Pod's 1st Halloween

We called Pap & told him & Grandma Amy to get on their computer to check out the Halloween costume. They laughed & thought it was funny. Then we went to dinner at Chili'. All the employees & even one customer stopped to say how cute & funny Pod looked! We talked to Aunt Jodi & told her to get online to look at Pod's outfit. She thought h e looked funny & said the picture of Pod on the motorcycle looks just like Pap. We left there & went to Wal-mart so I could get some Tylenol. Then we went to the Papa & Grandma Carr's house. They thought Pod looked cute. Sue only put the baby down to change his diaper. The remainder of the 4 hours we were there she held Pod. We watched the movie White Noise & then left to come home.

Mommy & Pod Play Peek-A-Boo In Pictures

Okay, so we really weren't playing peek-a-boo in pictures. I'm just horrible at self-portraits...
But doesn't it look like we jumped in each other's picture???? ha ha ha

By the way.....Happy Halloween!!

New Pics & A Day of "Firsts"

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted anything on here.... things have been busy.

As the title says, yesterday was a day of "firsts" for Pod. It was the first time he wore the outfit above.... isn't it so cute on him? He's wearring 3-6 months shirt and pants & 6-18 month socks... He's not even two months old yet! YIKES!!!

Then yesterday afternoon Pod has his first trip to the mall. He slept through the whole mall walking. OH well, I got my exercise. I walked every corner of that place with the baby on the front of me in his sling.

Last night, Pod had his first voting experience. Joe and I went to do the early voting. Pod went in with Daddy into the voting booth. He was there to make history.... it's either going to be the first bi-racial president (let's pray not) or the first female vice president. Either way Pod was involved.

The diet thing is still going good. I started introducing the allergens back into my diet. I have to do them one at a time for a week. Then if nothing happens I introduce another one for the next week & so on... So I started with soy. I've eatten soy sauce on sushi and on rice this week. I think I'll go get some soy milk to drink or a soy protein bar today. So far, so good with the soy in the diet and the nursing. I don't know which allergen I'll introduce next. I'm saving dairy for last.

Okay, well, enough for now. I've got to get the baby fed and then we're off to run errands before Daddy gets home from work.

Bye!

Video Monitor & Crib... Great Combo! Sophie is a Hit!

Last night was the first night that Pod slept all night by himself. I put him in the crib at 10:00 and by midnight he was sound asleep. (Don't worry, we had a feeding in between those times, too!) I put him in the crib and he screamed and cried. I would watch him on the monitor to make sure he was okay, but I would go in every 5 mins after he would start to scream. If he calmed himself down, I wouldn't go in. When I did go in, I never picked him up. I just put the binki in his mouth and patted his tummy. He would calm down. I would come back in the room and then he would scream again! This went on for two hours! Joe was a big help, too. He would go in and check on the baby, too. I had a horrible headache, so I don't know if it was more torture on me or on Pod! ha ha ha

He slept until 4:00 this morning. He woke to get his bottle. Then, he went right back to sleep in the crib again! I didn't have to fuss with him to get him back to sleep or anything. It was wonderful. FINALLY!!! We had a good night and I got to sleep in my bed... not on the couch or loveseat. It was so nice and I got some good rest. It's about time. I feel more comfortable now that I have the monitor so I can watch him without having to stand over the crib & hurt my back.

Today Joe is off to Townsend to spend time at a men's church retreat. He will be home later tonight. It's rather cold out and the weather is damp and rainy. I hope he doesn't end up getting sick. He's in charge of the shooting competition. Today they plan on shooting and then playing paint ball. It's just a time for fellowship for the men of the church.

I need to give Pod a bath today. We don't have any water, though. I got up this morning and went to do the dishes, but there wasn't any pressure or water. I walked to the end of the driveway to check our meter to make sure we didn't have another break. It wasn't running. The neighbor saw me out there and hollered to tell me that everyone is out of water. There must have been a line break and they're working on it.

I think we may run to the store later today, but who knows. You never know what we're going to get into!

This morning I thought I would see what Pod thought of Sophie the giraffe that Grandma Dana bought for him. For those of you who don't know, Sophie is an all natural teether. She has food safe paint on her and is made of a soft rubber. She's so cute. Anyway, here's the video of Pod and Sophie.

