New Baby O

Our new Baby O arrived about a month early back in October. He is a wonderful son. His sister O loves him so much. 

Nevertheless, new O has been having a hard time gaining weight. He hasn’t had the best latch since birth, probably due to the fact he was 36 weeks combined with a weeks worth of jaundice and billi light therapy and daily heel pricks. 

About two weeks ago we had a frenectomy for his upper lip and tongue performed. After that he started to show more promise nursing, yet it wasn’t good enough for our pediatrician, who didn’t put a lot of stock into a tongue and lip tie being an issue preventing breastfeeding. So we then had to feed him via tube and syringe while he was at the breast. He gained weight but not consistently. 

Now we find ourselves 6 days into an undefined length of stay in the hospital where they have given new O an NG feeding tube where they give him 18 oz a day via the tube. 

While here in the hospital they have said that he has had low sodium and potassium and water on his kidney as well as low vitamin D. He has also been a lot sleepier and a lot more irritable when awake. 

The doctored say that they are mainly still observing everything so they can get a diagnosis together as to why he gains weight so poorly. As of yesterday he had gained only 3-4 oz his entire hospital stay. 

Yesterday my wife noticed something. That after each feed through the tube they were rousing it out into his belly with about a teaspoon of water. A nurse even tried to flush the bag and tube into baby O’s stomach with over 15 ml of water. If you research infants and water you will quickly learn that infants under the age of 6 months really should never be then water. It dilutes their sodium and potassium levels, causes irritability, low body temperature, and decreases the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from the breast milk or even formula. 

Sounds like our great nurses are causing more of the problem than they are helping. We are in a pediatric acute care ward, that would stand to reason that these nurses would be versed in the fact you don’t give infants water. 

Last night, when O’s Mommy discovered this she requested to speak to the resident that was here. For some reason he never made it to our room. Now we are waiting for the “team” that is treating our child to make their rounds so we can talk with them about our concerns. 

Baby O2

O is going to have a baby brother! We are very excited. We are naming him a name that starts with O too. It’s pretty cute. They will be like O2, like the gym. O loves to point at her mommy’s belly and yell “Baby!Baby!” She loves to give him stickers and kisses. She has even started to say his name. I have a feeling she may just be the best big sister ever.

So fortunately for this blog, I won’t have to make a new one for the new Baby O. I’ll just have two to talk about.

Using Her Words

O has been making me a super proud daddy lately. She is really starting to use her words now. She knows what she wants, and when she wants it. She knows how to get it too. One of her favorite snacks is a stick of string cheese. SHe knows where its kept in the fridge. The only things keeping her from going to town is the fact she has a hard time opening the fridge, and she can’t unwrap it yet.

She has also learned to climb on the table. We can be there sitting, eating dinner, next thing we know, there is a baby standing next to us. She will even reach over to our plates, stick her finger in what ever dip there is and say “yummmmm!” with a big ‘ol smile.

If you are just sitting and doing your own thing, and she wants a cookie snack, or a drink (coconut milk or water) she will stand betweeen the living room and the kitchen, point at the fridge and yell “drink!” It is actually quite adorable. It is also helping me figure out what exactly she wants.

It has also been a great manners exercise. Any time I ask her to do something, I always say please and thank you. When I fill her sippy or gyro bowl, she always says thank you has she toddles away. Its very heart warming to see how sweet and independing she is growing up to be.

Clogged Ducts are No Joke

O’s Mommy had a pretty wicked clogged duct the other night. Nothing she could do would make it clear. She tried her gel rings, pumping, nursing, etc. No relief.

It was around midnight by the time she woke me up. I knew it was bad if she woke me up. I asked if she had tried using a hot rag. She said no, so I got up, went to the bathroom made the water as hot as I could, and went back to my wife to help her massage it out.

After a few minutes of intense massaging, crying, and several trips to the bathroom to keep the rag hot, the duct cleared. A stream of milk shot across our king sized bed.

Husbands: If your wife has a clogged duct, then its serious business. It could easily lead to a serious infection and harm your spouse. So, if the problem arises, remember, a hot rag and massage. Yes it will hurt, but think of it like I do, like it is a bad horrible pimple that needs popping.

Take care of your wife, and you will be a happy person.

Possibly the Best New Parent Movie Ever

Neighbors

This was undoubtedly one of the funniest, and baddest, movies I have seen in a while. If you look past all the profanity, and inappropriateness of the movie, you find a hidden gem.

