(Noah is 9 months, 1 week, and 5 days old)
Today we were visiting my parents, and my cousins with Ottawa were over. We haven't seen each other since my brother got married 7 1/2 months ago, so Noah is obviously very different than he was back at 8 weeks old! Their son Tyus is Noah's second cousin. He loved Noah, and Noah loved him.
My parents have tons of toys, and one toy they've gotten since Noah was born is this thing that looks like a tree house. It has 4 balls that come with it, various places to stick the balls in, and two discs that spin around at the bottom when you press a button or the balls go through the "paths" to the discs (I hope I'm describing this toy so you can kind of picture it). Noah has always loved this toy. Pretty much right when they got it back when he was 5 or 6 months he understood that if he pressed the big red button the balls would spin around on the disc, music would play, and it would make a bunch of racket. Us adults would sometimes put the balls in the hole at the top, but Noah wasn't really ready to purposefully put a ball through a hole, so we haven't pushed it.
Today Tyus was playing with Noah with this toy. Noah was holding one of the balls and banging on the toy. Tyus took another ball and said "Take the ball and put it in the hole, Noah," while showing him.
A light bulb clicked on in Noah's head, and he suddenly was picking the ball up and putting it through the hole over and over again. He would watch the ball spin around on the discs, then when it stopped he would pick the ball up and put it through the hole again.
It was SO cool to see him make that cognitive connection. He obviously has been understanding cause and effect for a long time. But to know that if he puts this ball through this hole, things will happen is different from knowing that if he presses this button things will happen.
I was so impressed. So was Justin. Then we laughed, because we know that in a month Noah will probably be doing stuff like that all the time and we'll look back on how amazed we were the first time he did it and laugh at ourselves. Just like we laugh at ourselves when we think back to our reactions the first time he rolled over, sat unassisted, pushed up on his hands and knees, or pulled up to stand. Everything becomes so "normal." And that is why I'm so happy to have this blog, where I record all of these "silly" little moments. I get to look back and remember how monumental Noah's life really has been for me.
He's a pretty rad kid.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Walker-Walker
(Noah is 9 months, 1.5 weeks)
Noah has been fairly early to meet many of his milestones. He was sitting at 5 1/2 months, army crawling at 5 months, getting himself to a sitting position from lying down at 6 months, pushing up on his hands and feet at 6 months, full-time hands and knees crawling at 7 months on the nose, pulling up to stand at 7 months on the nose, standing independently (not holding on to anything) for "longish" periods at 8 months... he's grown up very quickly.
Because he's met so many milestones so early, I kind of expected him to be even further along by 9 months. I thought he'd be even better at standing independently (he can stand for about 15 solid seconds without holding on to anything, and he does this a few times a day, but I just thought it would be more by now considering how quickly he's developed so far). I thought he'd be motoring around the house using his walker (an actual push walker, not a walker that you put a baby IN). He's not, and that's okay.
Despite my personal expectations of him being "high", I was pretty annoyed all during Christmas when everyone's questions were "Is he walking? Is he talking?"
Ummm, no, he's 9 months old. Walking and talking at 9 months old is very early. It's like asking a parent of a 4 month old if their kid is sitting up independently yet. It's not impossible, but it's pretty friggin uncommon. It's like expecting a 5 month old to crawl on his hands and knees. Again, not impossible, but pretty friggin uncommon.
I was bothered by these questions because Noah is doing really well for his age, but everyone was wondering about walking and talking, two skills that usually happen more around the year mark. I'm not kidding either, when I say "everyone." Well, it may be a slight exaggerration, but about 90% of the people we saw over Christmas asked those questions.
Noah got his walker back at 7 months when he was pulling up to stand and standing at things without us spotting him. His Nana and Papa figured he'd go crazy for it. Well, he liked the "toy" aspect of it, but hasn't been so interested in the function of it. We've pretty much pushed it to the side and not pulled it out to play with much over the past couple of months, because everytime we'd put Noah behind it, instead of walking forward he would sit down and crawl away.
(That's the "problem" with good crawlers... they are already very efficient at getting around, and don't necessarily have any desire to learn a new method.)
Yesterday my parents were over for dinner and they were saying that Noah is for sure going to be walking by a year. I didn't necessarily think so, especially since a couple of months ago everyone was saying he'd be walking at 9 months (I never thought he would be, for the record, and that's definitely not going to happen this month). I wanted to show them how uninterested Noah is in walking, so I took out his walker to demonstrate. To my surprise, Noah started walking behind it.
He made a total liar out of me. Don't kids always do that??
He suddenly has gotten pretty good at walking behind that walker. Funny how that can happen out of nowhere.
Today we had an 8 month old (and his parents) over for a playdate. This was our first playdate together, and I was very surprised to see that 8 month old James is about as physically skilled as Noah was at 5 months. He still falls all the time while he's sitting up, just rolls over if he wants to get somewhere, doesn't pull up on anything (his crib mattress is still where it was when he was a newborn), and spends a lot of time lying on his back to play (Noah hasn't spent any time lying on his back - unless he's sleeping - since he was 4 months old).
This reminded me (not that I need reminding) that there is such a huge range of "normal." And made me even more annoyed by all the questions I got at Christmas time. I was also impressed by the relaxed nature of this mother, who also happens to be a infant/child public health nurse. Personally, I'd probably be freaking out if that's where my child was at developmentally at 8 months. But she's not worried at all, because, like I said, the range of what's "normal" is pretty large.
If Noah walks by 12 months, that's cool. If not... I'm going to try my best not to be bothered by it.
If people would stop asking me if he's walking and talking, that would be very helpful.
Noah has been fairly early to meet many of his milestones. He was sitting at 5 1/2 months, army crawling at 5 months, getting himself to a sitting position from lying down at 6 months, pushing up on his hands and feet at 6 months, full-time hands and knees crawling at 7 months on the nose, pulling up to stand at 7 months on the nose, standing independently (not holding on to anything) for "longish" periods at 8 months... he's grown up very quickly.
Because he's met so many milestones so early, I kind of expected him to be even further along by 9 months. I thought he'd be even better at standing independently (he can stand for about 15 solid seconds without holding on to anything, and he does this a few times a day, but I just thought it would be more by now considering how quickly he's developed so far). I thought he'd be motoring around the house using his walker (an actual push walker, not a walker that you put a baby IN). He's not, and that's okay.
Despite my personal expectations of him being "high", I was pretty annoyed all during Christmas when everyone's questions were "Is he walking? Is he talking?"
Ummm, no, he's 9 months old. Walking and talking at 9 months old is very early. It's like asking a parent of a 4 month old if their kid is sitting up independently yet. It's not impossible, but it's pretty friggin uncommon. It's like expecting a 5 month old to crawl on his hands and knees. Again, not impossible, but pretty friggin uncommon.
