Failure to Thrive

Those that follow me on Twitter and of course family and friends that are on Facebook already know about what's been going on this week... for the rest though, here's an update - thoughts and prayers for us and little Jay are much appreciated!

As I mentioned over the weekend, we switched Jay to formula as at his doctor's appointment on Friday showed that he had LOST weight rather than gained any and the doctor wanted us to supplement with formula to see if that would put the weight on him, thinking maybe my milk supply just wasn't doing the job.

Well first thing Monday morning we went in for a follow-up again just to see if the formula was doing the trick... well he hadn't lost anymore weight, but he didn't gain any either, holding steady at 6lbs, 1oz, which was the same as his hospital discharge weight after he was born.

Our doctor said that wasn't acceptable and had his receptionist call over and get us admitted at the hospital so they could look into why he wasn't gaining any weight despite us feeding him every 2-3hours.

Jay with feeding tube & pump

Well, Monday we met with the pediatric doctor here who explained that it's possible Jay just has what is called "failure to thrive" meaning that for whatever reason he just "got behind" and hasn't seemed to catch up. He looked him over and said that Jay appears to be completely healthy - he was very impressed at his strength too, despite his small size, and how well he was already holding his head up! They ran another renal ultrasound on Jay just to check and make sure his left kidney (the enlarged one) hadn't grown any in the past 2 weeks, possibly putting pressure on his stomach causing it make him feel full when he actually isn't, and they drew some blood for some blood work tests too. They also had us feeding him formula via a bottle and then pumping the rest in via a pump hooked up to his feeding tube, as he needs to be eating 2.5oz per feeding to get in the calories he needs to grow (at home we were doing good if we could get him to take 1oz per feeding - getting anymore than that into him before he fell asleep or spit it up was rare!).

About 1am on Tuesday we had a bit of a scare too - Jay started spitting up and coughing up A TON of mucus! It was really scary as at one point it seemed like he was choking trying to cough it up and the nurses had to suction a ton of it out of his noes and the back of his throat... seemed like it was taking forever to get it to stop coming up and yeah... it was just really scary!

Tuesday morning we had the results of the ultrasound, which came back fine - his kidney hasn't grown or changed since so that's not the issue, and all the tests they did with his blood came back fine as well. They suggested we do this barium x-ray where they mix barium in with formula and feed it to him and watch via an x-ray to see how it's going through his system, down his throat, into his stomach and through to his intestines, making sure there's nothing blocking or obstructing the flow that would cause him not to eat much or spit up when he eats more than a certain amount. That came back fine though too - nothing abnormal, everything was going through him fine.

He kept his 11am feeding down pretty well but spit up most of the 2pm feeding. They hooked him to an IV bag with formula in it that is slowly continuously pumping the food into him via his feeding tube. He spit up a little at 8pm and again at 130am. I fell asleep around 3am and they said he spit up again at about 4am so they turned down the amount he was getting per hour from 20ml to 10ml and he hasn't spit up since (as of 930pm Wednesday night).

Today (Wednesday) we had a pediatric GI specialist come in and take a look at him to see if she could think of any other reason that what we've already ruled out that could be the cause for this. She said the same thing the pediatric doctor did - he seems perfectly healthy! She said it just seems he "got behind" and needs the push to get him to eat more and hold it down. She also increased his calorie intake from 24 to 27, so it seems like going back to breastfeeding won't be an option for us as he needs high calorie formula to catch up and push his growth.

Keeping calm in mommy's arms with his
binky while continuously being fed via
feeding tube.

The pediatric doctor said that for tonight they're going to keep him on the continuous feeding to see if he continues to grow more (he's gained 4oz since we've been here, now at 6lbs 5oz, up from 6lbs, 1oz) and then tomorrow we'll try giving him a bottle again and pumping in what he doesn't finish every 3 hours to see if he can stomach it now that he's been having it continuously going into his system for over 24hours. He said we'll be here at least through Friday if not through the weekend and it's possible they might send us home with his feeding tube still in him so we can give him a bottle and pump in the rest via a syringe - hopefully he does well enough though the next few days with the bottle though that we won't have to do that. He also said the feeding tube can last for several months before needing to be changed out, however he said he doesn't see Jay needing it for more than a few weeks after we go home if at all. He also said that they'll leave us alone as much as possible, meaning they won't be doing anymore tests or poking/prodding of Jay unless there's an absolute reason for it as he'd rather just see how he takes to the feedings.

I must say though, this pediatric doctor has been great! I like his approach of let's not do anything unnecessary when it comes to the testing and all that and he's very easy to talk to - I think when our family doctor retires (we believe he's in his early-mid 60s) I might try to see if we can get on under this guy.

