Hand, Foot, Mouth, and Everything Else!

Lord have mercy. The last few days in this house have been....exhausting.

Last weekend Olivia came down with a crazy fever in church. I mean she was HOT. She took a nap, was clingy (which she never is) and was totally sluggish. It scared me to death. So we got some fever reducer in her and lots of liquids and she managed to get some food down, but the temp just spiked again a few hours later. Overnight was rough--clingy, constant waking, crying, fever. We kept her home from school Monday. She did well during the day, but the fever went up again at night. By Tuesday morning she was acting more normal and eating fine but I noticed a rash developing on her hands, calves, and toes. AHA! Chicken Pox!

I made an appointment with her doctor to confirm my sharp diagnosis. The doctor took a look--nope not Chicken Pox. Then he took one look inside Olivia's mouth and then look at me and smiled, " It's Coxsackie." My response "damnit." I had heard about "Hand, Foot and Mouth disease" from my sister's experience with my neice and another friend of mine and her kids, now Olivia had it. In fact she was pretty much done with it--and handled it pretty well considering. Apparently the rash shows up when the fever breaks. After the fever she's no longer contagious but then we were freaking out about how she got it and if Lucas had been exposed. The doctor said she was safe to return to school once she had no fever for 24hours. So Wednesday she returned to school with non-contagious rash just in time for her first SCHOOL PICTURES! HIP HIP HOORAY! I covered her arms in long sleeves and legs in tights and it was a beautiful 75 degree day. Come to find out three other kids in her school had been out with coxsackie as well. Aha! And turns out sandboxes can be breeding grounds for this thing. Olivia comes home with gobs of sand in her shoes and pockets everyday.

I'm glad that it is behind us and she is now immune--and also thankful that Lucas dodged the bullet, but I am not looking forward to dealing with this thing again with him anytime soon.

Charm City Daddy and I crash every night, only to be constantly awakened at least twice a night by Lucas! Lucas was just beginning to improve in the sleep department but had a total relapse this week--with daytime naps, bedtime all of it.  It is driving us both to near tears.We thought we had a fool-proof system all figuredwith Olivia--no frills, no fuss. It turns out we may have just had a fool-proof little girl. He JUST gave up swaddling at 6 months. If it were up to him--he would still be swaddled.


Lucas' separation anxiety is off the charts too--and to top it all off he seems to be a shy guy. He balls his eyes out when he sees an unrecognizable face. The well-meaning church ladies who crowd around him every Sunday are the worst for his nerves. Poor baby.

Also--Olivia is officially done with the paci at bedtime. She has never needed it at naptime at school and it was time to let it go to avoid her mama's overbite. It wasn't easy, but I told her I simply threw it out of the window of the car--just like she did to her paper elefante from Spanish class on the ride home. She certainly understood the permanence of that action and it ended our discussion. Awesome.

Oh! And CCD celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this week. We decided to celebrate the way we've celebrated all of our anniversaries--with a family dinner out--but at a nice restaurant to give the kids the experience. They were well-behaved, and the restaurant was wonderful to us--food also incredible. Olivia loved the live jazz trio and I taught her how to skat. It cracks her up--but she is pretty good at imitating me.

CCD and I have been researching vacations (to keep our sanity and hope alilve) but we both agreed today that we would feel bad asking anyone to take care of our kids (ha!)---at least until Lucas gets this sleep patterns under control. So then we started looking at family vacations--then we looked at family airfare---then we stopped looking at vacations and went back to work. HA!

More to come---I didn't even tell you about my car accident. We just got our car, "The Milk Truck" back this week.

4-month Check Up & Sleep Training

Lucas is 4-months old and what a happy baby he is. He recognizes his family members and loves to exchange funny facial expressions now. He is very ticklish on his legs so diaper changing is total belly laughing session. He's really growing up and showing all signs of being a second child--1) he's resilient to his sister's abuse (meant as affection) 2) he likes constant noise and wants to be in the mix.

At the Doc's Office

During bath time, I used to wash Lucas in the sink and supervise Olivia in the tub, but now he's big enough for the bath chair and sits right beside his sister to enjoy the show and she LOVES the company.
Last week Olivia leaned over and gave Lucas a hug in the tub and said "My best friend Lucas, best friend. Aww. God is great. God is good. Amen. Luh you much." Needless to say I got a little teary. I told Charm City Daddy about it later and his response was, "Wow, we must be doing our jobs babe." What a great feeling. I know they will bicker when they get older, so I'm really enjoying these moments where Lucas is completely entertained by his big sis and she adores him.