I was bothered by these questions because Noah is doing really well for his age, but everyone was wondering about walking and talking, two skills that usually happen more around the year mark. I'm not kidding either, when I say "everyone." Well, it may be a slight exaggerration, but about 90% of the people we saw over Christmas asked those questions.
Noah got his walker back at 7 months when he was pulling up to stand and standing at things without us spotting him. His Nana and Papa figured he'd go crazy for it. Well, he liked the "toy" aspect of it, but hasn't been so interested in the function of it. We've pretty much pushed it to the side and not pulled it out to play with much over the past couple of months, because everytime we'd put Noah behind it, instead of walking forward he would sit down and crawl away.
(That's the "problem" with good crawlers... they are already very efficient at getting around, and don't necessarily have any desire to learn a new method.)
Yesterday my parents were over for dinner and they were saying that Noah is for sure going to be walking by a year. I didn't necessarily think so, especially since a couple of months ago everyone was saying he'd be walking at 9 months (I never thought he would be, for the record, and that's definitely not going to happen this month). I wanted to show them how uninterested Noah is in walking, so I took out his walker to demonstrate. To my surprise, Noah started walking behind it.
He made a total liar out of me. Don't kids always do that??
He suddenly has gotten pretty good at walking behind that walker. Funny how that can happen out of nowhere.
Today we had an 8 month old (and his parents) over for a playdate. This was our first playdate together, and I was very surprised to see that 8 month old James is about as physically skilled as Noah was at 5 months. He still falls all the time while he's sitting up, just rolls over if he wants to get somewhere, doesn't pull up on anything (his crib mattress is still where it was when he was a newborn), and spends a lot of time lying on his back to play (Noah hasn't spent any time lying on his back - unless he's sleeping - since he was 4 months old).
This reminded me (not that I need reminding) that there is such a huge range of "normal." And made me even more annoyed by all the questions I got at Christmas time. I was also impressed by the relaxed nature of this mother, who also happens to be a infant/child public health nurse. Personally, I'd probably be freaking out if that's where my child was at developmentally at 8 months. But she's not worried at all, because, like I said, the range of what's "normal" is pretty large.
If Noah walks by 12 months, that's cool. If not... I'm going to try my best not to be bothered by it.
If people would stop asking me if he's walking and talking, that would be very helpful.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tooth #8
I forgot to mention that Noah got his eighth tooth a few days ago. I'm not sure of the exact day, because I just noticed it yesterday (Dec 23). It's not very far in, but its matching tooth on the other side has been very slow growing as well.
He now has his four bottom teeth and four top teeth (the one he just got was his top right, next to his middle teeth).
I wonder which tooth will come in next...
He now has his four bottom teeth and four top teeth (the one he just got was his top right, next to his middle teeth).
I wonder which tooth will come in next...
Merry Christmas Eve!
Today was a GREAT day! The visit with Nona Anna was short but sweet. She loved her gift and loved seeing Noah. The visit at my inlaws' was great as well. I got the lamest gifts (Christmas tea towels and a Christmas sleigh candy dish thing that I'm pretty sure is a hand-me-down), but Noah got totally spoiled. They bought him:
-all 5 Sing-A-Ma-Jigs
-a Mega Blocks fire truck and a box of 40 pieces of Mega Blocks (we already have about 200 other pieces)
-a $70 Columbia snowsuit (18 months, but fits him PERFECTLY)
-a cute Carter's fleece track suit with a onesie (18 months)
-a cool cloth book
-a Christmas ornament and stocking
-a box of Pampers Cruisers (size 3, which is good, because Noah is going to be in size 3 a lot longer than I thought, and I only have a few boxes left).
And a couple of weeks ago they gave him a Fisher Price train that goes on its own.
They totally spoiled him. It was great:)
They also got us a GPS! Justin got his own presents from them, which weren't lame like mine (haha). I really think my mother-in-law has NO idea what to get me. She always gets me the worst gifts. It just makes me laugh.
They LOVED their present. I bought a collage of picture frames (1-11x14, 1-8x10, 2-5x7s, and 2-4x6s) and framed mostly pictures she had never seen before. She went nuts over it. It was so fun to watch. She was gasping and ooing and ahhhing. I was happy it made her so happy.
-all 5 Sing-A-Ma-Jigs
-a Mega Blocks fire truck and a box of 40 pieces of Mega Blocks (we already have about 200 other pieces)
-a $70 Columbia snowsuit (18 months, but fits him PERFECTLY)
-a cute Carter's fleece track suit with a onesie (18 months)
-a cool cloth book
-a Christmas ornament and stocking
-a box of Pampers Cruisers (size 3, which is good, because Noah is going to be in size 3 a lot longer than I thought, and I only have a few boxes left).
And a couple of weeks ago they gave him a Fisher Price train that goes on its own.
They totally spoiled him. It was great:)
They also got us a GPS! Justin got his own presents from them, which weren't lame like mine (haha). I really think my mother-in-law has NO idea what to get me. She always gets me the worst gifts. It just makes me laugh.
They LOVED their present. I bought a collage of picture frames (1-11x14, 1-8x10, 2-5x7s, and 2-4x6s) and framed mostly pictures she had never seen before. She went nuts over it. It was so fun to watch. She was gasping and ooing and ahhhing. I was happy it made her so happy.
Noah only had two 40 minute naps all day, but he did great. I managed to transfer him into the bottom of the pack 'n play at my inlaws' house without waking him up, which was amazing in my books. Dinner was awesomely tasty, and I managed to eat the entire thing before Noah woke up.
After Noah woke up from his nap he nursed for an hour! He wasn't drinking the whole time, he was just comfort suckling and playing with my face. It was kind of ridiculous how long he was on there for (not that I minded). I was just sitting in the living room (thank goodness I wasn't by myself in a bedroom) with him under the nursing cover and he just wanted to cuddle and suckle. For a full hour. I had to take him off the one side and put him on the other side after 40 minutes because he was showing no signs of coming off. He wasn't even sleeping. It was so weird. And we were all talking, which would normally distract him, but not tonight.
I think my mother-in-law was jealous. She always makes comments about how she can't wait until he's older and isn't so attached to the boob (you're going to be waiting awhile, woman). From all the comments she makes I really get the feeling that she's jealous of the bond Noah and I have in general (duuhh, I'm his MOTHER - and a stay-at-home-mother), and the fact that she never nursed Justin so she doesn't know what it's like to have that kind of relationship. Tonight she made a comment about the nursing and how she just wishes I could get "even a 15 minute break." Um, hello? He nurses every 2 hours and is usually done in 10 minutes. How am I not getting a 15 minute break?
