Since uploading videos to Blogger seems to take too long, I am trying uploading them to youtube.com, for now....
Over the past few days or so Liam has really enjoyed being on his play mat. Today he was making all kinds of noises, so I broke out the FLIP and here is him continuing to have fun! ;-) CLICK HERE
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Aerial Refueling...
That is what Nolan has been up to! :-)
Pictures courtesy of a google search
Not only is being able to refuel in the air impressive itself, he has refueled at night too!!
Just a tiny bit of info about it:
- they have to go off the coast to do this (to air space that isn't being used)
- they have to wear wet suits under their flight suits (since they are flying over water and it has been insanely cold here)
- they need 40 miles of air space - that is how long the training space is
- they really do take on fuel from the C-130
Pictures courtesy of a google searchJust a tiny bit of info about it:
- they have to go off the coast to do this (to air space that isn't being used)
- they have to wear wet suits under their flight suits (since they are flying over water and it has been insanely cold here)
- they need 40 miles of air space - that is how long the training space is
- they really do take on fuel from the C-130
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
New House!
Soon?.......
If you click the picture, I believe you can zoom the floor plan...
Half of this is what it will pretty much look like...
a single family home.
If you click the picture, I believe you can zoom the floor plan...
Half of this is what it will pretty much look like...a single family home.
When we moved into base housing on MCAS New River in July 2009 we were told that for sure by the following summer we would be moving into new housing....
Well, it is January 2011 and still here we are in our 1950s home. Don't get me wrong, we truly love it, but we were looking forward to a new house! The wood floors throughout are amazing - although they allow Sandi's dog hair to float around the house vice carpet which keeps it in one spot until you vacuum. We won't miss that aspect.
Believe it or not, the new housing is currently being built! They are way behind schedule, but they are making progress none the less. We were told in October that our current house will be torn down by July 2011, so we would definitely be moved into the new housing (which is a few miles away from our current house, and at the front gate of the base, as opposed to being in the very back of the base) by then. I highly doubt we will be moved in by July 2011, but maybe they will prove me wrong.
None the less, the new houses are available for touring on Friday! Get exited!! I am very much looking forward to seeing them and finding out whether or not Patrick Street is on their move in plan window yet... In October, our street, Patrick St, was going to be the last to move and frankly they had no details about moving us. Boo hiss!
We are excited to have a brand new house and I think most especially to have a garage again! We currently have a car port and a very nice size storage closet in the house, but since we moved everything out of the guest room, to make room for Liam's nursery, Nolan's man-cave has become man-cave/office/guest room/dumping ground for everything else! :-/ Carpet will be appreciated as well, mainly because of Sandi's shedding hair!
We will keep you posted; hoping we can move before Nolan deploys in late June/early July, but as of now there is no telling.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
To formula only we go...
As of Monday, no more breast milk for Liam...
I feel fortunate to have been able to give him as much "breast is best" as I could produce, for the first month of life, but I have now chosen to sleep over pumping... Seems quite selfish, I guess, but for me to have the energy to take care of Liam, it is what it is. :-)
Over the weekend, after Liam had been unusually fussy for two days straight, I feel like I reached the point of exhaustion - I totally felt like I had been hit by a truck. I considered that I was coming down with the flu, as my whole body ached, and my head wouldn't stop pounding. I even had a fainting spell when I got up to feed him around 3am... :-/ pretty scary moment... Thank God I hadn't picked Liam up yet!
Thanks to Nolan I was able to get in a few extra hours of sleep on Sunday, and finally on Monday night Liam went back to his usual routine and I was able to get a solid 4 hours of sleep! (since I didn't pump like usual)
I know he will do just fine on formula, many babies are formula fed from day one, but I was honestly hoping to give him breast milk (as much as I could make) for the first 6 weeks... Oh well, I almost made it! ;-) I suppose it is a pride issue at the moment, but I am certain I will get over it pretty quickly. I am already feeling better, physically and mentally, just by getting a few more hours of sleep over the past 2 days - I can't help but think how great I will feel in a week's time! ;-)
Now on to the effects of not pumping; so far, not so much fun, but this too shall pass! :-)
I feel fortunate to have been able to give him as much "breast is best" as I could produce, for the first month of life, but I have now chosen to sleep over pumping... Seems quite selfish, I guess, but for me to have the energy to take care of Liam, it is what it is. :-)
Over the weekend, after Liam had been unusually fussy for two days straight, I feel like I reached the point of exhaustion - I totally felt like I had been hit by a truck. I considered that I was coming down with the flu, as my whole body ached, and my head wouldn't stop pounding. I even had a fainting spell when I got up to feed him around 3am... :-/ pretty scary moment... Thank God I hadn't picked Liam up yet!