Baby Monitor - Video

My mom bought Joe & me a baby monitor. It is so nice! It is the video type of monitor. I hooked it up, with the help of Jerome, and when Joe got home, we put Jace in the crib. We sat and watched him on that monitor and he just cracked us up! He kept turning off and on "Little Fishy". It's a crib toy that has a swimming fish and bubbles up the water. Jace loves to watch it at night. Anyway, I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. Joe said he wished there was a way we could record it. I couldn't think of anything except for the digital camera. By that time he was about over playing with it. This video, though, is what I could catch of Jace on the monitor.

Holy Ice Cream, Bat Man!

Tomorrow my in-laws are coming over for dinner. I called to invite them over so they could see and spend time with Pod. The problem I faced was trying to come up with a menu that is dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free that they may enjoy. Yesterday I stopped at Sam's Club and picked up some meat & Idaho potatoes. I think Joe will cook the meat on the grill & I can bake the potatoes. I didn't know what kind of a dessert to make. I made an apple crisp the other night that turned out... well... okay. It wasn't delicious by any means and we had half of it left over. I threw it all out and Joe never asked me where I put the left over. So I figure he didn't care for it either!

Well, good news!! Tonight while surfing the net for recipes, I came across a new ice cream product made of coconut milk rather than cow's milk. It's called Turtle Mountain Purley Decadent. It's dairy/lactose free, gluten free, soy free, cholesterol free, all certified organic, certified vegan, and sweetened with agave. Who could ask for more? I did a search and found that it's available in Knoxville. The good news is that there's grocery store on my side of town carrying this! YAY!!! So tomorrow morning, Pod and I are going grocery shopping!! The flavors come in vanilla bean, mint chip, chocolate, coconut, and cookie dough. MMMM I can't wait to try some! Also, their website has a 'Rewards' area where you can print coupons for their products! If you're interested, check out http://www.turtlemountain.com/

Watching The New Mobile - Video

Pod's Great Aunt Kelly & family bought him a mobile that he loves to watch.

A Visit from Great Aunt Kelly & 2nd Cousin Jessica

Daddy dressed me in camo... I should fit right in a the Wal-Mart!

This weekend we had a visit from Pod's Great-Aunt Kelly & 2nd cousin, Jessica. Pod, Daddy & I had a great time visiting with them on Sunday. They came over and saw the baby. Then G. Aunt Kelly, Jessica, Pod, and I went to the grocery to get some food for dinner. We made a pit stop by McDonald's for their lunch. We got home, unpacked the groceries, and Jessica helped me peel potatoes for mashed potatoes, while G. Aunt Kelly helped look after the baby. Silly me... I forgot to get the charcoal, which was a requirement for the grill. Joe had to go get the charcoal. I don't think he minded because it gave him an excuse to stop and pick up some shrimp to throw on the grill. While he was gone, we called Grandma Dana and Great-Grandma Cay-Cay. We had a nice dinner of grilled chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and shrimp. Joe was the only one to have shrimp and I was the only one not to eat mashed potatoes. I had a spinach salad instead. After dinner, Joe cleaned up the kitchen and I took care of Pod while visiting with Aunt Kelly and Jessica. Then Joe and Jessica played video games until it was time for bed. Joe left for work this morning. Aunt Kelly got up and we talked for a while then Jessica got up. We all visited for a while and played with the baby while watching TV. Then Aunt Kelly and Jessica left around 1:22 this afternoon. I'm sitting here checking out my Aunt Darcy's blog, listening to George Winston and sipping pumpkin spice tea. I'm about to go take a nap with Pod. He looks like he's about to drift off to sleep.

1 Month Check-Up

Well today was Pod's one month check-up. The doctor said he looks great! He weighs
10 lbs. 13 oz & is 21 3/4 inches long. Next month he goes for the two month check-up and has to start immunizations.... Poor Pod!

