Joshua is 3 months old!

I know he won't be officially be 3 months old for another 5 hours but I won't be up at 1:58 to post it so I'm doing it now. So, 3 months ago at this exact time I was lying in a hospital bed drugged up with my epidural and happy. I was contracting away and probably about 8-9 cm dilated. I can't believe it has been 3 months. It doesn't exactly feel like yesterday but it doesn't feel like it's been 3 months either. I know, I'll be saying that for the next 18 years.

So you may or may not know this past week has been a rough one. Joshua was going through the 12 week or 3 month growth spurt. While he did have 2 days he spent mostly sleeping the other days he spent mostly eating or sleeping in my lap and if I tried to move him he'd cry, so I didn't get much done. I think that's over now though, he has been a very happy baby today which of course makes Jamie & I very happy as well.

I don't know exactly how much he weighs but if we go by his past weight gains then he should be up to 12 lbs by now, maybe even 13, he's heavy! I do know that he is 24 inches long which is 4 inches in the past 3 months and since babies are supposed to grow 1 inch per month that is very good. He has outgrown just about all of his 0-3 month clothes. I had already packed up the newborn sized but now I've had to pack up those as well. Kinda sad but I'm excited he's wearing 3-6 month sized now because he has some really cute stuff in this new size. I am now buying 6-9 month sized in anticipation for his next growth spurt which is supposed to be at 6 months. He has started sucking his hands and tries to suck on his thumb or any finger really but hasn't quite figured out how to do it, he's not quite that coordinated yet.

He is mostly sleeping through the night! I say mostly because most nights he wakes up in the middle of the night but goes right back to sleep. Some nights he has to be fed but that's okay because a lot of babies don't sleep through the night this early.

I am still nursing and I am so happy about it. In the beginning it was quite a struggle. I was pumping and he wasn't nursing much at all but with persistance and dedication he has become a good nurser. He eats every 2-3 hours, usually every 3 but it tends to be more at night. When he does drink from a bottle he'll drink between 4 & 6 ounces. He is definately a comfort nurser which is fine. It means that he uses it not only for nourishment but when he is tired or overstimulated because it's comforting and familiar to him. It's not a bad habit but it's like when we read or do other things to relax ourselves, he does the same thing with nursing. It's also probably the reason he may seem like he wants to eat more when we're at my mother-in-law's because that is unfamiliar but nursing is. I am so glad I can be there for him like that. It's very important to me and it's a bond that I really want to share with him. I hope to go the full year, it will also save me lots of $ on formula.

Earlier this month we had started planning a trip up to CT & NY but we changed our plans. Joshua used to like riding in the car but now not so much. I really don't know why but I don't want to drive or fly with a crying or screaming baby so I guess it's just not in the cards for us right now. I am hoping my brother will be able to come down and visit us, maybe next month but I know he's busy so it may not happen. I think we will have to start bringing the baby carrier (where he is on your chest) to the store because he hasn't liked being in his car seat at all lately so we've had to carry him around when we go shopping. The only time he's happy in his car seat is usually when he's asleep. Hopefully this is just a phase. I am supposed to be taking him to storytime at the library tomorow but I am kind of nervous about it because of the way he has been in the car lately. I took him out on Thursday and he screamed a good bit of the time in the car. At least when we all go out I can sit in the back with him and that seems to calm him usually. Oh well, not sure if I'm going to go but if I do wish me luck.

Joshua seems to be happiest when he's at home with us. His favorite place to nap is in my lap. He has the sweetest smile that just melts my heart. I really do love him more every day and while I'm sad he's growing up I'm excited at the same time about the milestones coming up. I'm hoping to get him a Jumperoo soon because he loves to kick so I think he will like jumping in it. Lately when we give him a bath he kicks and kicks in the water. I'm also looking forward to this summer and taking him to the beach & the pool. We have already made our vacation plans for this summer and will be in Myrtle Beach the first week in June.

Here's some more big news for ya, we went to Synagogue this past Friday! I can't believe how long it had been since I had gone. I really enjoyed it. I like the congregation and the Rabbi. He came to see us at the hospital when Joshua was born and both Jamie & I liked him a lot. I plan to go again and am going to talk to him about having Joshua named there.

Valentine's Day - Whatever!

Here is how my Valentine's Day went. We got up and prepared to go to Wal-Mart. I had just nursed Joshua so his belly should have been full, well he said otherwise. He was crying so I fed him a small bottle on the way to Wal-Mart. When we got there and the bottle was empty he was still crying so I attempted to nurse him in the front seat of the car. I couldn't get him latched. I didn't have my nipple shield and he was screaming. I had to hand express some into his mouth for him to finally take it. He fell asleep after a few minutes so I suspect he wasn't really hungry. I pulled him off and he woke up and then started screaming. I couldn't get him latched back on. So we decided to leave.