Jay has been quite the little trooper too, taking everything so well! Sure, he cried when they put the feeding tube in (which was hard for me to watch too) and got a little fussy near the end of them drawing blood from his heel and at the end of the ultrasound and while they took the big scary x-ray of his belly, but for a barely 3 week year old he's been doing very well! He's been sucking on his binky quite a bit too, using that as his security item it seems, as Monday while everything was going on he was sucking on it like crazy while holding onto my finger. He had a little bit of a crying fit earlier - nothing seemed to comfort him for about 10 minutes, but then he was fine - I think he's just a little stressed, having to be back in the hospital and hooked up to a machine with nurses coming in throughout the day to check his vitals... I don't blame him for having a good cry - the situation sucks.

My mom's been coming up during the late morning and staying through the afternoon so I can get a nap and shower in (I've only been getting a few hours of sleep at night here in the hospital as I don't want to leave Jay alone up here - he's too little and only a few faces are really familiar to him) while hubby's been coming up after work in the evenings and staying til around midnight - fortunately he took this week off as his vacation from UPS as we were expecting Jay to be born this past weekend so he doesn't have to rush off to his night job this week.

So that's where we are with things - we'll be here at least through Friday, possibly through the weekend, all depending on how much Jay grows and how well he does with the bottle the next few days.

Thanks in advance for your prayers and thoughts - hopefully things continue to progress and get better and he's able to eat as much as he should be on his own!

A house-hunting we will go!

As I mentioned, when I got the call from my clinic that they wanted to induce me that night, I was on the phone with the lady from the bank, finally getting pre-approved for a home loan.

Of course we put it on the back-burner for a few days as we were a bit pre-occupied with Jay's early arrival but I got in touch with our realtor and we started looking at houses last weekend, as things are really cramped now and I'm sure Jay would sleep better on his own if he weren't sharing a room with us - it's hard when he wakes up fussing in his sleep for us (well, mainly me as I'm suddenly a light sleeper now) as we're in the same room. Having his own room where he can wake up and fuss for a few minutes before falling back to sleep on his own would probably be good for him, but right now he hears most noises we make and vice versa.

Our main criterea is a ranch with 3 bedrooms, within a certain price range, at least 1 bathroom if not more, and we'd prefer an attached garage - fitting 2 cars would be great. Of course we're flexible though and we've looked at quite a bit.

We spent the past 2 Saturday's out looking and today we went back through four of them with my dad tagging along today, checking things out more as he's got an eye for what needs to be fixed, etc.

The first day we went out we were really hoping this one down the street from us was in decent shape on the inside, but unfortunately it was going to need a lot more work than what we'd like to do - the person who listed it must have a strange concept of the term "move-in ready" as clearly it was not! A lot of the houses we looked at were like that - needed quite a bit of work to them. We don't mind doing a little bit of work when it comes to cosmetic stuff and cleaning, but major stuff and repairs... yeah, no thanks! There was one we looked at yesterday too where in order to get to the basement, you had to go through the garage! Another one you had to go through a bedroom to get out the backdoor!

The first one we went back through today was a really nice one, only a few years old, that had a lot of work put into it, however, while it was listed as a 3 bedroom, only 2 of the bedrooms were on the main floor while one was in the basement. It also only had a 1 car attached garage. It did have a nice finished basement though with a bar in it and a 2nd full bathroom and the only things we would need to get would be a fridge, washer/dryer and eventually a water softener. It would be perfect for us for a few years, however if we have another kid in the next 5 years, the bedroom situation isn't ideal.

The second one we went back through was one we looked at yesterday. It was smaller a ranch, but doable - 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom upstairs with a smaller one in the basement which had a finished rec room and bonus room as well as a bar. It also had a detached 2 car garage and hardwood floors. The upstairs tub would need replaced though or at least have some cosmetic touches done to it as it looked a bit gross, and the kitchen was pretty small - no dishwasher and less counter space and cupboards than what we currently have. Also, our realtor told us that it's currently in the "short sale" process meaning it could take 6-8 weeks to hear back from the bank that's taking it over and we could potentially run into problems/headaches in dealing with that.

The next one was one my mom informed us about last week, having opened the Sunday paper and saw the open house listing for it. Hubby and I went over took a look at it - the realtor informed us that they were planning on finishing the basement with a rec room, bonus room and a bathroom and bumping the price up about $10k. The main floor was nearly identical to the one I just mentioned above, as it was across the street and a few houses down, however the big difference was that there was an actual dining room separate from the kitchen and that the kitchen was bigger with more counter space. It also has a 1 car detached garage. While we would like a finished basement, them adjusting the price by $10k for it is just absurd as my dad could get it done for about $5k or less, not to mention my friend's husband is a manager at Menards and they had mentioned before that if we ever needed materials they could get it for us with his discount, so we'd be saving on that too. It was a nice house though, but eventually we'd have to put the money in to finish the basement. We'd also have to buy a washer and dryer.

