Three Months Old

Stats: At 12 weeks old, Matilda weighed 9 pounds 13 ounces (5th percentile).  She is filling out her 3 months clothes nicely.

Sleep: Matilda still only sleeps in her bouncer.  During the past week she's started napping in her room during the day, but she still sleeps in our room at night because it is easier for us.  She's slept through the night twice now (9.5 and 10.5 hours), although she usually wakes 2-3 times during the night.  Six to seven hour stretches aren't uncommon these days.

Eat: After 7 days of being back to work full-time, Matilda still refuses bottles.  Before you start offering suggestions of how to fix this, let me answer a few commonly asked questions.

Have you tried other bottles or nipples? Yes of course.  We refer to a cabinet in our kitchen as the bottle graveyard given how many we have tried and that have failed.

Oh ok.  But have you tried xyz bottle?  It is suppose to resemble the breast and mimic breastfeeding.  I'm guessing you haven't shopped for bottles lately, because nearly every bottle on the market claims to resemble the breast and mimic breastfeeding.  The bottle makers obviously didn't have Matilda in their product studies because she would have loudly explained how their bottles are nothing like the breast and "OMG get this bottle out of my face and give me a dang boob!"

Did you introduce the bottle before you went back to work? Yes, we've been trying to get her to take bottle since her first month.  We tried nearly everyday for weeks prior to me going back.

But did you have someone else try to give her the bottle?  I've heard if the mom is around the baby can smell milk and will only want to breastfeed.  I left the house for hours at a time while Jason tried to give her the bottle.

Have you tried different positions? Jason has walked around the house with her facing out, bounced on a bouncy ball, had her in her bouncer facing him, had her in the stroller, tried outside and inside, swaddled and not swaddled, and so forth.  Would you like him to pat his belly and rub his head while giving the bottle too?

What about the temperature of the milk?  Freshly pumped, cold, warmed, doesn't matter.

You could always try different methods of feeding.  What about cup feeding, syringe feeding, or spoon feeding?  Tried them all with no success. 

So, just to be clear, how does Matilda feel about bottles?

We'll continue trying to get her to eat from the bottle next week, but I imagine I'll be heading home on my lunch breaks to feed her for the foreseeable future.

Play/ Milestones: Matilda has perfected her smile this month.  At first she would only smile during diaper changes, but now we get spontaneous smiles all the time.

A few weeks ago she started wanting to sit up (with us supporting her).  Her neck strength is still a bit weak, so she bobbles around a lot.  We've really stepped up tummy time during the day.  She really hated it for the first two months, so we didn't force it, but now that she wants to sit up and look out all the time, she needs to improve her neck strength.  She even wants to face outward in the Bjorn carrier and sit up in her stroller (without the car seat attachment).

This month she has discovered her hands and loves to have them in her mouth.  She has also started noticing toys and book pages, and we're working on her grabbing things.  She can grab things if you set them on her, but she is still learning to reach out for them.  I sewed her a taggy blanket to help with this, which she seems to enjoy.

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update:  After four weeks in the rhino cruiser brace, she had a ultrasound to see if her leg was still dislocated.  Unfortunately it is.  She is set to have a closed reduction surgery once she's four months old next month.  The surgeon will cut a tendon and try to pop her bone into place.  If he feels it pop into place, he will put her in a spica cast and do an MRI to make sure it is in the right position and blood flow is good.  If he doesn't feel it pop in place, he won't do anything and she'll have an open reduction surgery when she is eight months old.  After whichever surgery is successful, she will be in the spica cast for 3 to 3.5 months, followed by a few more months in the rhino cruiser.  This isn't what we hoped for, but we're just happy that hip dysplasia is fixable. 

Weekend at the Lake

This weekend we headed to Sam Rayburn Lake to spend a few days at Ferryn and Steve's cabin.  It was a lot of fun and Matilda had a ton of firsts.  First time outside the city, first long car trip, first time to sleep through the night (9.5 hours), and first time in a body of water. 

Prior to the trip, we bought a new carseat because her brace was making her uncomfortable in her Chicco Keyfit.  The new carseat (a Britax Marathon) seemed to work because she did great in the car.  We couldn't believe it when she slept through the first night.  The longest stretch she had slept so far was 6 hours, so 9.5 hours was a huge surprise!  She loved getting in the lake, and she was even happier getting a bath afterwards.  She usually only gets bathed every 3 days (because she's supposed to have limited time outside of her brace) so getting in the water twice in one day was wonderful in her book. 

