aspirators & humidifers

This winter had been really bad when it comes to babies with colds, and Samma is no exception. She's just been so congested for as long as I can remember, which leads to a productive cough that keeps her up at night. No fever and she's acting as she normally would, which leads me to believe this is just a cold that will never end. We've tried the bulbous nasal aspirators, but they just weren't effective, not to mentioned just hard to use when you have a squirming infant... so after a couple of recommendations, we finally decided to suck it up (haha - get it?) and purchase this:

Graco Nasal Clear Nasal Aspirator

It was $20 at CVS -- I could have spent $2 less on Amazon and gotten free shipping with Prime through AmazonMom, but we needed it, and we needed it fast. The suction is effective thanks to two AA batteries, but it's loud. It offers 10 short melodies to try to distract baby, but they really don't do much to drown out the intimidating BUZZZZZZ... it's effective though, once you get beyond the battle to get the tip near the nose. And it's not invasive like the bulb aspirators can be. And, if you're sick like me, you can see all the crap you get out of baby's nose in the clear collection container. Ahh, the joys of being a mom...

But an aspirator alone just isn't enough.

And I dragged my feet for the longest time because I didn't believe it, but I was wrong, and now I don't put Samma to bed without turning on her humidifier.

Vicks Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier

We really lucked out with this one. When Sam first started getting congested, and she was sleeping in her own room, we knew we had to do something for her to help clear up her nose. This was around Christmastime, and wouldn't you know, for one of our many swaps a brand-new humidifier was put into the mix! And it's been great too, and I can tell the difference between the nights she has it on and when it's off.

And that's MB's little spiel on infant congestion and what you can do to help resolve it. =)

5 Months!

22 weeks tomorrow.

So what's new?

Sami's rolling more. We're still going from back to tummy, and then freaking out once we realize we're on our tummy and can't go anywhere, but her time on her stomach is getting longer and longer, and others who have been watching her say they've seen her roll back from her tummy to her back... sadly I think I'm the only one who hasn't seen this yet. Pics or it didn't happen, right?

She absolutely LOVES her Jumperoo... and it helps wear her out for bed, to boot! We still need to put a box underneath it so that her feet can reach to push off of something, but you work with what you got!

Teething hasn't been too bad lately. Sure, she's drooling all over the place and putting everything in her mouth, but she hasn't been too inconsolable as of late, which means less Oragel to be used, and that actually makes me feel a little bit better. We can still see the little white teeth under the gums in the front, so they're working they're way up slowly but surely...

And she's found her feet!!!

But above everything else, I think she's going through another growth spurt. Before I would be able to feed her one last time at 7pm, she'd go to bed, and be pretty much set until 5am... which was great because that meant I could pump before bed. Now, not so much, as she's waking up for food around midnight, and if I try pumping before bed I won't have enough offer her when she's hungry. It's quite the dilemma.

And I think we're putting a pause on solids for the time being. We've been trying, but it's been more of a battle than an enjoyable experience, and she's still young enough where she doesn't need to be out through all that. So we'll wait it out a week, try the rice cereal again, and see what happens. Who knows, she just might not want the rice cereal, and we can go to oatmeal and veggies once she hits 6 months.

*shrug* But we'll pull through it. We always do.

Shameless Plug

I entered Samantha into MikeFM's Crybaby Contest!

The CryBaby Photo Contest

It's set up like a versus-battle, so you gotta go through all of the pictures voting on which one of the two shown you like the best.

And what picture are you looking for, you might be asking yourself? Only this gem taken from Halloween:

Just remember to vote for Sami every time she comes up! And vote often - the contest is running until March 1st! And if you do, I'll make sure she shares that $1,000 BestBuy giftcard with you if she wins it all! ;D

Samma says...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Pedialyte is our friend.

Seriously... I don't know where I would have been without you this past weekend.

Let's go back to Friday night... I was able to get Sami to bed by 8pm without incident. At 9pm I heard her do a rather loud, moist cough, so I went in to check on her to see that she had thrown up all over herself and the crib. Not thinking much of it, as Sam spits up all the time, I picked her up, changed her out of her messy clothes, and brought her out into the living room with me so that she could call asleep in her bassinet while I continued to read. All was well until about 9:30pm, when she sat herself up a little like she has been, and this time instead of a cough, it was a definite heave, with bile coming up all over her again. I picked her up and sat her in my lap, rubbing her back and catching what was coming up in her blanket with the next couple of heaves, then changing her again when she was done. Another hour went by and she did it again, and by this time I was getting worried, as I was home alone while Chris was having a night out with the boys. She heaved one more time at 11pm, I called Chris to come home, and I decided to try giving her the leftover Pedialyte the hospital had given us when we were there last weekend. She wasn't running a fever, and there was no crying, so I used my best judgment in deducting that this was either the same or another stomach virus that was causing her so much discomfort. She downed 2.5 ounces and with the exception of one minor spitup, she slept through the rest of the night. Easier for her than me, though.... every time she coughed I was up to check on her.