Thanks to Nolan I was able to get in a few extra hours of sleep on Sunday, and finally on Monday night Liam went back to his usual routine and I was able to get a solid 4 hours of sleep! (since I didn't pump like usual)
I know he will do just fine on formula, many babies are formula fed from day one, but I was honestly hoping to give him breast milk (as much as I could make) for the first 6 weeks... Oh well, I almost made it! ;-) I suppose it is a pride issue at the moment, but I am certain I will get over it pretty quickly. I am already feeling better, physically and mentally, just by getting a few more hours of sleep over the past 2 days - I can't help but think how great I will feel in a week's time! ;-)
Now on to the effects of not pumping; so far, not so much fun, but this too shall pass! :-)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Working...
on head control! :-)
My dad brought us a FLIP video camera when he came to visit two weekends ago. Funny thing, he called about 20 minutes after Nolan had left to go to Best Buy to buy one (this was the weekend before he came) and said he was bringing us one in a week, so to wait! What timing! :-)
Hopefully we'll be able to share random clips of Liam often! :-)
Hopefully we'll be able to share random clips of Liam often! :-)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Pictures!
Everyone is glad Dad is home from work / "Multi-tasking"
So serious... ;-)
Beautiful blue eyes!
Gig'Em Aggies
Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2032!
(4 weeks old)
First bath... in his bath tub
He loved it! :-)
(4 weeks old)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
As of late...
Sandi is adjusting well to Liam...
She is asking to get in the chair with Nolan in this picture... ;-)
A family friend of Nolan's sent Liam this WSU hat; almost as cute at the A&M hat he has... ;-)
Me and Liam with my Dad
Nolan and my Dad next to an Osprey...It was really cold on the flight line!
Liam's 2 week appointment was on Friday, January 7th, although he turned 3 weeks old just 2 days later... :-) Thanks to Nolan, who fed Liam before he headed off to work, I was able to shower before we headed out to the Peds office at the Naval Hospital on Camp Lejeune! :-) I am a big fan of getting a shower once every 24 hours, even if that means I take one at 8 o'clock at night. :-) It is the simple things. At his appointment we learned that he weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, meaning he had gained 11 ounces in a little over a week! The pediatrician also told us that he was in the 60th percentile for height and of average weight. She said it was fine that he was eating 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours of either breast milk or formula.
That evening (of the 7th) my dad (Liam's Poppi) visited came into town meet him in person! We had Skyped the week before - LOVE Skype! We had a great weekend showing him around Jacksonville; including where Nolan works/seeing what he flies.
Liam did great at his first out to eat dining experience - we went to Outback, which was insanely busy, and he slept for the majority of the time; just woke up as we were about to leave and of course was ready to eat! On Saturday, we took my dad for some "authentic" NC BBQ, which made for an interesting outing. We all knew it wouldn't be like Texas BBQ, but little did we know it would be absolutely nothing like it either. haha The place we went to was called THIG'S, which I learned while we were there that it stands for That Hog Is Good Son - go figure - random! The baked beans had hamburger meat in them, the hush puppies were nothing like you might expect (although they were good) and the pulled pork that Nolan and my dad got truly looked like throw up and tasted even worse! I don't know how on earth they choked it down, but they did. I kept to my unadventurous ways and got the chicken - it was edible, but we clearly won't be going back. To make up for the poor lunch, we headed to the local bakery, White Oak Bakery, across town and loaded up on sweets! ;-) haha YUM!
On Monday, the 10th, it snowed quite a bit and both bases and everything in Jacksonville closed for the next two days. Nolan still went to work those days and was able to get some things done, so that was good. We had had a doctor's appointment for Liam for Monday, since he went 48 hours without pooping... the dial a nurse recommended BabyLax to help get things moving again and within minutes it did! Since by Wednesday he had gone another 24 hours without a bowel movement I rescheduled Monday's canceled appointment for Thursday...
Wednesday, Liam and I took Sandi to the vet. She had been making these horrible sounds (in her stomach) for about a week, so we figured it was time to get it checked out. It seems all is well... she may be producing too much acid, so the vet recommended Pepcid/chicken and rice while we wait to see if maybe she ate a part of one of her toys and is just working it out - one end or the other.
The 3 of us waiting at the vet - for over an hour!Liam did awesome though and slept the whole time! :-)
On Thursday, Liam went back to the doctor; of course he had a bowel movement hours after I made the appointment on Wednesday, but we went to the appointment anyway. His pediatrician doesn't seem too concerned that he often goes for 24 - 48 hours (or a little more) without a bowel movement. She is more so pleased that he does have them. that they are the right color (yellow) and they are of the right consistency (not hard). (who knew so much talk about poo would come about! ha)
We also learned that he now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz,. meaning he gained another 8 ounces over a week's period of time. I guess the combination of breast milk and formula is working just fine for him!
