2-Month Check Up

Today was an eventful day for Lilly bean, as we went to the pediatrician for her 2-month check up.  I have been dreading this appointment because I knew she would get shots - frankly, I was more worried about myself than her, she is such a trooper! 

Hopefully I am not jinxing myself by putting it on the internet for all of the world to see, but Lilly has been sleeping through the night for 4 or 5 nights in a row now!  I am one proud (and well-rested) Mommy.  I have been hesitant to write about it in case it was a fluke, but I am hoping that this is the beginning of a beautiful pattern.  :-)  She's been sleeping for around 8 consecutive hours after her dream feed, which is fabulous.  She woke up at 7:00 this morning, ate, and when right back to sleep - her appointment was at 9:55, so I had to wake her up to get her ready to go.  She pretty much slept through the entire appointment except when she was being measured, weighed, checked out by the doctor and given shots. 

Naked Lilly wrapped in blankets to keep warm while we were waiting on the pediatrician to come in.

The nurse came in and measured and weighed our little one and checked her vitals.  Here are our chunky girl's 2-month stats:
Height: 22 1/4 inches, 75th percentile (up from 20 1/4 inches at her 1-month appointment)
Weight: 12 lbs, 97th (lol) percentile (up from 9 lbs 1oz)
Head: 15 1/4 inches, 75th percentile (up from 14 inches)
When the pediatrician came in, the first words out of her mouth were, "Well hello, chunky baby, I find it hard to believe that we were ever worried about your weight!"

The doctor told us that Lilly is fantastic.  She said that she is a great eater (clearly) and a great sleeper.  I asked her about scheduling for sleeping and eating, and she said, "Why is it that the mothers of wonderful eaters and sleepers are never satisfied?!"  I was really asking more if I should be trying to get her in a routine, like sleeping at night and then 2 naps/day (morning and afternoon).  Currently, she goes down between 10-11 (some nights she snoozes for a few hours beforehand and we wake her up for a dream feed, other nights she is just awake after her bath until it's time to eat again and then goes to sleep after) and sleeps until 7 or 8 am.  She wakes up and eats and then goes back to sleep until around 11 but doesn't really take another "nap" - more like 30-minute snoozes here and there until after bath time (normally between 7 - 8 pm).  To that question, the doctor told me that she saw a mother yesterday of two 9-month old twins who are still waking up every 2.5 hours at night to eat.  AT 9 MONTHS OLD.  I am 100% sure we would not ever consider more children, EVER if that happened to us, because I'm not sure how we'd be surviving!  Anyway her point was, Lilly is doing wonderfully, don't change a thing.  She assured me that I am not over-feeding her and told me to continue to feed her when she's hungry.  She also said that Lilly's bed time will gradually start to get earlier on its own over the next few weeks, and predicted that by 4 months old at the latest Lilly will be sleeping from 7pm - 7am.  I also asked when we should cut out the dream feed, and she said whenever we're brave enough to try it and see what happens.  I took this to mean we should probably try before I go back to work in case it goes badly so that we can work it out while I can still nap during the day if I get a chance.  :-)

Fun fact: we discussed my milk production, and apparently I am actually above average in terms of the amount that I produce.  I was DEFINITELY in major over-production mode when Lilly was born, but I noticed a pretty big decrease when I started exclusively pumping.  Since I started using the pump correctly and using the Fenugreek (see my pumping tips), I have indeed noticed a big difference and an increase in my supply (although not back to what it was before, but I think I'm okay with it because stuffing a sports bra with 2 super plus maxi pads and still leaking every night was not pleasant).  She said that based on what I am producing, I should be consuming an extra 1,000 calories/day because you burn 20 calories per each ounce of milk.  NUTS, yes?  Who knew?!  Lilly's peak milk intake will be around 4 months, per the pediatrician, and she predicted that Lilly will be at the top of the range (the range for a 2-4 month old is 20-40 oz/day, so that would mean Lilly will take around 40 oz/day at her peak).  Wonder whatever gave her that impression.  :-)  I also asked her about when to stop swaddling, and she told us most people stop by around 5 months, but really whenever we are ready.  She said that when Lilly gets to the point where she can roll over while swaddled, we for sure need to stop.