By 6am she was awake, and she was hungry. I fed her the last two 2.5-ounce bottles we had of Pedialyte, which she took gratefully, and while she went back to sleep with Chris, I ran to the 24-hour CVS to stock up on another bottle. I told myself that if she could keep the morning's feeding down, I would split the next feeding with Pedialyte and breastmilk 50/50, and if that stayed down well enough, then I would go back to exclusively breastfeeding. By the late morning she was in great spirits, and we were able to get her back to regular feedings, but man... a sick baby is an unhappy baby, and makes for a sad momma.

Know what else makes for a sad Momma? Catching her sick baby's sickness the day after. Yup, I got whatever Sami had and was in bed all day. The worst part was I was so dehydrated, I could barely breastfeed her, so Chris had to give her at least one meal via pumped milk... it really sucked. =(

But we're getting better now... I just wish there was a Pedialyte for adults. Oh wait...

Goodbye, daycare...

On Friday, we had to let daycare know that Sami will not be coming back in March.

Why, do you ask?

Because my job has been cut from a full-time, 40-hour position to a part-time, 24 hour position, and we can't afford her daycare at the center with the smaller income.

It's really depressing.

Chris had to go in and tell the director because I know that if I had to, I was going to break down into tears.

It really bothers me... I loved the center, I love her teachers, and I know her teachers love her and are going to miss her, and it just pisses me off that I had to get the shit end of the stick with this hour reduction.

Everyone else in my company was told they had to furlough one day a week, but because I already was taking Thursdays off, my boss forced me to take an additional day.

Upside is, of course, I'll get to spend another day home with Sami. And I'll be able to collect unemployment since my hours have been spliced more than 30%. But seriously. The downside to potentially losing my job with an awesome - yet - failing company really puts a damper on things.

Luckily we have friends and family who will be able to help us in the meantime, and although there was a little bit of stressing once we received the news, I think we have everything pretty much figured out for when March comes.

But still. It sucks. =(

Operation: Feed Sami Solids For The First Time...

SUCCESS!!!

Sami officially tasted solids for the first time on Thursday, February 10, 2011!

I don't know how much of it she actually devoured other than her hand, but it's a start!

*tear* My little baby is growing up!

About Growth Percentiles

So I was doing some research, and I came across this link:

Growth Percentile Calculator

After plugging in Sami's 4-month numbers, this is what I came up with:

• Length: between 25 and 50 percentile
• Weight: between 50 and 75 percentile
• Head Circumference: between 10 and 25 percentile

It's the HC that makes me the most nervous, especially since the scare we had when I was 20weeks pregnant... but the doctor has been saying everything is looking good, and that she's developing where she should be, and nothing has been brought to our attention to be concerned about, but still, I swear I'm just going to have that nagging feeling that after everything was resolved way back when, something could still be wrong.

And then I went on reading Understanding the Results, but it still doesn't make me feel any better. In fact, now I want to try to plot out her growth chart and see how she's doing...

*le sigh*

Sami's first trip to the ER...

And it's funny, because just the other day I mentioned to my sister, as we were waiting in the ER to visit our grandmother, that I hope I never have to step foot into the pediatric ER... well, I guess Karma's a bitch after all...

Thursday while at Sami's appointment, I had noticed a little bit of a rash on her hairline - I mentioned this to the psycho-doctor and she said "It must have been from the hat she was wearing." I informed her she wasn't wearing a hat. "Well, then, it's probably from rubbing up against a detergent or something... I wouldn't worry about it." So I didn't.

Friday afternoon, I noticed the same speckly rash on Sam's face as I was picking her up from daycare. I mentioned this to her teacher, who said she believed it to be a reaction to her shots, as she's seen that on other babies before. She said that if I saw it anywhere else, calling the doctor might be the best bet, but otherwise, since there wasn't a fever involved, Sam was probably ok. I trusted her judgment, since she's had more experience with infants than I had...

Friday night, towards Sami's usual bedtime, we were going about our usual routine - Sami started fussing because she appeared tired, so we changed her into her PJs, fed her, turned off the lights in the house and started trying to rock her to sleep. Only this time, after a good two hours of trying to calm her down, nothing was working... and after two episodes of vomiting and discovering the rash further developing on her stomach, we decided to call the pediatrician's, mainly thinking she was having an allergic reaction to the shots she received at her 4-month appointment. The doctor told us to bring her to the ER to get her checked out since she didn't think it was a reaction to the shots, which had us all the more concerned... luckily the hospital was only 5 minutes down the street.

