Week 37 Bumpdate for Gummy Bear!

Here’s Week 37, neatly summarized!

 

•  Size of the Baby?Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (about the size of a bunch of Swiss chard).  babycenter.com Midwife said around 6lbs last Friday.
• Current food craving: Salads or anything cold really.
• Workouts: No real workouts for a few weeks now 😦 Life has just been to exausting on its own. Although some would say taking care of a house and watching a 1 year old on my own is enough of a workout.
• Food Aversions: Nothing sounds terriable…ther problem is nothing specific really sounds good either. This makes it hard when Mac is asking me what I want for dinner….
•  Sleep? Doing much better, however that will change again soon I’m sure.
• Movement? I’m still feeling quite a bit of movement, but I can tell the amount of space is limited these days, no more flips or trips across the belly.
• Symptoms?I tire out easily and heartburn but that is it!
• Next check-up? Weekly now.
• Best Moment of the week? Mac  talking to Gummy Bear asking if  ‘he’ was  Looking forward to: Mac and I’s date day coming up on Saturday and seeing my friends at the paintball field Friday night (no worries not playing just visiting the field for its grand opening.)

I can’t believe we are at 37 weeks already. This is the ‘point of no return’  if I go into labor now there will be no stopping it unless some medical concern pops up. We have the new car seat out of the box, the go bags are packed with most everything I would need, everything for delivery anyway. Anything I would need after that hubby can always go home to get anything else we need.

We can’t wait to meet you little Gummy Bear!

Week 35 Bumpdate for Gummy Bear!

Here’s Week 35, neatly summarized!

 

•  Size of the Baby? 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (about the size of a honeydew melon).  babycenter.com
• Current food craving: Salads!
• Workouts: No real workouts for a few weeks now 😦 Life has just been to exausting on its own. Although some would say taking care of a house and watching a 1 year old on my own is enough of a workout. With that being said this week I will do yoga at least once this week and a walk/jog.
• Food Aversions: Nothing sounds terriable…ther problem is noting specific really sounds good either. This makes it hard when Mac is asking me what I want for dinner….
•  Sleep? It’s been a hard few weeks…but last night was great.
• Movement? I’m still feeling quite a bit of movement, but I can tell the amount of space is limited these days, no more flips or trips across the belly.
• Symptoms?I tire out easily and heartburn but that is it!
• Next check-up? 36 Weeks.
• Best Moment of the week? Being told that while my cyst is large, at least so far its not large enough to impedad a natural delivery.
• Looking forward to:  5 weeks of no plans! I have nothing on the schedule I HAVE to do. I have a few things I would like to do if baby/time/energy allow, but nothing I have to do.

Preparing for delivery Pt 1 {What to do with Baby #1}

Well guys….today is 35 weeks which means a few things, mostly this is the magic point where your supposed to have everything ready to go for the hospital. Bags packed, address programmed in your phone, plans made for baby #1….yep.

I have none of those things done.

The list:

• Have a ‘typical day’ typed up and posted in Apples room for reference.
• Have diaper laundry instructions typed up and posted in the laundry room.
• Have a call list for a few people willing to watch Apple.
• Have guest room ready.
• Have a back up car seat at daycare.
• Start introducing a bottle for morning/night feedings.
• Have disposables ready to go.
• Mini go-bag packed just in case

So here is the deal, while I was caught off guard last time with the actual delivery the labor itself was not ‘out of no-ware’ Unless we have an emergency situation, there will be plenty of time for me to call someone and have them meet me at the house before we leave. 

Here is a little more information about some things on the list.

We do have a few emergency plans set up. We have a friend ready to pick up Apple from daycare if that is necessary and starting next week we are going to leave her old car seat at daycare as a back up.

I also have disposables ready to go in the closet just incase, so far all of my friends/family are supportive of cloth. However babysitting with cloth, and full time cloth are different things and I don’t want anyone to feel bad.

Lastly we are going to start giving Apple a bottle/sippy cup randomly for her 1st and last bottle of the day. Currently she is still nursing for those 2 times and I don’t want to be the thing that makes here a crab. This does however mean I get to start pumping again….grr, I was enjoying my 2 month break from the machine. I won’t have to often just those times I want to bottle feed her.

We made it to 1 year! {Breastfeeding while pregnant}

We made it to 1 year!

Just barely and with the help of goats milk but we made it!

So what is she drinking?  Around 10 months we started cutting her bottles with goat’s milk, we started with just 1 ounce mixed in, then 2  and currently we are at 3 oz of goats milk to 2 oz of breast milk. When we get down to our last 2 freezer bags we will switch it to 4:1 so she is ready for full goats milk. She has 4 ‘milk’ feeding a day 2 nursing (morning and night) and 2 bottles. Plus lots of water whenever she is eating real food. That’s it no juice, a few sips of decaf tea here and there and she snuck some of my smoothie once but that is it.