I also asked about our diaper/poop leaking out of the legs issue to see if she had any suggestions other than "try a different brand or cloth diapers."  She said that she thinks we will not have that problem for much longer (see shots picture below).  :-)

I think that was about it in terms of the check up.  She reiterated that we're doing a great job, told us that Lilly is a great baby and we are very lucky, and told us not to start her on solids until after her 4-month check-up.  Lilly then had to get some shots - she got Pentacel (combination of DTaP, IPV, HIB), Prevnar and Rotateq today.  :-( 

This was more terrible than anything we have experienced yet.  She was SO good during the whole appointment, and was so happy and giggly when I laid her on the table, which  made me feel terribly guilty about what was about to happen.  When she got that shot, she let out the most pitiful, heart-wrenching cry I have ever heard in my life!  I cried, too, because I couldn't stand it.  I guess the shots made her sleepy (which I've been told is normal), because I fed her after the shots - around 11 - and she slept until 3:30, woke up to eat and has been asleep ever since.

When she's been awake, she's been a little fussy, but I think it's probably because she doesn't feel great due to the shots.  Also, I think they may have constipated her, because she seems to be working really hard and not getting a lot.  Does anyone know if that's normal?

Since Lilly is so sleepy, I have used the opportunity try to catch up on my thank you notes, because I will not let myself mail out Lilly's birth announcements (which have been here for approximately 3 weeks) until all thank you notes have ALL been mailed.  I got through all of the shower thank you notes today, and am horribly embarrassed that it's taken me so long to write them!  I just have not had a lot of free time, and when I have had free time I've either been napping with Lilly or trying to get my house in order.  So far, I've written about 100 total.  I have 50 more to go.  SIGH.

I guess that's all I have to report about our 2-month check-up.  It was again nice to hear that we're doing a great job, and even more wonderful to have confirmation that Lilly is indeed every bit as perfect as we think she is!  :-)

Sarah

Mama Bear

The inner mama bear was out in full force yesterday.  Well every day, really, but yesterday I truly wanted to hurt someone.  Why, you ask?  Because we had a "first," but NOT the good kind.  Yesterday, I had to take my baby to the doctor for her first sick visit, at a mere 6 weeks old.

This fact in itself thoroughly annoys me, because we have worked SO hard to follow doctor's orders.  The pediatrician told us not to take her in public (germs!) for 2-3 months, and by gosh we have not left this house.  Which has been even worse for me, considering I really have not left this house since Week 30 of pregnancy (stupid bed rest).  You can ask anyone that's come to visit, I am a hand washing nazi - and don't you dare get near my child unless I've physically seen you wash your hands.  So the fact that she's sick makes me feel like a terrible parent.  Obviously I know I couldn't have done anything to prevent this aside from not let anyone in the house until she was 2 months old, and it would have happened sooner or later anyway, but 6 weeks is just so early to already be sick, and my little baby is so pitiful that it breaks my heart.

Lilly woke up yesterday morning congested.  Normally I would not think anything of this - I guess her room must be a little dry or something because most mornings she wakes up a little congested.  In fact, I even specifically asked the pediatrician about this at her one-month check up, whether I needed to have her humidifier on full time or not, and she said no, that it was normal.  Yesterday, however, L was much more congested than normal.  I still may not have thought anything of it except the poor baby had this gunk running from her eyes, and that definitely hasn't happened before.  I called and left a message for the nurse just asking what I should do, if I needed to bring her in, etc.  We had our first experience with the rectal thermometer, which went better than expected, and thankfully Lilly didn't have a fever.  The pediatrician asked that we go ahead and come in anyway since Lilly is so young - they didn't want to chance it (this is where I feel like the worst parent in the world again).

The visit itself was pretty harmless.  I will say that they weighed her - with her clothes on, after a feeding, and with a full diaper - and she weighed 11 pounds!  My little chunkster!  The doctor came in and examined her and said the poor thing has her first cold.  Unfortunately there's not much we can do for it other than let it run its course, so she told us to make sure to use the humidifier in Lilly's room until the cold is gone, and to use a saline spray in her nose and then suction out her little boogies every 3-4 hours until she's better.  Thankfully, I had some Little Noses that was sent to us recently by a good friend, and it seems to be helping, at least a little.