Besides, I love nursing him. And he doesn't usually nurse for an hour! I think he just had such a big day, going to the retirement home and seeing a million old people, opening up tons of presents at a house he's not familiar with (my inlaws just moved), then waking up in a pack 'n play in a bedroom he's not familiar with. Plus he only had the two 40 minute naps all day. I think he just needed to relax and zone out. I'm glad nursing gives him that option and ability.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day!! It's going by too quickly!! I finally wrapped all of Noah's presents this morning. There are a lot more than I thought there were, and we gave him about 4 presents already. I guess I kind of ended up going overboard. Hehehe.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Merry Christmas!!
Tomorrow starts several days of holiday festivities. But it's not totally the beginning for us. This past Saturday we went to 'Kennedy Christmas', which is just a group of friends of my husband's parents who get together every year in December (it's called 'Kennedy Christmas' because the Kennedys always host it). We got there about an hour late because Noah's last nap did not go as planned. We only got to stay for a couple of hours, because the stupid thing didn't start until 4pm and we had to get home and get Noah to bed (he ended up going down over an hour late).
When we first got there Noah was not impressed. I supposed walking into a strange house where 20 people are all talking at once would be kind of alarming. He started wailing. I took him to a corner of a fairly empty room so I could take him out of the carseat and console him. My mother in law stuck her face in front of him and said "It's okay Noah, Nana's here!" (as if that would help). That made him start wailing again. She kept wanting to hold him, and I eventually told her to just back off until I had him totally calm and adjusted to his surroundings. She's always wanting to jump the gun (I think she wanted to "show off" to her friends and pretend like her and him are sooo close or something).
After about 15 or 20 minutes of acclimatizing Noah was good to go, and he didn't make another peep the rest of the night, escept for happy sounds. No fussing. It was a fun time, even if it was shorter than we would have liked.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we're spending most of the day at my inlaws. It will be rather boring, because it will be only me, Justin, Noah, and his parents. Justin is an only child, and both of his parents have only one sibling. Normally Christmas Eve is spent with my mother-in-law's side of the family, which is only 4 extra people, but still, it's 4 extra people. However, there's some big, fat, Italian feud going on that has caused a huge rift on that side, and we haven't seen them in months. Noah is 9 months old and his aunt and uncle have only visited ONCE, even though they live 20 minutes away. It's ridiculous, and apparently we all just pretend like it's not happening. Not that we know what's actually happening that we're pretending isn't happening. Nobody answers questions straight, and even if they did we wouldn't know who to believe because it's always a blame game.
Christmas Day will be at my parents' house with most of my siblings and their spouses (I'm pretty sure Nick, Hilary, Elijah, and Josiah are skipping out since we had our immediate family Christmas on December 5 and they have to drive 2 hours with 2 kids). My Pake and Beppe (my only living grandparents) and a mess of aunts, uncles, and cousins on my Dad's side will also be there (but not my Dad, because he has to work). We are also expected to try and make it to Justin's aunt and uncle's on his Dad's side, but there isn't a lot of time in the day when you have a baby and need to leave town at 6pm to get him home and in bed on time. We spent pretty much all of last Christmas Day with them, so I think we should be able to take a year off. But whatever.
Boxing Day we're supposed to go to brunch with a different group of my husband's family's friends. They do a brunch every year on Boxing Day. I'm not sure how it will go this year, since it starts right during Noah's naptime and we live 25 minutes away. We'll probably end up seeing people for 20 minutes at the end of brunch, and it won't even be worth the drive. But apparently we're trying.
Then on the 27th we're supposed to have Justin's aunt, uncle, and cousin out here - the ones who usually are at Christmas Eve. This just got arranged today by my husband. We'll see how that goes.
I am actually really loving this holiday season, even though it may sound like I'm not because my husband comes from a family of fools. But I love Christmas. It is my absolute favourite time of year.
It's funny, every year I always say "It doesn't feel like Christmas." Sometime in the last few years I figured out that it never feels like Christmas because each year feels different, and I always expect it to feel like it did the year before in order for it to feel like Christmas. So Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas until it's over.
But this year, it feels like Christmas. I feel like I'm surrounded by the wonderful Christmas spirit. And it's so weird to me that that's true. I don't have a single Christmas decoration up in my house (I didn't want to fight Noah and the cats away from a tree for weeks on end - that would tick me off). We haven't been to a single Advent service (we haven't been to church since October because we live 25 minutes away from our church and Noah always has naptime SMACK in the middle of the church service, and he cannot nap in the nursery... we really miss church). I haven't done a lick of baking. I haven't wrapped a single present. But somehow this year feels more like Christmas than any other year.
I think it's my incredible gratitude. This is my first Christmas as a real Mommy. I have a baby boy. I have a little kid to spoil (and I did end up spoiling him a little... I couldn't resist when I was out shopping a couple of days ago!) He doesn't know it's Christmas, but I know it's Christmas, and it's a better Christmas because he's here. He's the light of my life. He makes everything worth it, and makes every bad thing seem like not such a big deal. He makes every good thing seem like a WONDERFUL thing.
I'm amazed by my level of thankfulness this Christmas season. And while Christmas has never been about Santa and presents to me, this year I feel even more like I'm celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.
When we first got there Noah was not impressed. I supposed walking into a strange house where 20 people are all talking at once would be kind of alarming. He started wailing. I took him to a corner of a fairly empty room so I could take him out of the carseat and console him. My mother in law stuck her face in front of him and said "It's okay Noah, Nana's here!" (as if that would help). That made him start wailing again. She kept wanting to hold him, and I eventually told her to just back off until I had him totally calm and adjusted to his surroundings. She's always wanting to jump the gun (I think she wanted to "show off" to her friends and pretend like her and him are sooo close or something).
After about 15 or 20 minutes of acclimatizing Noah was good to go, and he didn't make another peep the rest of the night, escept for happy sounds. No fussing. It was a fun time, even if it was shorter than we would have liked.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we're spending most of the day at my inlaws. It will be rather boring, because it will be only me, Justin, Noah, and his parents. Justin is an only child, and both of his parents have only one sibling. Normally Christmas Eve is spent with my mother-in-law's side of the family, which is only 4 extra people, but still, it's 4 extra people. However, there's some big, fat, Italian feud going on that has caused a huge rift on that side, and we haven't seen them in months. Noah is 9 months old and his aunt and uncle have only visited ONCE, even though they live 20 minutes away. It's ridiculous, and apparently we all just pretend like it's not happening. Not that we know what's actually happening that we're pretending isn't happening. Nobody answers questions straight, and even if they did we wouldn't know who to believe because it's always a blame game.