The fourth one we went back to today, it's in a quiet neighborhood and backs up to one of the local golf courses. The driveway is a little steep but that's not that much of a deal breaker. It has a 2 car attached garage, finished basement with a rec room and 2 bonus rooms, washer/dryer on the main floor, decent sized kitchen with a dishwasher and decent cupboard/counter space. It also has a nice entryway when you first walk in and a fireplace in the main room and a deck off the back. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath - one of which was a really nice master bathroom! The main issues with this one though is that the previous owner (it's only 15 years old) obviously had a dog that he let do its business wherever as most of the carpet needs replaced. It could also use some painting done on the interior and we'd need to get a fridge. Other than that though, it was the largest of what we've seen that we've liked. We're considering making an offer on it, pending if our lender thinks we can write in an allowance on the loan for the carpet, paint and fridge. It's also been on the market for awhile so we can probably get it for less than the asking price too.

Formula and other thoughts

Today is Jay's official due date - hard to believe he's already been here for just over 2 weeks already!

So we've switched him to formula - Enfamil's Premium Newborn powder to be exact, which is good for him until he's 3 months old, then we can switch to the Premium Infant blend and get it in a bigger container for a better price at Sam's Club.

Sleeping buddies

He seems to be doing alright - we started him on it Friday evening. At first he would only drink like about an ounce, but yesterday my mom got 2 ounces into him (I tried to force it into him like she did, but with no luck - anytime I got more than an ounce into him he'd spit up), but this morning he easily downed 2 ounces and my mom got another 2 ounces into him this afternoon while we were out looking at houses. I was a little worried at first, as 1 ounce per feeding didn't seem like a whole lot, but I guess as long as he's eating is what matters - he's been waking up about every 2-3 hours at night for food too, so I guess just get into him what we can and hope that by tomorrow morning when we go to the doctor he's grown some! I was reading online and some women were talking about how much their 2 week old eats/drinks as far as formula goes... but I guess I need to remember that Jay is a bit on the small side (roughly 6-6.5 lbs) and his tummy probably isn't as big as the "average" 2 week old newborn. We just have to remember to burp him regularly as he's eating, as he'll gulp down half an ounce right off the bat, but spit up from eating too fast if you don't stop him and burp him! Poor kid though, switching to formula is making it "harder" for him to poop - he gets so red in the face and fussy when he's pooping now =(

His umbilical cord stump came off last night - he's got an innie just like mommy and daddy! He's also opening his eyes more now too, looking around at everything. He makes the cutest and funniest faces while he's eating and sleeping - I swear he looks like a little Who from Whoville at times!

Gotta admit, while I miss having Jay squirming around inside me, I'm amazed at how my body's bounced back so quickly!

My SPD (pubic bone pain) that I've had since the end of October was gone as soon as Jay was out - I can get in and out of bed and roll over with no pain once again! My baby belly shrunk pretty quickly too - I still have a bit of a "pooch" with some stretch marks (which I've been putting Palmer's lotion on daily) but yeah... the first and last time I weighed myself after having Jay, I had already lost somewhere between 10-15lbs (the scaled showed me being just under 180). My "maternity" heels are too loose for my feet now, as they're no longer swollen and all my maternity tops feel big on me. Also, I can fit in my old jeans again that I haven't worn since our trip to Dallas back in October - I had to switch back to them as my maternity jeans were just too baggy! I'm always stopping and realizing, day by day, things I can eat again too, like last night I realized that I can eat pizza again because not only am I not on a strict low-carb diet, but I don't have to worry about it giving me heartburn! I can't wait to go to Buffalo Wild Wings again - we stopped going there last summer as all the sauces just tasted too hot and spicy for me, thanks to preggo hormones.

Just not Jay's day

So today we had Jay's weight follow-up appointment to see if he had gained anymore weight this week as on Monday his 10 day weight gain wasn't quite what the doctor would have liked it to have been.

Well... he LOST weight!

At the appointment Monday, with his clothes on, he weighed 6lbs, 9oz, today he is 6lbs, 7oz!

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The doctor said he doesn't look or seem dehydrated, his color is good, and he's pooping and peeing as much as he should so it's not like he's starving, but for some reason he's not gaining weight.

He told us to get some formula and 4oz bottles and start supplementing over the weekend, doing 5 minutes of breastmilk if we want and then giving Jay a bottle of formula a minimum of every 3 hours in hopes he'll gain some weight over the weekend as we have another follow-up on Monday morning. If he doesn't gain any back and then some we'll have look into there maybe being another reason why he's not gaining any weight.

We're thinking it might just be that my milk production is low - Jay nurses plenty, that's for sure, sometimes as often as every hour or more during the morning hours! But we notice it seems to pass through him real quickly (like before he's even done eating) and I've noticed the past few days my boobs don't seem as "full" as they were...

Maybe switching to formula though will help him sleep better at night (and maybe even in the bassinet!) if he's getting a full tummy - I know it'll help me a little as I won't feel so "on my own" when it comes to feeding, as others will be able to feed him now too.

My mom bought him some Nuk brand bottles, as I had tried The 1st Years Breastflow ones last night and Jay didn't seem to take to it well - his binky is by Nuk though and their bottles have the same nipple as his binky so that seemed to go a little better although he only ate a little over an ounce...