The doctor looked at the nodules on his little arm and said that he was impressed that they were going away. There are two gone and one is still pretty predominate. So he's going to call the pediatric dermatologist for suggestion and see if she wants to follow-up. She wanted to make a 3mm biopsy of the nodules when Pod was three days old, but Joe & I decided to wait and follow-up. Our pediatrian said he would keep an eye on them & follow-up with the dermatologist as he felt necessary as he feels they are subcutaneous fat necrosis. He put in a call to the dermatologist, but he hasn't heard back from her and neither have we.

The doctor listened to his heart and lungs. Checked his throat, ears, and eyes. Took off his little diaper and checked his groin area. Everything looked great. I asked about the stools. Pod screams when he passes gas or has a bowel movement. The doctor said that is normal and as long as the stool isn't hard, it should be fine. He's not concerned about it. The formula that Pod is taking absorbs into his system. Therefore, he won't have a bowel movement every single day. Some babies go up to 5 days without a bowel movement. So when there is a movement, it can be challenging for him. The doctor advised if I felt I needed to give him water, it was okay to do that, but nothing more that 4 oz in a 24 hour period. Also, after one more month of there not being any blood in the stool and my nursing, then we can also offer diluted apple juice, but no more than 1 oz. He really doesn't want him to have the apple juice right now because of the proteins in the apples and the fact that Pod was having explosive bowel movements prrior to us going to the ICU. He thinks that apple juice at this age is too early, especially with Pod's history.

I started nursing again, but expressed my concern with my low supply. The pediatrician recommended Fenugreek, which is an herbal supplement. I need to take it three times a day. I went to the local healthfood grocery store and found it for $25 a bottle! YIKES!!! So when I got home, I called my mom and she told me of a website to try. Thank goodness for mothers! I was able to order 2 bottles of capsules and 2 boxes of the herbal tea plus the shipping costs for less than one bottle at the healthfood grocery store!

Speaking of healthfood grocery store... Joe calls it the hippy hang-out.... anyway, I found a great blog with recipes for food I can eat. As I mentioned before I'm on a strict diet resulting from Pod's trip to the ICU... So I found some great recipes that are gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free. Tonight I made Rosemary Apple Chicken, Acorn Squash stuffed with apples and cranberries, pomegranate spinach salad with home-made advacado dressing, and apple crisp for dessert. Yes, I know, call me Betty Crocker. It only took me 3 hours to finish cooking the meal, cost way more than eatting out, but it was delicious. Lesson learned out of the experience???? I'm going to buy only the hard-to-find items at the healthfood grocery store and buy the rest of the stuff at the regular grocery. Why can't I buy the apples at Ingles or Kroger instead of at the healthfood grocery? I paid double for them I guess. Oh well, saved in gas for the trips to multiple grocery stores....

Speaking of gas... I paid $2.89 today per gallon!!! WOO WEE!!! I didn't think I'd see it below $3.00 again. That's awesome!

Well, I've got a headache so I need to go lay down. Hope all is well with everyone out there reading this.

I'll update more soon, until then....

Updates

It has been a while since I've posted anything other than pictures on here. I figured I better get everyone up-to-date. Things are going well now. Jace is happy and as far as I can tell, extremely healthy. He's been doing very well on the special formula he has to take. Unfortunately though, because the formula can only be purchased through the pharmacy, but doesn't require a prescription, our insurance refuses to pay for it. So, we've shelled out a ton of money for this formula already. Thankfully my mom suggested I look on-line to see if I could find it any cheaper since Pod is going through 2 & 1/2 cans a week. I found that I can order direct from the manufacture for 1/2 the cost of what the local pharmacies are charging. We've started back nursing, but since he's been on this formula, I've not been producing as much milk as before. I'm still supplementing with formula until my supply builds back up.

On another note, we were successful in finding a daycare for Pod when I have to go back to work. The daycare is right down the street from my office. It's literally 3 mins away from the office. The down side is that they do not do part-time. We have to pay for all five days regardless if he is there or not. I don't know how some families do it, especially single parents or families with more than one child in day care.

My mom came back down to visit and stayed with us for a week. We had a great time & she was a huge help. Joe and I were able to go on a date! We haven't been on a date since the baby was born. It was nice to get out and have a nice dinner & not have to worry about the baby. I knew he was well taken care of. Of course I did keep my phone beside me the whole time, but restrained from calling and checking in. Joe and I went to PF Changs and then went to see Eagle Eye in the Imax theater. That's a great movie, by the way.... Maybe Joe and I can keep up with date night once or twice a month. That would be nice.