Here are Lucas' stats from his 4-month check-up:
Height: 26 in.  (82 percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 6 oz. (49 percentile)
Head Circumference : 42.3 cm (72 percentile)

Now that we are concluding our last week of nursing and starting rice cereal, we are in full sleep training mode. It was a ROUGH start--like he was up 2-3 times a night---but now he is doing MUCH better. Last night he only woke up once and went right back down.

Sleep Training in Progress - screaming baby.

I try not to let him get too upset and escalate his cries so he doesn't associate his crib with solitary confinement. But he does sleep well after a good cry. :) I'm also finding that without nursing he's a much more independent and self-reliant sleeper. I stopped nursing Olivia at 10 weeks so sleep training was a cinch--particularly because she loves sleep and still tells us when she's ready for her nap. Lucas is already very different, but we will press on and make him love sleep too!

We start Stage 1 food next week! YEAH--one step closer to real food!

Los Dentes

Olivia loves to brush her teeth and eat the baby toothpaste. The fascination with her "dentes" hit new heights when her favorite fictional friend Caillou went to the dentist. So since it was time for our semi-annual cleaning, I decided to add in an appointment for O.

First we watched the Caillou episode again and then about two days in advance, I told her she was going to see the dentist, too. I told her the dentist was going to ask her to say, "ahh" and "cheese", so she would be ready--and she was! She could hardly wait her turn--telling the dental assistant that was setting up "excuse me, excuse me please." It was hilarious.

 

And look how tall she is, by the way! She nearly takes up my whole body on my lap.

The dentist looked around, counted her teeth and gave her cherry flavored flouride. It took all of 3 minutes, and I think she was actually waiting for him to do more. I know I was. She was thrilled to get the toothbrush at the end and carried it around all day until it was good and germy and I had to forbid her to put it in her mouth.

She's been talking about and talking up Dr. Rubin ever since. Telling anyone who will listen. She would have you believe he could fix her itchy ankles (mosquito bites) and boo boos. Now I have to get her equally as excited about her pediatrician for her big 2-year check-up next month. 

Just as I began writing this post...my little man, Lucas, reached up and pulled his musical mobile in his bouncy seat and made it play music.

I looked at him and said, "you pulled it!" He looked at me and started laughing!  The eye-hand coordination is surfacing and my little baby is growing up before my eyes. He talks non-stop just like his sister. He loves tummy time too.  It won't be long before he's chasing her around and enjoying her antics.

Get O-U-T.

I'm exhausted, in constant back and pelvic pain, and ready to have this B-A-B-Y. It's all I can do to try to make it to my 39 week, 1 day appointment on Wednesday. That is the earliest she promised to get things going, if you know what I mean. Although--honestly--I hope it doesn't come to that. It frightens me.

When I was pregnant with Olivia--I actually went into labor on that day--and thus missed my afternoon appointment. I would settle for Wednesday, but soon would be SO much better.

While I appreciate the compliments of how I'm carrying a perfect little basketball (although I'm only 5 lbs behind my all-over weight gain with O), my back hurts and I can't walk properly or even more than a snail's pace.

It's sad really. I had the day off and Charm City Daddy tried to entice me to the mall today (probably to secretly get me to walk the baby out) to buy me an iPad2 and I reluctantly agreed (love my gadgets) thinking all the while about all of the walking involved. That damn thing was sold out--of course it was--DUH! If I weren't in so much pain I would have realized this and come to my senses before agreeing to do all of that walking which required two rest stops on benches and a random makeup counter stool.

Time to bring out the old hip hop song...."Come baby. Come baby. Baby come, come!"

Sicky Poo

This little one woke up Sunday morning with her first cold.

She has severe nasal congestion which leaves her panting like a dog as she can only breathe through her mouth--interrupting her sleep at least once each night. Taking bottles are also difficult. She has watery eyes and snot is everywhere!

We are running from room to room following our poor child with nasal spray, nasal aspirator bulbs, Boogie wipes, and Q-tips. Olivia is highly annoyed by her parents but happy otherwise!She squirms whines and turns her face aways the second we pick up any of those items. Poor baby. We're doing the humidifier, hot baths, and even Vick's waterless vaporizer. I'm a such a first time parent. Overboard?

There is so much snot though...and it's smeared all over the place and pouring out (you like that visual?). I keep trying to make her do her nose trick where she scrunches up her nose and does short quick pushes of air out of her nose, but she won't do it. I even made a special run to Babies R Us this morning for this batter powered nasal aspirator. It's okaaaay, but she hates it too--even with the distracting music.