Christmas Day will be at my parents' house with most of my siblings and their spouses (I'm pretty sure Nick, Hilary, Elijah, and Josiah are skipping out since we had our immediate family Christmas on December 5 and they have to drive 2 hours with 2 kids). My Pake and Beppe (my only living grandparents) and a mess of aunts, uncles, and cousins on my Dad's side will also be there (but not my Dad, because he has to work). We are also expected to try and make it to Justin's aunt and uncle's on his Dad's side, but there isn't a lot of time in the day when you have a baby and need to leave town at 6pm to get him home and in bed on time. We spent pretty much all of last Christmas Day with them, so I think we should be able to take a year off. But whatever.
Boxing Day we're supposed to go to brunch with a different group of my husband's family's friends. They do a brunch every year on Boxing Day. I'm not sure how it will go this year, since it starts right during Noah's naptime and we live 25 minutes away. We'll probably end up seeing people for 20 minutes at the end of brunch, and it won't even be worth the drive. But apparently we're trying.
Then on the 27th we're supposed to have Justin's aunt, uncle, and cousin out here - the ones who usually are at Christmas Eve. This just got arranged today by my husband. We'll see how that goes.
I am actually really loving this holiday season, even though it may sound like I'm not because my husband comes from a family of fools. But I love Christmas. It is my absolute favourite time of year.
It's funny, every year I always say "It doesn't feel like Christmas." Sometime in the last few years I figured out that it never feels like Christmas because each year feels different, and I always expect it to feel like it did the year before in order for it to feel like Christmas. So Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas until it's over.
But this year, it feels like Christmas. I feel like I'm surrounded by the wonderful Christmas spirit. And it's so weird to me that that's true. I don't have a single Christmas decoration up in my house (I didn't want to fight Noah and the cats away from a tree for weeks on end - that would tick me off). We haven't been to a single Advent service (we haven't been to church since October because we live 25 minutes away from our church and Noah always has naptime SMACK in the middle of the church service, and he cannot nap in the nursery... we really miss church). I haven't done a lick of baking. I haven't wrapped a single present. But somehow this year feels more like Christmas than any other year.
I think it's my incredible gratitude. This is my first Christmas as a real Mommy. I have a baby boy. I have a little kid to spoil (and I did end up spoiling him a little... I couldn't resist when I was out shopping a couple of days ago!) He doesn't know it's Christmas, but I know it's Christmas, and it's a better Christmas because he's here. He's the light of my life. He makes everything worth it, and makes every bad thing seem like not such a big deal. He makes every good thing seem like a WONDERFUL thing.
I'm amazed by my level of thankfulness this Christmas season. And while Christmas has never been about Santa and presents to me, this year I feel even more like I'm celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Amazing Pictures, Hidden in My Stash
For my remaining Christmas presents I am giving out framed pictures of Noah. My inlaws are getting the best of the lot, because my husband is an only child, thus Noah is an only grandchild. You can imagine how obsessed they are with him, so for Christmas they're getting a collage of picture frames (One 11x14, one 8x10, two 5x7, and two 4x6). While searching through my albums to find the perfect pictures, I found these two amazing pictures that I've never seen before, even though I took them:
How perfect are these pictures? I can't believe I've never seen them before, and that I've never posted them here or on FB before (that ends up making it perfect for the present, though, because it's better if they haven't seen the pictures, and almost all of my best pictures make it on FB).
In this picture Noah is 4 months and 9 days old. This was the day he broke out in hives, and I had been taking pictures of his hives to document them. After taking those pictures, I took a few quick snapshots of his face. Most of them were out of focus because of him moving closer to further away right before I took the picture. But these two shots were beautiful!!
It was such a nice surprise to find these in a random album that I thought was filled simply with pictures of the ugly red marks all over his body.
How perfect are these pictures? I can't believe I've never seen them before, and that I've never posted them here or on FB before (that ends up making it perfect for the present, though, because it's better if they haven't seen the pictures, and almost all of my best pictures make it on FB).
In this picture Noah is 4 months and 9 days old. This was the day he broke out in hives, and I had been taking pictures of his hives to document them. After taking those pictures, I took a few quick snapshots of his face. Most of them were out of focus because of him moving closer to further away right before I took the picture. But these two shots were beautiful!!
It was such a nice surprise to find these in a random album that I thought was filled simply with pictures of the ugly red marks all over his body.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
9 Months Old
At 9 months old, here is where Noah is at:
-On December 23 (9 months and 5 days) he weighed 19lbs 6oz (totally naked). This is about the 25th percentile.
-He's 30.5 inches tall, which is about 100th percentile
-His head circumference is 19 inches (48.3cm), which is 100th percentile.
-He wears size 3 diapers.
-He wears 12 and 18 month clothing by Carter's (my yardstick). The 12 month clothing is on the verge of being too small. Most of the 18 month clothing is a little too big. We're in the awkward in between stage, since he's 30.5 inches and that's the max height for 12 months and min height for 18 months.
-He has 7 teeth, but his 7th tooth has not grown very much since it popped through.
-He's a very good eater, according to everyone who watches him (they all make comments). He's accepting of so many foods, he opens his mouth well, hardly any food gets on his face... just a good eater.
-He points to everyone and everything with his tiny pointer finger. And he "shows" you things by holding them up in your direction. "See?? Look at my toy!!"
-His pincer grasp is getting better. He picks things up between his thumb and forefinger, it's just not necessarily the tip of his forefinger. He could still make improvement in this area. But he doesn't get a ton of chance to practice, and was only presented with the opportunity about a month ago, so I can't really blame him.
-He's still exclusively breastfed (no bottles or cups) except for a dinner of solids, and the occasional snack or taste of food during the day. Most days he doesn't need anything until dinner, though.
-He nurses usually every 2 hours during the day. More right now, since I've trying to build my milk supply back up after having the flu for 4 days.
-He is 100% swaddle free, and has been since a few days after he turned 8 months.
-He sleeps very well at night, usually about 11 hours total. He usually starts nursing to sleep at 7:15, although if he doesn't fall asleep I can put him in bed awake and he'll only cry for about 30 seconds before going to sleep. He sleeps 9 to 11 hours straight (usually around 10 hours), then nurses and goes back to sleep for a bit. If he wakes up before 4, I don't get him up to nurse, because I have found that he will STILL wake up sometime in the 4-5:30 range even if I nurse him at 3:45. He falls back asleep very well if he wakes up in the middle of the night. In the morning he has no consistent wake up time, but he usually does have a period of wakefulness in the 6-7am range, we don't turn on the lights or get him out of his crib until 7am, so if he wakes closer to 6 he often falls back asleep for a bit.