The hardest part of the trip was her only being awake for about an hour of the time.  When the first third of her awake time is spent changing her diaper and feeding her and the last third is spent soothing her back to sleep, it leaves limited time to do anything fun with her. 

After a fun day at the lake, the baby and dog were exhausted.

 

Thanks Ferryn and Steve for having us!!

Two Months Old

Stats: At two months old, Matilda weighs 8 pounds 12 ounces (3rd percentile), is 20.75 inches long (2nd percentile), and has a head circumference of 14.75 inches (27th percentile).  She moved up from a newborn to size 1 diaper, and we now have her in 0-3 months clothes.

Sleep: Matilda only wants to sleep in her bouncer these days, so it moves with us from the living room during the day to our room at night.  While her naps are sporadic during the day and can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours long, she usually gives us a good 4-5 hour stretch at the beginning of night followed by shorter 1-3 hour stretches.  She usually goes down at 6 pm and wakes up around 6 am. 

Eat: She eats in short 5-10 increments every 1.5-2 hours.  We've had some issues with her fussing during and after feedings, so we're going to start her on acid-reflux medicine to see if it helps.  She still doesn't want to eat from the bottle, even though we've now tried 5 or so different bottles and nipples. 

Play/ Milestones:  Around seven weeks old Matilda became much more pleasant.  She has started noticing toys and random household objects (light fixtures, curtains, pictures, etc.), started cooing, and giving us glimpses of social smiles.  Her best part of the day is when she first wakes up around 6 am, so we try to get some nice play time in before she goes down for a nap. 

When Matilda does start fussing, we still have to do a lot of rocking, jiggling, bouncing, etc. to try to get her calm.  We did realize that one of her cries actually means that she doesn't want to cuddle and wants to be put down in her bouncer.  We've also found that she loves the band Wild Belle, so if all else fails, we can put that album on and she will usually relax. 

We've also tried our hand at baby-wearing this month and have exclusively switched to cloth diapers which has been nice. 

 

The past few weeks we've tried to get out of the house a bit more.  In addition to my weekly mom's group, she's gone to a Ska-B-Q (a ska band and Bar-B-Q), ran errands with us, and watched her dad run a 5k and go to breakfast afterwards.  The second picture below was at her two month checkup.  She had two vaccinations, and only had a quick cry from the shot.  After all she's been though with her leg issues, the shot was a breeze.

  

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update:  It's been a rough month as far as her leg goes.  For the MRI, Matilda couldn't eat for 8 hours beforehand, so it was a pretty terrible day.  They tried to first do the MRI without anesthesia, but because she hadn't eaten all day she screamed the entire time and moved too much.  They finally sedated her to get a good scan.  The EMG and nerve conduction study were pretty miserable as well.  They literally stuck her with needles and zapped her with electrodes to test her muscles and nerves.  The good news is that her spine, muscles, and nerves all looked good. 

The MRI did show that her hip was fully dislocated though.  Since she finally started moving her left leg, the orthopedic surgeon thinks that she just had femoral nerve palsy which usually resolves on its own.  He decided to put her in a different hip abduction brace (the Rhino Cruiser), so hopefully she doesn't get the femoral nerve palsy again.  The first 24 hours in the brace were absolutely horrible.  She cried and screamed in pain, and we finally gave her Tylenol to help. The surgeon wants to do an ultrasound after four weeks in the brace.  If the hip isn't in place, then he will probably want to do surgery.  Since her leg really needs to stay in the brace as much as possible (although we have to remove it for diaper changes and baths), we are holding off on physical therapy for now. 

We're trying to make the brace as pleasant of an experience as possible.  We even decorated it with stickers to make it happier looking.  We really, really hope it works because we don't want Matilda to have to be in a spica cast for months.  As terrible as the brace is, I can only imagine how much worse the cast is. 

The ultrasound and follow-up appointment are scheduled for the 1st of July, so we'd appreciate lots of prayers in the meantime.