Poor Little Man - just isn't his day today, with the bad news from the doctor about his weight to having to switch to formula... on top of it, when we got home from shopping I went to change his diapey and well, in the process he peed all over himself again and this time he got some in his face! Poor guy... he had the initial shock of it hitting his face before he started freaking out... I did a quick "mop up" of him and the changing table before taking him to the bathroom for a spongebath and hair wash, which he wasn't happy about either! Daddy came home though and he's been snuggling with him ever since.

2nd week thoughts

In roughly 7 hours Jay will be 2 weeks old.

So glad this week is finally over - it started out good, but got boring real quick as plans were tenatively made but then canceled and yeah... didn't help that while it was supposed to hit 50 today, it was really damp and rainy-looking out so I didn't get out to take that much needed walk, pushing Jay in the stroller, on the nearby walking path.

I gotta say, this week turned a bit boring during the daytime. I'm looking forward to hubby being around a little more next week, as he scheduled his vacation at UPS for the week after Jay's due date - these last 2 weeks, being the one mainly taking care of Jay, has been rough.

I really want to make a better effort at getting him to sleep by himself, preferably in the bassinet. Hubby doesn't mind him co-sleeping with us for now (currently he often sleeps curled up on my chest with me laying on my back, slightly propped up), but once mommy has her 6 week post-partum check up and is cleared for "stuff", well, kiddo needs to give mommy and daddy their space in bed.

I also really would prefer to supplement his feedings with formula too.

Tomorrow we have Jay's weight follow-up appointment at the doctor's office... one of the things about breastfeeding that is annoying is that I have no clue how much he's actually eating, whereas with a bottle you can know how many ounces kiddo is getting. I also *hate* how I'm the only one that can feed him while exclusively breastfeeding. Yes, I can pump, and I have, but again, I have no idea how much he's actually eating and so who knows if I'm pumping enough! I can get anywhere from 1-3oz per pump session... but how much does that feed him? I would really like for hubby to be help out with feeding him - when he was getting up with Jay in the middle of the night to calm him, he'd always end up waking me up anyway just to feed him. I've also read that formula doesn't digest as quickly as breastmilk too, causing there to be more time between feedings, which if logic serves correct, means he'd sleep a little longer between nighttime feedings and mommy and daddy would be able to get a little more sleep. Who knows, maybe he'd be able to sleep alone a little longer too if he's not waking up so often for food.

I figure it's worth a try.

I don't mind breastfeeding him when we're at home here during the day or in the evening, etc, but it would be nice to get a break and be able to have a little time to myself, not having to drop what I'm doing to give him a boob because daddy or whoever is over helping me out can't feed him.

We have a smaller can of Enfamil premium newborn formula that the hospital gave us - I figured I'd try it out, at least see how he takes to it, as I'm pretty sure the doc is going to tell us to supplement tomorrow anyway.

To be honest, I wasn't originally planning on ever breastfeeding my kids, as neither my sister or I were breastfeed - in our house, formula was the norm. Hubby is the opposite though - in his family breastfeeding was the norm so he just figured that would be something we would be doing. I figured I'd give it a shot, especially seeing the price of some formula brands, knowing it could save us money. But it's been 2 weeks and I've stuck it out like everyone suggests and I really feel like for my own sanity and for the sake of my nipples we NEED to supplement (some nights Jay can sleep a good 3-4 hours straight, others, like last night, he wakes up every hour wanting food).

Some 1sts for Jay

Yesterday was February 14th - Valentine's Day - and it was also Jay's 1st trip to the doctor's office!

Daddy couldn't join us so Grammie tagged along. Getting ready in the morning was going smoothly - we seem to have a bit of a routine, where Jay sleeps for a few hours, eats, goes back to sleep and wakes up a few hours later more nom noms before mommy gets ready for the day. I figured I'd feed him again before we left for the doctor's office and change his diaper too so he'd be good to go. Well... as expected after he eats, Jay had a poopy diaper. As I'm changing him, waiting for Grammie to arrive, he pees... and gets himself on the top of his shirt as well as entire side of his hair! We had just given him a bath the night before too! Quickly, I wiped and wetted his hair as we had about 5 minutes til we needed to leave, and changed his clothes.

We got to the doctor's office with about 5 minutes to spare and all the nurses and staff couldn't get over how little he was and how cute he was.

They weighed him - at 10 days old he weighed 6lbs, 9oz - at birth he was 6lbs, 7oz and when we left the hospital he was down to 6lbs, 1oz. He also measured 20inches long - 1 inch bigger than he was at birth. The doctor wants us to come back in at the end of the week to weigh him again, as he feels he should have gained a few more ounces over his birth weight than he has and said that unless he's sleeping, make sure he's eating every 2-3 hours (which is what I've been aiming for), otherwise we might have to consider supplementing with formula (which I have no problem with, but hubby would rather not have to spend the extra money on it when we could just breastfeed for free).

