Last week on Monday evening Kevin started to feel a little ill. He was complaining of an upset stomach, but he thought it had something to do with the eggs he ate earlier. We went to bed expecting him to feel better in the morning. I woke up around 2:00 when Julia wanted to eat. I got her out of her bassinet and took one step away when I heard a noise. It sounded like a man had just cleared his throat very loudly downstairs; I froze. Then I heard it again. So I quickly ran into our bedroom loudly whispering Kevin’s name. When he didn’t respond to his name I went to the bed to shake him awake. As soon as I realized he wasn’t in bed my heart slowly returned to beating the normal speed. I took Julia into the other room where I change her diaper and nurse her and discovered Kevin was up with flu symptoms. As I was sitting and nursing Julia I started to feel a little queasy myself, but I thought it was all in my head since I kept hearing Kevin get up. I still told myself the same thing when I went back to bed. By the time daylight came, Kevin and I both had flu symptoms.
Chloe did very well entertaining herself that morning, but neither of us could hold Julia for very long because any way we tried to hold her we had too much pressure on our stomach. I wasn’t too worried about Chloe -- I didn’t want her to get sick, but I knew she’d be okay if she did. I was very worried about Julia catching the flu from us; I was afraid we were going to end up at the hospital before the week was over. I finally managed to convince Julia that she was being held while I was lying on my side on the couch. I put one arm under her head, turned her towards me (just far away enough that she wasn‘t touching my stomach), and put the other arm across her almost like a hug. I was so grateful that she bought into that scenario and slept. The downside was that I couldn’t sleep because she was right at the edge of the couch. Kevin asked one of the ladies of the church if she would be willing to come over and hold the baby so we could rest. That was the best idea even though I felt bad asking somebody to come into our house while we were sick. By Wednesday I was feeling fine. Kevin wasn’t completely back to normal for a few days, but he had much more sever symptoms than I had.
Thursday I started having problems of a different sort. It was painful to nurse Julia; actually, I was in pain all the time. By that evening I was running a high fever and felt absolutely miserable. I called the lactation consultant at the hospital on Friday and was told to call my doctor to be seen. He got me in that afternoon and diagnosed mastitis. Luckily Kevin was basically feeling fine and my mom was coming in for the weekend. That gave me lots of help around the house. I still have six more days of antibiotics, but I am feeling much better.
Yesterday we went back to the doctor so the family could be seen. Only Chloe and Julia had appointments for check-ups, but the doctor wanted to know how I was doing with the medicine and Kevin had a question for the doctor about an ailment. Both girls are still healthy and growing like weeds. Chloe weighed in at 28 pounds 8 ounes (75th percentile for her age) and measured 33 ½ inches (50%). Julia gained a pound and a half over the past two weeks and now weighs in at 11 pounds 1 ounce. The doctor isn’t worried about how many times Julia nurses in a day anymore and gave me permission to feed to her demand (which I already had been doing). I just wish she’d demand more during the day so we could sleep all night.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
A Day in the Life...
of Julia! Warning: Not all aspects of this day represent a typical day, but what is a typical day?!
2:30 am -- wake Mommy up for a diaper change and feeding
3:15 -- lightly doze in Mommy’s arms
3:35 -- wide awake in Mommy’s arms…now what should we do?
4:10 -- I’ve closed my eyes, but isn’t that my big sister I hear crying in her bedroom?
4:20 -- Mommy’s putting me down in the bassinet in an attempt to go back to bed herself. Wish her luck!
5:30 -- nap is over and I’m ready to eat again
6:20 -- settling into Mommy’s arms for snuggling
6:40 -- heading back to bed again, maybe not for long though
7:30 -- time to wake up again for Daddy time…we spend the morning playing and socializing
9:00 -- Mommy needs to wake up… I’m hungry!