I am feeling about 95% back to normal. At 3 weeks postpartum I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and now that we are at 4 weeks tomorrow, I am actually 5 pounds less than what I weighed before I became pregnant. I'll take it! Now if I could just get my jelly belly to go back to what it was; even if a tiny bit more - all in time. I did have 3 -4 liters of fluid in my baby belly, so that did an enormous amount of stretching, to say the least. My c-section scar is still quite painful - at some times more than others. I have shooting pains every once in a while; maybe that is just my body telling me to slow down a bit. I decided a few days after Liam's tongue had been clipped, and after we had tried breastfeeding again (with little success - it would just drain out the side of his mouth) that I would continuing pumping and supplementing with Enfamil formula, which we have done since we left the hospital. It works for all of us. Nolan is extremely supportive of my decision. We both want Liam to get breast milk, but not the the detriment of my sanity! ;-) Seriously though, I pump when I am home, however I don't stress about it if I am out and about, and that works.
Nolan has been back to work now for 2 weeks. It was so wonderful to have him all to ourselves for 2 weeks!! He really hates going to bed at night, often times when Liam is still up (sometimes crying), as well as being gone all day. His squadron CHOP'ed and is now gearing up for their deployment in July. They gained about 25 new pilots, as well as the other personnel needed to support those 25 pilots and their aircraft. He works roughly 12 hour days, so with "crew rest," which is incredibly important for pilots, there is limited time for spending with Liam and I, as of right now, but so is life. :-) However, whether it be 30 minutes in the morning while I shower or the 3-4 hours at night, we are glad to have Nolan home, hanging and helping out! :-) Liam and I stay busy, some days we just hang out at home, while other days we go out in town or to hang out with some girl friends of mine.
Liam is such a good baby. I think I have said that before, but really he is. The nights were the roughest there for a while, especially when it was all me, since Nolan had to get sleep to be able to fly the next day, but he seems to have outgrown those days (unless he hasn't pooped for a few days and he is working on that... of course at night time! haha)
Except for a few off days, here and there, Liam eats about every 3, but usually 4 hours and is back asleep after about 1 hour from having woken up. We know he can't be "spoiled," seeing as how he is just now 4 weeks old, but he really loves to be held until he falls back asleep, or he likes to fall asleep in his swing. Other times, if he is fading to sleep, we are able to set him in his bassinet (he likes to be on his side), rub his back for a few minutes and he is out! :-) In the past few days he has taken to a pacifier - at times.
Also, I have read that there are two thoughts out there about whether to wake a sleeping baby to feed it. For the past 4 weeks, we have woken him up after 4 - 5 hours (at most) to feed him, but as of the past day, we have been letting him sleep until he wakes up on his own. He is gaining weight just fine, so I suppose we don't feel like it will hurt him to sleep longer periods of time, thus possibly eat less over a period of 24 hours. :-) We will see how this works for the next few weeks or so. Feel free to share your opinion on this. :-)
Liam's next, scheduled, appointment is for his 6 week check up - can't wait to see if he is up to 9 pounds by then!? ;-)
Monday, January 03, 2011
First Day!
Well, I survived my first full day (24 hours alone) as a "Mommy"! YAY! :-)
Nolan headed back to work today.. boo! It has been so wonderful having him home; he is extremely helpful and simply amazing with Liam!
The night shift last night was pretty crazy, Liam decided that after his 9:30pm feeding, instead of heading back to sleep after being awake for an hour or so, that he would stay up and fuss until well after 12:45am... Who knew that could be so exhausting! haha He ate almost double his usual feeding over this period of awake time, so maybe he is doing some growing at night now...
Thankfully once he fell soundly asleep, we were able to sleep for a few hours, until he woke up again around 4am and oddly enough, this time he did fall back asleep relatively quickly and stayed asleep until after 8am! This was awesome and perfect for me, because I was able to pump and take a shower while he continued sleeping! :-) I woke him up a little after 8am, as we needed to be heading out the door around 8:50 or so to go to Morehead City, a town that is a little over an hour away.
Today was Liam's appointment with Dr. Moorehead in Morehead City, to have his tongue clipped. Liam slept the entire way there and back! The procedure seemed to go very well. They swaddled him up and tipped him somewhat upside down so the doctor could see into his mouth. He fussed a bit, and kept biting down on the doctor's finger (he wasn't a fan of her trying to lift up his tongue). Within about 5 minutes, he was done! No more extremely attached tongue to the bottom of his mouth. He did bleed a bit, but was willing to suck on my finger immediately after. :-) The doctor said he would have to relearn a bit, on how to suck effectively, and to help that, when we put a finger in his mouth, to push the nail side down to get him to curl his newly freed tongue to wrap around our finger.
On the way back, we stopped at my friend Laura's house, to meet her/it was time for Liam to eat and Liam provided loads of entertainment! As soon as I took him out of the car seat he destroyed his diaper AND his onesie - his first poop explosion that had poo all up the back side of him! haha He was pretty upset about being stripped down and changed while he was so hungry, but he survived! Once he was cleaned up and fed, he finally was willing to show Laura how cute and cuddly he is; too bad I was so exhausted that we didn't stay too much longer... :-( When we arrived home, I pumped and we both took a great hour and a half nap! We woke up just in time to get dinner going - yay! While I put dinner together I "wore" him in this thing called a BabyHawk and he really seemed to like it; he had just eaten was still awake, but soon passed out! Around an hour later, we were happy to see Nolan, who was happy to see we had had a good day! Nolan immediately noticed the difference in Liam's tongue (I'll get a picture soon). He said he hadn't realize how attached it was, but could definitely tell it wasn't anymore! :-)
Overall a busy, yet successful day for all of us! :-)
Nolan headed back to work today.. boo! It has been so wonderful having him home; he is extremely helpful and simply amazing with Liam!