We also discussed the kidney ultrasound - it appears that one of his kidney's is indeed blocked, and while the doctor said that the Good Lord gave us 2 and you only need 1 to function which clearly the 1 is working just fine, obviously he'd like both of them to be working. He called up a pediatric urologist in town and have us meeting him in 3 weeks to see how it's doing with a follow-up ultrasound. He said it is possible that as Jay grows, the kidney could very well unblock on its own, but it's worth looking into now. The official term for it is called Hydronephrosis - he's a good article on it that states exactly what the doctor told us for those that are interested.

He did give us a prescription for Amoxycillan as right now there is concern that with the blockage, there may be old urine/fluid trapped inside the kidney which could eventually lead to an infection so we need to take preventative measures to kill anything off now so that doesn't happen.

Snuggling with mommy

Other than that, the doctor said he's perfectly healthy. Jay of course did not like the physical part of the exam when we had to strip him down to his diaper - poor kid doesn't like getting undressed or having his diaper changed, so I guess we won't have to worry about him being a little exhibitionist anytime soon!

We gave Jay his 1st prescription last night - 3/4 a tsp administered by a dropper into his mouth around "bedtime". Daddy held him while mommy gave it to him in 1/4 tsp increments so he could swallow easily. He seemed to like it! We read over the side effects and allergic symptoms and I monitored him the next few hours just to make sure he didn't have any reactions to it. Seemed to be okay!

Regarding his prescription, our local Walgreens yesterday seemed to be the place to get flicked off at!

I drove through on our way home to drop off the prescription as I'm going through the parking lot, this redneck in a truck is backing out. I had a stop sign there so I was waiting, but the guy nearly slammed on the gas while backing up and literally almost backed into me - he was about a foot or 2 from my front bumper when I laid on the horn, as he backing out too fast! The guy however must not have realized how close he came to backing up over me and stuck his arm out his window, flipping me off and yelling a big "f-you!" before peeling out - people leaving the store looked as confused as I did! Hubby picked up the prescription about an hour later after work and since Jay was new in their system it was taking a little longer than normal. Apparently the middle-aged woman behind hubby in the drive-thru was getting impatient and started screaming and yelling at him for taking too long and flipped him off as well!

Yesterday was also Valentine's Day. Hubby and I went out for dinner at Red Lobster while Grammie babysat Jay since my dad's out of town all week and she can't get enough of the Little Man. We were only gone a few hours and as much as I love my Little Man, it was nice to get out just the 2 of us. Jay also got his first Valentine's Day card from his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (my dad's parents) and they gave him $5 too - I'll hang onto that, maybe buy him a book or toy with it when he's a little older, as he's not much for toys yet.

Watching Star Wars with daddy

We also took him out to the mall on Sunday for his first ride in the stroller. He fell asleep as soon as we were in the car and slept the whole time we were out at the mall. We stopped in at work for me to show him off to some of the girls - the one manager couldn't get over how cute he was. I also learned I can't go back to work until I get a note from my doctor at my post-partum check-up that clears me. We had a bunch of random strangers at the mall commenting on how cute he is, asking how old, etc - hubby said he forgot that now that we're parents, anytime we go out in public with Jay we're going to have that happen! lol...

It's supposed to be in the 40s later this week - I'm hoping it doesn't rain so I can bust out the stroller and we can go walking on the walking path for a bit!

The first week

Well, as of 7:26am tomorrow morning, Jay will be 1 week old.

To be honest, this whole first week has been a bit of a blur!

Leaving off from my last post, Sunday night was our first night home with Jay and boy did it NOT go well.

Jay did not want to sleep in his bassinet AT ALL. It was a loooooong night as he was crying throughout most of the night and hubby and I would take turns holding him with hubby waking me up when Jay wanted fed. He's fine when he's held but he doesn't like be put down it seems. I think I ended up falling asleep with Jay curled up on my chest for a few hours.

Tummy Time with daddy

Monday my mom stopped by, having run out in the morning and early afternoon to find us some more newborn size clothes on sale, as we were originally expecting Jay to be on the bigger side rather than the smaller side and well... aside from the newborn sized stuff we were given at the baby shower, most of the clothes we have for Jay are 0-3months. She also bought us a box of newborn sized Pampers. She stuck around for a few hours in the afternoon until hubby got home from work around 7pm so I could get some stuff down around the apartment - with Jay being early, we didn't quite get all his stuff put together, not to mention we were so tired and exhausted Sunday that we didn't get a chance to put any of the stuff we took with us to the hospital away.

Also, my milk came in Monday evening... gotta say, Tuesday morning was another horrible morning as Jay cluster fed for a good 2 hours straight, meaning he was nursing non-stop, only stopping for a few minutes in between to poop, as it seemed my milk was going straight through him! Needless to say, my poor boobs were in pain!

Tuesday my mom stopped by again to drop off a D-battery so we could give Jay's bouncey seat a try. His activity mat also arrived and hubby and I tried a little tummy time with him too, although he got a bit frustrated.

Wednesday night we gave Jay his first spongebath since the hospital... and well, he christened mommy AND the kitchen floor! Doh!

