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. =(
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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:
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*
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
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*
Sunday, February 6, 2011
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. =(
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. =(
Friday, February 4, 2011
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.
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.
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