Yay, an Innie!

Not much new to report.  TnT is still the crybaby....can't wait till he can "use his words" to tell me what's wrong! LOL  Atm, I'm just really bad at guessing.  Usually I start with a bottle, then smell his diaper, then try to burp him, and if all that fails, just hold him.  If he still cries after that...I'm usually at a loss and just try to rock (or bounce!) him.  Right now, I actually got his pacifier to keep him quiet, hehehe.  I usually don't think about it, but it was right next time and I thought I'd give it a shot.  I didn't think it'd actually work (cuz he's not hungry), but it's doing it's thing, woot!

Anyhoo, as you can see from the pic, TnT's umbilical cord has finally fallen off. He's 3 weeks and 1 day (or 22 days to be exact).  I'm glad he's going to be an innie...=)

That's all I have to report for now...I really can't wait until his house arrest is over, and we can finally go out together!  I have cabin fever...going out once or twice a week for a couple hours doesn't really do it for me.  It might have, 8 months ago, when I was super nauseous...but not anymore!

Till next time!

Not as Fussy....

Yes, I know...my little panda is the cutest in the world (as all mommy's would say about their own kids, lol)!

So the little one is officially 16 days old.  He cries over everything -- from diaper changes to baths, but when he's calm, the world seems like a rainbow on a cloudy day.  Or something like that, lol.

Auntie Pency came over for TnT's weekly photo shoot. I kept him entertained enough to stay awake, lol, and she was able to get some great shots!  I had a different outfit on him before, but the little bugger peed through his diaper, outfit, and 2 sets of blankets, lol.  He doesn't quit fit the the newborn size (we noticed it was leaving a mark on his cute little butt), and he's not quit big enough for the size 1 diapers....but we're making do.  Ish.  I'm still experimenting with how tight and high to put on the diaper...so it's usually mine that leak. =/  Bleh, lol.

Here is some evidence that TnT is a crier.  I had just changed his diaper and changed him into this cute onesie....

Usually at that point, I would pick him up and look straight into his face, and tell him "it's okay, it's over...I'm all done" and he would look back and me and slowly stop crying.  However, I decided to take a pic really quick first, instead, hehehehe.  Yes, I'm mean...

As a side note, yes, those are socks on his hands...we noticed they stay on better than the little mitts since the mitts are still a smidge too big for him.  He gets them off so easily!

So it's been a couple days, and he's been taking the gripe water pretty nicely.....I feel like it eases the gas in his stomach.  The bottle says to feed him 1/2 tsp 3 times daily, but I didn't feel like this eased his stomach enough.  Instead, I give him a few drops with every bottle. I noticed that this seems to work a lot better.  He's not as fussy...

Also, he could be not as fussy because we changed his diaper from newborn to size 1?  Well, the hubby seems to think so, lol.  There's still periods of time where we won't sleep or eat, doesn't need a diaper change or doesn't burp, but he'll cry.  Definitely not the 3 hours like babies with colic do, but still...it's hard to deal with!  We just hold him and let him cry...try to feed him....try to burp him....and eventually he quiets down.

Luckily, he's not doing this at night....at night, we've gotten him to sleep!  He still wakes up every 2.5-3hrs, but that's okay.  We just change him and feed him, and he goes right back to sleep.  He's more fussy during the day time or evening time.  And like I said, it doesn't seem to last too long...

So yeah, I'm going to keep up with the gripe water, and see how that goes...

Till next time!

TnT is starting to be Fussy!

So....the first couple weeks have gone by so quickly!  It seems like we started to get a sleeping (or lack of sleeping) pattern down.  However, the last couple days, this cute little panda has started to CRY like crazy!!!

I have no idea why he cries sometimes!  I'm pretty sure it's not colic....after googling it, I found out that colic means the baby cries at least 3 hours a day, and usually around the same time every day.  For TnT, he cries *sometimes* after a meal.  I've tried changing his diaper, burping him, feeding him, and carrying him....all to no avail.  It seems like if I can actually get him to sleep, I can finally get some rest!

It's hard being the one that doesn't work.  I take care of the baby all through the night (occasionally being spelled by the mother-in-law who wakes me up anyway!), then proceed to take care of the baby ALL DAY. It's kinda depressing when the week starts, and I can think about is "when is it going to be 6:30pm?" (when the hubby gets home)

Well, at least I do enjoy the time I spend resting, and the times I get to just chill with the baby!  He's so cute and I love having his attention!

Anyhoo, hopefully I can find out what's wrong that making him all fussy....

Till next time!

Emergency C-Section, OMG!?!

Who wants to know the blow-by-blow of what happened one fateful Saturday morning? Well, of course you do....and I love telling it! So exactly what happened? Let the storytelling begin:

It was Friday night (Nov 5th), and Tommy was tired, so we decided to go to bed around 12:30am. Around 3am, I half woke up to switch sides and felt a lot of liquid down there. I was worried whether it was pee (I DID have a 6 lb baby sitting on my bladder!) or if it was my water breaking. I quickly ran to the bathroom, and confirmed: yup, it was my water breaking (it was pink instead of yellow for those of you who wonder how I can tell =P). So I secided to take a shower and clean up....I mean, come on, your water breaking is actually pretty gross! After I got out of the shower, I decided to wake up Tommy. We weren't sure if we should go to the hospital yet (my contractions weren't regular), so we calleed my Dr and were told to go to Labor & Delivery!