Then I remembered the snot sucker from another blog I follow. It will arrive via overnight shipping tomorrow and will hopefully give my baby girl some relief.  I will let you know!

UPDATE: The Nosefrida arrived and WORKS WONDERS! I highly, highly recommend it!

Beauty Hurts...

(blog issues...if you've partially received this post..I apologize for the error (ahem--THANK blogger!!--back to business)

...Badly!!

Olivia's ears are pierced! Aaaahhh! I am so glad it is over. I have worried and stressed about this day from the moment I asked O's doctor when we could get her ears pierced. She recommended to wait until 4 months--after two rounds of shots, but young enough that O wouldn't yank at them.

Charm City Daddy and I were so excited..then I almost cried just before it happened. We picked out the earrings first, "genuine diamonds" according to the case (lol) and the biggest her little ears could take. She was strapped her to daddy in the Bjorn carrier (b/c mommy's heart can't take shots or anything that hurts baby). I was armed with a blackberry for pics/video and a lollipop just in case a pacifier didn't do the trick and THANK GOD because there was a slight snafu with the piercing gun (it jammed and didn't clip the back of the earring on) and this caused the woman to prolong the piercing of O's right ear, which caused poor Olivia's wail to hit new heights. As soon as the gun jammed I looked at CCD and we both had this huge look of guilt---and felt like awful parents. It was all we could do not to scream at the lady but both of us remained silent as she got it together very quickly. It was so hard to watch---but I videotaped in case we would have to take this BIOTCH to court. Don't mess with my baby! It all ended well and they look perfect--thank goodness.

It is amazing how different she looks with these little gems poking out of her ear.

We Survived!

We survived: our first trip/flight with baby; baby's first round of vaccinations; and Mommy's first day back to work (today).

What a 3-day span we've had!

New Orleans was a blast and getting there was certainly eventful--definitely requiring a post of its own, so stay tuned for pics  of NOLA and the airport story.

Olivia had her 8-week check-up today. Here are O's latest stats:

Weight: 10lbs, 7oz (50th percentile)

Length: 23 inches (25th percentile)

Head Circumference: 38.6 cm (50th percentile)

She also had her first round of vaccines today! Ouch! Poor baby has been fussy all day (the perfect time for me to make my exit and return back to work). The au pair couldn't wait to hand her over today which was perfect because I ran into the house to see her.

Yep! I went back to work today (after O's appointment of course) and the practical jokester that is my boss had this in place of my nameplate outside my office door:

Haha ! VERY funny. I got the joke right away and burst into laughter (and knew exactly who was behind it). I love my job, but even better the wonderful people I work with.

And can you believe the presents are still coming in? Here are two recent gifts we were fortunate to get from dear, dear friends.

Today the mail brought a lovely surprise from a dear friend (and her mom) from my high school days!

And a sweet lady from church who we consider our guardian angel (and who also shares a birthday with Olivia--coincidence? nope.) gave us this beautiful portrait of Olivia.

I need to get a frame for it, but for now it hangs here in the nursery.

Thanks Julie, Debbie, and Gennifer!

Stay tuned for the lowdown on the NOLA trip.

Appointment Update: 38 weeks

Good. Gracious. It's hot.

It topped out at a very humid 95 degrees with a heat index over 100 today. Yow-zah!

I broke into a sweat a good 5-6 times today-- in the middle of meetings, getting in and out of my car, sitting at a suprise "cake break" thrown by my office colleagues for me (btw they gave me a this beautiful charm bracelet --how sweet!).

But anyway..onto the appointment update!

Today I was extremely interested in the doctor's "best guess" of whether or not I will make it through the week and particularly this weekend since Charm City Daddy has a business meeting in Boston for three long days at the end of the week! Ahhh!

According to the doc, I am 50% effaced and ZERO centimeters dialated and will probably sail through the week and weekend, if I manage to keep cool and kick up my feet.

Sounds simple, eh? Well its very hard for me to do. Relax? Where? Not at home! I do laundry every 5 seconds b/c I get paranoid that the laundry will get backed up and I will go into labor.

And me not go to work? I love my job. Plus today, we hosted one of those exciting, Senator-sponsored, health care town hall meetings and being a media spokesperson--well, its kind of hard to stay away.

So--barring there are no more media events--I am still contemplating perhaps taking half-days or just working from home for the remaining days of the pregnancy. We'll see.

