Oh the frustration of being a mom and watching your kid be so sick and not be able to do much! I'm quite thankful that Rachel isn't dealthy sick or even running a fever...but since I've not had much experience with infants, the last few days have left me completely worn out of worry.
This all really started on Thursday. I noticed she'd developed a little cough, which if you'll remember I described as, "Sad, but cute." I no longer think that.
Thursday night she was making such awful noises in her sleep it would wake her up and make her cry. You know how it feels when your nose has drained into your throat and it's just stuck there? You can either cough or clear your throat. Rachel doesn't know how to do that or that she should, so that gunk just sits there preventing her from breathing properly and it frustrates her.
I finally relented around 4:30AM of trying to let her just sleep and decided to help clear out her nose like my mom had taught me. It worked like a charm and we finally got her back to sleep around 5:30. She got up around 8 and we took her to day care where they told me she slept most of the day. By the time we picked her up her congestion had gotten a little worse.
We noticed that she doesn't have as much trouble breathing when she's sitting up. So we've kept her in her car seat as it keeps her mostly upright. That night I tried to get her to sleep, but she kept waking up. I finally relented and let Jason go to bed since I'd gotten a little bit of sleep. This way he could get rested since he was up with her during the nose cleaning incident the night before and could relieve me and let me sleep during the day.
Then today, Saturday, came. She didn't sleep much thru the night again, so we all slept as much as possible during the early to late morning.
As a precaution, I called the doctor. The noises she was making were getting worse and she didn't want to eat. And when she was eating, it was all coming back up. The doctor said they were only open for 10 more minutes and we should probably go to the ER. *sigh* Not what I wanted to hear. An Emergency Room is just that: a room for EMERGENCIES. This is not an emergency. So I talked to Jason and we decided that would be a last resort option.
We tried to soothe her as best we could by getting a vaporizer and some baby vapo-rub. It seemed to help, but my concern came about with an odd bump located in her diaper region and the fact that she was not keeping food down.
This is where I thank the Lord for moms who have been through this or know what to do. It's so much easier for me to help people when I'm not on the inside of the situation. But in this case, I called for the best reinforcement I could think of: my mother. Praise the Lord for my mother having 3 kids of her own as well as a career in taking care of children in the hospital. She told me to stop giving her formula as it was just thickening the gunk. Give her water or Pediasure. Keep up with the vapo rub. And don't take her to the ER unless she needs it. Without a fever and diarhea, she's just fighting the day care germs.
Oh what relief!! Just getting that type of advice or direction gives me more confidence to keep doing what we were doing. I knew she wasn't overly sick, just a little baby cold (which is actually a big cold for a baby).
So we're going to spend tomorrow resting in hopes that we all can make it thru next week. I think I might be catching whatever it is she has and I don't want Jason to fall ill as well...although we were warned that we'd all get it!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Happy Easter
Happy Easter everyone!
And thank you Aunt Connie for the beautiful, soft bunny. Rachel loves it!
And thank you Aunt Connie for the beautiful, soft bunny. Rachel loves it!
Day Care
This week was Rachel's first full week of day care. Last Wednesday we did tour the place and tried it out, but this week we were going for the real thing. It's been a growing and learning experience....for mom.
As far as I can tell, Rachel loves day care. She's about 5 months old....so when I say "she loves day care" this is an assumption based on the fact that she doesn't cry or isn't fussy while she's there.
I wasn't sure how I would react to day care. Would I cry as I left the building? Would I pine for her all day? I found out that I almost teared up as I walked out the door, but the tears didn't come because I reminded myself that she's getting lots of attention and I'm earning a full pay check again. And with those thoughts I walked out the door and headed home to work. I do have her on my mind constantly throughout the day, but with the good reports I get each day when I pick her up I feel a little less guilty about not being her care taker.
Yesterday Jason went with me to pick her up so he could see the routine and the Director asked to sit with us for about 30 minutes a do an informal orientation with us since we'd been there a few days. I love this day care and the ladies that run it. They are so encouraging and supportive. We asked a few more questions that have popped up since we've started and were told about some up coming activities at the center.
She also told us that yesterday they had a long tour with people from their corporate office and they were in the infant room for a while. Our daughter just happened to be having tummy time and we were told that one of the corporate folks couldn't take hearing our daughter fussing any more and got on the floor with her and apologized that they had to keep her on her tummy. Then as soon as someone picked her up she stopped crying. THIS is one major reason I'm so glad she's there. I can't stand to hear her fuss either, which is why she wasn't getting the tummy time she needed. The ladies there are just used to it after having who knows how many 100's of kids go through their class and all of them hate tummy time. They can deal with it so much better than I can. It's really good for her.