The upside to bringing a 4-month old to the ER (not really) is that you don't wait - they brought us right back to the pediatric ER and the nurse checked in on us right away. They hooked her up to the monitor to check her O2 levels, which were fine, and then they took her temp and blood pressure, which were also fine.

The doctor then came in and check her vitals - because she was crying inconsolably, stopping for 5-10 minutes, then starting up again, she was concerned that it may have been an internal issue, maybe with her bowels, so she sent us for X-Rays and an ultrasound.

The X-rays sucked ass... they had Chris and I suit up in lead smocks so that we could hold Sam down and still while they took x-rays of her belly - the first one wasn't so bad, where she was able to lie on her back... the second one they wanted to take a film through her back, so we had to hold her up against a panel while she was lying on her side. She was screaming the whole time, and the suckiest part is we had to do it twice because she moved too much the first time. At least the ultrasound wasn't too bad- we did have to hold her arms and legs down do that she didnt try to move the wand out of they way, but really, none of it was pleasant.

Regardless, the worst of all was when they had to take urine and blood for testing. I was in tears... I mean, I know it was for the best, but having to hold my daughter down while they inserted a catheter and an IV just broke my heart.

And after all that, and all the tests were done, they couldn't find anything wrong. The doctor concluded that because of the vomiting, the inconsolable crying, and the spreading rash, it must just be a virus, and to monitor it in case things dont change for the better. In the meantime, I fed her 2oz of Pedialyte and they gave her fluids via her IV and she finally fell asleep. All the while I myself was fighting both emotional and physical exhaustion (it was midnight by this point) and we were finally discharged at 12:30am with the instruction of feeding her Pedialyte again in the morning, and if she kept it down ok, we could switch back to breastmilk. We were also instructed to follow-up with her pediatrician, and I again was very happy we are with an office that is open 7 days a week.

Saturday morning she kept 6oz of pedialyte down without problem, and we had no issue switching back to breastmilk. I called the pediatrician, and they wanted her in the next day for a follow-up appointment. Chris brought her in, they looked her over and agreed that it must be a stomach virus and to just keep an eye on her to make sure she's ok. And everything has been fine since.

Of course that doesn't mean I dont get all paranoid now whenever she doesnt calm down for bed... a sick baby sucks, especially when they can't tell you what's really wrong. =(

4-month checkup... finally

After having to delay the appointment because of snow for what seemed like forever, Sami finally had her 4-month well baby appointment at 4.5 months. She's weighing in at 14lbs 4oz, 24.5" long, with a head circumference of 15.75" - one of these days I'll find out about percentiles, but all I know is that she's doing well!

We received the OK to start solids - baby rice cereal first - so one of these days we need to pull the high chair out of the garage and start setting it up...

And with the 4-month appointment came 4-month shots. =( That's always the saddest part...

But now let me tell you about the actual pediatrician I saw... this was the first time we had to deal with this woman since we've been coming to this practice, and if I have anything to do with it, it'll be the last. She is much older than the other doctors, so I think her views on childcare maybe a little outdated in comparison to her colleagues. For example - we discussed Sami's teething, and she told me that instead of using the OraGel (that another doctor in her practice suggested we used) she said we should try the frozen teether since it's a "natural anesthesia." When I told her that Sami didn't like those because they were too cold for her mouth, she insisted that it's the only thing that would work. Yikes.

And then this same woman gave me a heart attack thinking that Sami's hips weren't aligned! She couldn't get her leg creases to match up while Sami was on her belly, so she was trying for a good 5 minutes to adjust her legs, showing me where they weren't lining up and what it could mean, and then suddenly she was just like "Oh ok, she's fine - she just moves too much!" Really?? Geesh...

And then, on my way out of the office as I was checking out, I remembered that daycare had asked for a letter from the pediatrician to administer Oragel should Sami need it, since she had had her first teething attack the other day. So I mentioned this to the receptionist, and she went back to tell the nurse. Suddenly the pediatrician I saw came storm out, almost accusatory - "You said you only gave her oragel at night!!!" I explain the situation, and she shook her head - "No, I'm not allowing this. Oragel is bad enough, I'm not going to authorize daycare to put their fingers, gloved or not, into her mouth. No, I will not give you the letter." I was floored. I mean, honestly, the last thing I expected was to receive a NO so adamantly... so I left. Chris said I should have asked for another pediatrician to autorize it since we received the OK to use Oragel from them in the first place... I'm letting it go until Sami has another bad day, and then we'll try again.

Needless to say, I will NOT be making an appointment with that particular doctor ever again. As it is, the only reason I had her this time was because I had to reschedule my previous appointment. At least the receptionist asks if we have a preference... oy, there seems to be one at every practice.