He was fine in the car on the way home but I was afraid he would start crying in the store with us having a cart full of groceries and getting dirty looks from people. We came home and he started fussing so I fed him. He then slept for 4 hours! He woke up and was fed and then went back to sleep.

We went out to dinner, IHOP, while we were there he started fussing so we fed him a bottle. He didn't finish it, had some in the car but still didn't finish it by the time we got back to Wal-Mart (we had to go to get my prescription). We had to finish feeding him the bottle in the store. Even when he finished it he was still fussing. He wanted to be carried around Wal-Mart. So Jamie had to carry him around the store until we were just about done.

We came home and I got in the shower. Joshua started crying while I was in the shower acting like he was hungry. I had just fed him before I got in the shower. I fed him some when I got out but then he started screaming while I was trying to feed him so he wasn't hungry. I was so tired by this point in the day, it had already been a very long one. I just broke down in tears and Jamie took Joshua walking around the house. Apparently he burped like 8 times. He was finally able to put him down in his chair and he played for a bit before going to sleep.

During the last time when he was screaming and wouldn't nurse I was quite upset. Jamie accused me of making Joshua upset. So of course that made me more upset, something he doesn't seem to understand. He thinks he can somehow help me realize how I am acting and then maybe I won't act that way anymore. Yeah, right. First, even if I had the kind of personality that was relaxed in stressful situations I wouldn't expect to be that way when my baby is crying or screaming. Since I don't have that kind of personality I am going to be more stressed out when the baby is stressed. While I do realize this doesn't help the situation it's not like I can change my personality overnight or anything and by the time I did change it he would probably be out of this phase anyway. Oh well. I'm just glad the day is over. I'm going to bed. BTW, those are his baby legs he's wearing in the picture. Check out their website to learn more about them. http://www.babylegs.com/

Joshua is 2 months old!

Joshua is 10lbs 12 oz (50th percentile) 22.5 inches (75th percentile) and his head is in the 95th percentile! My smart, long & lean baby! The dr said he might have Jamie's physique (he used to be long & lean, lol!) It's funny because he has a little butt & waist but a big belly especially after he's eaten, it's so cute! He is still wearing newborn diapers but she said that was okay, he's rowing great. I figured he's gained .85 oz per day or 6 oz per week which is within the normal range of 4-8 oz per week.

We were concerned about a whole bunch of issues but she told us he is fine. He's not teething, the reason he has so much drool is because his salivary glands have just started working. He shouldn’t start teething until he’s 5-10 months. He doesn't have thrush, it's normal for him to have some milk on his tongue. His eyes are good, Jamie was worried because they didn't seem to dilate very often but she was able to make them dilate. He can’t follow an object too close to his face, but he can see you walk across the room if you are a few feet away from him. Much more than that is still pretty blurry to him.

We were also worried about him snoring and being congested but she said his nasal passages are still very small so it’s normal. Just to continue to use saline drops and suction. He has a little acne but that’s also normal and should start to reduce soon. It’s also normal for him to sleep a lot during the day, he still sleeps at least half the day. If he sleeps more it probably means he’s growing.

His eating habits are also normal. He goes 2-3 hours during the day between feedings. At night he sometimes wants to eat more, cluster feeding. Breastmilk is so digestible that it’s normal for him to want to eat more often and at night he is trying to get as much as he can before going to bed. Since he normally sleeps at least a 5 hour stretch he wants his tummy to be full. Also if he gets over stimulated he will want to comfort nurse which has happened a few times when we’ve been away from home.

She did tell us not to let him watch tv because it moves too fast and his brain can't process it. She said the baby einstein videos were fine because they don't move too fast but regular tv does. She said no more than 1 hour per day. I don’t think we’ll even watch that much, we’ve only watched 1 of the videos so far. Oh and I’ve signed us up for Mother Goose Storytime at the library. It’s just for babies up to 12 months old and we start next month. The current session was full but the person I spoke with said she would leave a message for the person who runs it to see if they could add me to the current session. If not then we will start on 2/23 when he is 3 months old.

He is cooing and it is absolutely adorable! He's also smiling and has started trying to put his fingers in his mouth. The latter the dr said wasn't something he should be able to do yet. She also said he can't hold objects yet, that won't be until he's 4 months.

Joshua's first weeks

So my life these past few weeks has been a sort of roller coaster. I still can't believe he's here! It was really pretty quick and I am grateful for that. A nurse told me that for most first time moms labor is 14 hours from the time they are 4 cm. For me it was 8 hours! I was admitted around 5:30pm at 2-3 cm and he was born 8.5 hours later! The first few days after his birth were the hardest we've had so far. It was really difficult to see him in the NICU even though we knew he would get better. We were very happy to bring him home on Thanksgiving day.