9:30 -- sleep in Mommy’s arms
10:15 -- trip to Walmart with Mommy and Chloe…I look around at the bright colors for a while before I finally fall asleep
11:15 -- continue sleeping in my carseat when we get home
12:30 -- I decided to let Mommy eat half of her lunch before I let her know I’m hungry
1:30 -- asleep in Mommy’s arms again
1:50 -- Mommy decides she has other things she needs to get done…I have to sleep in the bouncey seat
2:30 -- wake up and immediately make an explosive diaper that stains my clothes… Mommy says I have to hang out in just my diaper now since my clothes are in Chloe’s room and she’s napping
2:40 -- since I’m awake I might as well eat again
3:10 -- I get fussy and try a variety of things to settle down -- dozing, nursing, cuddling, dancing with Mommy; Mommy says I don’t know what I want
4:10 -- Mommy plays with me until Chloe wakes up… I get crabby when she leaves me to attend to Chloe’s explosive diaper
4:30 -- I settle for another snack
4:45 -- nap on Mommy’s shoulder… I think she dozed too
5:10 -- nap on Daddy’s shoulder
6:00 -- Daddy says I have to wake up so I’ll sleep tonight… he puts me in the bouncey seat while everybody else eats… but I show him -- I cry until he rocks me with his foot and I fall back asleep
6:50 -- Mommy gets me dressed and takes me to church for Bible study
7:00 -- I spend Bible study time eating, dozing (to Mommy’s dismay), and crying
8:30 -- I convince Mommy I’m still hungry so she’ll let me nurse back to sleep
8:50 -- Daddy tries to keep me awake by playing airplane
9:00 -- Daddy starts getting me ready for a bath… Mommy gives me a bath to wake me back up
9:30 -- Daddy gives me my bottle while Mommy pumps
10:10 -- I sleep on Daddy’s shoulder, but become wide awake when he puts me down into his arm
10:30 -- Daddy takes me upstairs to rock me
10:35 -- I decide I’ll willingly let him put me in the bassinet at a reasonable time… I’m not usually this nice... I think I'll sleep until 1:30 tomorrow morning... Goodnight!
2:30 am -- wake Mommy up for a diaper change and feeding
3:15 -- lightly doze in Mommy’s arms
3:35 -- wide awake in Mommy’s arms…now what should we do?
4:10 -- I’ve closed my eyes, but isn’t that my big sister I hear crying in her bedroom?
4:20 -- Mommy’s putting me down in the bassinet in an attempt to go back to bed herself. Wish her luck!
5:30 -- nap is over and I’m ready to eat again
6:20 -- settling into Mommy’s arms for snuggling
6:40 -- heading back to bed again, maybe not for long though
7:30 -- time to wake up again for Daddy time…we spend the morning playing and socializing
9:00 -- Mommy needs to wake up… I’m hungry!
9:30 -- sleep in Mommy’s arms
10:15 -- trip to Walmart with Mommy and Chloe…I look around at the bright colors for a while before I finally fall asleep
11:15 -- continue sleeping in my carseat when we get home
12:30 -- I decided to let Mommy eat half of her lunch before I let her know I’m hungry
1:30 -- asleep in Mommy’s arms again
1:50 -- Mommy decides she has other things she needs to get done…I have to sleep in the bouncey seat
2:30 -- wake up and immediately make an explosive diaper that stains my clothes… Mommy says I have to hang out in just my diaper now since my clothes are in Chloe’s room and she’s napping
2:40 -- since I’m awake I might as well eat again
3:10 -- I get fussy and try a variety of things to settle down -- dozing, nursing, cuddling, dancing with Mommy; Mommy says I don’t know what I want
4:10 -- Mommy plays with me until Chloe wakes up… I get crabby when she leaves me to attend to Chloe’s explosive diaper
4:30 -- I settle for another snack
4:45 -- nap on Mommy’s shoulder… I think she dozed too
5:10 -- nap on Daddy’s shoulder
6:00 -- Daddy says I have to wake up so I’ll sleep tonight… he puts me in the bouncey seat while everybody else eats… but I show him -- I cry until he rocks me with his foot and I fall back asleep
6:50 -- Mommy gets me dressed and takes me to church for Bible study
7:00 -- I spend Bible study time eating, dozing (to Mommy’s dismay), and crying
8:30 -- I convince Mommy I’m still hungry so she’ll let me nurse back to sleep
8:50 -- Daddy tries to keep me awake by playing airplane
9:00 -- Daddy starts getting me ready for a bath… Mommy gives me a bath to wake me back up
9:30 -- Daddy gives me my bottle while Mommy pumps
10:10 -- I sleep on Daddy’s shoulder, but become wide awake when he puts me down into his arm
10:30 -- Daddy takes me upstairs to rock me
10:35 -- I decide I’ll willingly let him put me in the bassinet at a reasonable time… I’m not usually this nice... I think I'll sleep until 1:30 tomorrow morning... Goodnight!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Chloe has been taking quite the interest in Julia's toys and baby gear. She is fascinated whenever a new item gets pulled out of storage. I don't think she's really jealous that Julia is using new things, but she sure does want to try them out herself whenever the opportunity arises.
After seeing Julia lie on the nursing pillow and play with toys, Chloe finds that the pillow is also great for tv viewing.
After seeing Julia lie on the nursing pillow and play with toys, Chloe finds that the pillow is also great for tv viewing.