And, as we were fairly warned by many of our friends, the "day care germs" have now infested our daughter. She's not sick, sick. She's just got a cough (which is sadly kind of cute) and she sounds like she's got gunk in the back of her throat. But she's not fussy or miserable, just a little "icky". Yesterday she slept a lot at day care and then slept more at home and thru the night. I know her body is fighting germs, but it's not overwhelming. It's also good for her.
I've been coping well with this change. I've enjoyed being home and working full time uninterrupted. I do miss her though. When I get her home I have to hold her for a while when we get home before I can put her down.
This past weekend we had my family over for Easter. My parents brought this massive suit case that came home with them from Louisianna. It was my brother and sister-in-law's and it was FULL (I mean FULL) of our neice's hand-me-downs. MOTHER LOAD!!! I wish I would have taken a picture of Rachel's room after I'd unpacked and sorted the clothes. The floor of her room was completely covered. We now have enough clothes to not have to purchase anything else until after 18 months, at which time Alana will have grown out of more of her stuff. Although some are kind of worn, they are super cute and perfect for day care. Hooray!! Loving the hand-me-downs!
As far as I can tell, Rachel loves day care. She's about 5 months old....so when I say "she loves day care" this is an assumption based on the fact that she doesn't cry or isn't fussy while she's there.
I wasn't sure how I would react to day care. Would I cry as I left the building? Would I pine for her all day? I found out that I almost teared up as I walked out the door, but the tears didn't come because I reminded myself that she's getting lots of attention and I'm earning a full pay check again. And with those thoughts I walked out the door and headed home to work. I do have her on my mind constantly throughout the day, but with the good reports I get each day when I pick her up I feel a little less guilty about not being her care taker.
Yesterday Jason went with me to pick her up so he could see the routine and the Director asked to sit with us for about 30 minutes a do an informal orientation with us since we'd been there a few days. I love this day care and the ladies that run it. They are so encouraging and supportive. We asked a few more questions that have popped up since we've started and were told about some up coming activities at the center.
She also told us that yesterday they had a long tour with people from their corporate office and they were in the infant room for a while. Our daughter just happened to be having tummy time and we were told that one of the corporate folks couldn't take hearing our daughter fussing any more and got on the floor with her and apologized that they had to keep her on her tummy. Then as soon as someone picked her up she stopped crying. THIS is one major reason I'm so glad she's there. I can't stand to hear her fuss either, which is why she wasn't getting the tummy time she needed. The ladies there are just used to it after having who knows how many 100's of kids go through their class and all of them hate tummy time. They can deal with it so much better than I can. It's really good for her.
And, as we were fairly warned by many of our friends, the "day care germs" have now infested our daughter. She's not sick, sick. She's just got a cough (which is sadly kind of cute) and she sounds like she's got gunk in the back of her throat. But she's not fussy or miserable, just a little "icky". Yesterday she slept a lot at day care and then slept more at home and thru the night. I know her body is fighting germs, but it's not overwhelming. It's also good for her.
I've been coping well with this change. I've enjoyed being home and working full time uninterrupted. I do miss her though. When I get her home I have to hold her for a while when we get home before I can put her down.
This past weekend we had my family over for Easter. My parents brought this massive suit case that came home with them from Louisianna. It was my brother and sister-in-law's and it was FULL (I mean FULL) of our neice's hand-me-downs. MOTHER LOAD!!! I wish I would have taken a picture of Rachel's room after I'd unpacked and sorted the clothes. The floor of her room was completely covered. We now have enough clothes to not have to purchase anything else until after 18 months, at which time Alana will have grown out of more of her stuff. Although some are kind of worn, they are super cute and perfect for day care. Hooray!! Loving the hand-me-downs!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Rachel and Rachel
Lots of stuff has been going on....let me hope I can get everything updated!
A few weeks ago Jason had to be gone for about 2 weeks. My mother in law was so sweet and came up to stay with us while he was gone. I thought for sure I'd be just fine on my own, but after Jason left on Sunday I woke up on Monday feeling very overwhelmed. Thankfully I knew Geri was on her way otherwise I might have lost it. After finishing my last post Rachel began crying/fussing/screaming and it was nonstop for HOURS. She kept me up until very late, then woke up really early. (I don't like those nights, but at least she'll sleep for about 6 hours). I woke up at the end of my wits. So I kept myself sane by making a video of me changing a poopy diaper (which I CANNOT figure out how to upload here or burn to a DVD).
Geri arrived that afternoon and OH THE RELIEF!!! It was so nice to hand my adorable daughter that I love so much to someone else and say "enjoy!" We spent the next week with Geri getting in good Grandma time, Rachel getting lots of attention, and mommy getting things caught up at work just in time for an audit. It was like a well-oiled machine. Everything flowed smoothly and it was so fun. As the week came to a close I decided to travel to Evansville for a visit. Rachel's Great-Grandma Gina was finishing her last week of recovery before going in for another round of chemo treatement. They really wanted to see the baby, so it worked out well. We had a wonderful weekend together and when we took off on Sunday for our road trip, Jason left for Morton, IL. Rachel does well in the car....to a point. After about 4 hours of being in her car seat she wants out and does not want to go back into it again for a while. Can't blame the poor kid.
