Three Months Old Today!

 

I can’t believe Fiona is three months old today. She’s a month old adjusted. It’s been a crazy summer. My post partum shed is in full swing as of last night; my hair is falling out in clumps.

A friend told me that every post on this blog is full of cutesy pictures of Fiona and that I gush about her cuteness. I think it’s just because she is so darned cute! Here are some photos of her in her bath. Notice the little fat rolls she is starting to get:

 

That big knob on her stomach is her big distended belly button. She has small hernia right below it and part of her bowel is pushed up. It doesn’t cause her any pair, has nothing to do with the reflux, and will probably go down by the time she is a year old. A pediatrician told us that he will not be concerned until she is three years old. I think it is the result of straining a lot the last week in the NICU, which is when it showed up. Before that, her belly button was little and, you guessed it, cute!

Fiona loves her bath and will go from screaming bloody murder to quiet as a mouse when we put her in the bath.

Speaking of reflux and screaming, I think the Prevacid is finally working. She seems so much happier, eating is a lot less of an ordeal, and interestingly, she stopped screaming during diaper changes. She’s also been a lot less gassy but I think it’s because I stopped drinking milk and eating ice cream every day. She is still the Princess of Puke, spitting up often, but not in as great a quantity as before, and not crying when she spits up.

Here she is chillin’ like a villain on her Boppy:

And no, I don’t pose her, she’s just a natural.

It’s a mirror image, literally, and also bunny feet:

Slumped over on her daddy’s lap:

The Entire Shoot

 

If you want to see the whole shoot with the photographer from the beginning of August, go to:

http://www.maryjaneweddings.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=152

password is keren

Parenting is Scary

 

Is there anything scarier? Are we ever as unsure of ourselves as we are with our children? Or is it just me?

I think she’s going to think that the laptop is part of her Daddy.

Two more photos:

 

Today I went for a walk with her. It was the only time all day she slept, and then it was very lightly. Fiona has been eating All. Day. Long. Non-stop. To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. Also, I think I’m starting to get the post partum hair shed where all the hair that didn’t fall out when I was pregnant is starting to fall out now.

My only photo of the day.  Definitely getting the Frankenstein/Alien Nation head:

There is Always Someone Who Has It Worse

 

Every time I start feeling sorry for myself, I meet someone who has it worse than I do.

I am a member of two different online message boards for preemie moms and there are so many stories more horrifying than mine, outcomes that make me want to cry and make Fiona’s story look almost natural. I’m lucky she never needed surgery, never had a ventilator hood, didn’t get sick, didn’t need to come home with equipment. I had to wait days, not weeks to hold her, and she was never transferred to a hospital far away. Her life was never in jeopardy and we never had those “Will she make it?” moments.

Her reflux seems to be getting a little worse at times, but better at others. She’s not projectile vomiting but she sounds like an asthmatic after she throws up. It’s scary. She makes noise all night long, sounds like she’s choking, but she never does. There are moms on one of my boards whose children had projectile vomiting many times a day for years. They wound up having to be tube fed because they stopped eating. I hope we never get to that point. So far, it hasn’t affected her appetite at all. We are very lucky.

I go to a breastfeeding support class and there are women who have low supply and even though their babies were full term, they have more difficulty breastfeeding than I do. Their babies are losing weight and mine is gaining (8 pounds 4 ounces today). So even though I curse prematurity and feel sorry for myself while struggling to breastfeed, there are still women who have a harder time than me.

I was asked by the woman who runs the support class to come speak to her pre-natal breastfeeding class. I went last night. There was only one couple and a doula. I told them my story, told them the struggle to ween from bottles. Talked about pumping and nursing and how the husband can be supportive and some things to expect that seem to happen to all breastfeeding moms, not just preemie moms (like sitting on the couch for hours at a time because baby eats constantly). It’s funny how well rested they looked.

I miss sleep.

I’ll end with a series of photos I took before we went to the pre-natal class last night. Fiona was sleeping on my mom and she did not want to let her go:

The First Day of School

 

Is tomorrow. It feels so weird not to be at school at all. I haven’t gone to any meetings, trainings, district rah-rahs, not setting up my classroom, no books, nothing. It just feels weird.

I am glad and thankful that I am lucky enough to be able to take the year off. Even if Fiona was born full term I would not be going back tomorrow because she would only be at most 4 weeks old. I can’t even imagine functioning on the paltry amount of sleep I’m getting. People who have desk jobs have no idea how much energy teaching demands, never mind just the standing up for hours.

Still, I feel a little guilty, like I’m ditching, and like I’m missing out.

I think I have to start doing something with myself and leaving the house occasionally so I don’t go crazy.

Nothing New Here

Nothing much to report today. Fiona had a pretty good night last night – she woke twice to eat but went back to sleep immediately. We ran errands with her and she slept the whole time. It’s weird to be dressed and have my teeth brushed by nine in the morning. She’s been pretty easy all day, not too fussy and not too pukey. She’s so much more alert when she is awake. It’s neat and I’m excited for her to start smiling and laughing sometime in the next couple of months.

I forgot to mention – Happy Birthday to my cousin David on Friday, my dad and my friend Shelley on Saturday, and Happy Anniversary to my parents on Saturday. They went to Spinnaker Seafood for dinner and reported that the food was excellent but the service was just ok.

I’ll end with two photos that John took, one of her feet and one in her car seat. Even though she seems so big to me, she can still use a burp cloth (really a cloth diaper) as a blanket.

Not Baby Related

A long time ago I became a BzzAgent. BzzAgents get free stuff, then tell their friends about it. All bzzcampaignes are word of mouth. I learned about it after my friend Jen told me how much she liked Nutella. I already knew that Jen liked Nutella. She told me she got it for free but had to talk about it online. I thought, “I want to get free stuff! I can talk about it online!” So there you have it.

So now I’ve received some free stuff I want to talk about. This is my honest opinion, I’m not being paid. I just have to use the product and review it. Here is my review:

I’ve been using Sebastian Volupt Shampoo and Conditioner for a week and a half. My hair is curly and dry and usually pretty frizzy and I only wash it twice a week. I love Sebastian products and wish someone had to me about Potion 9 when I was a teenager. The shampoo and conditioner are no exception. They smell nice, sort of the like the old Helene Curtis Salon Selectives, if anyone remembers that product line. The shampoo gets my hair really squeeky clean feeling. The conditioner is pretty light, so if you feel like your hair is oilier, you’d probably still like it. My hair felt nice the following day – soft but not oily, light but not dry.

The first time I used it my hair felt really good, soft but not dry, and not greasy. I also received Volupt Spray, which is a spray gel. I used it but was not impressed. It says you put it on wet hair and either blow dry or air dry. I don’t have time to blow dry my hair so I put it on and let it air dry. It made my hair stiff like the old Aqua Net hair spray and the next day my hair felt really residue-y.

I also received a box of Nioxin System 2 hair stuff. I was not sure what it was exactly until John pointed out that it was for thinning hair. Well my hair is not thinning, so I never used it. BUT! If anyone wants it, let me know, I’ll send it your way. I think it’s pretty expensive stuff. You can tell me what you think and I’ll write about to satisfy the terms of being a BzzAgent.

OK, I've talked about it online.