The night shift last night was pretty crazy, Liam decided that after his 9:30pm feeding, instead of heading back to sleep after being awake for an hour or so, that he would stay up and fuss until well after 12:45am... Who knew that could be so exhausting! haha He ate almost double his usual feeding over this period of awake time, so maybe he is doing some growing at night now...
Thankfully once he fell soundly asleep, we were able to sleep for a few hours, until he woke up again around 4am and oddly enough, this time he did fall back asleep relatively quickly and stayed asleep until after 8am! This was awesome and perfect for me, because I was able to pump and take a shower while he continued sleeping! :-) I woke him up a little after 8am, as we needed to be heading out the door around 8:50 or so to go to Morehead City, a town that is a little over an hour away.
Today was Liam's appointment with Dr. Moorehead in Morehead City, to have his tongue clipped. Liam slept the entire way there and back! The procedure seemed to go very well. They swaddled him up and tipped him somewhat upside down so the doctor could see into his mouth. He fussed a bit, and kept biting down on the doctor's finger (he wasn't a fan of her trying to lift up his tongue). Within about 5 minutes, he was done! No more extremely attached tongue to the bottom of his mouth. He did bleed a bit, but was willing to suck on my finger immediately after. :-) The doctor said he would have to relearn a bit, on how to suck effectively, and to help that, when we put a finger in his mouth, to push the nail side down to get him to curl his newly freed tongue to wrap around our finger.
On the way back, we stopped at my friend Laura's house, to meet her/it was time for Liam to eat and Liam provided loads of entertainment! As soon as I took him out of the car seat he destroyed his diaper AND his onesie - his first poop explosion that had poo all up the back side of him! haha He was pretty upset about being stripped down and changed while he was so hungry, but he survived! Once he was cleaned up and fed, he finally was willing to show Laura how cute and cuddly he is; too bad I was so exhausted that we didn't stay too much longer... :-( When we arrived home, I pumped and we both took a great hour and a half nap! We woke up just in time to get dinner going - yay! While I put dinner together I "wore" him in this thing called a BabyHawk and he really seemed to like it; he had just eaten was still awake, but soon passed out! Around an hour later, we were happy to see Nolan, who was happy to see we had had a good day! Nolan immediately noticed the difference in Liam's tongue (I'll get a picture soon). He said he hadn't realize how attached it was, but could definitely tell it wasn't anymore! :-)
Overall a busy, yet successful day for all of us! :-)
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Life with Liam..
Liam is such a joy... particularly during the day... at the moment. ;-)
We are so blessed that during the day he is a very happy baby! :-) When he wakes up, he is ready to eat! :-) We have learned that if we are going to wake him up to eat, which we often times have to do, we should have the bottle warmed and ready to be consumed! He is not a fan of waiting around, once he is awake! He will suck on your finger while he waits, (he won't take a pacifier) but not for too long! He is a peeing champ - although we should have know this already - seeing as how much amniotic fluid I was carrying around! He has successfully peed on Nolan, myself, the wall behind the changing table, and of course all down the front of the changing table. All of these instances were before we made sure to ALWAYS be covering the fire hose that can soak! ;-) Notice I say ALWAYS, because just when you think, "well he has a wet diaper, he should be good," he will show you otherwise! haha After he eats, he has more recently been staying awake, content and looking around, for about an hour. Other feedings he is barely willing to wake up just enough to eat and then is back asleep right away... (wish we could be like this at night ;-) ) He seems to sleep quite soundly, Nolan and I try to be somewhat quiet, so as to not wake him up, but without fail we seem to end up banging things around and still not waking him up! :-) About 30 minutes prior to when he is ready to eat again, he will make a lot of stirring and cooing sounds.
On the other hand, we really feel bad for him during the night, which is when we think he has been working on his bowel movements, because he will flail his arms and legs, get red in the face and cry! It really is a helpless feeling because there doesn't seem to be much we know to do for him. These episodes come and go randomly, so when they come we find ourselves positioning him in all different ways to try to help him pass the gas/work his food through his digestive system.
We are looking forward to our 2 week appointment, which is on Friday, to see if there is anything he can take/we can do to help these nighttime episodes. The doctor had previously mentioned the Mylicon, which seemed to help at first, but not so much anymore; maybe we were just wishful thinking!