-Naps are still crap. A usual day has three 30 minute naps. We started a half-hearted attempt at nap training, but I'm not very consistent. It's bad, I know.
-I think he may need to go down to 2 naps a day, because I'm finding it harder and harder to get him to fall asleep before the 3 hour mark. The problem is that two half hour naps a day is not enough for any child.
-He still uses a soother every time I rock him to sleep, but if he goes to sleep on his own he spits it out (because of crying) and doesn't put it back in. So he only needs it if I'm rocking him.
-He had his fourth haircut today.
-He had his 4th illness this past week, a stomach bug, but was over it very quickly thanks to breastfeeding. No such luck for me.
-He's very capable, physically. He started full-time hands-and-knees crawling and pulling up 2 months ago, so you can imagine how good he is at it now. He's a great climber, too.
-He's getting better at cruising, but isn't amazing at it.
-He waves!
-He's back to social coughing again - A LOT. He was doing it way back at around 5 months, but my Dad got him back into it a few weeks ago when he copied him every time he coughed. He thinks it's hilarious.
-He's very talkative and babbles incessantly, but hasn't connected any words with any actual objects yet. As far as we can tell, the only word he truly understands is "Up."
-This month he started making an adorable scrunchy face. He does it often, when he's smiling, whining, whenever. It's so cute.
-When we click our tongues he copies us, and thinks it's the greatest.
-He never goes in his jumperoo or exersaucer. He prefers to play with the toys while standing next to it. Whatever!
-He loves to play peekabo in the mirror, and to watch you make faces at him in the mirror. This isn't new (he's loved the mirror for a long time), but he's just really really enjoying it this month.
-He still enjoys his jolly jumper, but we don't put him in it very often. He jumps way too high and hard, and the spring slams shut really hard and he continues to fly past the point where he should have stopped. It's not dangerous or anything, but sometimes he doesn't like the jolting he gets when that happens.
-He has separation and stranger anxiety, but it's not too bad at the moment. It seems like it's really bad when he's teething.
-Bathtime hasn't been tons of fun this month. Some days he hates the actual bath (for whatever reason), some days he's fine. But everyday is a huge struggle getting him undressed, giving him his vitamin D, getting him dried off, lotioning him (his skin has very dry spots, so he needs to lotion) desitin-ing his bum, diapering him, and getting him dressed again. He will flip over and bear crawl away so fast (he doesn't like the cold ceramic tile, so he bear crawls... lol). And he's so strong now, there's really nothing we can do about it. Justin pretty much has to pin down his upper body while I deal with the diaper. After that I can dress him as he's sitting and standing. But getting the diaper on is HARD.
This past month has had ups and downs. Noah reached his peak of separation anxiety this month, and I had many days (some entire weeks) where he was literally glued to me. I couldn't even stand up without him freaking out. As a SAHM, this gets very tiring. I couldn't get anything done, my house was a mess, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom without bringing him with me. Since he hardly naps, the only time I wasn't concentrating on him was at night when he was sleeping. It got tough after several long days.
I may have connected increased separation anxiety with active teething, though. It seems to get worse when he's actually cutting a tooth, and he cut 4 teeth in the past month, including his two front teeth (which are rather large, and I assume painful to cut). Unfortunately none of his teeth cut at the same time, so it meant a lot of painful days for him.
Noah has also reached the lowest of valleys in napping habits. 3 naps a day, all less than 30 minutes. This is frustrating, and I haven't been very good about nap training. There are several reasons for this. One, I don't enjoy listening to him cry, and oh-boy does he cry when I nap train. Two, for the past couple of weeks (since I decided to nap train) I've had a very hard time figuring out his optimal awake time, which is key if I'm not "putting" him to sleep. He's seemed to need awake times of at least 3 hours, but I can't fit 3 hour awake times plus 3 half hour naps PLUS the time it takes for him to fall asleep on his own into our day (3 naps means he has 4 awake times). It seems to be a time of transition, so maybe my efforts will go better if I cut him down to 2 naps a day.
Furthermore, we both got sick again this month with the stomach flu. I was laid up for 4 days, and today, day 6, I'm still not feeling great. Being a nursing mom with the stomach flu really sucks.
There have also been good times this month. Like when I connected the separation anxiety/crankiness with teething and was able to give him Motrin to avoid him being miserable all day long. Like the seriously improved night time sleep that has given me my evenings and nights back - uninterrupted! I've also been sleeping pretty good for the most part. Very few nights do I lie awake for hours on end, although I do still wake up upwards of 6 times a night - and this is medicated sleep, people. That's how bad a sleeper I am. But not being rudely awakened by a crying baby 10 times a night is a joy that every mother should experience. And that being your NORMAL? It's fantastic.
There have also been GREAT times this past month. The hugs and kisses and cuddles from my wonderful son. The fun games of copy cat that make him smile sooo big. Chasing after his skinny little naked body as he bear crawls out of the bathroom before bathtime so he can go out and happily play with his toys and stand naked at his baby gate. Seeing him relax on Daddy's lap in the rocking chair by the front window, watching the snow. Him really being so happy and well behaved after the teething was over. Being complimented over and over on what a cute, cheerful kid he is. Listening to Christmas music, and singing Silent Night to Noah before he goes to sleep. Just enjoying this wonderful time of the year and being sooooooo thankful that our miracle baby is here to share it with us.
I just can't even put into words how incredibly in love I am with Noah. He is the perfect baby for us, the only baby for us. I honestly can't imagine how empty our lives would be if he wasn't here. And all the challenges and tiring days don't for a second make me wish anything was different. He completes my life. I had this big hole, and now it's overflowing because of this most perfect child.
I am so full of thankfulness and love, I feel like my heart could burst. I freakin' LOVE my kid, and I love my life, and I can't imagine things being any different. THANK YOU God, for blessing us with Noah.
(PS - did you know a post can only have at most 20 labels, and those labels can only have a maximum of 200 characters? I only know since I surpassed that and needed to delete some of my labels on this post. What is the purpose of that limit? Let people label as much as they want!!)
-On December 23 (9 months and 5 days) he weighed 19lbs 6oz (totally naked). This is about the 25th percentile.
-He's 30.5 inches tall, which is about 100th percentile
-His head circumference is 19 inches (48.3cm), which is 100th percentile.
-He wears size 3 diapers.
-He wears 12 and 18 month clothing by Carter's (my yardstick). The 12 month clothing is on the verge of being too small. Most of the 18 month clothing is a little too big. We're in the awkward in between stage, since he's 30.5 inches and that's the max height for 12 months and min height for 18 months.
-He has 7 teeth, but his 7th tooth has not grown very much since it popped through.
