A Visit with the Pediatrician and Tummy Time

Today Ollie saw the pediatrician, Dr. Hall, for the first time. He weighs 6lbs and 12oz. She told us that they like to see babies reach their birth weight by 8-10 days of life. He's at day 8 and he's only an ounce away so he's doing great. His slight jaundice is going away. She said his color looks great and she's not going to do any blood tests. That's good because we were trying to keep an eye on that. She answered a few questions we had about when to feed and how much. He is demanding more and more food and we didn't want to cause stomach problems by overfeeding, but she assured us that when he drains the bottle and wants more it's okay to give him more, go figure. So he's eating about 2.5 ounces now every 3 hours. He's pretty consistent with his timing, too. It makes planning easier.

Dr. Hall showed us how to clean his umbilical cord, too. The nurses only told us to swab it with alcohol. You're actually supposed to pull it away from the belly and really get the swab around the icky part. It's quite scary because I feel like I'm going to pull the cord off, but it seems okay. She also showed us how to swaddle him. Again, much better than what they showed us in expectant parent classes and at the hospital. He was snug after she did that.

He has a diaper rash that we've been looking after. We were afraid he has diarrhea, but she didn't seem concerned. Breast milk babies tend to have runnier poopies than formula fed. She told us if it doesn't clear up in 2-3 days to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet for 2 weeks and see if that helps. He may be lactose intolerate, but doubtful. We'll see. I think it's clearing up already. Besides, I like milk. :0

So, basically, he's doing well and we got a good report from the pediatrician.

Today, we played tummy time. He did very well as you can see from the pics below. He was so into it. Not really, he only found the belly down position very comfy and wanted to sleep. We got some really cute pics though. I put together his rain forest exercise set so we'll see if that helps with tummy time. At least he's not opposed.






That's about it for updates that I can think of. Tomorrow is Halloween. Stay tuned for that.

Celebrating One Week of Life

One week ago today Ollie was entering this world. He didn't look to happy about it at the time, but I think he's more positive now. Eating, sleeping and getting tons of kisses seems to be alright with him. It's alright with us, too. He is such a good baby. We couldn't ask for better. He's eating about every 2 - 3 hours depending on how many ounces he takes. We offer 2 and he usually takes that or 1.5. He's doing great. No spitting up and no upset tummy!!! That makes all of us happy.

Tomorrow is his first doctor's appointment. We think he's doing great so we hope to get a good report from the doctor. His pediatrician that we selected hasn't met him yet. He saw the other two doctors in the practice while in the hospital so we are excited to work with the peditrician we selected.

We're having trouble with breastfeeding so I am pumping and he is still getting some good old fashion breast milk. We have formula just in case, but recently haven't had to use it. He tolerates both very well so we are happy with the decisions we are making.

We couldn't be happier. We could be more rested, but hey, that par for the course, right? We aren't wishing one day away. I look at it like this. When he wakes me, or rather I wake him, at 3:00am for a feeding that one more hour I get to spend cuddling and feeding him. Someday, he'll have grown to a man and I'll look back and wonder where the days went. We're just enjoying him!! He's so darn cute we can't stop staring at him!

Well, I've posted a few pics here, but if you want to see more you can go to the follwing link. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=731060482&ref=name

Stay tuned for more of Ollie's Escapades.

John Oliver has arrived!!

On October 21, I went to my regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor. We had an ultrasound scheduled to see how big Ollie was getting and he really only scheduled that because I really wanted to see Ollie again. So, I went in for that and the nurse doing the u/s said the amniotic fluid level was a little low, but she estimated him at about 6lbs and 14oz. He was also breech. I had to go back to the waiting area and wait for the doc, but within 5 minutes the nurse had me back there. Usually, I wait around 10-15 minutes for him, but not this time. He was in the office before I even put my purse in the chair. He confirmed that the fluid level was low and he was concerned so he was sending me to the hospital for overnight monitoring and fluids to try to get the level back up.

Over at the hospital they put me in triage and we waited for a room, and waited, and waited. I got there at 3:00pm and we got in a room at 10:00pm. Seven other women were in labor so we weren't exactly priority. We had a very nice labor and delivery room though. So all night we waited and I was pumped full of IV fluids. The IV part was NOT FUN!! Not a very IV educated nurse. OUCH!!! That's a whole blog in itself.