Pumping For the last 2 weeks or so I’ve been getting 2 oz or less total when pumping, it didn’t matter if I was doing 1 session or 2 while I was at work so I cut down to 1 session. As of July 9th I stopped pumping, I don’t need to and the amount I’m getting isnt’ working when she is doing so well on goat’s milk.

Nursing I’m still nursing morning and night and hopefully will continue at least with one of those till the baby comes, but she has been slowly showing her disinterested in nursing. I was doing an afternoon session with her but she cut that out herself around 11 months. I will be honest and say I don’t think I”ll be tandem nursing. I just don’t think I’ll have the energy for dealing with nursing/pumping and taking care of a newborn plus a 14 month old. I know it would be best for her, but having me available and awake is also important.

What did I learn? If I’m an over producer with baby #2 I will be pumping and storing as much as possible. We aren’t expecting to have another child, but you never know what will prevent you from breastfeeding and I want to make sure we have plenty of frozen milk incase something happens again.

 

PS I came to work today with just a small work bag…no pump. It was weird.

Apple is 1 year old!

Height: 26 inches

Weight: 16.2lbs

 

Dear Apple,

I just can’t believe you are 1 year old…. Your personality is starting to really show and boy are you going to be stubborn, then again so are we so you have a fight on your hands.  However the rest of you is all smiles and giggles. You love to be mobile, in fact your pretty much moving or sleeping these days, there is no in-between.

We had a really busy month starting with your Auntie Liz’s wedding clear up in northern Minnesota, followed closely by a trip to the ER and ending with your birthday party!

You did great with the drive to the wedding and were your true happy self for the wedding. A little too happy, you wanted to talk all through the message. On the drive home however you weren’t your happy self and little more  than a day later we had you in the hospital for what turned out to be pneumonia.  Your birthday party was perfect, post on that tomorrow,  boy are you loved.

This months milestones:

•  5 teeth! 2 each top and bottom and one more top tooth that has poked through but is content just sitting there.
• Your walking is pretty darn steady now, even on grass, however shoes are still tricky.
• First ER Trip 😦 105.something temp is what got us in and pneumonia is what caused it all. Poor little girl.

Want to read my un-planned homebirth story in all its glory? Go for it otherewise here is the g-rated version.

Gifts for baby #2

I’ve already had friends asking me what I would like for baby #2. I’m not expecting anything honestly, we already did the baby shower thing for Apple, so this kind of caught me off gaurd. But it got me thinking what would I like for baby #2?

• Diapers- No matter if its a cloth using momma or disposable everyone will need more diapers I would love a few velcro new born size all in ones and of course more Gro Via all in two’s.
• Cleaning lady- we have one we have used time to time and I would love to have a few hours with her my first week or 2 back to work.
• Massage- no explination needed.
• Salon Gift Card- again no explination needed
• iTunes Gift Card- for that perfect labor play list or game.
• Clothes/blankets IF Gummy Bear is a boy.
• Car Seat $$-Man those things are expensive and now we will need 4!
• New running shoes-Motivation
• Bob dulie $$
• Frozen food for she new get home

 

Week 28 Bumpdate for Gummy Bear!

Here’s Week 28, neatly summarized!

 

•  Size of the Baby? Eggplant, 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and measures about 13.6 to 14.8 inches.  ( thebump.com)
• Current food craving: Coffee house drinks (not always coffee, and almost always decaf.) Oh and ice cream…..
• Workouts:
• Food Aversions: None
•  Sleep? I’m dreaming alot so I’m not getting the best quality sleep, however I am sleeping through the night (most nights) so I’ll take it.
• Movement? Qute a bit actually, seems like way more than Apple.
• Symptoms? Tire out easily and heartburn but that is it!
• Next check-up? Tomorrow with the midwife.
• Best Moment of the week? Having my little girl back to normal. Last week was so hard to see her sick and uncomfortable.
• Looking forward to: Apple’s 1st Birthday party next weekend!

We have done a great job over the last few weeks of keeping the house picked up throughout the week which makes cleaning fairly easy for me on Fridays! I’m still running a few times a week with my long runs being 6.5 miles. I plan to keep that distance up for another week or 2  till after my 1/2 marathon relay(duh) next Friday. After that I’m sure I’ll start cutting down. I made it to 34 weeks with Apple and that is only 6 weeks away. I’m sure I’ll continue running for at least that long.

Wow I can’t believe we are in the 3rd trimester already…this pregnancy has gone fast and as nervous as I am about juggling 2 babies I can’t wait to meet this little one.

 

 

Apple is 11 months old!