Today we made an amazing discovery - put Jay in his bouncey seat with a binky and he's golden!

I was getting a bit frustrated with the fact that 1) putting him in his bassinet didn't last long so I couldn't really get much done while he slept and 2) it seemed like he was CONSTANTLY eating. I get that he's little and needs to eat every 2-3 hours but there's no reason for him to eat for a good 20-30 minutes, go down for 20 minutes or less and wake up hungry again! A friend of mine that stopped by today suggested letting him try a pacifier as it might just be he likes the sucking motion. I was a bit hesitant at first, as I've read if you're breastfeeding not to give them a bottle or a binky for a few weeks to avoid nipple confusion, but my friend, who has 2 kids and breastfeed them both, said she only heard that about a bottle and it worked fine with her kids. I gave in and tried and OMG - it worked!

Morning snuggle-time with mommy

I think tonight for sleep we're going to try putting him in his bouncey seat with the binky and see if he sleeps longer than he does in the bassinet. The hospital strongly stated NOT to co-sleep with baby, however lately I've been finding that letting him sleep on my chest while I lay on my back slightly propped up is the only way that myself and Jay can get any sleep during the night. Hopefully the bouncy seat and binky will workout in our favor tonight!

As it is, we seem to be getting a nighttime/morning routine going on - daddy leaves for work around 10pm, mommy feeds Jay and puts him down for a little bit to take a shower and do anything else before Jay wakes up again. Jay gets fed again and then snuggles with mommy on the couch until it's time to take a nap watching TV. Then shortly before daddy gets home at 330am, we move to the bedroom, feed Jay again, put him down for a bit and try to get some sleep before he wakes up howling in the bassinet. Daddy tries to stay up a bit with him so mommy can get some sleep in bed but mommy ends up getting woken up for another feeding. By the time daddy gets up to go to work in the morning Jay gets fed again and then snuggles with mommy for a few more hours before it's time to get up for the day.

Jay seems to be pretty bright though, considering he rarely ever opens his eyes yet... the few times we've done Tummy Time this week he's started doing the crawling motion with his legs, like he's trying to go crawl! Also, early Monday morning while he was snuggling with me, he started lifting his head up! I Googled just to see if that was normal - they say the average baby doesn't lift their head up on their own until about a month old - Jay was barely 4 days! He can't hold it for long - just a few seconds, but I still think that's quite impressive!

So, as far as house hunting goes, since we've been pre-approved and just have paperwork to finish gathering for the bank before we make an offer, we have a meeting with our realtor Saturday morning to look at some houses - including this one down the street that I have a really strong feeling about - it has A LOT of what we want and is finally in our price range too (I've been watching it for awhile and the price has dropped a lot). It's also just down the street which is nice as I really like the walking path nearby not to mention we're in a nice area. We're looking at several others on Saturday as well, but this one seems to be one of the better deals given the condition and price.

My mom is going to be babysitting and while I am trying to pump some milk daily, considering how often Jay eats, I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to get enough pumped and he'll run out and my mom will be stuck (since I started Wednesday, I've been able to get about 2-3oz pumped a day since my supply is still so new), so hubby and I agreed to keep a little formula on hand for such occasions. Mom is also going to be watching Jay Monday night too so hubby and I can go out for Valentine's Day, since my dad's out of town and she's on her own.

Jay's first doctor's appointment is on Monday too - we'll see if he's gained anymore weight now that my milk is in or see if the doctor thinks we should start supplementing formula (something he mentioned before discharging us last Sunday as Jay's so small). We'll also find out what his kidney ultrasound says too, although I'm assuming it's nothing too major as if it were, then why would they let us go home from the hospital?

Can't believe it's already been a week though!

Jay's Birth Story

Well, a lot's happened this past week, that's for sure!

Thursday I got up at 630 to be at my doctor's appointment by 8am - we had a blizzard here as I've mentioned and fortunately hubby had dug my car out for me Wednesday night. I was anxious to talk to my doctor about the results regarding the hospital ultrasound, however after driving across town, I get to my clinic only to learn that while everyone had said Thursday, they scheduled me for the 4th - Friday. Kinda annoying...

I went home and eventually got around to calling the bank lady to see if she could run hubby's credit again and see where we were at as far as that goes. She said it looked better but would call me back shortly as she wanted to see if we qualified for this 1st time home-buyers program through IHDA. She called me back that afternoon with the good news - that we qualified for that program with hubby's current credit score and that she would go ahead and email a copy of a pre-approval letter so we could start looking at houses, we just need to get in some extra paperwork for the program and she said she could probably approve us for more than she did after we get the tax stuff in.

While I was on the phone with her, I got a voicemail from my clinic saying to call them back before the close of the day (5pm). It was only a little after 3pm but I promptly called back, expecting it to be some bad news regarding my Strep-B coulture they took last week.

But nope - they said the high risk doctor at the hospital that did my ultrasound spoke with my doctor today and they were really concerned about Jay's lack of growth over the last 7 weeks, as it was showing he had gained less than a pound, and since I was already 37 weeks they wanted me to go ahead and get to the hospital to deliver him that night!