Joshua is a very good baby. We actually get sleep at night! He has his last feeding around 10:30 and we go to bed around 11. Then he will sleep between 4 & 5 hours and then another 2-3 after his 3 or 4 am feeding. During the day he sleeps 3-4 hours at a stretch. Originally we were waking him to feed but we aren't doing that anymore. Yesterday we found out we have no reason to worry about him not getting enough to eat. He is already up to 8lbs 2 oz! They like to see babies get to their original birth weight by 2 weeks. He has surpassed his birth weight by 5 oz!

Unfortunately we found out he does have a blocked tear duct and possibly acid reflux. We noticed his eye was watering and that there was some discharge so we took him in to see the pedi. We found out that he was probably born with this as 6% of all newborns are. We have to massage the area between his eye and nose and put in eye drops 4x daily. He also has a sore throat which may be caused by the blocked duct or acid reflux. We are supposed to keep him upright after eating. We should also try not to make his diaper too tight or overfeed him and we should burp him as much as possible. All of these will help with spitting up and if it gets worse he may be put on baby zantac.

I've already started getting EOBs from the insurance company. I also got two summaries of charges from the hospital, one for me and one for Joshua. It cost $8k for me and $18k for him. They charged $6k for him being in the NICU where he was for only 36 hours! The special care nursery (intermediate ICU) was only $1500 and he was there for 3 days! I sure am glad we have insurance or we would be responsible for all $26k instead of just $3-4k.

Joshua's hospital stay

Basically when he was born he was grunting, not breathing properly and having trouble breathing. They thought there was fluid on his lungs and he was put on the CPAP and oxygen initially. They then figured out that there was an air pocket on one of his lungs and on his heart which prevented him from taking full breaths. So he was put under the oxygen tent. This was Sunday afternoon. They took a new x-ray Monday morning and he was starting to improve so later that day they took the oxygen tent off. Once they did that he was able to breath room air and has been ever since.I initially held him for only about 5 min Sunday morning at 2am right after he was born. I got to hold him the second time Monday afternoon. They then started feeding him through a bottle and I have been pumping since he was born. His feeding tube has been taken out, we have been able to bottle feed and I had a breastfeeding session with the lactation consultant Tuesday and Wednesday. The lactation consultants at the hospital are so wonderful along with all of the staff.

He was put into the special care nursery only 36 hours after birth, it is a step-down from the NICU. Once in there he was taken off of the IV, antibiotics and feeding tube. We got to bottle feed him beginning Tuesday. My milk came in Tuesday and since then I have been pumping like crazy to build up a supply. The hospital wants us to start slowly with breastfeeding and slowly wean off of bottles. He hasn't had any formula since he left the hospital as I have had enough pumped milk to keep up with his feedings.

He has been a very sleepy baby so far. We have to wake him to feed him every 2-3 hours. He also has a wonderful disposition and is a very content baby. We figure with all he went through in his first days of life he needs the sleep and we are still getting a good amount of sleep ourselves so we aren't complaining. It has been such a whirlwind since he was born and I spent my days in the hospital in a daze a lot of the time. He has barely been home for 24 hours and it has only been the 3 of us since this afternoon. Jamie is such a great daddy! I have still been very sore and have gigantic swollen ankles so I am very uncomfortable. He has been doing so much that I don't know what I'd do without him! He loves doing it too, we both enjoy taking care of him but the way Jamie is with him is just beautiful. I really am loving my new life!

Joshua's birth

By now you should have heard that I'm a mommy! Joshua James Brown was born on November 23rd at 1:58 A.M. weighing 7 pounds and 13 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. Here is the story of his birth.

I began having light cramps Friday night into Saturday morning. I got up Saturday morning and was fine until about 10:30 when I started to have cramps again and they started to get stronger. I then figured they must be contractions but figured they were just false labor pains or Braxton-Hicks because they weren't very painful. They began to pick up in both intensity and frequency but were irregular and short, lasting only 30 seconds or less. They would become closer together and then start to become further apart. By the time Jamie got home around 12:30 we decided to call the drs office because they were fairly frequent even though they were short. She told us to go take a walk around the block and that would either make them stronger or make them go away. They definately got stronger. By the time we got back from our walk I had one that was strong enough to make me double over so we decided to call the dr back. She said to go to the hospital to get checked out to see if I was making progress. This was around 5pm.

We went to the hospital and my contractions were pretty strong. They were around 5 min apart but only lasting around 30 seconds. They were also getting stronger with each one. I was brought into a room and was checked. I was already 3 cm dilated! So I was admitted. I got into my room and my contractions began to pick up some more. Not long after I was checked by the dr. I was 5 cm dilated! This was around 7pm. We decided that it was definately time for my epidural as I was in some serious pain. I felt a whole lot better once it kicked in. I spent the next few hours much more comfortable, not feeling a thing. I was dilating pretty quickly, by 11pm I was 9 cm. Around midnight I was complete and feeling a little pressure. The nurse had me attempt a couple of pushes but they didn't move him down so she thought I should wait until I was feeling constant pressure. I felt more when I was laying on my side and around 1 am I started to push. Joshua was born less than an hour later.