One Month Old

Stats:  At three weeks old, Matilda weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce (16th percentile), was 20 inches long (29th percentile), with a head circumference of 13.5 inches (21st percentile).

Sleep:  Still very sporadic.  She still sleeps in 1-3 hour increments for anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day.  It takes a bit more effort to get her to go down these days.  Usually it involves a lot of jiggling, rocking, bouncing, etc. for her to fall asleep.  She prefers to sleep on mom or in the bed, but we're trying to keep her in the bouncer or Pack N Play as much as possible.

Eat:  This girl loves to eat.  She gets so excited when it's time to nurse.  She's becoming a more efficient eater, nursing for about 2.5 to 3.5 hours a day.  We've tried introducing the bottle over the past week, but she's not a fan.  She'll have to work on this over the next few weeks so she's ready for me to go back to work.

Play/ Milestones: Matilda is a squirmer and loves to lift up her head and move it back and forth when you're holding her.  She's pretty strong and has good neck control.  She has some quiet awake time where she'll look around, but she can be pretty fussy and high need when she doesn't know what she wants.  She likes to be walked around and talked to.  I'm looking forward to when she'll be entertained by toys and do more than eat, sleep, poop, and cry. 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update:  After being in the harness for two weeks, we had a checkup with the orthopedic surgeon.  We expressed concerns that it didn't seem like she had been moving her left leg much, so he said it would be best if we discontinued use of the harness for awhile and met with a neurologist to assess possible nerve damage.  Matilda can move her ankle and toes, but she doesn't extend her leg at all.  We had a quick x-ray done to rule out broken bones.  The neurologist thinks that the leg probably has nerve damage, and has ordered appointments for an MRI of the leg/ hip area and EMG to diagnose the issue.  If those tests don't confirm the nerve damage, then we'll have to move on to an MRI of the brain to see if brain damage is causing the paralysis.  The neurologist didn't think that brain damage is causing the issue since Matilda seems to have regular use of the rest of the left side of her body.

In the meantime, we're suppose to start going to physical therapy twice a week.  It's a bit complicated since the treatment for nerve damage is to continue to move the leg, and the treatment for hip dysplasia is to keep the leg fixed in the froggy position. 

Since the issues aren't completely diagnosed yet, our pediatrician told us to just focus on things we can control at this point, like her eating and sleeping habits.  However, it's still hard not to worry about her leg and everything that we might be faced with (months of physical therapy, all the diagnostic tests, possible surgeries, harness/ casts, etc.)  I know there are much worse conditions out there, but it still sucks that she's going through this.  At this point, all we can do is hope for the best and have trust that it will all work out.

One Week Old

Matilda survived her first week!  Hooray!  And so did her parents!  An even bigger hooray!

Here's a little summary from Matilda's first week...

Stats:  As far as weight, I think the lowest Matilda got in the hospital was 5 lbs 13 oz.  By her first pediatrician appointment at 5 days old, she was already back up to 6 lbs flat - only 1 oz lower than her birth weight.  The pediatrician was impressed with her weight gain and the fact that she already had the yellow seedy bowel movements that indicated that my milk had already come in.  No change in height yet.

Sleep:  Matilda usually sleeps in 1-3 hour increments for about 14 hours a day.  During the day she usually naps in her bouncer and at night she sleeps in a Pack N Play bassinet next to our bed.  Nights are a bit difficult as we are still getting used to getting up to feed her and change her diaper and then fall back to sleep quickly.  We're trying to sneak in naps during the day while she sleeps, but the age old advice of "sleep when the baby sleeps" is easier said than done. 

It seems like everyday she is getting more and more alert during her time awake, which has been fun.

Eat:  She eats on average about 15 times a day for 20 minutes each feeding session.  If you do the math, that's 5 hours a day or 35 hours a week.  Jeez louise, that's almost a full time job. 

Breastfeeding has proven to be difficult.  After dealing with painful latch issues in the hospital, I thought things were going better once we got home.  But, Matilda's started to have some bad gas that keeps her from wanting to feed even though she's hungry.  I think it's being caused by a forceful letdown on one side, so we've read to just burp her more often and make sure that she is sitting somewhat upright while nursing.  I can totally understand why so many women give up on nursing during the first few weeks.  It's hard work!  I'm just hoping that once we have a few weeks under our belts, it will get easier.