Besides, I'm relaxed enough. Charm City Daddy just treated us to one last babymoon--a lovely spa weekend at the Georgetown Ritz Carlton in DC. And for the second time in a row--they upgraded us to the presidential suite! It's only a 45 minute door-to-door drive for us, but it really feels like a destination when we go to Georgetown.

While in Georgetown we had an incredible northern Italian dinner at Cafe Milano with a couple (also 6 months pregnant) who live in the DC area. We also had brunch at Peacock Cafe which is basically next door to Cafe Milano. I recommend both places.

So, we've done it all and I'm ready to have the baby---just as soon as the Au Pair arrives this Friday--oh and Charm City Daddy gets home from his work trip. Sigh.

Guess I will have to be a little more patient.

Appointment Update: Full Term 37 weeks

After all of the excitement of last week, there is absolutely nothing to report on the labor progress this week. Baa!

Here's the rundown: My blood pressure is normal. I gained 1 pound since last week. Baby is strong, in position, and sitting pretty for another week or so.

Charm City Daddy and I did, however, attend a 2 1/2 hour Breastfeeding Class lastnight. At first he resisted and worried he'd be the only guy--but he wasn't. ALL of the other dads were there and part of the course was catered to daddy participation in breastfeeding.

Specifically Dad's were instructed on how to:

• wake the baby with skin-to-skin contact for feedings (yes, daddies go bare chested too! lol)
• burp the baby in 3 different positions (all the guys had little baby dolls).
• help mom get baby in the proper latch position.
• encourage mom during feeding.
• finger feed the baby (with syringe) if supplementing becomes necessary.

It was very informative and allowed me to ask more questions about the type of pump I am considering purchasing or renting--although I'm no closer to a decision. Our pediatrician recommends that I use the hospital pump in the first few weeks to a month because of its industrial strength and value. My hospital uses the commercial-hospital grade of the AMEDA pump.

They apparently work faster than the Medela pumps and more suction adjustment range. The hospital doesn't discriminate though--they also sell Medela pumps in their little mommy boutique, too. Have you seen the new freestyle? It looks really fancy--aka pricey.







I've held out on purchasing the pump until now b/c my pediatrician told me that if the baby was born premature, most insurance companies would cover the cost of a breast pump. Now that I am officially full term--I think I've missed that opportunity. Shucks.

I guess it's time to suck it up. Ooh. Bad joke.

Appointment Update: 36 weeks

Awww... there she is! All 6lbs and 5 ounces!

Today's appointment was very exciting and informative. Not only did we get to see Charm City Baby in action, we also learned:

1. she looks exactly like her daddy (see 4-D image above).

2. her exact orientation: head down with butt and back on my right side and legs curled up around my ribs with feet on my left side.

3. she has hair! The sonographer showed us a nice little fuzzy ring around her head.

4. she is head down and right at the bottom of my cervix (not effaced btw). But this explains my extreme discomfort mentioned in the previous post.

5. because of her low placement, my water will probably break on its own (according to my doctor). Dramatic!

6. she will be born between 7.5 to 8 pounds by the doctor's best guess.

7. she will defintely make her entrance BEFORE her Aug. 24th due date--possibly 10 days prior!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Needless to say, everything I have not completed has been racing through my mind. I still need to:

1. Pack my hospital bag.
2. Prepare a welcome basket for the au pair (also scheduled to arrive August 14!).
3. Make room for bottles and feeding stuff in a kitchen cabinet.
4. Get my Cord Blood Registry kit!! (yikes!)
5. Take a breastfeeding class (scheduled for Monday-August 3)
6. Complete about a million projects (okay just three) at work so I can relax while on maternity leave.

I know I am forgetting something...Ahhhhh!

Help me. What am I forgetting?

Waddlin' Like I Hit the Bike Bar...

Warning: This may be too much information for you...but this is a blog about pregnancy and motherhood, so suck it up or skip this post. :)

You know that horizontal bar on men's bikes that we all have uncomfortably hit a time or two in our lives?

Yeah--imagine feeling like you hit that over and over and over again and then try walking like a normal person. Putting your pants on...getting out of bed, or just lifting your knees above your waist. Ouch!

At first I noticed the pain would come and go at about 7 months and only show up after long sitting or resting periods, but now it is all the time.

I looked it up. It's called...Pubic Symphysis Diastasis and it's a common symptom of pregnancy, but didn't apparently happen to my older sister. Consider yourself fortunate Windy City Mama.

According to About.com...it's because this is happening...