Pod made his first trip to the Smoky Mountains this past weekend. We went to have some pictures made. Mom took some pictures and Joe took some pictures. I'm a horrible photographer so I didn't volunteer to take any. I've posted some pics above. (Yes, his eyes really are that blue!)

Well, other than that, everyone should be up to date now. Hopefully the weather holds out and we'll be able to make it home for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to bring the baby home to meet everyone. I may not be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner & will more than likely have to buy my own food, but that's okay, too.

I'll talk to everyone later!

Jace is one month old!

The New Bed

Here's Pod's new bed that he loves. Of course Mommy has a hard time doing laundry, but he is my favorite piece of dirty laundry!

Smiles Galore - 2 Videos included, too!

Short video and cute glasses

Our long weekend at Children's Hospital

This past Friday (09/26/08), I changed a diaper for Jace & found blood. I told Joe that the baby was passing blood. We immediately got out all the reading material we could find & everything told us to call the pediatrician. So I called the doctor, but the office was closed for lunch. Joe called Children's Hospital & asked if we should forgoe the dr & come straight to the hospital. zthey told him it would depend on the amount of blood loss. We had to pass by the dr's office on the way to the hospital & by the time we would go by there, they would be back from lunch break. So we stopped in the office. The dr pushed lightly on Jace's belly & blood came out of his bottom. He put the diaper back on & told us to get straight to the ER & not to stop anywhere on the way there. So we rushed to Children's Hospital ER. They did the triage fairly quickly, however we sat in a room waiting to see a doctor for about an hour. Once the doctor came in, they started taking blood samples and decided they were going to have an X-ray done. So Joe and I went with Pod to the X-ray room. I held his legs down and Joe held his arms. When we were done, we walked back to the ER room. When I put Jace down, I noticed there was blood on the blanket he was wrapped in. There was so much blood in his diaper that it had soaked through the diaper, through his clothing and through the blanket. I opened the diaper to find a huge puddle of blood. It was about 2 oz of blood. When I lifted his legs to clean him up, more blood just poured out of his bottom. I started to panic, but tried to remain as calm as possible. They wanted to do a CT scan, but needed to have the contrast bottle fed. It would take over a 2 hour period, however, Jace was bleeding so badly Joe demanded they treat this as they would any other trauma patient because the baby couldn't continue bleeding like this for two hours. So they ended up putting a tube down his nose and into his tummy. They extracted fluid to see if there was bleeding in the tummy. There wasn't any so they forced the contrast in to get the CT done quickly. The CT scan and X-rays were not showing any damage to the tummy or intestines that the ER doctor could see. She consulted with a GI doctor, the pediatric ICU doctor and surgeon. They had some blood on stand-by in case they needed to do a transfusion or surgery. The GI doctor suggested that this may be a food allergy rather than damage to the intestine, but the ER doctor had advised there was a lot of blood loss for a food allergy. GI doctor & PICU doctors both said that is normal. They decided to admit Pod to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. We spent two nights in the PICU and then they moved him to the floor. X-ray after X-ray and the scans were all coming back not showing any signs of damage to the intestines or tummy. They advised me that they felt this was a food allergy & told me that I was to stop nursing him. I needed to change my diet to exclude all dairy products (milk, cheese, etc), eggs, soy, nuts, and flour. I would remain on this strict diet for 2 weeks cleaning out my system. In the mean time I need to continue to pump so that I can go back to nursing once my system is cleansed of the allergens. Pod is on a prescription strength, hypoallergenic formula that has the proteins broken down. I am to feed him that for two weeks, then slowly re-introduce nursing. If I nurse and there is no blood in the stool, then I can slowly start introducing the allergens back one at a time starting with the one we feel is least likely to have caused this. I feel that it's probably a milk allergy since I drink so much milk (2 gallons a week). Anyway, I can drink rice milk and have been instructed to do so to keep the calcium intake up as pumping / nursing will take a lot of my calcium away.

