The Feet Thing

Annie went to the caridiologist this week to get the whole "cold feet thing" checked out. In a nutshell, it's very common for babies to have cold feet and hands because their circulation systems are still maturing. It's even common for them to turn all sorts of colors, like hers were doing. Before he told me this I told him how her feet were bright purple while we were in our pediatrician's office, and he smiled at me expectedly and said, "and what did she say?" I said, "she was concerned, and that's why we're here." He looked baffled and said, "well, she should have told you that it's absolutely normal." Sooo, basically we paid for an ultrasound and all sorts of cardio testing to be informed that it was something that is very common and will go away.

I don't know, I still think it's good that she's so thorough and makes sure we look into things, just in case. It could have been a much different story, and I'm so glad it wasn't! And it is nice to have a doctor who hears things and does her best to prove that it's nothing, rather than blow it off. Because I've heard horror stories. So I'm still glad we went.

It also was kind of fun, to be honest with you! It was a pediatric cardiologist, so there were toys everywhere and the nurses and doctor were so good with kids. They loved Annie, she charmed everyone. She has this thing where when we introduce her to someone, she smiles really big and holds her arms out to people to be held by them, and my lord, people LOVE. IT. I mean, who wouldn't love a baby who is so friendly? The nurse who prepped her and ran the tests was awesome. She sang to her and played with her through the whole thing, Annie didn't even mind having 20 stickers with clamps hanging off them pasted all over her chest or blood pressure cuffs on her arms and thighs (little baby cuffs, so cute! Oh, and the nurse theorized that she might not even feel the leg squeezing since her thighs are so chunky. He.) Then we went to see the doctor, who was equally awesome. Very reassuring, knows his stuff, great with kids, genuinely seems to love what he does. Can't do better than that.

He said it was still good to have her in so she could get a full heart workup. The only issue he found was a murmur. He said it has a very "musical tone to it," which Paul found hilarious. He said he's not concerned about it and we shouldn't be either, that it shouldn't cause her any problems, and that he just wants to see us next year to check it to make sure it's still nice and musical. (He didn't actually say that last part, I just imagine it's something he would say.) So we go back next year almost to the day. I've got to be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing these people again, that's how great they were!

Funny story, I told my mom that the doctor said it was so common it has a name, but he didn't write down the name, so I couldn't remember what it was. So Paul acts like he's thinking about it for a minute, and says, "Hmmm...I'm pretty sure he called it 'Pediatrician Paranosis.'" He. Poor Dr. M. Seriously, we're glad she's thorough!

This week Annie is saying "Ba ba ba ba" over and over again, and if you say it to her, she'll repeat it back. Yesterday she threw in a couple of "Pa pa"s and "Ma ma"s. Thursday Wendy said that she was crawling towards a big book on the floor and when Wendy said "Annie no!" and she stopped crawling and headed back to Wendy. Wendy was amazed. I was surprised too. I've been working on it since she started crawling, and usually when I say "Annie....no...." in a firm tone, she stops what she's doing and looks at me, but she'll go back to it. I'm very excited that she's starting to get what it means! Especially since she's so active--she crawls from the living room to the kitchen now, and there are a lot of no no's out there. And I'm afraid walking is going to be here before we know it: when she's standing she takes steps. Paul said she went from one end of her crawl and cruise to the other the other day. Lord help us. I'm still hoping for a couple more months.

So this whole "understanding words" thing means that I really, really need to focus on cleaning up my, ahem, language. I will be on the lookout for some good, catchy alternatives to the usual swear words I throw around. Which have not been good lately. Oh no, they have not been good. Hopefully something will stick soon!

She pooped!