There was a bit of initial shock - sure I had been wanting to him come anytime now, but still, it was a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting an induction THAT soon - it had sounded like it would be at least another week!

I quickly got ahold of hubby and told him both of the good news - that we finally were pre-approved for a home loan and that we were having Jay that night. He was home by 4pm as I was finishing putting a suitcase together. We stopped by McDonald's real quick so I could grab an early dinner, at the suggestion of a friend of mine, as once they started to induce me I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after delivery and who knew how long I'd be in labor!

We got to the hospital at about 5pm however we had to wait out in the waiting room til about 530 as they didn't have any available rooms open due to all the Blizzard Babies from the day before that were still popping out.

Once we got in a room, they started all the basic admission stuff and my doctor checked my cervix to see if I was dilated any - turns out, I was already 3cm dilated! Didn't really surprise me too much as I had been feeling some pressure on my cervix the past few days - we figured it was just him dropping.

They didn't start the induction via pitocin until about 1030pm as they wanted to move me into one of the bigger delivery rooms.

The first few hours were pretty boring. The contractions, while 2-3minutes apart, weren't painful at all and honestly I was bored. They said my contractions were looking fantastic though! It wasn't until about 4am did I really start feeling them and back labor kicked in, which hurt quite a bit! I requested a hit of dilauded as the back labor with the uncomfy bed with the bar that breaks the end of the bed off for delivery in my back it was just too much. Can't say it helped too much, but it did make me sleepy which helped as I could zone out easier between the contractions.

Between 6 and 7am is when it started getting bad. Hubby was asleep up until this point but woke up to help me focus on breathing. I started feeling sick at one point, like I do when my blood sugars drop - all weak, dizzy, faint, breaking into a cold sweat... mom said it was body most likely going into shock. I requested a cold compress which helped a little bit.

Just before 7am I requested to go to the bathroom, again (I had been going every few hours it seemed and since I was hooked up to IVs and a monitor I had to have someone help me get up and to the bathroom each time). While waiting for the nurse to come, my water broke... and with it I think my bladder went too. Before the nurse let me go to the bathroom she checked my cervix again to see if I had made any progress (last time she checked was around 3am and I was about 3.5cm and she commented that Jay had a ton of hair on his head). I was 7cm dilated by this point - almost there!

Going to the bathroom still was a mistake though as the contractions suddenly got A LOT worse, maybe a minute apart. As soon as I sat down on the toilet I started to freak out - with each contraction my body was telling me to push - it honestly felt like Jay was right there, about to come out and I was really scared I was going to have him on the toilet like you see some of the girls do on that "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" show! I started calling for the nurse who kept telling me just to focus and breathe and came and got me. She checked my cervix again - in the time it took to get me to the bathroom and back I had apparently dilated to 10cm and Jay was on the verge of coming out!

She went to page my doctor again, as 10 minutes prior when they called she said she would be over as soon as she dropped her daughter off at school and well, no one expected me to dilated the last 3cm THAT quickly!

I was freaking out though as the nurse had stepped out, my doctor wasn't there yet and while the contractions were horrible and every minute now I was trying NOT to push despite my body telling me to.

Fortunately the doctor got there quick (obviously she didn't end up taking her daughter to school) and they got me going - took about 4 contractions with 3-4 good pushes each time before Jay was out.

Jaydran Alexander Johnson was born on February 4, 2011 at 7:26am weighing 6lbs, 7 oz with a length of 19inches and a full head of hair! No Downs Syndrome and he seems to be perfectly proportioned!

Jay and daddy - I <3 this picture of my boys

Hubby went over to the other side of the room with the nurse that was cleaning up Jay while the doctor stitched me as Jay tore me a good 2cm. Mom said she thinks the doctor was surprised by his weigh, considering the ultrasound earlier that week claimed he was only 5lbs, 12oz at the most!

After mommy and baby were both cleaned up they moved us to the mother-baby ward where we stayed til Sunday afternoon. I spent most of the time in bed, as my stitches hurt down there a little and I didn't want to do too much anyway. We had family in and out, which was nice, although neither of us got much sleep either night - hospital beds just aren't that comfy and hubby didn't figure out that the recliner turns into a pull out bed til Saturday night. Plus that first night I had the nurses coming in to check on me and Jay every few hours, waking me up for one thing or another.

They did his circumcision late on Saturday, saying he slept through it, which was good! Our family doctor seemed a bit confused by this supposed kidney issue of Jay's, as he said he seems to be peeing just fine! They did end up doing an ultrasound on Sunday though and said our doctor will go over it with us at his first appointment next week.

Checking out of the hospital took forever! Both my OBGYN and family doctor came early in the morning and discharged Jay and I and we told the nurse we'd plan on leaving around noon. I took a nice, refreshing shower which felt great after having not done so since Thursday morning. We were just about ready to go at noon when Jay got hungry so of course we had to feed him. We no sooner get started on that when the nurse comes in saying that they found a tech to do Jay's ultrasound (they weren't sure originally if they could get one to come in on a Sunday), so they quickly wheeled him off for that. They brought him back about 20 minutes later, howling the whole way down the hall as his meal was interrupted and he was still hungry! Oops!