Pod came home on Monday. He's doing really well now and hasn't had the slightest problem with the formula. He hasn't had one bloody stool since he was put on the formula. Now that I'm making bottles, Joe can help out with the feedings, too. That's a relief to me, too, but I want to nurse Pod so that he'll get his immunities. I hope he'll go back to it okay.

Well, that's all for now. I'll update this blog as often as I can. Lack of sleep & energy is keeping me from posting very frequently! LOL

Baby Jace is Here!!!

Well, the time has finally arrived! Baby Jace was born on September 13, 2008 at 2:02 am. He is definitely Mommy & Daddy's bundle of joy!

Friday, September 12, 2008 I had a doctor appointment scheduled for 2:45. I wasn't feeling really well Friday morning or early afternoon. I checked my blood pressure and it was extremely high. I called Joe at work and he told me to go lay down and call him back in 30 mins after checking it again. I fell asleep and Joe called to check on me after he hadn't heard from me within 30 mins. So I got up to go check the blood pressure when my water broke at 1:00 pm. I told Joe I would call him back, but I thought my water had broke.

I called the doctor's office, told them about my blood pressure and that my water had broken. They told me not to wait until my appointment, but to get right in there to see the doctor. I called Joe back. He came home to pick me up. I told him I would meet him at the doctor's office since I wasn't having contractions or any discomfort. He wouldn't let me drive and told me he was on his way.

We made it to the doctor's office and they confirmed it was my water that had broken, but I hadn't started dilating yet. They ran over some information with us, checked the baby's heart rate, and then sent us on to labor and delivery.

Once in labor and delivery, I had a lot of paperwork to fillout (even though I had pre-registered). The contractions hadn't started yet. The doctor's kept coming in and checking on me. Finally they started Petosin (?). I'm not sure how to spell it. Anyway, I went from 0 cm to 3 cm in less than an hour. We thought I would have a very quick delivery. 10 hours later and after upping the petosin, I was only dilated to 4 cm. The contractions were so hard & strong they were going off of the chart. The attending OB doctor finally said that I should consider taking the epidural based upon the pain he could see in my face. So I did. I labored for two more hours, but couldn't feel a thing after the epidural. The contractions were still very strong, but after two hours (total of 12 hours) I hadn't dilated more than 4 cm. The doctor advised that the baby hadn't moved far enough down the canal and due to his size and my pelvis size, I wouldn't be able to deliver vaginally. Joe and I talked it through about waiting a little longer vs. going ahead with the C-section. We opted the c-section since the baby wasn't moving further down. I could lay there hours upon hours laboring, but I wasn't going to get anywhere. So they prepped me for the operation and got Joe dressed and off we went.

Jace was born at exactly 2:02 am. It was amazing. Joe was beside me the entire time holding my hand. They held the baby up for us to see. I couldn't really see him at all because of the drape. Joe went over to be with the baby and check him out. He weighed 8 lbs 4oz and was 21 inches long. He has a head full of auburn hair and registered 8.9 on the Apgar. Once he was cleaned up they brought him over to Joe to show me. What a precious moment that was!

Joe and I celebrated our one year anniversary in the hospital! Actually it was the sweetest thing ever! He suprised me by bringing our cake and topper the hospital along with our wedding video, two red roses, and the gift he got for me. It was the most romantic thing ever! We sat in the hospital bed eatting cake and watching our wedding video.

Later that afternoon Jace and I were released from the hospital. My mom stayed the week with us & was a huge help! Some of the ladies from church made us dinner two nights. Mom did most all of the remainder of cooking, cleaning, laundry. She was exhausted.

Joe and I spent most of last week running from doctor's appointment to doctor's appointment with the baby. This week has calmed down a bunch. Yesterday was one doctor appointment for me since the blood pressure thing is still in an uproar and Thursday is another doctor appointment for Jace. Tomorrow Joe and I are going to go look at a day care center and get put on the waiting list. I believe we've just about go the blood pressure under control, though.

So, that's a VERY basic outline of all that has happened. There's so much more detail and things of that nature, but quite frankly, I've got a newborn and I'm tired. So I'm going to go lay down while he's still asleep!

Will post more later.