Baby Girl turned 3 weeks old today! I’ve been thinking how she just doesn’t look like a newborn anymore, and realized today why…

I didn’t get a length on her today (though last Monday – 8 days ago – she had grown 3/4″ in 13 days and was 21″ long), but she’s eating and gaining well. From her 7 lbs., 12.8 oz. at birth, she weighed in at 9.5 lbs. on our scales at home today, which measure in 1/2 lb. increments.

The newborn AIO cloth diaper I have hardly wraps around her now, and the newborn prefolds are getting pretty small. At least we’re still in 0-3 month clothes, I’d really be sad if I had to pack up baby clothes already.

We’re seeing the first signs of reflux, but I’m hoping that some digestive enzymes will help with that – spitting up, wet burps, fussiness constantly – it’s so sad… I’ve been on goat’s milk, but did have cheese pizza the other night, along w/ spaghetti sauce Sunday and 4 tacos for dinner last night. Let’s just say she wasn’t happy today!

Nursing is going pretty well. I started block feeding her at 3 days and that really helped w/ overproduction (which leads to reflux). She also woke up a stuffy nose today, poor thing.

I’ll try to get back on later this week w/ a few pics we had taken last week for her 2 week portraits, even if they were two days late.

Little Mommy

What a week it’s been! We started last Tuesday morning in a rush to get out the door since contractions were every couple of minutes, only to arrive at the hospital and have labor stall. Long story short, the birth didn’t go quite like I had hoped, and as a result of a lot of different things, we (I) ended up in the ER early Saturday morning with my blood pressure doubled and my pulse cut in half.

Knowing your pulse drops while sleeping, I was really afraid to go to sleep in fear that I might not wake up – as it was as low as 41.

My normal BP is 100/60, and it had been 80s/ 50s the previous few weeks – so I was even more concerned when my BP was 160s/ 100s. Let’s just throw in some palpitations for good times and you had one bawling Momma late Friday night!

It was a big confusing mess, and no one knew what was happening, they just all kept saying I wouldn’t die from it. Thankfully my BP has lowered itself about 10 points each day and was nearly normal today. My pulse seems content staying in the 50s, which I guess means I’m in good shape and don’t have to exercise??? LOL!

There are many aspects of the past week that still upset me, but I’m so thankful to have such a beautiful little girl to brighten it all up. She’s been hugged, snuggled, and kissed so much that I do believe she knows Mommy well. I’m good with that, because she seemed to favor Daddy a lot more than Mommy in the hospital. 

She loves for me to sing and hum to her, and while sleeping on my shoulder, she’ll wiggle her little nose up into my neck – just to know I’m right there – and then settle back down into her sleep. I’m in love!

It’s late, so I’ll leave you with some 1 week pictures. There might be more added later, so check back…

Little Mommy

For my baby book records – she weighed in at 8 lbs. on our scales tonight, and I’ve lost about 17 lbs. this first week.

We’ve had nearly a full 24 hours w/ baby girl now, and I still can’t get enough of her! Yesterday was a long… day, and I’ve taken it easy today as much as possible before becoming Mommy to 5 little ones at one time tomorrow.

I’m just going to upload a few pictures for those of you waiting patiently, and will get to the birth story later. Thank you for your prayers!

Little Mommy

It’s hard to imagine that at this time tomorrow we will very likely be a family of 7! I mentioned before how I’ve struggled with induction and have been praying for peace. The Lord gave me that peace today when I finally got DH to say what his thoughts were – that induction would be his choice. Funny how that’s all I needed to hear!

(If you’re new here, let’s just say I have quick deliveries, and not only do we live farther away from the hospital this time, we are using a hospital that is farther away than the last one. This makes the 3 to 5 minutes we had before DS3 was born on the wrong side of the hospital should I go into labor at home – meaning, we’d be in the car.)

Braxton Hicks have been more often today, as well as stronger, so it’s clear that she’s getting ready to be born. Overall I’m more hormonal (crying – LOL), tired, and hurting today. While I was hand sanding the walls in one of the rooms we bought paint for last night and couldn’t wait to start painting, today I just didn’t have the energy to hardly think about it. Of course, the rain didn’t make it any easier – that just calls you to take a nap.