After we got out stuff ready (thank god I had finished packing within the last few days!), we went to the hospital and after I was officially admitted, Tommy came home to walk the dog and turn off his alarm, while I txted and made phone calls from my birthing suite. Unfortunately, since my water broke, but my contractions weren't regular, the Dr ordered me to start Pitocin *cringe*. The nurse saw the look on my face and asked me what was wrong....I told her that I've seen on TV that Pitocin seems to make labor horrible. She laughed and reminded me that I could get an epidural at any time, so I shouldn't worry. At this point I was 1cm dilated. By 6am, my contractions were 2-3min apart and the pain level was at an 8 or 9 (out of 10). I decided to get an epidural, thinking that by now, I should be at least in the transition phase of labor and should be like 8ish cm dilated. They told me I needed to wait because the anesthesiologist was doing a c-section and I needed to have at least a bag and a half of the iv fluids pushed in first. So I patiently waited through 30 contractions of the worst pain in my life and was rewarded with a relatively painless epidural (thanks to my mom's classmate Dr. Chan!). Finally, me and Tommy could rest!  Unfortunately, when the nurse checked on how I was progressing....I was still 1cm dilated...absolutely no change.  I was pretty disappointed, thinking that labor was going to take forever....

A short nap later....I was woken up and told that the nurses had tried everything, but the baby was not tolerating labor (it was 10am and I was still 1cm dilated, plus the baby's heart rate wasn't looking so good), so the Dr was on her way, and we were going to have to do a C-section. I was really disappointed....and of course, scared. I think Tommy was kinda scared too....not for me, but for himself...to be in the OR, lol. I was prepped (no comment on what that entails, lol) and wheeled to the OR. Dr. Chan proceeded to try to get me numb....but my body seemed to be metabolizing the anesthesia too fast....eventually she got me "numb enough" and they brought Tommy in and we were ready (ish?) to roll....

I could feel a little going on, but I was trying to ignore it....instead, Tommy was being an awesome coach and telline me I was doing a great job....while looking a little green around the gills, and super pale, might I add, lol. I could tell he was having trouble NOT passing out, but within a few minutes, I felt a push on my tummy and bam, TnT was born. He had a surprisingly high pitched wail when he first cried (still does, actually). Tommy was able to leave with the baby (lucky him!), while I had to lay there and finish my surgery as the anesthesia was wearing off (however, Dr Chan promised good drugs when I was done, so it was all good, lol).  This pic on the right is just minutes after he was born.

In recovery, I got to hold little TnT for the first time, and was given a few pain meds, which made me nauseous. Then they gave me anti-nausea meds that didnt work, lol. I was really out of it for the next few hours...but I was lucid enough to know that the baby was taken to the NICU because of his blood sugar, and when he was finally returned, he had jaundice as well.

He was given a special bed (pic to the left), and when that didnt work, he had to tan under the stronger lights (pic below). He had to get so many blood tests that they had to put an IV in his arm (so they wouldn't have to keep poking him for a vein)...you can kinda see in the pic with the tanning bed.  Poor thing was miserable, and was so traumatized, he still hates people touching his feet (where they kept getting some of the blood for tests from). I'm happy to report that TnT is all better now, and is home resting. He's eating us out of house and home already, but that just makes him even cuter, LOL!

I'm tired, but I'll make sure to add pics to thus blog tomorrow....I just wanted to get my story down, and if there are spelling errors, it's cuz I'm on the iPad, and not a real keyboard.  **Edit: 11/10/10 I just added some pics. =)

Not sure what's going to be posted next, but I'll try to keep up as much as I can!

Till next time!

Yay, a Crib!!

Happy to report that we finally set up our crib!  It  basically took us all day to rearrange the room, then put the crib together.

When we actually came to putting the crib together, it was pretty funny.  This crib was from my aunt and uncle, and it didn't come with a manual.  We'd figure that there's only 7 pieces and 6 screws...how hard could it be?  Um....30 min hard!  It took about 30 minutes of fiddling around before we finally figured out how it went together, and once we got everything set, we knew that we did it correctly.  It makes sense how everything is put together when you're done, lol.

Anyhoo, so it feels realy good knowing that if I go into labor, little TNT will have a place to sleep when he comes home.  We pretty much have everything else ready to go....tons of diapers, some cute clothes, and milk gland twitching to get started, hahahahahah.

Well....here's to hoping that the baby comes this week!

Till next time!!!

Pediatrician Found!

Happy to report that we have found a pediatrician!  We looked through the list the hospital gave us for doctors that had privileges at the hospital, and checked out a few.  We found one that has a friendly staff and we felt comfortable with.  So yay, one thing taken care of.

On another note, I had an ultrasound the other day (nothing to take home though...), and the doctor told me the baby has a big head.  While this is great news for the baby...(my hope means big head = big brains!), I'm not so excited for the part where I have to PUSH that big head out of me.  I blame the hubby and his big head.  My mom blames all the Omega-3s I ate (not excessively, but in general). 

We still haven't decided on the circumcision issue, but I'm enjoying the feedback I'm getting, lol.  We still have time to decide, so I'm not too worried.  The doctor said the baby could come as early as next week....gotta get everything ready this weekend!

Till next time!

To Circumcise or Not...That IS the Q!

So we made a decision on Cord Blood Banking.  We have officially decided to NOT bank the cord blood.  After weighing all the benefits and costs, we just feel like we can live without it.

Moving onto the next decision:  Should we Circumcise our poor kid?  Obviously there are many health benefits, but it IS traumatic and it's also not covered by insurance.  The trend now-a-days is that less and less people actually circumcise their sons.  The medical community doesn't feel like the benefit outweighs the cost enough for insurances to cover it.  So...it becomes a harder decision.  If insurance covered it, we'd probably go with it just because it was covered.  But now, we wonder if it's REALLY necessary....

I guess as I hunt for a pediatrician, I'll ask them their thoughts on whether to circumcise or not....

Till next time!