-He's a very good eater, according to everyone who watches him (they all make comments). He's accepting of so many foods, he opens his mouth well, hardly any food gets on his face... just a good eater.
-He points to everyone and everything with his tiny pointer finger. And he "shows" you things by holding them up in your direction. "See?? Look at my toy!!"
-His pincer grasp is getting better. He picks things up between his thumb and forefinger, it's just not necessarily the tip of his forefinger. He could still make improvement in this area. But he doesn't get a ton of chance to practice, and was only presented with the opportunity about a month ago, so I can't really blame him.
-He's still exclusively breastfed (no bottles or cups) except for a dinner of solids, and the occasional snack or taste of food during the day. Most days he doesn't need anything until dinner, though.
-He nurses usually every 2 hours during the day. More right now, since I've trying to build my milk supply back up after having the flu for 4 days.
-He is 100% swaddle free, and has been since a few days after he turned 8 months.
-He sleeps very well at night, usually about 11 hours total. He usually starts nursing to sleep at 7:15, although if he doesn't fall asleep I can put him in bed awake and he'll only cry for about 30 seconds before going to sleep. He sleeps 9 to 11 hours straight (usually around 10 hours), then nurses and goes back to sleep for a bit. If he wakes up before 4, I don't get him up to nurse, because I have found that he will STILL wake up sometime in the 4-5:30 range even if I nurse him at 3:45. He falls back asleep very well if he wakes up in the middle of the night. In the morning he has no consistent wake up time, but he usually does have a period of wakefulness in the 6-7am range, we don't turn on the lights or get him out of his crib until 7am, so if he wakes closer to 6 he often falls back asleep for a bit.
-Naps are still crap. A usual day has three 30 minute naps. We started a half-hearted attempt at nap training, but I'm not very consistent. It's bad, I know.
-I think he may need to go down to 2 naps a day, because I'm finding it harder and harder to get him to fall asleep before the 3 hour mark. The problem is that two half hour naps a day is not enough for any child.
-He still uses a soother every time I rock him to sleep, but if he goes to sleep on his own he spits it out (because of crying) and doesn't put it back in. So he only needs it if I'm rocking him.
-He had his fourth haircut today.
-He had his 4th illness this past week, a stomach bug, but was over it very quickly thanks to breastfeeding. No such luck for me.
-He's very capable, physically. He started full-time hands-and-knees crawling and pulling up 2 months ago, so you can imagine how good he is at it now. He's a great climber, too.
-He's getting better at cruising, but isn't amazing at it.
-He waves!
-He's back to social coughing again - A LOT. He was doing it way back at around 5 months, but my Dad got him back into it a few weeks ago when he copied him every time he coughed. He thinks it's hilarious.
-He's very talkative and babbles incessantly, but hasn't connected any words with any actual objects yet. As far as we can tell, the only word he truly understands is "Up."
-This month he started making an adorable scrunchy face. He does it often, when he's smiling, whining, whenever. It's so cute.
-When we click our tongues he copies us, and thinks it's the greatest.
-He never goes in his jumperoo or exersaucer. He prefers to play with the toys while standing next to it. Whatever!
-He loves to play peekabo in the mirror, and to watch you make faces at him in the mirror. This isn't new (he's loved the mirror for a long time), but he's just really really enjoying it this month.
-He still enjoys his jolly jumper, but we don't put him in it very often. He jumps way too high and hard, and the spring slams shut really hard and he continues to fly past the point where he should have stopped. It's not dangerous or anything, but sometimes he doesn't like the jolting he gets when that happens.
-He has separation and stranger anxiety, but it's not too bad at the moment. It seems like it's really bad when he's teething.
-Bathtime hasn't been tons of fun this month. Some days he hates the actual bath (for whatever reason), some days he's fine. But everyday is a huge struggle getting him undressed, giving him his vitamin D, getting him dried off, lotioning him (his skin has very dry spots, so he needs to lotion) desitin-ing his bum, diapering him, and getting him dressed again. He will flip over and bear crawl away so fast (he doesn't like the cold ceramic tile, so he bear crawls... lol). And he's so strong now, there's really nothing we can do about it. Justin pretty much has to pin down his upper body while I deal with the diaper. After that I can dress him as he's sitting and standing. But getting the diaper on is HARD.
~~~~~~~~~~
This past month has had ups and downs. Noah reached his peak of separation anxiety this month, and I had many days (some entire weeks) where he was literally glued to me. I couldn't even stand up without him freaking out. As a SAHM, this gets very tiring. I couldn't get anything done, my house was a mess, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom without bringing him with me. Since he hardly naps, the only time I wasn't concentrating on him was at night when he was sleeping. It got tough after several long days.
I may have connected increased separation anxiety with active teething, though. It seems to get worse when he's actually cutting a tooth, and he cut 4 teeth in the past month, including his two front teeth (which are rather large, and I assume painful to cut). Unfortunately none of his teeth cut at the same time, so it meant a lot of painful days for him.
Noah has also reached the lowest of valleys in napping habits. 3 naps a day, all less than 30 minutes. This is frustrating, and I haven't been very good about nap training. There are several reasons for this. One, I don't enjoy listening to him cry, and oh-boy does he cry when I nap train. Two, for the past couple of weeks (since I decided to nap train) I've had a very hard time figuring out his optimal awake time, which is key if I'm not "putting" him to sleep. He's seemed to need awake times of at least 3 hours, but I can't fit 3 hour awake times plus 3 half hour naps PLUS the time it takes for him to fall asleep on his own into our day (3 naps means he has 4 awake times). It seems to be a time of transition, so maybe my efforts will go better if I cut him down to 2 naps a day.
Furthermore, we both got sick again this month with the stomach flu. I was laid up for 4 days, and today, day 6, I'm still not feeling great. Being a nursing mom with the stomach flu really sucks.
There have also been good times this month. Like when I connected the separation anxiety/crankiness with teething and was able to give him Motrin to avoid him being miserable all day long. Like the seriously improved night time sleep that has given me my evenings and nights back - uninterrupted! I've also been sleeping pretty good for the most part. Very few nights do I lie awake for hours on end, although I do still wake up upwards of 6 times a night - and this is medicated sleep, people. That's how bad a sleeper I am. But not being rudely awakened by a crying baby 10 times a night is a joy that every mother should experience. And that being your NORMAL? It's fantastic.