I have worried sick about the child all night, I think I have been in her room at least 5 times to make sure she's still breathing.  The doctor said that at this stage, babies can't yet breathe out of their mouths unless they're crying, so if she's crying that may be why.  Lilly has been a really trooper throughout all of it, she really has not cried at all.  She slept from 9:30p - 2:30a and probably would have slept a little longer but we went in and got her as soon as she started making noise so we could suction her nose since it had been a while.  She was SO happy - she let Dan suction her without making a sound, and didn't even cry at the diaper change.  In fact, she was smiley and perfect.  Why was Dan up with us, you ask?  Typically, I don't ask him to get up with me except on the weekends when he doesn't have to work (he feeds, I pump), but I made an exception this time because I, too, have this nasty cold.  The pediatrician says that's actually probably a good thing because I'm producing antibodies to fight it which Lilly is getting through my breast milk, but honestly last night I did not think I was going to make it.  I went to bed when she did, in case it was going to be a long night - I anticipated lots of waking up and tears from her not being able to breathe - and I had the chills and couldn't get rid of them, and my throat hurt so bad every time I swallowed that I wanted to cry.  Anyway so I was still feeling a little unsteady at the 2:30 feeding and Dan was nice enough to help me out, sweet man.

So, we're going to spend today trying to nurse my little one back to health.  I foresee lots of snuggling on the couch in our future.  If she is as happy all day as she was at her overnight feeding, I think we will do just fine.  Until then, whoever brought this sickness into my house and infected my baby better be thanking your lucky stars that I don't know who you are, because Mama Bear is NOT HAPPY that you got her precious angel baby bear sick.

I can't end the post without saying Happy 4th Birthday to my first-born, Layla.  You have brought us so much joy, and we love you so much, sweet girl!  I wonder if she's looking forward to her annual dog birthday cake and new toys?  :-)

Sarah

1 Month Check-up

Today was Miss Lilly's one month check-up with her pediatrician.  I have been so excited about this appointment to see how much she's truly grown!  We can tell she's growing and changing every day, but today we got her official stats.

Backing up for a moment, I should tell you that getting to the pediatrician was quite an adventure.  I must have eaten something Lilly didn't like yesterday, because she was extra gassy last night - to the point where I was up for two hours at the 2:30 a.m. feeding because she was too gassy and fussy to go back to sleep easily.  I was planning to skip that pumping session - if I'm sleeping I can't feel my boobs hurting and letting me know it's time to pump - but since I was up with her for so long, I ended up needing to pump before I was able to go back to sleep.  So, she was extra tired this morning and slept until 7:30, when she woke up and we fed her.  Her appointment was at 10:30, and she's been eating every 3-4 hours during the day, so I just knew she was going to be hungry as soon as we got there and I didn't want her to be fussy.  I was trying to figure out whether to wake her up and feed her before we left, or what.  In the end, I let her sleep and just arrived at the pediatrician at 10:00.  I left the car on so we would be nice and toasty in the heat, took her out of her carseat, and prepared to change her.  I had a brief internal debate over whether to get the changing pad out because we were working with limited space since the carseat takes up half of the back seat and I was taking up the other half - praise the good Lord I did.  She was just wet, but the moment I started unfastening her diaper was the moment she choose to have a huge blowout.  I left the diaper on for a few minutes until I thought she was done, and it was a nasty one.  I started preparing to change her again, and then she decides she has to pee...three times.  It was a nightmare.  There was pee and poop everywhere.  The doctor doesn't like for you to throw away poop diapers in the office, so luckily I'd planned ahead and brought a plastic bag to store any poop diapers in until we could get home (it never fails that she poops at the doctor).  Even more lucky for me was the fact that I took several changes of clothes.  I ended up putting her clothes, the gross diaper, and the changing pad in the plastic bag to deal with when we got home.  After that was smooth sailing - we fed her in the car and by the time we went back to see the doctor she was happy as a lark:

Anyway, so the appointment was pretty standard.  They started out by taking her measurements, temperature and weight.  We have one chunky monkey on our hands!  She is up almost two pounds from her birth weight (7 lbs 6 oz), weighing in at 9 lbs 1.5 oz, which puts her in the 75th percentile.  The doctor said they expect a 2 lb gain in the first month, so that's perfectly normal.  Piggy!  Her height is 20 1/4 inches (up from 19 3/4 inches at birth), which is perfectly average - 50th percentile.  Her head is 14 inches.  I'm not sure what it was at birth, but she is in the 45th percentile (if you were to ask my lady parts whether her head was below average, I feel sure they would beg to differ, ha!).  I didn't think we were due for any shots until her 2-month check-up, but it turned out she was due for round 2 of Hepatitis B, so she got that.  She was laying on the table with her usual serious face on, behaving like an angel and taking it all in, even when they stuck her - for a second we thought she wasn't going to cry.  Then she let out the most heart-wrenching, pitiful cry you have ever heard.  It broke our hearts!  But the second I picked her up to love on her for a minute, she stopped.  Whew, crisis averted.  Here's her battle wound (and fat belly):