And it was everything you'd imagine a 7-day poop would be. ;)

Quirks

So Annie's feet get really cold at night. We put a sleeper with feet and warm fuzzy socks on her every night, and in the morning they are so cold they're white. The bottoms of her legs are always cold too. The rest of her is fine. It only happens at night, during the day they're fine. I didn't really think too much of it, until the day Paul was taking her out of her car seat and noticed that the lower part of her legs were blue. Huh. So we mentioned it to our pediatrician at her 4-month check-up. She was a little concerned, especially because for some reason at the appointment her feet were hot and bright purple/pink. I told her that was unusual, that we hadn't seen that before. She asked if Raynauds runs in our family and I told her I had never heard anything like that so I didn't think so. So she did lots of pulse-checking and poking around her legs and belly and decided that maybe it would be best to get an ultrasound to check things out, make sure nothing was getting cut off on the way down to her legs.

My mom came with me to the ultrasound on Tuesday. It took forever. They took a ton of pictures of her insides, all around her belly. The first technician asked me to tell her why my doctor wanted us there, because she said she was a bit confused by her notes. I explained what the problem was and told her she was wondering if her aorta is being cut off somewhere in her groin area. She responded, "but she hasn't felt any masses or anything?" I had been really good about not worrying up to that point, telling myself it was most likely nothing to worry about. But as soon as she said the word "masses" a million worries flooded to the front of my mind. "Great," I thought to myself. "Here we go."

The exam took forever. The first technician couldn't find one of her ovaries so she went to get someone to take another look. Annie was so patient through the first part, which took about 45 minutes, but she was getting really tired and hungry, plus we had to hold her arms and legs down because she kept grabbing the wand cord, so she screamed through the second half. Poor baby! We finally got out of there about two and a half hours after we got there. And then I waited for 2 days, the word "masses" floating around my brains the whole time.

I talked to the doctor last night, and she said the results looked good. They didn't really find anything. Phew! But she did say they said it was a "suboptimal view" since they couldn't see everything in her belly due to "bowel gas." Surprise, surprise. Especially since she hadn't pooped in a few days! So to be safe she called a pediatric cardiologist. He said she's most likely fine, since the pulse and oxygen counts were fine. But he wants us to schedule an appointment to come in, just to be safe. It will probably be a few months before we can get in, but I'm not going to worry until then. I think she probably just gets cold feet. I am glad that our doctor is so thorough though. Nice to know she doesn't just brush things off! I'm going to need to learn to be more like her though. As I learned from my "cyst that could have been a blood clot" incident back when I was pregnant, I really need to learn to pay more attention to these things and not just brush them off as nothing! You really never know.

So yeah, the poop thing. That was Tuesday, and now it's Friday, still no poop. It's been 7 days! It's normal for a breastfed baby to go a few days, even 5 or 6 in between poops (formula-fed babies poop once or twice a day!) But she usually poops every 2 or 3 days, so 7 was getting a little ridiculous. And I'll tell you what. Her gas stinks. It could knock you over at this point. Also: I'm a little afraid of what a 7-day poop is going to look like. The 2 or 3 day poops are pretty explosive.

Our doctor gave us a few options. Pear juice sounded the best to me. Unfortunately, I just tried giving it to her and she hates it! She kept making that baby "what the hell is this crap?" face and pushing it away. I tried telling her that this was her most pleasant option, but she didn't listen. So now we're going to try the baking soda bath. I hope that works, because otherwise we will need to "take her temperature." Which really isn't so bad, we have to do that every once in a while anyway, but doesn't pear juice sound so much better??

Tell this kid to poop already!

Thumbsucker

So it looks like we have a thumbsucker! Since she started sleeping through the night we've noticed that she does wake up every couple of hours, but puts her thumb in her mouth and soothes herself back to sleep. It's awesome. These past few days she's finding her thumb while she's awake too. It's pretty adorable. She gets all panicky, jerking around until she finds it, and she sticks her other hand in her hair. I took a few pictures to illustrate the process:

Looking for the thumb (check out those cheeks!)

Finding and inserting the thumb

Getting the full grip on the hair

This thumbsucking thing has been really great for me. She slept for TWELVE hours last night, I can't believe it! This kid can sleep. It's been 6 nights now that she's slept between 8 and 12 hours. I really really hope this is a long term thing, I could get used to it! We took her to the doctor yesterday for her 2-month checkup. She's up to 12 pounds, 13 ounces now, 23.5 inches long. Her size has a lot to do with her sleeping through the night, that's for sure. So now I'm grateful that she cooked for 2 extra weeks and got so big! Totally worth it.