There have also been GREAT times this past month. The hugs and kisses and cuddles from my wonderful son. The fun games of copy cat that make him smile sooo big. Chasing after his skinny little naked body as he bear crawls out of the bathroom before bathtime so he can go out and happily play with his toys and stand naked at his baby gate. Seeing him relax on Daddy's lap in the rocking chair by the front window, watching the snow. Him really being so happy and well behaved after the teething was over. Being complimented over and over on what a cute, cheerful kid he is. Listening to Christmas music, and singing Silent Night to Noah before he goes to sleep. Just enjoying this wonderful time of the year and being sooooooo thankful that our miracle baby is here to share it with us.
I just can't even put into words how incredibly in love I am with Noah. He is the perfect baby for us, the only baby for us. I honestly can't imagine how empty our lives would be if he wasn't here. And all the challenges and tiring days don't for a second make me wish anything was different. He completes my life. I had this big hole, and now it's overflowing because of this most perfect child.
I am so full of thankfulness and love, I feel like my heart could burst. I freakin' LOVE my kid, and I love my life, and I can't imagine things being any different. THANK YOU God, for blessing us with Noah.
(PS - did you know a post can only have at most 20 labels, and those labels can only have a maximum of 200 characters? I only know since I surpassed that and needed to delete some of my labels on this post. What is the purpose of that limit? Let people label as much as they want!!)
Friday, December 17, 2010
Not Ready for It
The past 4 days have shown me that I'm not really ready to be pregnant again.
I forgot how much 24/7 sickness (I didn't have just "morning" sickness) SUCKS. Last time I was pregnant, the height of my illness was during summer vacation (although I still experienced daily nausea until sometime in the second half of my pregnancy). So I literally spent all of August in bed. I went nowhere and did nothing.
This wouldn't dissuade me from giving it another go right now if I didn't currently HAVE a baby. And a nursing baby, at that. The past 4 days have been awful with the intense nausea and still having to nurse every 2 hours and rock him to sleep. Thankfully Noah has been an angel, and this didn't coincide with any teething to create more misery. But I've felt very bad for him that I've been so unavailable. Justin has been amazing with Noah when he's been home, but he can't be here all the time, or even half the time. Plus, he is a terrible housekeeper. My house is a disaster zone, but I think he's just waiting for me to be better and then it will get clean. Men.
On Wednesday, I hadn't really experienced the runs yet, and the constant nausea (and the fact that it seemed like my stomach wasn't emptying even though I was starving and had barely eaten anything all day) felt eerily similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Noah. I was 99% sure I wasn't pregnant, but I decided to use an OPK (I've got like 30 of them lying around, but only one pregnancy test) to see if it was positive, since OPKs detect HCG.
(Sidenote: One of the indicators that I had fertility issues was that my LH was always high, and my OPKs were constantly positive or nearly positive. The only time this wasn't an issue was when I was on the right cocktail of drugs and injections that made me actually ovulate. I forgot to mention in my Baby #2? post that I have peed on about 5 OPKs on various days in the past couple of months, and they have all been positive, even though I am clearly not ovulating.. I've been really disappointed about this, because I was hoping that my fertility issues were due in large part to stress, and that being pregnant, giving birth, and nursing would all make my body "get it" and start working properly. Then we'd only have MFI to contend with. No such luck.)
The OPK was positive. Very positive. Not just two lines the same colour, which is what I normally have. The test line was clearly darker, which is what happened at 12DPO the cycle I got pregnant with Noah.
I was still fairly certain I wasn't pregnant, but I had to know, so I used my only HPT. It was negative, but that's not the point here. The point is that I was actually kind of scared that it might be positive.
Justin dared to get annoyed at me when I admitted that I was afraid of that outcome. I'm ignoring that, because men can be idiots and they have no idea what being pregnant is like, nor do they know what being a nursing mother is like, so they can't even BEGIN to imagine what being a pregnant, nursing mother would be like.
It's not just "being pregnant" that scared me, nor the thought of having a newborn when Noah would only be 18 months old. It's the thought of the here and now. The constant nausea while trying to be a full time nursing mother. The thought of possibly having to cut short the way I want to do things with Noah because I'm pregnant and then another baby will be here. I'm just not ready to handle that. Or rather, I'm not ready to chose to handle that. If it happened, I would of course handle it and would be grateful for a miracle pregnancy, even if it did put my current life in shambles.
I don't think I'm going to be ready to be pregnant again until Noah is on a mostly solid diet (right now he only has one meal of solids a day) and less dependent on me and me alone. And I've said before, I don't want to force that. So it'll probably be awhile.
I forgot how much 24/7 sickness (I didn't have just "morning" sickness) SUCKS. Last time I was pregnant, the height of my illness was during summer vacation (although I still experienced daily nausea until sometime in the second half of my pregnancy). So I literally spent all of August in bed. I went nowhere and did nothing.
This wouldn't dissuade me from giving it another go right now if I didn't currently HAVE a baby. And a nursing baby, at that. The past 4 days have been awful with the intense nausea and still having to nurse every 2 hours and rock him to sleep. Thankfully Noah has been an angel, and this didn't coincide with any teething to create more misery. But I've felt very bad for him that I've been so unavailable. Justin has been amazing with Noah when he's been home, but he can't be here all the time, or even half the time. Plus, he is a terrible housekeeper. My house is a disaster zone, but I think he's just waiting for me to be better and then it will get clean. Men.
On Wednesday, I hadn't really experienced the runs yet, and the constant nausea (and the fact that it seemed like my stomach wasn't emptying even though I was starving and had barely eaten anything all day) felt eerily similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Noah. I was 99% sure I wasn't pregnant, but I decided to use an OPK (I've got like 30 of them lying around, but only one pregnancy test) to see if it was positive, since OPKs detect HCG.
(Sidenote: One of the indicators that I had fertility issues was that my LH was always high, and my OPKs were constantly positive or nearly positive. The only time this wasn't an issue was when I was on the right cocktail of drugs and injections that made me actually ovulate. I forgot to mention in my Baby #2? post that I have peed on about 5 OPKs on various days in the past couple of months, and they have all been positive, even though I am clearly not ovulating.. I've been really disappointed about this, because I was hoping that my fertility issues were due in large part to stress, and that being pregnant, giving birth, and nursing would all make my body "get it" and start working properly. Then we'd only have MFI to contend with. No such luck.)
The OPK was positive. Very positive. Not just two lines the same colour, which is what I normally have. The test line was clearly darker, which is what happened at 12DPO the cycle I got pregnant with Noah.
I was still fairly certain I wasn't pregnant, but I had to know, so I used my only HPT. It was negative, but that's not the point here. The point is that I was actually kind of scared that it might be positive.
Justin dared to get annoyed at me when I admitted that I was afraid of that outcome. I'm ignoring that, because men can be idiots and they have no idea what being pregnant is like, nor do they know what being a nursing mother is like, so they can't even BEGIN to imagine what being a pregnant, nursing mother would be like.