I had quite a few questions for the doctor, and then that was it.  They said that Lilly is "perfect" and that we're doing a "great job."  It's always so nice to get reassurance that we're doing okay, especially after I asked 23984723847 questions.

I will note that the doctor said (in response to my question) that it is for sure too early for her to be confused about day/night or to be in any kind of a routine.  When I followed up by asking why Lilly will sometimes sleep for 4-5 hours during the day but closer to 3 at night, she suggested that I not let Lilly sleep for more than 3 hours at a time during the day.  Wake her up after 3 hours and see how she does.  So, we'll try that tonight.  She also commended us for having Lilly in the crib already, and suggested that we also have her sleep in her crib for one nap per day - preferably the afternoon nap - so that when she is old enough to start recognizing routines she will know that's where she's supposed to sleep.

She has been a little fussier than normal this evening - not sure whether it's the after effects of the shot or she's just over-tired because she napped less than normal.  Probably it's a combination of both.  Anyway, all is well and our girl is perfect - but we already knew that.  ;-)

Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Sarah

Checking Things Off The List...

I know I promised you all that I was going to blog about my sweet Daddy tonight, but I am waiting on my slacker sister to send me a certain picture in order for my post to be complete.  :-)  Instead, I have a very important announcement: we are FLYING through our to-do list, folks.

For a planner like me, this bed rest situation has seriously cramped my style.  I had (and still have) a list of things a mile long that I want(ed) to get accomplished before Baby Geronimina arrives.  I literally sit cooped up on this couch daily and think of more things that need to be added to it, and it makes me frantic some days.  I thought I had 6 weeks to continue to mark things off.  Wrong-o, especially since I can't do anything.  In the past week, though, we've made excellent progress.  Here's how:

• We finished painting the nursery.
• The furniture is all here and assembled.  We have family in town this weekend for our first shower, so we are leaving the bed in there for now, but after the shower, we will assemble the nursery.  Yay!  Still TONS to do in here, but the good news is, she'll never know or care that it probably won't may not be done when she arrives.
• I ordered thank you notes and hostess gifts for my showers.
• We agreed on (agreeing on something related to the nursery was a big enough deal that I had to include it) and hung a chandelier in the nursery (score one for Sarah).
• All classes - prenatal and breast feeding - have been completed.
• We watched the last documentary I had on my list.
• I am almost through the books I ordered to read.

I know some of that seems silly, but accomplishing things really makes me feel so much better.  Today, we marked off one of the biggest items of all: we decided on a pediatrician!

The item at the TOP of my list at the beginning of this week was to set up pediatrician interviews.  Before Christmas, I compiled a huge spreadsheet (nerdy, I know) of all of the pediatricians that had been recommended (around 10) to us by friends and acquaintances.  I gathered information from their websites and cross referenced the practices with the list of recommended pediatricians that was given to us by my OB at our first appointment, and further narrowed the list down to 6.  From there, Dan and I picked our top 3, and at the beginning of the week, I called them all to see if we could schedule interviews.  All 3 offer a prenatal class, the first of which was today (our next one was supposed to be in 2 weeks, and the final visit I was supposed to call back about next week).  We had tonight's prenatal session at Oberlin Road Pediatrics (thanks to the suggestion of Mary-Peyton), and both agreed upon leaving that we don't need to conduct any more interviews, because we LOVED them!

A lot of factors went into this decision.  This practice is close to our house, and very close to the area of town where we hope to eventually live.  There are 9 doctors in the practice, but a lot of them work flex schedules (i.e. some work Mon - Wed, some work Thurs - Sat, some work mornings, some work evenings, etc.).  I pictured the practice we chose to be smaller, but the size of this one is perfect and allows them to be flexible in other areas (read: good hours).  They  have excellent hours as well as weekend hours.  They have a nurse hotline which is staffed by their own nurses from 8am - 8pm, but there is a calling service for after hours as well, so if I have a motherly freakout need in the middle of the night, I can still call.  They have a lactation specialist as well as 5 female doctors who breast fed and will set up appointments to help new Moms out, and they are big advocates for breastfeeding.  For sick and same-day visits, there is a very good chance that we'll get to see our child's doctor.  They also monitor the mother's progress in that they have you fill out a post-partum depression questionnaire each visit.  There are plenty of other things I could rave about, but we really just loved everything about this practice.  The doctor of tonight's session was incredible - very open, honest and up-front, and we really liked that as well.