After annoying paperwork, after paperwork we finally got out of there around 2pm... so much for noon!

Hubby and I relaxed with Jay at home for the rest of the afternoon, going over to my family's house for the Superbowl.

37 week appointment & hospital growth ultrasound

Today I had my 37 week check-up today and the NST stress test looked good, as did his placenta and fluid. Jay's still head down and in the correct position too, with his fundal height measuring 36cm, and heartbeat was in the mid-upper 130s. I mentioned this glob of mucus that was on the tissue when I wiped the other day and the doctor agreed with me that it was probably the mucus plug.

I got home from the clinic and the hospital called me, requesting I come in early this afternoon for the growth ultrasound, so I went before the weather got bad. Felt kinda bad as hubby couldn't get off work at such short notice or take a long enough lunch break as he just started a new position at work today, however he told me to go ahead and go since it took so long for them to get it scheduled. Kinda wished he had been able to come though, given what we found out...

I'm soooo confused though!

At the 30 week scan the hospital did, Jay was measuring a bit bigger than average overall. Then at the 35 week scan my clinic did, everything was showing right around on target, minus his femurs, give or take a week. Today he's measuring small - his gestational age is showing him to be measuring about 34weeks instead of 37 and his femur is still showing to be about 32-33 weeks! They estimated his weight as being 5lbs, 12oz - only a 7oz gain in the last 2 weeks (he was about 4lbs 13oz at 30 weeks).

They said it could be a number of things - he could just be on the shorter/smaller size as no one in my family is taller than 6ft, they said it could be that I have an infection that may be causing his growth to have slowed down that much, and then they said there is the possibility that it could be Downs Syndrome (we didn't do the additional testing for it as I'm not at high risk and it doesn't run in our families and it's not like there's anything you can really do about it anyway).

Honestly, I think it's this low-carb diet they have me on, as that's the *only* thing that's changed in the last 7 weeks, although the high risk doctor I met with for this ultrasound said it shouldn't have had *that* much of an effect on him... if it was Downs they can usually tell by the face though, right?

The doctor said I could have an amnio if I wanted, but hubby and I don't see what the point in that would be - if he has Downs, he has Downs... can't really do anything about it - even the doctor said the only point would be to confirm or deny it and help us "prepare."  She also said I could get some blood testing done to see if I have any infections that could be affecting him so I think I might do that, as if I do have any infections obviously we'd want to get that cleared up anyway...

As far as his kidneys...

At first they couldn't tell if it was fluid or a double kidney, but the doctor looked in closer and said it looks like fluid and said it's not uncommon for that happening with little boys. She said there's not really much we can do about it until he's born, which then they'll check and make sure it's functioning correctly or not and go from there. She said they prefer the liquid to be 10% or less and his was at about 11% so she was going to mention to my doctor when she talked to her about maybe having me deliver next week at 38weeks, meaning they would induce me and Jay would be 2 weeks early.

Aside from the kidney and his growth having slowed down they said the rest of his vitals look good...

Can I be done already? I'm tired of all the doctor appointments and the frustrations that keep coming up =/

Nesting and Snowmaggedon!!

We're having a huge snow storm here right now - it's been dubbed Snowmaggedon.

It started snowing a little bit last night but stopped for awhile before starting up again this morning and then getting really bad this afternoon - apparently we're supposed to be getting "thunder snow" which basically means you get several inches all at once within an hour!

Hubby said that UPS shutdown the hub tonight, giving everyone the night off since planes won't be able to come in and out - he NEVER gets a snow day there! The mall closed early tonight too apparently... I have no idea if I'm supposed to work still tomorrow or not as I didn't get a call but I'm assuming not... guess we'll find out in the morning, as everything else seems to be canceled for tomorrow.

I stopped by my mom's after my ultrasound at the hospital this afternoon (see next post for details on that) and we found one of my old Cabbage Patch dolls that's just about the size of Jay that we're planning on carrying around at home so Tiger gets used to seeing us with baby. Hubby and I have been sitting on the couch for the past hour or so and he's been "holding" the baby doll while playing Playstation - it's actually pretty cute!

Not sure if it's the weather or not but I've been in full nesting mode the last 2 days now - I spent last night working on the Super Mario panels a bit, washing all of Jay's clothes, and putting together some of his stuff such as the stroller and the pack n play we got. It's killing Tiger that she's not allowed to climb in the pack n play - she keeps jumping in and dashing off as soon as she see me coming to take her out!

I also had an increase of Braxton Hicks last night too while I was doing everything - not sure if I was just pushing myself or what, but I noticed them while I was standing at the sink doing dishes, then when I was carrying laundry and stuff back and forth from the laundry room and then later while sitting at the computer. They came and went though so I know they weren't "real" contractions.