Julia sure seemed to have fun with the playmat. Chloe wasn't too convinced this toy was right for her.
Julia even makes "tummy time" look fun!
Chloe also tried to climb into the bouncey seat one time while Julia was in my arms. I didn't get a picture of that; I was too busy trying to stop her.
Chloe can make things look rather appealing herself. Heidi couldn't wait to steal the chair!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Ups and Downs
Okay, I guess all of the posts since Julia was born could be called this. I hate coming up with titles. Yesterday was an “up” day for the most part. It was the first time I had to get everybody ready for church by myself. The morning went quite smoothly (apart from having to get up at 5:15). Thanks to help from members at church, getting the girls to church and home from church was quite easy. We sat with a couple at church who didn’t mind helping out with Chloe. That meant I didn’t have to take her with me into the cry room while I nursed Julia.
After church I decided a trip to Walmart HAD to be made. We had been carrying our last roll of toilet paper to the upstairs bathroom at night and to the downstairs bathroom during the day for a couple days already. After Julia nursed I loaded both girls into the car (not as bad as I expected). Getting into the store was a bit trickier. I always park near a cart return so I don’t have far to go with a toddler in the parking lot. Yesterday I couldn’t take a cart from outside because they were all wet (from snow!). That meant I had even farther to walk to get into the store while carrying a heavy carseat in one hand and trying to maintain hold of Chloe’s hand with the other hand. Shopping wasn’t bad since Julia slept the whole time. She has to ride in the large part of the cart since our carseat doesn’t fit in the seat portion like most. Chloe started by helping me push the cart. Then she got bored and needed to ride. That sure doesn’t leave much room for merchandise! No more large shopping trips for me.
All in all I was quite proud of my accomplishments yesterday. Then in the evening Julia must have had an upset stomach or something. The evening was a bit rougher with her fussiness, but I suppose I can’t expect a perfect day.
Today has been a bit rougher again as I had both girls crying this morning and I had little patience due to lack of sleep. I slept about 5 hours in bed last night (broken into two chunks). I took Julia downstairs and tried dozing on the couch again. I know it’s better than nothing, but trying to sleep relatively upright just isn’t very restful to me.
Julia had a doctor’s appointment today. I was quite curious about her weight since her feeding schedule is so wacky -- sometimes going 4-5 hours during the day without wanting to eat. The doctor assured me that whatever I’m doing with her is working just fine. Two weeks ago she weighed in at 7-13. Today’s weight was 9-9.5. Hurray! The doctor couldn’t tell me why I’m in pain all the time except while I’m nursing. Most mothers who have problems have the pain while nursing. So I’ll be talking to the lactation consultant later this week to meet with her.
That’s the latest from our household. I need to work harder at remembering the good times when things aren’t going as smoothly. I’m just thankful yesterday was so good; it proves things can go smoothly.
After church I decided a trip to Walmart HAD to be made. We had been carrying our last roll of toilet paper to the upstairs bathroom at night and to the downstairs bathroom during the day for a couple days already. After Julia nursed I loaded both girls into the car (not as bad as I expected). Getting into the store was a bit trickier. I always park near a cart return so I don’t have far to go with a toddler in the parking lot. Yesterday I couldn’t take a cart from outside because they were all wet (from snow!). That meant I had even farther to walk to get into the store while carrying a heavy carseat in one hand and trying to maintain hold of Chloe’s hand with the other hand. Shopping wasn’t bad since Julia slept the whole time. She has to ride in the large part of the cart since our carseat doesn’t fit in the seat portion like most. Chloe started by helping me push the cart. Then she got bored and needed to ride. That sure doesn’t leave much room for merchandise! No more large shopping trips for me.
All in all I was quite proud of my accomplishments yesterday. Then in the evening Julia must have had an upset stomach or something. The evening was a bit rougher with her fussiness, but I suppose I can’t expect a perfect day.
Today has been a bit rougher again as I had both girls crying this morning and I had little patience due to lack of sleep. I slept about 5 hours in bed last night (broken into two chunks). I took Julia downstairs and tried dozing on the couch again. I know it’s better than nothing, but trying to sleep relatively upright just isn’t very restful to me.
Julia had a doctor’s appointment today. I was quite curious about her weight since her feeding schedule is so wacky -- sometimes going 4-5 hours during the day without wanting to eat. The doctor assured me that whatever I’m doing with her is working just fine. Two weeks ago she weighed in at 7-13. Today’s weight was 9-9.5. Hurray! The doctor couldn’t tell me why I’m in pain all the time except while I’m nursing. Most mothers who have problems have the pain while nursing. So I’ll be talking to the lactation consultant later this week to meet with her.