Play/ Milestones:  It's been such a busy week!  Matilda's met her extended family, taken her first baths (2 so far), gotten read her first books, had her first pediatrician appointment, and taken her first walk to the park. 

Hip Dysplasia Update: She had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this past Tuesday to assess her hip dysplasia.  We weren't expecting for her to be put in her harness for a few more weeks, but she actually got put into it the same day.  In four weeks she'll have an ultrasound that will tell us more about how severe her condition is.  The absolute minimum amount of time in the harness would be 8 weeks, although since her left hip is full dislocatable, I expect that it will be much longer. 

The harness doesn't really seem to bother her right now.  It's made diaper changes a bit more difficult as well as clothing options.  For now, we've just been putting gowns over the harness.  She should be able to wear onesies under the harness as well, but we haven't attempted to go that route yet since it seems a bit difficult. 

Let's hope for a quick and easy journey to healthy hips!

In some ways, this week has flown by and in other ways, it's been one of the longest weeks of my life.  Seriously, last Wednesday seems so far away.  It's been really great, but really hard at the same time.  There is so much we have yet to learn, but I guess that's how parenting is.  Just do your best and get through one day at a time.

Matilda's Birth Story

My first post as a parent!  Figured I'd better get this story in writing before the exhaustion of having a newborn really sets in.  (It's already pretty engraved after just four short days.)  This is going to be a long post, but I want to make sure I remember it.  While our plans for a natural birth didn't pan out, it was still a good birth experience. 

Last Wednesday we headed to Texas Children's Women for Pavilion around 8:45 am.  Our C-section was scheduled for 10:45 and we had to arrive a couple hours early for prep.  They were running a bit late, but eventually I was taken to a prep room where I dressed in a hospital gown, the incision area was cleaned and prepped, and they started monitoring my and the babies vitals.  They hooked me up to a lot of wires and contraptions (blood pressure cuff, IV for fluids, cuffs for my legs to prevent blood clots, etc.) and eventually the anesthesiologists came in and went over a few things about the meds.  Luckily, I was able to see both sets of our parents before they wheeled me off to the operating room.  I would say being in the prep room was probably the most stressful part of the day.  We were just anxious to get the process started and didn't want to have to sit around and wait.

Once the doctor arrived, I was taken to the operating room by myself where the anesthesiologists inserted the epidural/ spinal block combo and started me on the anesthesia and pain meds.  Before the surgery started, the doctor asked what type of music I liked and started playing the Alt J station on Pandora.  The music was one of the best parts of the surgery experience.  It really helped me calm down and focus on something other than my nerves and the technical stuff going on in the room. 

Once I was nice a numb and the surgery sheet went up (so I couldn't watch the surgery), Jason was brought back into the room.  (He had dressed in scrubs while he was waiting for my epidural to be put in.)  The midwife also arrived shortly before the surgery.  While her original plan was to just provide us emotional support and help with the baby, the doctor actually needed her to scrub in and help with the surgery.

From here, the surgery went pretty quickly.  Jason was allowed to watch the surgery from my side of the sheet as long as he promised not to pass out.  They gave me an option to watch the surgery from a TV screen, but I declined.  When the surgery started, I felt pulling and tugging, but no pain, and was anxious to have little Matilda pulled out.  After just a few minutes, the doctor said, "We have a butt!"  Then she said, "She's out.  She's just a little nugget."  Matilda was pulled out butt first, quickly wiped off, and lifted over the screen for us to see her.  I just remember thinking, "thank God she's ok," (since I had had concerned with her being tangled in her cord - a possible reason for being breech) and "who does this baby look like?"  Ha.  I don't know why I was so concerned with that, but it was like I was trying to recognize the little girl that I had been getting to know over the past 9 months.

They took Matilda over to a bassinet to the left of me where they checked her vitals really quickly.  Jason was over there talking to her and holding her hand and I was able to watch everything going on from a TV screen above the operating table.  I asked them to delay most of the newborn procedures, so we could start skin to skin pretty quickly.  They brought her over to me and laid her on my chest while the doctor finished putting me back together.  We had been told that most newborns won't want to feed for the first 30-45 minutes as they adapt to their surroundings, but this little girl came out ready to eat!  She immediately started showing hunger cues (sticking out her tongue, sucking on her hands, rooting around) so we awkwardly tried to breastfeed while I was on the operating table. 