So, we will be going in tomorrow mid-day to be induced, unless the Lord decides to start our labor before then. I guess if I had to be specific in my prayers, I’d like to go into labor on the way to the hospital. The bumpy interstate wouldn’t be so bad, the children would be taken care of w/o a rush, and I could avoid any induction meds. That’s what I dislike about the induction – having to have those shot into me and affecting not only me, but the baby.

I’ll also be specifically praying that the doctor would respect my wishes on delayed cord clamping, and that the Lord would provide the most wonderful labor and baby nurses for us!

My devotion this morning was also something I needed right now. I was reading in 2 Corinthians 5, and the first verses jumped out at me in a way I’ve never seen before. They gave me a renewed vision of who and what God really wants me to be, and somehow it’s making the labor easier – knowing God’s will in bringing a new life into this world is what is happening – it’s not about me or DH. This baby was His plan, He created her, and He will cause her to take her first breath at just the right moment.

I’m still in awe, while humbled, that He sees fit to place another child in our care. What a responsibility, a calling, He has given us – to raise one of His precious ones in His ways. I will fail many times in her life, but I have already given her to Him, and know HE will keep her.

My little baby girl, you are much loved and anticipated, and I can’t wait to meet you tomorrow!

Love always,

Mommy

I can’t believe baby boy is already two months old today! Time has been flying, with the selling/ not selling/ who knows what with our home and land. It’s too long of a story to get into in written form, but basically, we have until Friday to close on our home.

The date was supposed to be June 8th or before, but it looks like it’ll go all the way to the 20th, which was the date I wrote in the contract. At this point, I’m okay if God shuts it down and we stay here for the time being. Our children, especially DS1 (5 next week), are upset about leaving their home. This is really hard on me!!

Yes, our home is nearly all boxed up, but God has been closing EVERY single door that we’ve tried to open regarding somewhere else to move to. We do have land, but it’s still without power lines up it or water – the costs were too much to pursue until we KNEW our home was sold.

If we do sell before the end of the week, we only have until the 26th to move out. I never dreamed the closing would be so late, or I would’ve extended the date to get out by. The Lord is teaching me SO many lessons through this whole ordeal, so I am grateful for that. Thankfully, we have family that is gracious enough to house our crew for a few weeks.

I just hate that the whole family has had to ‘suffer’ because of my lessons. I guess they are learning things too. We are really able to show the kids how much we are having to depend on and trust in the Lord! It’s more than a daily prayer for God to guide us where HE wants us to be.

Okay, baby news – it’s getting late. We don’t have exact measurements, but he’s over 12 lbs. now. (Dad got 12 and I got 13 on the scales) He’s wearing 3 to 6 month clothes for the most part now, as well as size 2 diapers. Yes, we’re still using regular diapers for the most part – no time for all the mess of cloth with the zillion things I’m doing! He’s also 24 3/4 to 25 inches long – kinda hard to measure with him squirming!

He goes to bed instantly – in our bed – LOL. No kidding, he’ll close his eyes and be out within seconds if I lay next to him (sometimes not) – as long as it’s in our bed. There’ll be a fuss in his playpen, swing, or other seats – even holding him sometimes he’ll fuss – it has to be Mommy’s bed.

He’s in a pretty good routine, if his siblings allow him to sleep when he’s tired. DS2 loves to run full speed into the cracked door, throwing it open, screaming the baby’s name as he laughs and squeals all the way running to the playpen – which he then starts shaking back and forth calling to the baby.

I usually catch him know as he just is swinging open the door. This makes a very loud sound as it hits the doorstop, causing the little one to throw his hands up into the air – the classic baby freeze/ fright position – and then close his eyes back into sleep. Sometimes, he’ll scream out bloody murder, then calm back down and sleep.

It’s funny, but very annoying to have to do this over and over and over each day. DS2 is thoroughly amused at the whole thing – glad someone is I guess.

This baby is so loved by older ones! They come to my room each morning, checking in the playpen to see if he’s in there (yeah, that would be too easy), then quickly check in my bed. Most of the time the older ones will peek over his head and then lie down next to him quietly, but DS2 isn’t so quiet about it.

He’s calling his name, then starts naming all his body parts – eye, nose, mouth, head – then poking them as he calls them out. Poor little guy, he’s just too cute to be left alone here.

He’s cute alright, looking the most like DS1 when he was a baby. The time I love the most is the mornings, when it’s just me and him awake. He gives me the biggest smiles, and we take turns ‘talking’ to one another. He opens his mouth so big and wide, and all the cutest little sounds come out. He has about 4 or 5 different ones he makes – ooh, aay, goo, um.. not sure exactly what the other ones are at the moment.