My pelvic ligaments are slowly loosening and Charm City Baby has become my "inner bike bar." Real nice.

I have a doctor's appointment later today, we'll see what she says about this whole thing.

Perfect Timing

Browsing around the web, I discovered two iPod touch/iPhone applications that time your contractions and then logs them for you so you can see if your contractions are getting closer together. Neat!

One is called Contraction Master ($.99). If you don't have an iPhone or iPod touch you can also use the application right from the website (for free)--provided you have the time (and sanity) to do so mid-labor. There are also applications to help you track nursing and diaper changes.

The other timer is called Labor Mate ($.99).

Check 'em out!

Nosebleeds, Leg Cramps, and Sob Fests

My pregnancy hormones and symptoms are really starting to surface lately.

...Like crying during simple television viewing, particularly American Idol. What is that all about? When 2nd-runner up Danny Gokey was voted off last week and started singing "You are So Beautiful" I went into full fledge histerics yelling at the TV, "Oh no, he's singing to his deceased wife--waaaaahhhh---waaaahhh." I mean I went from zero to ten in less than 3 seconds. It was so sudden and irrational that Charm City Daddy looked at me (completely puzzled and speechless) and had to ask if I was being serious. Surprisingly, I was being serious--but then it got funny--which is how I picked up how silly I was really being. Mid-Gokey performance the DVR recording abruptly stopped, and I just did one of those hiccup stops with my eyes wide-open like a deer in headlights, and that was it. Scene.

And yes, I cried at the AI finale last night too. But not at the obvious time when Chris Allen started singing his song, at the last 4 seconds of the telecast when his wife made it to his arms to give him a hug. Same pattern ensued---wailing, tears--and CUT off in a matter of 8-10 seconds.

The other thing I am seeing with more frequency are nosebleeds. They really have a tendency to sneak up on me too because I've had nasal congestion off and on the entire pregnancy. So at times when I think I just have a runny nose--it's random nosebleeds. Wierd. My OB offered to refer to me a nose specialist to zap the blood vessel if it continues to bother me, but I'm not likely to do all of that. I need to keep some "harmless pity symptoms" to show CCD this pregnancy thing ain't easy.

Leg cramps are the last and final nagging thing that I really could live without. Even as I type this post my left calf still isn't fully relaxed from the cramp I woke up with this morning. I stay off my back, eat bananas and kiwi, drink more water, even had massage therapists take extra time on my legs, and nothing has really worked. It is a terrible way to wake up, and poor CCD has grown accustomed to hearing my cries and immediately sitting up mid-slumber just to go to work massaging my knotty calves. Aww he's so sweet.

Okay...we're off to Jamaica for a quick 4-days! I'll have pics and a post when I return!

The Business of Being Born...by Appointment

As I was channel surfing on Sunday I came across Ricki Lake's widely promoted documentary "The Business of Being Born."

I watched the entire film from beginning to end, but at least 10 minutes into it, it was clear that I was not seeing a fair and balanced documentary weighing pros and cons of vaginal a.k.a "natural" births and cesarean sections. Let's just say it was not a film that left it to viewers to decide. Instead it was mostly a case for natural births and midwifery. Very disappointing.


As someone who is planning what I will call an "epidural-aided natural childbirth" (no inducing, hopefully) I was watching with an open mind. However, it was clear that Ricki was seeking to portray the idea that women have been lied to and convinced by money-driven modern medicine--not to mention male doctors--to abandon midwives and the natural birthing process since the 20's. Brainwashed women? Give me a break.


The film included plenty of startling photos, statistics , testimony from foreign male doctors who blasted U.S. maternal medicine and the increasing number of c-sections in the U.S. They chastised Victoria Beckham for having multiple c-sections and said a New York City trend is to have a planned c-section or "Designer Birth."


My favorite part of the film was the ending where the director Abby, who is pregnant herself, ends up having an emergency c-section for her breach, 3lb preemie. Ah the irony. Guess what Ricki Lake asks her in the end, "Do you feel cheated that you didn't have a natural birth as planned?" Abby sits there holding her perfectly happy health baby boy months later and answers "Not at all." Exactly!


Sunday's LA Times also chimed in on the topic, too.


My problem with the film is that it promotes that there is only one right way of doing things for women. It's the liberal mindset and I hate it. I say let women decide (as they are already doing) what is best for them, their babies, and their families.


I'm positive my female, mother-of-two OB/GYN would be equally disappointed in the film, and I can't wait to ask her opinion at my next appoinment.