She got 5 shots at her appointment, it was heartbreaking. I had to work very hard to choke back the tears myself! She stopped crying as soon as I picked her up afterwards though, so that was encouraging. I fed her a bit before we left, that seemed to help too. She never developed a fever or anything, but she was very sleepy afterwards, fell asleep as soon as we strapped her into her carseat. I had an appointment that afternoon so I took her over to my Mom's after stopping home to finish feeding her. She tried to go for a walk with her, but Annie screamed and screamed, all she wanted to do was lie on Grandma's chest and sleep for an hour. Poor baby. I took her for a walk when we got home, and then tried to feed her again. She was really really fussy, so I gave her some Tylenol and she seemed to feel much better. I think her thighs must have been sore where they injected her. She was pretty much back to normal after that!


We went out last night to our city's free movie in the park, Horton Hears a Who. Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Kevin came along. Annie sat on Kathryn's lap, content to look around at everything until she got hungry. Unfortunately, as soon as I started feeding her it started raining. Poop! They had to turn off the movie, "Because of the rain. And safety." (That was the guy's exact words.) Very disappointing. We try to go to at least one movie in the park every year, and we had been looking forward to this one since the beginning of the summer. The last 3 summers it's rained on us! Oh well, we'll try again next year I'm sure!

Sleepy Monkey Girl

Annie is getting bigger, and every day it seems like she learns something new. This week she's been smiling more and cooing a lot, and has started following people and toys when they move back and forth. Last night Paul had her on the changing table and she was gripping onto both of his index fingers and trying to pull herself up. She also likes to be held standing up on your lap and then straightens out her legs so she's standing. She's such a strong girl! Long too. We have been amazed at how long her arms, legs, and toes are looking lately, she's a little monkey girl. Paul went off of his "she's going to be a softball player" kick and is started talking volleyball again. Then he started talking about playing both. Lord help us. ;0)We had her one month checkup on Saturday morning. She's doing really well. She is up to 10 lbs, 11 oz, and 23 and a half inches. Everything looks great developmentally. Sad news for me though: I have to give up all dairy for the next two weeks. She's had a few episodes of projectile vomiting over the past few weeks, and since it happens at the end of the day each time, and since so much comes out, the doctor thinks it might have something to do with my diet. She said when she was breastfeeding she had the same experience and it worked for them. I really, really hope that it's not a dairy thing, that's the staple of my diet. I don't know what I'd do without milk and cheese. At the same time, it would be a relatively simple solution. If she has another episode she wants to take some x-rays to make sure there is nothing going on in her stomach that's causing it. So we're really hoping that it just goes away! Poor baby. Fourth of July weekend was great. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we took advantage of it. Paul was home Friday and Saturday, so we had some nice family time. Friday we had my sister Kathryn and a few friends over for a small cookout and campfire. Paul was disappointed we can't go to the fireworks for a few years because of little ears, but we heard all of the shows while we were sitting around the campfire, so that was kind of fun. Saturday we had her doctor's appointment at 9, and then went to the public market and grocery shopping afterwards. That afternoon both sets of grandparents, Uncle Kevin, and Aunt Kathryn came by for another cookout. Everyone really enjoyed visiting with Annie, and she was very happy snuggling up and sleeping on everyone. Sunday Paul conquered his fear of heights and cleaned out the gutters while Annie and I supervised. Well, I supervised and held the ladder, Annie slept the day away on my lap and in her rocker. She's sleepy again today--I've got her strapped on in the Baby Bjorn as I'm typing this. These things are great, I have two hands again!