We arrive and it was so beautiful in Evansville! They had thunderstorms and sunshine both. Rachel got to play all day, watch tv with Great-Grandma and Grandpa, and sleep in the bed with mommy.
I love this picture of Rachel and Great-Grandpa Rogers:
They're both fast asleep. You can't see it, but Rachel's arms are above her head. It was adorable to see them like this.
I found out why I keep finding my kid has slid off her pillow and almost to the end of the bed each morning. This phenomenon has had me puzzled for a while. I've learned that as she's starting to wake up, she kicks her legs without knowing it. This causes her to slide off of her pillow and keep moving down the bed until she finally wakes up enough to fuss. I laid her on her boppy pillow on the bed with me while we were there and she was kind enough to slide into me each morning as she was waking up. Goofy kid!
Let's see....developments....I think from the last time I've posted she's becoming more aware of her hands. She will not grab toys on her own, but if something is in her lap or on her tummy, she'll put her hands around it and bring it to her face. She's also trying to put everything in her hands into her mouth. She doesn't enjoy laying on her back and playing as much as she used to. She likes to sit up so the bumbo seat is absolutely magical to both her and me!
When Geri was here I asked her to try to work with Rachel and her "tummy time". She did a great job. Each day, several times a day, she'd put her on her tummy and try to work with her. She HATED it at first. But now she can go longer on her tummy without fussing and can hold herself up a lot higher. Check her out:
We found out that mommy was making the bottles wrong. I was putting in about 1/2 the formula that I should have been using, so her bottles were really thin. No wonder she was so fussy! Once we got that problem corrected, we noticed a significant increase in happiness and sleep! So lesson learned: triple check the formula recipe before using! Thank heavens we'd been adding rice cereal to her bottles so they were a little thicker. We even tried feeding her cereal from a spoon!! Check out her first "feeding":
She wasn't sure what to think of it all. But it was just a snack, and I think she liked feeling "full". Now that we've gotten the formula issue fixed, she hasn't needed these "snacks". I am still putting food in her mouth to taste things. Take the recent broccoli adventure for example:
She also is smiling and laughing a lot more than she used to. Apparently the feeling of free falling (HIGHLY monitored!!!) and folding laundry make her giggle. She also likes it when I bounce her, or dance. (I'm glad I work alone at home most of the time so no one sees me being so silly all day!)
On Wednesday we drove back as Wednesdays are light for me and would be the easiest day for me to travel.
During these two weeks with Geri I realized that I've passed the point where I can work part time and take care of Rachel. It's just not working out. So I made the choice to ask to come back to work full time and start Rachel on day care.
This past Wednesday we made a visit to the day care. I wanted to see how she would do there, meet the teachers, and ask a ton of questions. It was wonderful. The ladies there are so nice, the other kids in the class are sweet (but not as cute as my kid!) and it's a really nice environment. I was also so pleased to learn that we are attending the first day care in Fishers to earn their Level 4! (Day cares are rated from 1 - 4, 4 being the highest level). I left her there for about an hour and a half to go meet Jason for lunch and to grab some "supplies" for her to have at day care. This way I won't have to take so much with me on Monday.
I'm excited to get back to work, let my kid be social and get all the attention she needs and to earn some independence from mommy. I think this is the right move for us and I'm really excited about it.
She's needing her pacifier less and less, which is really neat. The downside is, she really likes putting her fingers in her mouth and has discovered her thumb. Fingers crossed that she doesn't end up sucking her thumb!!!! I'd rather her enjoy the pacifier....but a kid will do what a kid will do.
While we were in Evansville I thought for certain she had started teething. One night she just screamed and screamed. Geri ran out and got her some oral gel as I didn't even think to bring some with me. However, I noticed once again that when we got home and settled in there was a night where she just screamed and screamed and I have a sinking feeling it was because she was in the car too long. Apparently upsetting her schedule sends her into orbit. Thankfully, we don't have a strict schedule, otherwise I think my child would be in constant coniption fits.
I'll add all the pictures Geri took as well as some others into the Rachel - 2 album.
A few weeks ago Jason had to be gone for about 2 weeks. My mother in law was so sweet and came up to stay with us while he was gone. I thought for sure I'd be just fine on my own, but after Jason left on Sunday I woke up on Monday feeling very overwhelmed. Thankfully I knew Geri was on her way otherwise I might have lost it. After finishing my last post Rachel began crying/fussing/screaming and it was nonstop for HOURS. She kept me up until very late, then woke up really early. (I don't like those nights, but at least she'll sleep for about 6 hours). I woke up at the end of my wits. So I kept myself sane by making a video of me changing a poopy diaper (which I CANNOT figure out how to upload here or burn to a DVD).
