is allowing me to continue to breast feed, so that's good. I never knew it would be this hard, but we seem to finally be doing something that works, but hopefully it lasts for more than 48 hours.

Colin is resistant to the rhythmic schedule I would like him to be on per Ezzo and Ezzo. He shows me time and again--I'm not the boss of him. When I want to feed him he wants to sleep--this kid lightly sleeps while he nurses 80% of the time I bet. It is a challenge to finish each time. When I want him to sleep, he wants to stay up for long stretches of time.

We have changed his diaper a record 3 times w/in 5 minutes on at least 2 occasions. He pees and leaks up and out his diapers and gets his swaddling, clothes, and liners dirty at least 1-3 times a day. My washing machine seems to run constantly. Maybe once his cord falls off we can eliminate the frequency of this w/ a snugger fit around his waist. Even with all this ranting Colin is a joy. He seems easy going most of the time, but he has his fussy periods, and he lets us know when he's mad about something. Usually in the middle of the night when he thinks it's play time.

Scott's and my parents have been wonderful helpers the last two weeks. My mom is returning Sunday to help again. I'm getting around really well in the last couple of days, but I still won't be up to the task of running my house by next week.

Baby steps

Making progress. We are in the clear with the jaundice finally. No more daily hospital trips. Colin is up to 6 lbs 4 oz and is nursing much better. Hopefully it all continues to improve. The pediatrician is still asking us to supplement his feedings until he weighs 7 lbs. The supplementation makes nursing more difficult b/c of the switching back in forth with the bottle, but we have to do what's best for Colin.

Week old photos

Colin is finally putting on weight. We are back from a scary below 6 pounds dip to 6 pounds 2 oz. as of yesterday. His bilirubin is still elevated but going down. We are feeding him like crazy per doc's instructions which is exhausting. My milk supply is not very good still, so this is causing a lot of extra stress. We bottle feed him what I pumped from the time before, try to get him to nurse, and then bottle feed him formula to make 2 oz. Then I have to pump. Needless to say this is a long and tiring process that happens every two hours, which leaves about an hour to rest in between feedings. We are tired but surviving and would appreciate prayers that my supply will meet his demand and we can cut out all the extra steps that are wearing us down. The poor little guy has to go and get tested every day for jaundice until the levels drop out of the elevated zone. Here are some photos from today. He is now one week old. The one of Scott and Colin is from right after he was born, and I think it's super cute. Scott looks so happy.

Welcome to the World Colin Matthew

Well, our little guy is 4 days old today. He's doing pretty well. We are struggling through the normal issues of first time parenthood: feeding, sleeping, jaundice, and baby's weight loss. It has been a struggle to say the least. I want to do so much more than my body is able to do due to the C-section. I had an emergency c-section b/c his heart rate started dipping after several hours of labor. It turns out his head was turned funny and it was swelling. He had an alien conehead the first 12 hours of life on the back side of his head. He seems very sweet and fairly patient as we bumble around figuring things out. Scott's first try at dressing him in a onesie was hilarious. He put it on over his feet instead of his head. Oh well, he's crying, so it's feeding time.

We will try to get some pictures up. I think you can see some shots of him on the hospital's website finally. The password is Dankel.

Baby coming tomorrow

I had my weekly appt. today, and my blood pressure was very high for me. The doctor sent me to be monitored at labor and delivery triage. He ordered urine and blood tests as well. My blood pressure came down, but my uric acid levels came back too high. B/c of the risk of pre-eclamptic seizures etc. he has advised me to be induced in the next 24 hours. I'm headed for the hospital at 6 tonight to start Cervadil, and then he will break my water tomorrow morning. Please pray that this all goes smoothly, and he arrives healthy.

Oh...last summer

As I sit stuck in the house most of the day, I reminisce about the things I used to be able to do. Last summer Scott and I got to go for a hot air balloon ride. It was incredibly fun. I happened to stumble across some of the pictures. If you ever get a chance to do it, try it. We actually had to help set it up, land, and pack it back up.

Almost full term

So as of this Friday, the baby will be considered full term. I'm really hoping and praying (Scott as well) that he shows up next week. It would give me 6 weeks before school started if he comes early. I think I'll need all of that time. I'll be spending some time on my hands and knees the next couple of weeks to avoid back labor. My back is really hurting today, so he's probably facing the wrong way (sunny side up). Hopefully I can get the booger to turn before he descends. We meet with our doula tonight to discuss our final plans. Should be interesting.