 

After a little while of skin to skin and breastfeeding, the nurse asked if she could finish the newborn procedures, so she was taken back to the bassinet where she was weighed, measured, and given her newborn shots/ ointment.  Jason was over there with her during everything and I got to watch it on the TV screen.  She weighed 6 lbs 1 oz and was 18.5 inches long.  A little nugget indeed! 

After the surgery was finished, Matilda and I were rolled to a recovery room on a different floor for a couple hours of monitoring.  Our parents and Jason's grandma were able to come in and meet Matilda at this point which was nice.  We also had Amanda, our birth class instructor, come and visit us and help us get breastfeeding off to a good start.  I was so happy she was able to come up and help.  We were then taken to our final room on the 14th floor where Jason and I just tried to enjoy our baby girl for the remainder of the night. 

 

The remainder of our hospital stay was a blur of nurses and doctors coming and checking our vitals, visitors coming to ooo and aww over the baby, and breastfeeding/ changing diapers.  Other than a couple of hours Friday evening when the pain caught up to me, recovery has gone well. 

Matilda is a happy, healthy, sweet baby.  However, she has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia in her left leg.  We knew that this would be a possibility when we were told she was breech, so we had already done a little research on this issue.  We'll see the pediatrician on Monday, and we'll likely have to follow up with specialists and ultrasounds, but she'll likely have to start wearing a Pavlik harness starting in a few weeks.  She'll probably be in it for a few months.  Luckily, hip dysplasia usually does not cause pain in infants and as long as it is caught and treated early, it shouldn't cause her any issues with walking later in life. 

We are so glad to have our baby girl home.

 

39 Weeks

How far along: 39 weeks tomorrow. 

 

Symptoms: A big uncomfortable baby in my belly.  Not exactly a symptom, but dang it can be uncomfortable when she punches, kicks, and moves these days.  Her breech position is especially crazy... she has one leg up and one leg down, so I get kicks and stretches all over the place. 

 

Weight gain: 2.5 pounds during the last three weeks and 23.5 pounds overall.

 

Fetal Movement: Always.  There was one day that Jason and I thought she was trying to flip into a heads down position.  (That or trying to claw her way out of the top of my belly.)  She was going crazy in there.  Arms and legs everywhere.  She still gets hiccups every few hours as well. 

 

Prenatal care: Even though I'm scheduled for a C-section with a doctor in the practice, I've continued my weekly appointments with the midwives.  They midwives have been great so far.  My last three visits have mostly consisted of checking my weight, urine, fundal growth, and position of the baby, as well as answering any questions and discussing any concerns we've had about her breech position and the C-section.  Today I had my pre-op consultation with the anesthesiologists.  Looks like we're all set for the operation.

 

Nesting: Just continued putting up our shower gifts and making sure the house is nice and tidy for when we bring her home.

 

Worries: While we've warmed up to the idea of a C-section, I'm still nervous for the actual procedure and the recovery afterwards.  Sounds like the immediate recovery from the operation could involve nausea, migraines, and shaking.  I'm not looking forward to feeling hung over in my first moments with our daughter.  But, I'm mostly just hoping that Matilda is healthy and doesn't have any complications at birth.

 

What I'll Miss:  I've really enjoyed being pregnant.  Of course, being nearly symptom free (no nausea, not-so-terrible aches & pains, no significant swelling, etc.) the entire time has helped.  It's been fun having her grow and move in there.  I've also enjoyed not feeling guilty about a little extra ice-cream and sweets here and there. 

Just incase you forgot what I looked like just a few short months ago and how far I've come, here's a reminder:
 

Looking forward to: As much as I've enjoyed the adventure of pregnancy, I'm looking forward to the adventure of parenthood.  I cannot wait to see my daughter for the first time, hug and kiss her, and make sure she is okay. 

On a lesser note, I'm looking forward to all the luxuries of not being pregnant: sleeping on my stomach (eventually), not peeing what feels like every two minutes, sushi, deli meat, beer & wine, greater quantities of caffeine, etc.  After a few weeks of rest, I look forward to working out again and eventually running again. 

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week!