So, that is one BIG thing that I'm happy to have taken care of.  Now, if we could just get a car seat, I'd really feel a lot more awesome about where things stand.  :-)

Happy Thursday - I have an appointment with my doctor in the morning, so fingers crossed that everything goes well.  Other than that, I'm just excited for the weekend to hurry up and get here - my first shower on Sunday is going to be a blast!

Sarah

Choosing a Pediatrician

Hellooooooooo, my lovelies!  Hope everyone is having a great Thursday.  For the first time this week, I felt slightly better today...let's hope this continues!

Now that we are on all of the waiting lists that we want to be on for childcare (interviewing of nannies/looking into that process can wait, since we wouldn't need care until next summer), it is on to another important topic: pediatricians.  I know that through my dramatic tendencies I have made every decision seem like it is of the utmost importance, but this one truly is a big one.  I will start out by telling you what is important to me in a pediatrician for my child:

• Dan and I feel comfortable with them, and they talk "to" us instead of "down to" or "at" us. 
• They are welcoming and open to questions.  They take time to discuss problems and listen to our concerns.
• It is relatively close to our house.  The idea of driving 20+ minutes with a screaming and sick child is not appealing.

The list goes on, but I tried to narrow it down to the "top 3" so as not to bore you.  A lot of Moms have some concerns with group practices and prefer a smaller practice with one or two doctors, but I am not as concerned with that, provided that it works like my gynecologist does: you see your doctor by appointment, but know that in an emergency situation you may have to see someone else depending on availability.  I would prefer not to have 20 doctors in the practice, but I am okay with four or five, I think.

So, with all of that said, we began the research process quite a few months back by reaching out to friends in the area for recommendations on their pediatricians.  We were overwhelmed with responses.  We compared the list we got to the list of recommended pediatricians that was provided by my OB/GYN when we first found out we were pregnant, and narrowed it down some that way.  Finally, we looked at proximity to our house and were able to further narrow the list down to a manageable number.  So, now we have our list.  What's next? 

I have done a lot of research on this (I'm sure you're shocked), and got a very helpful article in one of my babycenter e-mails the other day that you should check out if you are a Mommy-to-be and have some time.  I always knew that once we narrowed the list down to a top 3-4, we would want to conduct interviews, and I am in the process of setting those up now.  The main problem I'm running into is: what kinds of questions should I ask?  And how will I know whether we've chosen the right one?  There are tons of checklists that can be found online, but honestly a lot of them are like 50 questions long, and I just do not have the time or the energy.  Plus, I feel like that is a little overboard even for me.  If I waltz into some pediatrician's office with 50 questions they might tell me they are no longer taking patients, even if they are - no one wants to deal with a crazy woman I'm sure.  I've started a list of questions based on the things that are important to me:

• Which hospital are you affiliated with?
• Will the doctor (or someone else in the practice) see my baby in the hospital or will the first contact be her first office visit?
• How are appointments handled for sick children?  Is there a good chance my child will get to see her own doctor?
• How do I reach the doctor if the baby gets sick after hours?  When my doctor is not on call, who covers?
• How does the office handle telephone inquiries?  does it set aside specific times for parents to call in with questions, or is there an open advice line during office hours?  I know my pediatrician growing up had no rules around this - whenever there was a question, they never made my Mom feel uncomfortable about calling to ask, and they always got back to her after talking to the doctor that day.  I really like that.

There are more questions on this list that aren't as important, so I left them off, but you get the gist of what I'm trying to do here.  So my question to you is this: what types of questions are most important to ask the a potential pediatrician in our interview?  Are there any that are vital that I've left off my list?  And how will I know if I've chosen the correct one?  Are there other important considerations that I haven't thought of to factor in when deciding on a doctor?  Help!  Thanks in advance.  :-)

I can't believe another week is already ending, but I'm excited for the weekend!

Sarah