That’s the latest from our household. I need to work harder at remembering the good times when things aren’t going as smoothly. I’m just thankful yesterday was so good; it proves things can go smoothly.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Just a thought...
Today I realized that new parents (or at least, this new parent) can sometimes be some of the easiest people in the world to please while at other times we’re impossible to make happy. Take today for an example:
Julia woke up at 5:30 this morning wanting to eat. Not my favorite hour of the day, but I can’t let the baby go hungry. By 6:15 she was changed, fed to her satisfaction, and burped. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to get her to go back to sleep. By 7:00 I was convinced that she was in a deep enough sleep that she would stay asleep when I put her down. I put her in the bassinet without the tiniest squirm on her part and went back to bed myself (hurray!). At 7:35 she was giving the “somebody please hold me” cry. I gave her a few minutes to see if she would fall back asleep. Nope. Was lying in bed for 30 minutes really worth it? Maybe I should have stayed up. Julia fell back asleep in my arms as soon as I picked her up. I took her downstairs, propped some pillows behind my head and slept sitting up on the couch (hurray!) Hey, it may be the only nap I get all day.
Chloe woke up a little later in the morning, crabby as can be. I could tell it was going to be a rough day with her. Immediately I started making plans for having an early lunch and putting her to nap right after we ate instead of her normal 2:00 naptime. I was able to make some coffee without having to hold Julia (hurray!- something to help with my awful headache). But as soon as the coffee was made and poured into my cup, Julia woke up needing fed again. So much for attending to the headache right away. When Kevin left for his office hours in Belle, Chloe was screaming because she wanted to go with him and Julia was screaming because she didn’t start eating the second she woke up. I looked at Kevin and asked him if he would stay home if I cried too. I never got a response. By the way, my cup of coffee was finally finished by 12:30, after having to reheat it on two separate occasions.
Julia was awake from 10:00 until 12:30 this morning. That was quite exciting since she slept almost all day yesterday. Hopefully she’ll sleep well tonight now. By 12:00 she was showing signs of fatigue, so I tried to help her fall asleep. She was asleep at one point, but woke up 3 minutes after I put her down. She finally fell asleep for good around 12:45. Chloe was acting much better by this point, but I still decided to put her down for nap early so they would both be sleeping at the same time.
I used the time to take a much needed shower (hurray!). Julia slept in her bouncy seat in the bathroom, soothed by the sound of the water. That worked really well until I opened the bathroom door and the steam left while the cool air came in. That woke her up in a hurry. There’s no way a nap less than 30 minutes long was going to be enough for her, so here I sit rocking the bouncy seat with my leg while she goes back to sleep. Why doesn’t she want to sleep today?
The smallest things can make me so happy right now -- catching an unexpected nap, having a cup of caffeine (that’s the only reason to drink the coffee), taking a shower, having a newborn who is actually awake for a fair period of time during the day. Then it’s amazing to me how quickly the pleasure can be taken away -- waking up to the sound of a screaming toddler, drinking cold coffee many hours after it’s needed, trying desperately to put Julia to sleep during the day after trying so hard to make her wake up yesterday. If I weren’t so sleep-deprived I would probably find these scenarios quite humorous. I must be making some kind of progress -- they didn’t bring me to tears.
Julia woke up at 5:30 this morning wanting to eat. Not my favorite hour of the day, but I can’t let the baby go hungry. By 6:15 she was changed, fed to her satisfaction, and burped. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to get her to go back to sleep. By 7:00 I was convinced that she was in a deep enough sleep that she would stay asleep when I put her down. I put her in the bassinet without the tiniest squirm on her part and went back to bed myself (hurray!). At 7:35 she was giving the “somebody please hold me” cry. I gave her a few minutes to see if she would fall back asleep. Nope. Was lying in bed for 30 minutes really worth it? Maybe I should have stayed up. Julia fell back asleep in my arms as soon as I picked her up. I took her downstairs, propped some pillows behind my head and slept sitting up on the couch (hurray!) Hey, it may be the only nap I get all day.
Chloe woke up a little later in the morning, crabby as can be. I could tell it was going to be a rough day with her. Immediately I started making plans for having an early lunch and putting her to nap right after we ate instead of her normal 2:00 naptime. I was able to make some coffee without having to hold Julia (hurray!- something to help with my awful headache). But as soon as the coffee was made and poured into my cup, Julia woke up needing fed again. So much for attending to the headache right away. When Kevin left for his office hours in Belle, Chloe was screaming because she wanted to go with him and Julia was screaming because she didn’t start eating the second she woke up. I looked at Kevin and asked him if he would stay home if I cried too. I never got a response. By the way, my cup of coffee was finally finished by 12:30, after having to reheat it on two separate occasions.