We are so blessed that during the day he is a very happy baby! :-) When he wakes up, he is ready to eat! :-) We have learned that if we are going to wake him up to eat, which we often times have to do, we should have the bottle warmed and ready to be consumed! He is not a fan of waiting around, once he is awake! He will suck on your finger while he waits, (he won't take a pacifier) but not for too long! He is a peeing champ - although we should have know this already - seeing as how much amniotic fluid I was carrying around! He has successfully peed on Nolan, myself, the wall behind the changing table, and of course all down the front of the changing table. All of these instances were before we made sure to ALWAYS be covering the fire hose that can soak! ;-) Notice I say ALWAYS, because just when you think, "well he has a wet diaper, he should be good," he will show you otherwise! haha After he eats, he has more recently been staying awake, content and looking around, for about an hour. Other feedings he is barely willing to wake up just enough to eat and then is back asleep right away... (wish we could be like this at night ;-) ) He seems to sleep quite soundly, Nolan and I try to be somewhat quiet, so as to not wake him up, but without fail we seem to end up banging things around and still not waking him up! :-) About 30 minutes prior to when he is ready to eat again, he will make a lot of stirring and cooing sounds.
On the other hand, we really feel bad for him during the night, which is when we think he has been working on his bowel movements, because he will flail his arms and legs, get red in the face and cry! It really is a helpless feeling because there doesn't seem to be much we know to do for him. These episodes come and go randomly, so when they come we find ourselves positioning him in all different ways to try to help him pass the gas/work his food through his digestive system.
We are looking forward to our 2 week appointment, which is on Friday, to see if there is anything he can take/we can do to help these nighttime episodes. The doctor had previously mentioned the Mylicon, which seemed to help at first, but not so much anymore; maybe we were just wishful thinking!
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Where to begin...?
Well, I suppose an attempt to be brief at recapping the past 2 weeks (tomorrow) would be appropriate.
The slide show I made pretty much sums up failed induction number 1, and I suppose failed induction number 2, as we had to have a c-section to get Liam out... but the c-section went well in that we got him out safely! :-)
Induction number 2 was much more eventful than induction number 1. Although I wasn't able to have a natural delivery I am grateful to have been able to have the experience of my water breaking, breathing through contractions with the most awesome labor coach, in various positions, as well as having an epidural put in. It was also eventful in the fact that poor Nolan had bad Mexican food the night before and spent the morning and afternoon prior to the evening of Liam's birth being extremely sick, vomiting sick. The nurses were talking about wanting to give him an IV, but didn't since he wasn't an admitted patient. I am so very thankful, however, that he was able to support me through the entire labor, while feeling so ill himself.
The c-section itself was a pretty interesting, I could feel my toes the entire time; I kept telling them this, because I thought that seemed odd, but they weren't concerned. :-)
As Liam was crooked and stuck in the birth canal, he had to be suctioned up and out and my discharge paperwork states that 3 liters of fluid was also removed. This is wild to me because my water had broken (and continued to leak out) over 9 hours prior, so I can only imagine how much fluid I had overall. Liam also suffered a cephalohematoma and facial bruising due to the crookedness in the birth canal, but he amazed the doctors and nurses by having stellar bilirubin levels throughout our stay in the hospital (it was 3.7) and at his 2 day appointment (it was 1.7) I lost quite a bit of blood during the surgery, so I was told, so I was pumped with a bunch of meds to help with that - I recall getting a shot in each arm! Nolan came to visit me in recovery and although he didn't tell me at the time (thankfully) he said I was green! haha
I won't lie, the c-section recovery was especially rough for the first 48 hours, but thankfully, just as my doctor said, things got tremendously better and continue to get better each day. I am still recovering, I suppose I have at least another 4 weeks of healing, but I am grateful that I feel like I am getting back to my old self, for the most part. The painful swelling I had in my legs and feet has gone away in the past day or so... that is a good thing! My belly continues to go down a little each day, also a good thing.
Liam was born on Sunday night and before he was 24 hours old he was taken to be circumcised. After a few hours of him being gone, they came to tell us that his saturation levels had decreased while they were watching him (after the procedure) and for that reason, he would be headed to the nursery to be checked out. We of course wanted to go be with him, however we had to get our one "flighty" nurse to come saline lock my IV, as well as take out my catheder. With a little bit of, I need to go see my new baby and need you to have these 2 things done yesterday, I was able to encourage her along. ;-) So, less than 24 hours post-op, I was up, which was a feat, but we wanted to see Liam. When we got to him, he was doing okay, but the doctors decided to keep him another 2 hours just to make sure. We headed back to our room, and took a quick nap, before returning to Liam in the nursery, in an attempt to feed him. The lactation consultant had been paged for us, again, as Liam was having a hard time feeding. It was at this time that I/we were given a nipple shield to help Liam to latch on. (an item that we found out later on that the lactation consultants do not just pass out to anyone) Long story short, I am not sure at what point, we were told that Liam is tongue-tied - has a tight frenulum - the part that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. The is why he was having so much trouble feeding. They have explained it to us as having to take a ton of tiny licks of an ice cream cone, to accomplish the same result as someone who can take good size licks. We were encouraged to continue to try to breast feed using the nipple shield, which did seem to help, but ultimately it was still taking Liam a long time to feed and by the time he would be done he was exhausted and still hungry.