He has screamed “Momma” twice – when he’s REALLY upset. Kinda neat that it came out that way! It really does sound just like “Momma”.

I’d have to say DS2 is probably the one that insists on holding him the most now, DD closely behind - between all the children. DS2 likes to rub his face on top of the baby’s head – letting his hair tickle him – then laughing and kissing on him. They are all really cute together.

Okay, you’re all probably getting bored of my writing, so here’s a few pics from today (his 2 month b’day). Place your cursor over the pics to read each caption.

Good night,

“Little Mommy”

Today marks baby boy’s 5 week birthday! Last week I mentally was chuckling, thinking how ‘funny’ it would be if we woke up to celebrate his birthday… note to self… it’s not so funny when it’s only Mommy invited to celebrate. LOL.

Last night, I heard DH saying something about him rolling over, but didn’t think that he’d let baby boy do that without me in the room to see. WRONG. He did… how sad, I missed his first rolling over.

He rolled from his stomach to his back DH said, 1 day before his 5 week b’day. I’m not sure how this lines up with the other children, I don’t usually have time to sit and watch them on their stomachs – I’m either holding them or they’re sleeping.

I guess it was 2 weeks ago that DS2 came in my room early one morning, saw the baby in the bed, and said his name for the first time! I was shocked since it’s kinda a hard name for a toddler to say (I would think). He says it quite well, and it’s the cutest thing ever.

Apparently I say it a lot when he’s fussy, over and over again, because if those two are ever together and the baby starts fussing, DS2 starts saying his name over and over trying to calm him down – it’s TOO CUTE!!

He still looks the most like DS1 to me, as far as baby stage goes. I can see glimpses of DD and DS2 here and there as well. On Sunday (4 weeks, 4 days), he weighed around 10 lbs., 14 oz – so I’m safe to say he’s over 11 on this 5 week mark. I still have yet to measure his length.

Sunday was the first time I gave him a bath that didn’t involve him screaming! He was great the whole time. I started by sliding him in, with one arm still under his back. It worked, so I kept it there while I began bathing him. It was wonderful being able to take my time with the bath. He didn’t scream until it took 5 mintues to get him dressed. (My parents dropped by on the way to church, and that was right as he came out of the bath/ before getting dressed.)

We’re developing a rountine – which I like. My babies have never had a real true routine, so it’s wonderful to know what’s going to happen when – I’m spoiled! The only things that I don’t really like are that it begins at 6:40′ish each morning, and he doesn’t really sleep much at all until lunch time. Then he sleeps most of the rest of the day, waking for an hour or two maybe once or twice – then sleeping all night.

I’ve been introducing foods back in. He got to spitting up/ fussing more the other day after I had Pizza Hut. I know, but we were out and were starving! That pizza was the BEST thing because of the hunger, but also because I’ve been deprived of my pizza multiple times a week. (Not carryout – mainly frozen, sometimes homemade)

Paci’s are being accepted better now. I’ve learned that most of the time he’ll take it better if I hold him like I’m about to nurse him – with my hands holding his arms in the fetal position. Weird – but it works! He won’t take it if he’s hungry, but readily will if he’s tired.

I LOVE how I’m learning all of his little ways. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like I’m understanding him better than I did the other ones. Of course, there are still times that he’s screaming and I can’t figure out what’s wrong for anything. I guess there are just times that babies will fuss – it’s just part of the day (but only for 1 or 2 spells).

It’s late, and I’m getting to bed earlier now that he wakes me up earlier. We still don’t know if our house is sold – they haven’t gotten approved for their loan yet. Today, I just had to separate myself from it mentally – I’ve been way too stressed out about it all. We’re supposed to move out in 3 1/2 weeks and don’t have ready land, a trailer, or even know if they’re approved!

“Little Mommy”

Yep, our baby is 1 month old today! WOW! It’s true – how things can seem so long, but so short of a time as well.

Baby boy is growing well, over 10 lbs. now. Somehow I got 11 lbs. last night, but it was over 10 this morning. I wish I’d gotten his length today, but it’s been a crazy day.

Two days ago, we had the couple that looked at our house the week before the baby was born call us. They wanted to see the house again and talk details. I set them up to come tonight.