 

Dear Apple

Well when you skip a month of course everything has changed…and I mean everything. Your showing how much of a ‘big girl’ you are at the dinner table, you want what we are eating and no puree food will do.  We should of all taken out stock in puffs before you discovered them. You would eat a full container a day if we let you.

You have a great attitude and even your ‘bad days’ have lots of smiles and giggles and most ‘problems’ can be fixed with a nap or by being wrapped up on mommies back. Your giggles are infectious and one of daddy’s favorite things in the whole wide world.

 Oh and did I mention your walking?? Crazy, you kind of look like a sumo wrestler and there are still plenty of butt falls involved in the process. You are also at the stage where emptying our your drawers or bookshelves is way more fun than playing with any toys.

 ~Mommy

This months milestones:

• Walking! There are still plenty of falls, however you are turning around and walking everywhere. Heck even small bumps don’t stop you most of the time.
• Talking has got to be right around the corner, so many things you say sound like ‘real words’ its crazy!
• You found a ‘lovie’ Geri is your new best friend and its soo cute to see you snuggle with your stuffed giraffe friend. Speaking of I need to order a back up Geri….
• Your 1st top tooth came in, just the one lowly one I’m sure it will have more friends joining it soon.

 

105.3 degrees

105.3

That right there is the scariest number I’ve ever seen in my life and it was on the thermometer my husband took out of our daughters ear….

(Warning this post includes vomit and such so don’t read if you don’t want ALL of the details.)

Sunday night/Monday morning Mac and I took Apple to the local ER for her 105+ temp. Apple’s temp had been going up and down all day but we weren’t too concerned because her attitude most of the day was fine.  Since we were able to keep it under control with low doses of tylonel  we were hoping to wait until her clinic opened in the morning.  No such luck.

After bringing her in to the hospital she started vomiting 😦 as soon as the registration nurse saw her temp (then 103.8 I think) they gave her a pretty high dose of BOTH Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Then they roomed us right away…while this made me happy it’s not a good sign.

After we were roomed Apple began to vomit again and we lost all the meds that were given for her fever  before they had a chance to work, that is when I started to get scared. They gave here a Tylenol suppository and that thankfully stuck. They also started an IV (2 pokes, first one clotted)  to draw some blood and start fluids so they could get an adequate urine sample. After that it was a lot of watching and waiting, she started to perk up a bit about 3 hrs later and we went off for a chest x-ray.

After 4.5 hours in the ER the only thing we knew for sure is the temp was down. We went home giving here fairly high doses of Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 3 hrs (switching between the two) and waiting for test results. I got a call at 7 am (after only 1.5 hrs sleep) saying something about possible pneumonia. We followed up with her pediatrician that afternoon and confirmed that diagnosis.

 

So now we have a very tired and lethargic, clingy little girl with spurts of energy and giggles. We have a strong antibiotic (boo)  and are switching to only Tylenol today with Ibuprofen before bed as an extra boost.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to ween off the extra meds and keep her temp in range.

 Update this was all written Tuesday today (Thursday) We are off the fever reducing meds and each time she wakes up from a nap her energy and hunger level improve!

 

 

22 weeks Pregnant with a 10 month old.

A lot of the focus of being pregnant again so soon is the end game 2 kids 14 months apart. While that is the part that is going to affect us forever, right now the fact is I have a 10 month old and I’m 22 weeks pregnant and still nursing (it might not be much but it still takes a toll.)

Nursing while pregnant is an energy suck and I would say that is the 2nd hardest thing for me (the 1st being my milk supply reducing so drastically.)  Some days I’m great  and the next I’m dead tired and barely able to function. I’ve used more caffeine this pregnancy than I did with the last and honestly more than I do ‘normally.’ It’s still not much, well under the rules and regulations so I’m not letting that bother me. I would say 2-3 servings per week. I am noticing that keeping up with exercise helps a lot, the weeks I workout I’m much more focused and awake.

Having a peanut of a baby is helpful though. At her last check up Apple was 5% for height, 3% for weight and 50% for head size (just had to include that I think its funny.) Having her be so small and light is a blessing. 

There are some physical limitations though. I’m starting to notice my tummy being an issue, we have her crib on the lowest setting since she stands up and can pull herself off her feet. For now its ok but I can tell bending over that much is going to be harder in the future, we will figure it out. Also things like helping her walk or bending over while I’m sitting on a chair/couch and she is playing on the floor are getting more difficult, but again there are ways to work around that.

Lastly there is just the time aspect, we are planning on making out guest room a guest/play room and repainting and carpeting…there just hasn’t been time to do that with a 10 month old in the mix. I would also like to make a quilt for gummy bear but that may have to come later…. I think I found the fabric though : ) want to see????

Over all I don’t think being pregnant again so soon has been fine, the only true negative is the cut in milk production. However keep in mind that is different for everone. Don’t let that stop you 😉