Geri arrived that afternoon and OH THE RELIEF!!! It was so nice to hand my adorable daughter that I love so much to someone else and say "enjoy!" We spent the next week with Geri getting in good Grandma time, Rachel getting lots of attention, and mommy getting things caught up at work just in time for an audit. It was like a well-oiled machine. Everything flowed smoothly and it was so fun. As the week came to a close I decided to travel to Evansville for a visit. Rachel's Great-Grandma Gina was finishing her last week of recovery before going in for another round of chemo treatement. They really wanted to see the baby, so it worked out well. We had a wonderful weekend together and when we took off on Sunday for our road trip, Jason left for Morton, IL. Rachel does well in the car....to a point. After about 4 hours of being in her car seat she wants out and does not want to go back into it again for a while. Can't blame the poor kid.
We arrive and it was so beautiful in Evansville! They had thunderstorms and sunshine both. Rachel got to play all day, watch tv with Great-Grandma and Grandpa, and sleep in the bed with mommy.
I love this picture of Rachel and Great-Grandpa Rogers:
I found out why I keep finding my kid has slid off her pillow and almost to the end of the bed each morning. This phenomenon has had me puzzled for a while. I've learned that as she's starting to wake up, she kicks her legs without knowing it. This causes her to slide off of her pillow and keep moving down the bed until she finally wakes up enough to fuss. I laid her on her boppy pillow on the bed with me while we were there and she was kind enough to slide into me each morning as she was waking up. Goofy kid!
Let's see....developments....I think from the last time I've posted she's becoming more aware of her hands. She will not grab toys on her own, but if something is in her lap or on her tummy, she'll put her hands around it and bring it to her face. She's also trying to put everything in her hands into her mouth. She doesn't enjoy laying on her back and playing as much as she used to. She likes to sit up so the bumbo seat is absolutely magical to both her and me!
When Geri was here I asked her to try to work with Rachel and her "tummy time". She did a great job. Each day, several times a day, she'd put her on her tummy and try to work with her. She HATED it at first. But now she can go longer on her tummy without fussing and can hold herself up a lot higher. Check her out:
We found out that mommy was making the bottles wrong. I was putting in about 1/2 the formula that I should have been using, so her bottles were really thin. No wonder she was so fussy! Once we got that problem corrected, we noticed a significant increase in happiness and sleep! So lesson learned: triple check the formula recipe before using! Thank heavens we'd been adding rice cereal to her bottles so they were a little thicker. We even tried feeding her cereal from a spoon!! Check out her first "feeding":
She also is smiling and laughing a lot more than she used to. Apparently the feeling of free falling (HIGHLY monitored!!!) and folding laundry make her giggle. She also likes it when I bounce her, or dance. (I'm glad I work alone at home most of the time so no one sees me being so silly all day!)
On Wednesday we drove back as Wednesdays are light for me and would be the easiest day for me to travel.
During these two weeks with Geri I realized that I've passed the point where I can work part time and take care of Rachel. It's just not working out. So I made the choice to ask to come back to work full time and start Rachel on day care.
This past Wednesday we made a visit to the day care. I wanted to see how she would do there, meet the teachers, and ask a ton of questions. It was wonderful. The ladies there are so nice, the other kids in the class are sweet (but not as cute as my kid!) and it's a really nice environment. I was also so pleased to learn that we are attending the first day care in Fishers to earn their Level 4! (Day cares are rated from 1 - 4, 4 being the highest level). I left her there for about an hour and a half to go meet Jason for lunch and to grab some "supplies" for her to have at day care. This way I won't have to take so much with me on Monday.
I'm excited to get back to work, let my kid be social and get all the attention she needs and to earn some independence from mommy. I think this is the right move for us and I'm really excited about it.
She's needing her pacifier less and less, which is really neat. The downside is, she really likes putting her fingers in her mouth and has discovered her thumb. Fingers crossed that she doesn't end up sucking her thumb!!!! I'd rather her enjoy the pacifier....but a kid will do what a kid will do.
While we were in Evansville I thought for certain she had started teething. One night she just screamed and screamed. Geri ran out and got her some oral gel as I didn't even think to bring some with me. However, I noticed once again that when we got home and settled in there was a night where she just screamed and screamed and I have a sinking feeling it was because she was in the car too long. Apparently upsetting her schedule sends her into orbit. Thankfully, we don't have a strict schedule, otherwise I think my child would be in constant coniption fits.
I'll add all the pictures Geri took as well as some others into the Rachel - 2 album.
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