Liam's tongue - tie
He is pretty upset in this picture, but we were all better once Mommy comforted us!
On Wednesday morning, shortly before we were discharged, we were informed that because Liam had lost 8.8% of his body weight, (he was born at 7lbs 2oz, and was discharged at 6lbs 8oz) (when it is between 7 and 10% they become more concerned) we would be visited by the lactation consultant who would present a plan to us (as well as to the pediatrician who would be discharging Liam because of such a plan) of how we were going to go about trying to increase his weight at home. The plan: We were issued a hospital grade breast pump to pump, since Liam has latching/suckling difficulty due to his tongue-tie. We were also given formula to supplement what I could not produce.
After a few videos, and one last pumping and feeding were discharged for home on Wednesday afternoon. We laughed as we questioned whether we really wanted to put his "going home" outfit, which we had taken special care to pick out, on or not. Of course we did, but it was funny to realize that it really didn't matter as much anymore, we were just happy to finally be taking our little guy home. I walked myself out of the hospital; I was winded by the time we got to the front door, but it was so nice to get some very cool fresh air! :-)
Since after most of my appointments I would visit Chick-Fil-A, we headed there to grab a late lunch! Sandi had definitely missed us over the past 5 days! She did a pretty good job at meeting Liam, but not calmly! She was beside herself that we were back - I think that had more to do with it.
On the morning of Friday, the 24th, our friends, the O'Rourke's, brought monkey bread for breakfast and shortly after I tearfully said goodbye to my mom, Gram. It was hard to let her go, as she took many of the all night sessions (I would pump and then go back to bed), but we look forward to visiting with her again soon! :-)
Liam's, oh so very helpful, 2 day appointment in the afternoon of the 24th. We were so glad to have this standard appointment, because it had given us just enough time to make a list of things we weren't sure about. We were joyful to learn that he HAD gained weight, just like we hoped! He was up to 6lbs 12 oz. meaning he gained 4 ounces in 2 days - this was 8 times what the hospital was hoping he would gain in that amount of time!
Liam's first outing was to the Christmas Eve Service at the base chapel here on MCAS New River, where we attend church weekly. He peacefully slept through the carols and message, and met some of our church friends as well as the two chaplains.
Christmas Day was our first full day as a family of 3 without help. We enjoyed a low key unwrapping of gifts, while Liam slept. Later that afternoon we went to a girl friend of mine's house for dinner, with 2 other families that we have known for a while. We fed and changed Liam while enjoying leg of lamb and fresh ham, as well as many yummy sides. My swelling was still in full force and Liam became a bit fussy from the rather noisy environment, so after a few hours we decided to return home.
On the 26th it SNOWED here in Jacksonville! and of course on a snowy, sleety day we realized we might run out of the formula, that the hospital had given us, that very day, soooo... out into the crazy weather Nolan went to get some formula.
Of course, Wal-mart didn't have it, so he had to go to Walgreens. Liam was still soaking through his clothes and swaddlers at this point; we later heard from another mom of a boy, that it was likely the Vaseline that we were putting on his circumcision that was making his diapers less than effective. Liam also decided that he doesn't like his arms swaddled anymore - so the Sleepsack that some friends from church had given us - came in very handy!
On the evening of Monday, the 27th, Nolan's mom came to visit! It was great to have her here to meet Liam, as well as to see what Nolan has been up to (work/flying the Osprey-wise) since we moved here about 1.5 years ago.
Tuesday were newborn pictures... I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of them turned out... it was quite a 2 hours trying to get Liam back to sleep/keep him happy while being awake for such a long period of time. That afternoon Nolan and his mom went to the simulators to "fly" the Osprey; a few friends from church went too! That evening we were blessed with a "baby meal" from one of the girls in the squadron - oh how nice it is to have a hot meal brought to your house when caring for a newborn! :-)
On Wednesday morning, after reviewing the feeding/bowel movements log we have been keeping since Liam's birth, we realized that Liam had not had a bowel movement in 24 hours... we were a bit concerned, so I called the dial-a-nurse, who determined that it would be a good idea if we came in to the pediatrics clinic later that morning. A few hours later, we were packing up to go to the appointment, including putting Liam in his car seat, and of course! he pooped! We decided to keep the appointment anyway as it was green - were hoping for yellow. ;-) The appointment went well; we learned that Liam had gained another 3 ounces since his Friday, 2 day appt. The doctor recommended Mylicon gas drops, which I had purchased months ago and totally forgotten that we had them! as well as Tri-Vi-Sol, a supplement. She was also pleased that he was eating about 3 ounces per feeding, and shared with us that roughly, 2 weeks of age=eating 2 ounces, 3 weeks of age=eating 3 ounces, etc. so Liam was ahead of the game! :-)
That afternoon, Nolan went to the military office to add Liam to our insurance; this made it possible for me to make an appointment with a pediatrician for Liam's 2 week appointment. Later that day, Liam and I Skyped with my dad! That was very cool! During our Skyping session, another "baby meal" arrived - what a blessing to have a hot meal that I didn't have to prepare! :-)
Thursday - Nolan had duty at the squadron; his 10 days of paternity leave were up! So, Nolan's mom and I packed up Liam and visited the squadron for a few hours. Nolan was able to show her around and she finally got to see what Nolan flies, up close and personal! Later that evening, another "baby meal" arrived - blessed we are! :-) Nolan and his mom got her all set up to be able to Skype with us when she gets back to Seattle. Our neighbors across the street, the Thomas', came to visit Liam, as well as some friends from Nolan's squadron.