Julia was awake from 10:00 until 12:30 this morning. That was quite exciting since she slept almost all day yesterday. Hopefully she’ll sleep well tonight now. By 12:00 she was showing signs of fatigue, so I tried to help her fall asleep. She was asleep at one point, but woke up 3 minutes after I put her down. She finally fell asleep for good around 12:45. Chloe was acting much better by this point, but I still decided to put her down for nap early so they would both be sleeping at the same time.
I used the time to take a much needed shower (hurray!). Julia slept in her bouncy seat in the bathroom, soothed by the sound of the water. That worked really well until I opened the bathroom door and the steam left while the cool air came in. That woke her up in a hurry. There’s no way a nap less than 30 minutes long was going to be enough for her, so here I sit rocking the bouncy seat with my leg while she goes back to sleep. Why doesn’t she want to sleep today?
The smallest things can make me so happy right now -- catching an unexpected nap, having a cup of caffeine (that’s the only reason to drink the coffee), taking a shower, having a newborn who is actually awake for a fair period of time during the day. Then it’s amazing to me how quickly the pleasure can be taken away -- waking up to the sound of a screaming toddler, drinking cold coffee many hours after it’s needed, trying desperately to put Julia to sleep during the day after trying so hard to make her wake up yesterday. If I weren’t so sleep-deprived I would probably find these scenarios quite humorous. I must be making some kind of progress -- they didn’t bring me to tears.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Child of God
It was many days ago that I said I would add some pictures from Julia's baptism. I have finally found just a few minutes where both girls are sleeping. Here are just a few:
One of the nicest family pictures we've had taken so far.
One of the nicest family pictures we've had taken so far.
Julia with parents and baptismal sponsors (and Chloe sneaking in).
Julia wore the same gown Chloe wore at her baptism. My mom made it for us. The top of the gown was made from my grandma's wedding dress, and the bottom was made from my mom's wedding dress.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Tagged
Kristi tagged me earlier today to take the Muppet personality test. I'm also supposed to tag others with blogs, but Kristi is the only person I know with a blog. So anybody reading this can take the test themselves and add it to my comments. Consider yourself tagged! Take the test here:
http://blogthings.com/themuppetpersonalitytest
My results:
http://blogthings.com/themuppetpersonalitytest
My results:
| You Are Scooter |
 You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!" |
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Improvements
It's been a while since I last wrote, and we've had a few changes since then. First of all, we had Julia's baptism on Sunday. I'll add another post soon to show pictures. Right after church on Sunday Julia was hungry, and it was time for me to pump again. So I decided to try nursing. She took to the idea just as eagerly as she did at the hospital! She didn't have a bottle for the remainder of the daytime; she only nursed. We still bottlefed and pumped overnight just to make sure she was getting enough. We've been nursing successfully ever since. One of these nights I'll have to break down and nurse through the night too. It's just hard because with the bottle we only get up twice a night.
The home nurse came again on Monday to draw more blood. This time we actually had the same nuse as the previous time. This was exciting because that meant Julia was weighed on the same scale and we knew exactly what her weight change was. Between Friday and Monday she gained 5 ounces! We are finally moving in the right direction. We also had a doctor's appointment on Friday. He's happy with the way things have turned around.
Chloe is having a blast with Grandma and Grandpa Koester, Uncle Eric, and Uncle Ethan. She wasn't shy for very long when they arrived. Now she's enjoying so much attention that I'm afraid she will be very bored next week when everybody is gone. In the meantime, we are sure enjoying their company/entertainment/help while they are here.
Sorry this update is so short. My mind is still a bit fuzzy from not enough sleep. I'll try hard to get baptism pictures added soon.
The home nurse came again on Monday to draw more blood. This time we actually had the same nuse as the previous time. This was exciting because that meant Julia was weighed on the same scale and we knew exactly what her weight change was. Between Friday and Monday she gained 5 ounces! We are finally moving in the right direction. We also had a doctor's appointment on Friday. He's happy with the way things have turned around.
Chloe is having a blast with Grandma and Grandpa Koester, Uncle Eric, and Uncle Ethan. She wasn't shy for very long when they arrived. Now she's enjoying so much attention that I'm afraid she will be very bored next week when everybody is gone. In the meantime, we are sure enjoying their company/entertainment/help while they are here.
Sorry this update is so short. My mind is still a bit fuzzy from not enough sleep. I'll try hard to get baptism pictures added soon.
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