Oh, other news: Annie is wearing a 3 month sized outfit today and it is not huge on her like it was before, so her wardrobe is going to be that much bigger now. She still fits into most of her 0-3 outfits too, I only had to put away a few things so far. Out of all of the different sized clothing we got, 3-6 months was the most popular size. I'm really excited to dig into those! I'm sure there will be more photo sessions now too. ;0)

30

I turned 30 years old yesterday. I can't believe it. For the first time in my life I feel like a grown-up. I don't know if it's because I'm in my thirties now or if it's because I'm a mom now. I'm sure it's both hitting me at once. It's all so crazy! Motherhood is a huge shift. I knew my life would completely change, but it's amazing how complete the change is. It's also amazing how rewarding it is! This has probably been the hardest, most emotional, happiest week of my life. I am so happy to be Annie's mother, and Paul's wife. I feel so incredibly lucky!

Annie was born right before a horrible heat wave. We had her on a Wednesday and brought her home Friday. Friday through Tuesday the temperature reached into the 90's. Awful! I found it quite ironic, since my biggest fear about having a newborn in May was keeping her from overheating during the summer. I thought I'd have at least a few weeks to prepare for it! We spent our first few days at home in front of our fans and in our air-conditioned bedroom. We bought an air conditioner for Annie's room too, even though she isn't sleeping in there yet. The good news is, it rained yesterday, and now it's back to normal. Beautiful and breezy. I hope it stays this way for a while! Monday was Annie's first trip to the doctor. She cried a lot, but everything checked out, she's looking very healthy! Her weight went down a bit more (9lbs 7.5oz at birth, 8lbs 15oz when we left the hospital, 8 lbs 13oz at the doctor), but our pediatrician said she should still be okay breastfeeding exclusively, as long as her diaper counts went up by Thursday. They went up to where she wanted them that day, and have stayed there since then, so we're in good shape! Annie took to breastfeeding like a pro. We had a bit of a latching problem for the first few days, but I looked up some tips and we got it straightened out. Breastfeeding is demanding, but incredibly rewarding. I'm so glad it seems to be working out for us, I hope it stays this way in the coming weeks!After the doctor visit, we stopped by Paul's work. He's home with us until Monday, so he wanted a chance to bring Annie in before he had to go back. I loved watching him show off his new family. I have never seen him so incredibly proud!

Yesterday was my birthday. We had to take care of our inspection and registration renewal, since they fell by the wayside while we were waiting for Annie to get here. After that we wanted to do something fun for my birthday, so we stopped by the canal and took Annie for a short walk down to the ice cream place. It was our first time using the stroller, and Annie seemed to like it! We picked up some Aladdin's for take-out (my favorite restaurant) and ate that at home. My mom and sister stopped by to wish me a happy birthday and bring us Amish Friendship Bread. Yum. It was a very nice, low-key, restful birthday. I'm still in recovery mode, so that amount of going out and walking was about as much as I could do. It was a nice first venture out with Annie though!

I think we're starting to figure out Annie's schedule now. The first week was rough because she would eat and sleep all day, and then from 12-3 or 1-4 in the morning, she was wide awake. I'd feed her and she'd want to eat for 3 or 4 hours straight. She wouldn't eat that entire time though, she'd take a few sucks and then wiggle around a bit. So last night it finally dawned on me. She didn't want to eat for 3 or 4 hours straight, she wanted some playtime. So we got up, went downstairs, and she took a ride in her swing for the first time. She loved it! She stopped crying as soon as it started moving and the music started. She stayed happy for about a half an hour, enough time for me to catch a quick catnap on the couch. When she was ready to eat again, I fed her and sang to her until she fell asleep. I brought her back upstairs and she slept for 3 hours straight, woke up to eat, then slept for another 3 hours. So I think this might be our new routine for the time being. I can definitely handle that, those 3 hour stretches are wonderful!

Today we gave Annie her first bath at home. (She had one at the hospital and they told us to wait a week before giving her the next one.) She cried through the bathing, but loves having her hair washed, it's so cute! One minute she's screaming bloody murder, but as soon as we pour that water over her head she stops and makes an "oh" shape with her mouth, her eyes get all big. Too cute. We are really loving this newborn stage.