They made an offer, a good bit lower than we were hoping – but we accepted based on the market. Plus, we prayed that God would work it out if He willed, or close the doors if He didn’t. For me, they wouldn’t have come back or made an offer if it wasn’t His will.

We might not be 100% debt free for a few months, as the start up costs on the land are more now that the contractor we hired ripped us off. He took our money, spent it on Christmas, and never did the job.

So now we’re having to try to get back a little from him (he’s offered 1/2 of what’s ours back, but we haven’t gotten it yet), plus pay the higher bidder his price to finish prepping the land and doing the septic tank.

We’re starting trailer shopping tomorrow. I’m praying baby boy won’t hate his carseat for once! He’s been better somewhat with his fussiness. I’ve been introducing one trigger food a day, and have noticed some spitting up/ choking, but he’s not near as fussy.

He got a ball thrown to him yesterday – needless to say, he didn’t catch it. Oh, he caught it in his face – but that’s not the same is it? Poor thing, he screamed for 10 minutes probably. It was one of those hard rubber kickballs.

I’m amazed at how well he can look around and how much strength he has. He wakes up around 6:45 each morning (yuck), and first thing he does is starts looking back and forth in our room – window to window. He’s taking it all in. I wonder if he’ll realize he’s in a different place? How soon do they start recognizing things?

I do worry about the older ones. They’ve all had big adjustments with this baby – and now we’re throwing them another big one. Stuttering and crying have been the main things – we’ve really been able to see their uncomfortable with things.

I’ll be posting less, trying to be a great mommy as much as possible for them right now. (Though shouldn’t I always!) We only have 4 weeks, and it’s going to be CRAZY!!

Oh, I did try cloth diapers all afternoon on Wednesday. We had 2 dirty ones, and it didn’t all wash out – not sure what I did wrong? I did like the ease of the cloth wipes going right in the diaper… I need a bag or pail for sure before I start this full time.

“Little Mommy”

Unusual title? We’ve had an unusual experience!

During all of the screams of pain from reflux the past week, we’ve seen quite a bit of the inside of little boy’s mouth. Something caught my eye a few days ago though…

As I was walking him, holding him out in front of me, I guess I walked under a light. Something in his throat looked strange, I didn’t see that little thing that hangs down in the back of your throat. In fact, his throat looked really weird….

Each of our children has a different type of congenital issue, so we’ve been keeping our eyes open for anything unusual on baby boy. Genetic tests haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what’s going on, but we have to at least be on alert for DS1′s heart problem showing up in another child.

DH and I have since spent time trying to look into baby boy’s mouth with a flashlight, then comparing his throat to the other children’s. We didn’t think much about it, but decided we would keep his 1 month appt. next week – just to have him looked over.

Well, yesterday I remembered to search online for what this might mean. I found out that the little hanging thing is called a uvula. People CAN be born without it and have nothing else wrong whatsoever. BUT, other symptoms are cleft palate (really glad I didn’t take that steriod from the ENT now), heart abnormalities, or other congenital defects.

This raised my eyebrows. Though none of our children have cleft palate, it can fall into the genetic category of things the genetics dept. has looked into with our crew. Then, we DO have heart abnormalities already, along with other issues.

Then yesterday, baby boy began gagging – a lot more than normal. He has started choking when he nurses (also a sign of reflux – might have to pull that nursing shield back out to slow the flow a little). But we could have him propped up on our bent knees and he would choke.

Last night, he really scared us – he began choking/ gagging in his sleep. We both jumped up and lunged for the playpen. I had already moved it directly beside our bed (to help hold his paci in the other night – I’m lazy), so I was able to grab him up pretty quick.

Well, since I had read that the uvula helps close your throat so food doesn’t go up your nose, I thought it would at least be worth calling the pediatrician about and letting them decide the importance. Maybe he wasn’t dealing with reflux, but a true health matter that would need medical attention. (It can also cause chronic ear infections that lead to hearing loss.)

A million thanks to my parents for changing their ‘off day’ plans today to come watch our older 3 – because the dr. did want to work us in this morning. After over an hour wait, we finally got to see him. He did a very thorough exam, saving his throat for last.

I couldn’t believe my ears when he announced that he HAD an uvula! Yeah! Yesterday, I didn’t have a clue what this was, but today I’m so thankful God gave him one! It’s nothing important (as far as we know), but my concern was in it that if you don’t have it – other ‘big’ things could be wrong.