Early the morning of the 22nd, we had another ultrasound with the high risk specialists at Norton Hospital and again the fluids were low. It had increased by one ounce, but that was still only 5.6oz. Normal range that doctors like to see is between 8oz. and 20oz. That's quite a range, but even with that it's still below the range. The doctor on call that day came by our room and told us that she had consulted with the high risk doctor and they'd decided the fluid was dangerously low and we'd be delivering that day. The funny part is that she told me she was going to induce labor and I had to tell her Ollie was breech. She went back and looked at the ultrasound again and agreed that he was breech so we'd be doing a c-section after 4:00pm. We were scheduled for 4:30pm, but he didn't arrive until 7:34pm. Other emergency c-sections took precedence. He weighed 6lbs and 13oz at birth and was 19 inches long. Soooo cute, too.

After the c-section we are all doing great. We had to spend an extra day at the hospital because of the c-section birth, but other than that all has gone very well. Ollie is slightly jaundice so we have to keep an eye on that. He came home weighing 6lbs. 2.5oz. I'm going to post a few pics of little Ollie. He's the cutest baby I've ever had!!!!! HA! Enjoy the pics!


And a little tiny baby in a great big world.

Catching Up!

Now at 37 weeks I'm offically carrying a FULL TERM Ollie. If he comes today, wishful thinking, he should be just fine. We're getting excited. My bag is almost packed and Ollie's is packed and ready to go.
We've been working on the nursery and getting things finalized. We've got a few small things left to buy. We've got some pictures to hang and a little more organization to do. For the most part we're done.
Mindy, sister-in-law, gave us a dresser and Josh spent some time scraping paint off and then sanding and finally repainting. I love it.
Little Ollie has more clothes than I do. He's got a closet full of clothes and we've got tons of bath stuff. Over 80 washcloths. HA. He'll be super clean.
We've got a little motivation for Ollie to come early. This was a gift from someone who thought Ollie is already here. That's okay, we're cheering him on.
And last, but certainly not least here's the lastest belly picture at 37 weeks. You can see a few stretch marks, but really they only show up in pictures. Weird, but I'm not complaining.
It's been fun. I'm going back to the doctor on Tuesday so I hope to have more of an update of when he'll actually be here. I've got some other things to square away with the doctor, too. Like when do I go to the hospital? When do I call? etc...

4 More Weeks!!!

I went to the doctor today for a regular check up. I am ONE WHOLE CENTIMETER DIALATED!!! Aren't we excited?? Ollie's making his way on outta that dark cave he's living in. WooHoo!! I recently posted on myspace and facebook that I was on semi bed rest so for those of you who saw that....I'm doing much better and that's been lifted. Really it was more of a "go home and prop your feet up" kind of thing. I had a horrible ear infection that was causing pain and a fever. The pain and fever caused my bp to be elevated. My OB wanted me to go home and get some rest so I did. When I went today they checked my bp and it is still a little high for me, but within a good range so the doc wasn't concerned at all.

I go back next Tuesday for another check (we're hoping for more centimeters shaved off) and my ultrasound. WooHoo!!

I had my group B strep test today so I should get results soon. If I test postive for that then they'll have to give me antibiotics when I go into labor. If I test negative then I don't have to worry about anything at all. The nurse said about 40% come back positive. We'll see. I've been lucky thus far.

That's about it for an update. I am looking forward to next week!! My doc seems confident I'll deliver between 38 and 39 weeks!! Me, too!! I hope. Ollie's got a cute little newborn pumpkin onesie and a pumpkin sack so it's only natural that he come in time to wear these. Wouldn't wanna waste clothing now would we??

Until next time!!

Suprises and Pumpkins

Since my last post we've had some exciting times. For starters, the ladies at work had a suprise shower for me. I was lied to and tricked..hmmm...but it was for the best. It was a great suprise. We got more useful items. Sorry, no camera at the party so no pics. Trust me, though, it was great.

Our next suprise happened Friday. I was sitting at my desk, working hard as usual, and suddenly, I felt little twitches. I was thinking, "What are you doing in there?" Then I realized this was Ollie having the hiccups. This is the first time I felt it. Of course I called Josh and told him. :-) Since then he's had them twice on Saturday and he's hiccupping as I type this. Now, I'm sure, it'll be a common occurrence.

I've been feeling very tired and walking too much makes me hurt all over. I have moved offices at work so now I'm in the front and don't have to walk as much. That's helping. Of course, I'm not getting out on the plant floor as much, but my faithful intern is doing a great job (I hope you're reading this, Debi)!!

Last, but certainly not least, I've got some pumpkin pictures to post for you. Two pumpkins this year!!!

Thanks for stopping by.