Friday morning Nolan's mom headed back to Seattle. She was a great help watching Liam so that we could sleep (a tiny bit more soundly) in the evenings/early mornings.
And that brings us to today, Saturday, January 1, 2011! It is definitely going to be an eventful year!
The slide show I made pretty much sums up failed induction number 1, and I suppose failed induction number 2, as we had to have a c-section to get Liam out... but the c-section went well in that we got him out safely! :-)
Induction number 2 was much more eventful than induction number 1. Although I wasn't able to have a natural delivery I am grateful to have been able to have the experience of my water breaking, breathing through contractions with the most awesome labor coach, in various positions, as well as having an epidural put in. It was also eventful in the fact that poor Nolan had bad Mexican food the night before and spent the morning and afternoon prior to the evening of Liam's birth being extremely sick, vomiting sick. The nurses were talking about wanting to give him an IV, but didn't since he wasn't an admitted patient. I am so very thankful, however, that he was able to support me through the entire labor, while feeling so ill himself.
The c-section itself was a pretty interesting, I could feel my toes the entire time; I kept telling them this, because I thought that seemed odd, but they weren't concerned. :-)
As Liam was crooked and stuck in the birth canal, he had to be suctioned up and out and my discharge paperwork states that 3 liters of fluid was also removed. This is wild to me because my water had broken (and continued to leak out) over 9 hours prior, so I can only imagine how much fluid I had overall. Liam also suffered a cephalohematoma and facial bruising due to the crookedness in the birth canal, but he amazed the doctors and nurses by having stellar bilirubin levels throughout our stay in the hospital (it was 3.7) and at his 2 day appointment (it was 1.7) I lost quite a bit of blood during the surgery, so I was told, so I was pumped with a bunch of meds to help with that - I recall getting a shot in each arm! Nolan came to visit me in recovery and although he didn't tell me at the time (thankfully) he said I was green! haha
I won't lie, the c-section recovery was especially rough for the first 48 hours, but thankfully, just as my doctor said, things got tremendously better and continue to get better each day. I am still recovering, I suppose I have at least another 4 weeks of healing, but I am grateful that I feel like I am getting back to my old self, for the most part. The painful swelling I had in my legs and feet has gone away in the past day or so... that is a good thing! My belly continues to go down a little each day, also a good thing.
Liam was born on Sunday night and before he was 24 hours old he was taken to be circumcised. After a few hours of him being gone, they came to tell us that his saturation levels had decreased while they were watching him (after the procedure) and for that reason, he would be headed to the nursery to be checked out. We of course wanted to go be with him, however we had to get our one "flighty" nurse to come saline lock my IV, as well as take out my catheder. With a little bit of, I need to go see my new baby and need you to have these 2 things done yesterday, I was able to encourage her along. ;-) So, less than 24 hours post-op, I was up, which was a feat, but we wanted to see Liam. When we got to him, he was doing okay, but the doctors decided to keep him another 2 hours just to make sure. We headed back to our room, and took a quick nap, before returning to Liam in the nursery, in an attempt to feed him. The lactation consultant had been paged for us, again, as Liam was having a hard time feeding. It was at this time that I/we were given a nipple shield to help Liam to latch on. (an item that we found out later on that the lactation consultants do not just pass out to anyone) Long story short, I am not sure at what point, we were told that Liam is tongue-tied - has a tight frenulum - the part that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. The is why he was having so much trouble feeding. They have explained it to us as having to take a ton of tiny licks of an ice cream cone, to accomplish the same result as someone who can take good size licks. We were encouraged to continue to try to breast feed using the nipple shield, which did seem to help, but ultimately it was still taking Liam a long time to feed and by the time he would be done he was exhausted and still hungry.
Liam's tongue - tieHe is pretty upset in this picture, but we were all better once Mommy comforted us!