So why didn’t we see one? Well, when a baby screams his head off cries, the muscles in their throat tighten up. This causes the uvula to pull upward into the throat. But with the tongue depresser, we were able to see that he did indeed have a uvula – YIPPEE!

Heart sounded good – more good news. He didn’t look in his ears… guess we got distracted. Since this was a sick baby visit, they didn’t do all the measurements, but he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz (with a little onesie and socks on – no diaper).

We’re good until his 2 month check-up, which I haven’t set yet. We’ll be going back sometime for sure, just to keep tabs on his heart. DS1 was 4 months old when they first heard his murmur. I myself never knew I had a murmur until I was a late teen, but mine is just mitral valve – nothing major.

How am I doing now? Ha – laughing at myself, but glad things turned out the way they did. I feel like a 1st time mommy all over again, getting panicked over nothing. The doc was so nice, saying it was good to have it checked out. I do still feel that way with our family’s medical history.

We came out with a RX for Zantac, but really, he’s doing much better since I’ve adjusted my diet. I’m just dropping weight like crazy now. Doc did have a good twist on peanut butter – I can try almond butter. He just wants me to be sure I’m getting plenty of proteins and fats (not my diet exactly).

We’re probably going to wait a little on the Zantac, since it only treats the symptoms – not the problem. Of course, I won’t put my baby in unnecessary pain though. If he’s really in a pain a lot, we’ll be giving it! He only has an hour or more of crying each night, which the doc said could be colic.

Hmm… I didn’t think that was a term that existed anymore since reflux was diagnosed. Apparently, it strikes around 3 weeks of age, and presents itself a night. Not sure about anything else about it – can you treat it? Just have to live with it? Didn’t think to ask.

“Little Mommy”

I’ll apologize now if anyone has sent in a comment and it hasn’t appeared. Computer time isn’t what it used to be, and so one of the things that I have been neglecting is keeping an eye on my comments.

Well, for some reason, this particular blog seems to bring in a lot of spammers – a LOT! If I miss a couple of days cleaning out my spam filter, I’ll have hundreds of comments to go through. It’s been nearly a week since I last purged, so let’s just say that I REALLY had a lot of comments.

Why am I apologizing? Because I decided it wasn’t worth the time to go through page after page after page of comments which were probably 100% spam, or at least 99%. If you’ve left a comment this week that was questionable on any of my postings (more than one link for example), it went to spam and just got deleted. Sorry, please try again.

Okay, now some pics. These aren’t the best quality, but here’s a few pics from our recent Target session. They only provide low resolution files for online sharing, but you can get the idea. (2 week old pictures)

“Little Mommy”

Oh my, our little bundle is 3 weeks old!! He’s such the cutest little thing, his face beginning to fill out thanks to some hearty eating.

I haven’t done measurements lately, but know he’s over 9 lbs. on our bathroom scales now. You can see how much he’s growing (size and length) when he’s in the swing – we’ll have to be letting out the buckle straps soon!

Since I wrote the other day, the reflux is better. I haven’t been able to have 100% avoidance of all trigger foods, but have used small amounts instead of normal ones. I can’t believe they’ve added peanuts and eggs to the list of trigger foods, they weren’t there 2 years ago (at least not what I can remember).

Wheat is also on the list, but there’s a big problem – I don’t feel full unless I have wheat, and lots of it. I know, that’s a bad sign and means I need to avoid it…. But I’ve tried to cut back before, and lost too much weight. (Yes, that’s possible)

I really need to try to do this though, because I believe all of my group shows signs of wheat intolerance. They all have some bumpy rash on their arms, and DS1 itches ALL the time. So if any of you have suggestions and recipes for wheat free foods, please forward them on!!

Okay, back to the baby. He slept a TON  yesterday! I think it was partly due to finally being able to sleep. We’d been placing him on his side to sleep, but it was still flat. So the reflux had been bothering him, causing him to wake up often.

Yesterday was the first full day of having him sleep in the Boppy Pillow. He slept nearly 4 hours one time! The only downside was that he wasn’t so sleepy last night – LOL.

Better go for now – we’re about to get some more severe weather here in AL. It’s getting darker and I can here the thunder getting closer. I can’t believe the tornado warnings we’ve had the past week. It’s usually mid-April when we have the most severe weather.

I’ll try to get some pics up later -

“Little Mommy”