Seth Rogen has a young family. His wife, young baby daughter, and they just purchased a house and are living the American Dream. However, they do feel insecure in all of this, because they are still younger people, just growing up. They are realizing that having a baby isn’t an easy thing, and that it forces you to grow up, and leave behind your past.

Anyway, in moves a fraternity, and a feud starts, and things get way out of had throughout the rest of the movie. Set Rogen and his movie wife talk about how they want to be cool with the frat, but then they realize that that doesn’t work, blah blah blah, lots of crazy stuff happens.

 

In the end, the family gets the frat kicked out of their neighborhood and they are able to sleep and night and not have a distracting and potentially dangerous situation next door while raising a little girl. Seth Rogen and his movie wife realize that they are no longer party people, they can’t just go and do ‘shrooms while their daughter sleeps. They realize that they appreciate the little things in life, and that as grown ups, and parents, they now have a huge responsibility, but that it can be fun too, like eating pizza in bed.

While the frat president, Zac Efron, realizes that he should have been a better college student and less devoted to the fraternity, and actually worked to having a life after graduation. He sees the error of his ways, and makes his own steps to growing up by getting a job and going back to school at nights.

In life, you make choices, and the choice of becoming a parent is a huge one. Having a baby won’t fix your problems, but it will change you. Life after a baby is hard. No one wants to change, but we have to. You just can’t go to raves as a parent and leave your children sleeping, even if you do take the baby monitor with you. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with your babies!

Milk Sharing Adventure

So, O’s Mommy had the desire to milk share. For any of you that are unaware, some mothers are unable to Breastfeed for one reason or another and don’t want to use formula. So, mothers that have plenty of supply can choose to either donate or sell their milk. So, we decided since we were doing well on our freezer supply that we would try to donate.

Initially we were hesitant, because there are some mothers out there that desire donor milk with some tough restrictions. Restrictions like:dairy free, gluten free, soy free, fast food free diets. Needless to say, that is just crazy. If you are receiving free, donated milk you need to chill out. You need all those restrictions, then go buy some. Anyway, we finally found a recipient and the story continues.

The recipient was totally awesome. We donated a whole lot if milk to her, like 10 gallons lot. She was always polite and extremely grateful and happy. She became a friend instantly.

If your wife still has over supply, or your freezer is full, I suggest donating. There are people out there that need help.

Air Travel with Baby O

Today, O’s mommy and I flew to visit her family. This involved spending almost 3 hours in an airplane.

We were very anxious about traveling with her as a lap child. We watched countless YouTube videos about it, made lists, and packed that diaper bag chock full.

We brought lots of toys, had her in the Ergo carrier, and hoped for the best.

It went very well. On the first leg of the trip, Baby O made lots of friends. Second flight, she slept.

Shoutout to Mama Natural for the great tips on travel.

Christmas Baby Clothes

Christmas, the season of cute baby girl clothes. O’s Mommy and I have quite the wardrobe prepared for our little munchkin.

Don’t you just love little babies? They are quite fun to dress. O’s Mommy of course always pics out the most coordinated outfits, where as I on the other hand mix stripes and polka dots.

Swaddling

Swaddling. Old school method for calming babies. It works. We swaddle Baby O very often, especially when she gets fussy at night.

When walking around Buy Buy Baby the other day, we saw some Aden & Anais muslin swaddling blankets. That is the brand we use. We own several muslin blankets and one very nice bamboo swaddling blankets. The back of the packaging made me laugh.

 

That baby is smiling. Yeah right. Not my precious little Princess. She screams, makes her uber sad face and cries her heart out. She will soon fall asleep, but she does not enjoy the limited range of movement she is given when swaddled. We swaddle her because she keeps flailing around making herself angry, and then she gets angry when she can’t move. Its a lose-lose situation, at least until she falls asleep, then it become a total parent win.

 

Swaddling is great. Just because she is mad when you swaddle her, doesn’t mean its the wrong thing to do. Just don’t always expect a happy baby like the packaging shows.

Hello

Hello everyone, I am O’s Daddy. O’s mommy and I are very happy to be keeping this blog about our wonderful baby girl O. She is now 3 and 1/2 months old and an absolute pleasure. She is the center of our world and we wouldn’t have it any other way. So enjoy your reads here.