We are headed to an appointment on Monday, 1/3, to hopefully have this clipped, as he will benefit in many ways, so we have been told... breast feeding will be easier, as well as less chance for speech issues later in life. We have also been told that this procedure is done quickly and Liam will have a short recovery time - almost instantly! :-)
After a few videos, and one last pumping and feeding were discharged for home on Wednesday afternoon. We laughed as we questioned whether we really wanted to put his "going home" outfit, which we had taken special care to pick out, on or not. Of course we did, but it was funny to realize that it really didn't matter as much anymore, we were just happy to finally be taking our little guy home. I walked myself out of the hospital; I was winded by the time we got to the front door, but it was so nice to get some very cool fresh air! :-)
Since after most of my appointments I would visit Chick-Fil-A, we headed there to grab a late lunch! Sandi had definitely missed us over the past 5 days! She did a pretty good job at meeting Liam, but not calmly! She was beside herself that we were back - I think that had more to do with it.
On the morning of Friday, the 24th, our friends, the O'Rourke's, brought monkey bread for breakfast and shortly after I tearfully said goodbye to my mom, Gram. It was hard to let her go, as she took many of the all night sessions (I would pump and then go back to bed), but we look forward to visiting with her again soon! :-)
Liam's, oh so very helpful, 2 day appointment in the afternoon of the 24th. We were so glad to have this standard appointment, because it had given us just enough time to make a list of things we weren't sure about. We were joyful to learn that he HAD gained weight, just like we hoped! He was up to 6lbs 12 oz. meaning he gained 4 ounces in 2 days - this was 8 times what the hospital was hoping he would gain in that amount of time!
Liam's first outing was to the Christmas Eve Service at the base chapel here on MCAS New River, where we attend church weekly. He peacefully slept through the carols and message, and met some of our church friends as well as the two chaplains.
Christmas Day was our first full day as a family of 3 without help. We enjoyed a low key unwrapping of gifts, while Liam slept. Later that afternoon we went to a girl friend of mine's house for dinner, with 2 other families that we have known for a while. We fed and changed Liam while enjoying leg of lamb and fresh ham, as well as many yummy sides. My swelling was still in full force and Liam became a bit fussy from the rather noisy environment, so after a few hours we decided to return home.
On the 26th it SNOWED here in Jacksonville! and of course on a snowy, sleety day we realized we might run out of the formula, that the hospital had given us, that very day, soooo... out into the crazy weather Nolan went to get some formula.
Of course, Wal-mart didn't have it, so he had to go to Walgreens. Liam was still soaking through his clothes and swaddlers at this point; we later heard from another mom of a boy, that it was likely the Vaseline that we were putting on his circumcision that was making his diapers less than effective. Liam also decided that he doesn't like his arms swaddled anymore - so the Sleepsack that some friends from church had given us - came in very handy!
On the evening of Monday, the 27th, Nolan's mom came to visit! It was great to have her here to meet Liam, as well as to see what Nolan has been up to (work/flying the Osprey-wise) since we moved here about 1.5 years ago.
Tuesday were newborn pictures... I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of them turned out... it was quite a 2 hours trying to get Liam back to sleep/keep him happy while being awake for such a long period of time. That afternoon Nolan and his mom went to the simulators to "fly" the Osprey; a few friends from church went too! That evening we were blessed with a "baby meal" from one of the girls in the squadron - oh how nice it is to have a hot meal brought to your house when caring for a newborn! :-)
On Wednesday morning, after reviewing the feeding/bowel movements log we have been keeping since Liam's birth, we realized that Liam had not had a bowel movement in 24 hours... we were a bit concerned, so I called the dial-a-nurse, who determined that it would be a good idea if we came in to the pediatrics clinic later that morning. A few hours later, we were packing up to go to the appointment, including putting Liam in his car seat, and of course! he pooped! We decided to keep the appointment anyway as it was green - were hoping for yellow. ;-) The appointment went well; we learned that Liam had gained another 3 ounces since his Friday, 2 day appt. The doctor recommended Mylicon gas drops, which I had purchased months ago and totally forgotten that we had them! as well as Tri-Vi-Sol, a supplement. She was also pleased that he was eating about 3 ounces per feeding, and shared with us that roughly, 2 weeks of age=eating 2 ounces, 3 weeks of age=eating 3 ounces, etc. so Liam was ahead of the game! :-)
That afternoon, Nolan went to the military office to add Liam to our insurance; this made it possible for me to make an appointment with a pediatrician for Liam's 2 week appointment. Later that day, Liam and I Skyped with my dad! That was very cool! During our Skyping session, another "baby meal" arrived - what a blessing to have a hot meal that I didn't have to prepare! :-)
Thursday - Nolan had duty at the squadron; his 10 days of paternity leave were up! So, Nolan's mom and I packed up Liam and visited the squadron for a few hours. Nolan was able to show her around and she finally got to see what Nolan flies, up close and personal! Later that evening, another "baby meal" arrived - blessed we are! :-) Nolan and his mom got her all set up to be able to Skype with us when she gets back to Seattle. Our neighbors across the street, the Thomas', came to visit Liam, as well as some friends from Nolan's squadron.
Friday morning Nolan's mom headed back to Seattle. She was a great help watching Liam so that we could sleep (a tiny bit more soundly) in the evenings/early mornings.
And that brings us to today, Saturday, January 1, 2011! It is definitely going to be an eventful year!
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