It's not just "being pregnant" that scared me, nor the thought of having a newborn when Noah would only be 18 months old. It's the thought of the here and now. The constant nausea while trying to be a full time nursing mother. The thought of possibly having to cut short the way I want to do things with Noah because I'm pregnant and then another baby will be here. I'm just not ready to handle that. Or rather, I'm not ready to chose to handle that. If it happened, I would of course handle it and would be grateful for a miracle pregnancy, even if it did put my current life in shambles.
I don't think I'm going to be ready to be pregnant again until Noah is on a mostly solid diet (right now he only has one meal of solids a day) and less dependent on me and me alone. And I've said before, I don't want to force that. So it'll probably be awhile.
The Flu Chased Away the Milk
Our county's state of emergency lasted into Wednesday as the military continued to help rescue stranded motorists with their helicopters. Helicopter and snow mobile were pretty much the only way to get around, as you would run into 6 foot snow drifts out of nowhere. On Wednesday the schools in our zone were closed again. And thank GOODNESS, because I really needed my husband home.
On Tuesday afternoon I got sick with the stomach flu. It started with my skin hurting and a general feeling of ickiness. Tuesday night I was awake the majority of the night battling nausea, despite taking large doses of anti-nauseants. Wednesday was awful, but thankfully Justin was home all day to do everything for Noah except nurse him and put him to sleep for naps and nighttime (he is incapable of transferring Noah into his crib, and I pretty much feel like unless I'm dead this falls on my shoulders).
Unfortunately, on Thursday he had to go back to work. I spent the day lying on the floor in the living room while Noah played. I couldn't stomach anything, and I had the runs as badly as I had when I took those prescription preparation laxatives before my colonoscopy. Most of you have probably never had a colonoscopy, and thus never experienced that, but it is basically peeing out of your you-know-what. Just a clear, steady stream of liquid. Everything I drank went right through me. I don't think I absorbed any liquid all day.
Today, Friday, has been better, although I still had really bad runs this morning. I'm still very weak, and showering is a major undertaking, but I don't feel nearly as nauseous as I have the past few days. I'm able to stomach more food (although still not alot). But a problem has arisen as a result of this illess:
Where the heck is my milk supply???
Seriously, where is it? I have never had problems with undersupply before. I have had oversupply problems, but never undersupply. But this illness kicked the CRAP out of me and for the past few days my milk supply has been dwindling. By noon today my boobs were already tiny little deflated bags. That usually doesn't happen until Noah goes to bed.
Noah was sick on Tuesday. He puked up like 6 ounces of milk in the morning, and pooped 8 times in 24 hours. He usually poops a hard little nugget once every 4 or 5 days, so 8 times in 24 hours is NOT like him. And his poops were very watery, yellow, and mucousy. Also not like him. (Alright, writing about his poops is making me nauseous again. Moving on...) He also got a huge rash on his lower back. It was the size of my hand, and bright solid red. It has since turned into more separated bumps, but at the beginning it was just a solid, bright red splotch.
He ate a little less on Tuesday because he was not feeling well. So on Wednesday I thought my slightly decreased supply might be because of that (my boobs have always responded very quickly to changes in his eating habits). But by Thursday I knew that was not the case. And today... seriously, where is my milk???
I learned from Dr. Google that your milk supply can be temporarily affected when you're ill. And seeing as I've hardly eaten anything since noon on Tuesday, I've lost about 4 pounds in 36 hours, and all my fluids were going right through me, I would expect a decrease. But I didn't expect this much of a decrease.
I'm nursing Noah about every hour and a half, up from every 2 hours (frequency of nursing is the best thing for increasing milk supply). I'm drinking as much as I can, and I've been eating as much as I can, which still isn't a lot, because I know I obviously need it to make milk. If things aren't improved tomorrow I'll probably dig into my stash of Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle for the very first time since Noah was born.
I'm finding this all rather annoying.
On Tuesday afternoon I got sick with the stomach flu. It started with my skin hurting and a general feeling of ickiness. Tuesday night I was awake the majority of the night battling nausea, despite taking large doses of anti-nauseants. Wednesday was awful, but thankfully Justin was home all day to do everything for Noah except nurse him and put him to sleep for naps and nighttime (he is incapable of transferring Noah into his crib, and I pretty much feel like unless I'm dead this falls on my shoulders).
Unfortunately, on Thursday he had to go back to work. I spent the day lying on the floor in the living room while Noah played. I couldn't stomach anything, and I had the runs as badly as I had when I took those prescription preparation laxatives before my colonoscopy. Most of you have probably never had a colonoscopy, and thus never experienced that, but it is basically peeing out of your you-know-what. Just a clear, steady stream of liquid. Everything I drank went right through me. I don't think I absorbed any liquid all day.
Today, Friday, has been better, although I still had really bad runs this morning. I'm still very weak, and showering is a major undertaking, but I don't feel nearly as nauseous as I have the past few days. I'm able to stomach more food (although still not alot). But a problem has arisen as a result of this illess:
Where the heck is my milk supply???
Seriously, where is it? I have never had problems with undersupply before. I have had oversupply problems, but never undersupply. But this illness kicked the CRAP out of me and for the past few days my milk supply has been dwindling. By noon today my boobs were already tiny little deflated bags. That usually doesn't happen until Noah goes to bed.
Noah was sick on Tuesday. He puked up like 6 ounces of milk in the morning, and pooped 8 times in 24 hours. He usually poops a hard little nugget once every 4 or 5 days, so 8 times in 24 hours is NOT like him. And his poops were very watery, yellow, and mucousy. Also not like him. (Alright, writing about his poops is making me nauseous again. Moving on...) He also got a huge rash on his lower back. It was the size of my hand, and bright solid red. It has since turned into more separated bumps, but at the beginning it was just a solid, bright red splotch.
He ate a little less on Tuesday because he was not feeling well. So on Wednesday I thought my slightly decreased supply might be because of that (my boobs have always responded very quickly to changes in his eating habits). But by Thursday I knew that was not the case. And today... seriously, where is my milk???
I learned from Dr. Google that your milk supply can be temporarily affected when you're ill. And seeing as I've hardly eaten anything since noon on Tuesday, I've lost about 4 pounds in 36 hours, and all my fluids were going right through me, I would expect a decrease. But I didn't expect this much of a decrease.
I'm nursing Noah about every hour and a half, up from every 2 hours (frequency of nursing is the best thing for increasing milk supply). I'm drinking as much as I can, and I've been eating as much as I can, which still isn't a lot, because I know I obviously need it to make milk. If things aren't improved tomorrow I'll probably dig into my stash of Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle for the very first time since Noah was born.
I'm finding this all rather annoying.
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