miles smiles

click the video to see miles' happy time smiles. somehow ross and i have a child who is really happy in the morning when he wakes up. no idea where he gets that from.

follow-up dr visit

yesterday afternoon i took miles to our doctor to follow up from his ER visit. he said he knew it wasn't a fun experience but it sounded like it was definitely a good idea that we went. he said based on his observations of miles and what we have told him over the past few months, he thinks its highly likely the blood was coming from miles' esophagus greatly irritated by his spit up. he didn't think it was the dairy, so he said he wouldn't really even worry about limiting my diet. he said this was also backed up by the fact the bleeding stopped once miles started the antacids, whereas it would probably take longer than that for dairy to leave my system. so he is going to see miles back in 2wks to see if the meds are doing their job and then monitor him on a monthly basis after that. we had to delay miles' 2 month vaccinations because of this. hopefully he will be able to get them in 2wks if all goes well.

we haven't seen a whole lot of behavioral changes in miles yet. he has been sleeping for longer periods of time. we are not sure if this is because of the meds or because he is getting older, but we are happy for it either way. he is still spitting up all the time, but the doctor said we should actually expect that. the meds he is on will not prevent the spit up, they will just neutralize the acid in it. he still would like to refrain from prescribing meds that would prevent the spit up unless miles stops gaining weight or develops breathing problems. he is still being rather fussy, in fact he showed this off at the dr's office. the dr says he is probably in a lot of pain still but that given time, the meds should help with that. everyone seemed to really care about miles and the dr said we could call him day or night if we were concerned about anything for miles.


o yeah. i made grilled cheeses for dinner in celebration. :)

miles goes to the hospital

warning: this post does deal with miles' poop so if that's TMI for you, skip this post.

it all started friday around lunch time. i had been working around the house as we were expecting company and had just sat down and fed miles. when i changed his diaper, i was shocked to see lots of black specks/streaks in his dirty diaper. so naturally i called my mom, hoping she would reassure me this was quite normal. she did not. she suggested calling the doctor to be safe. now, if i would have just done this, i could have taken him in and maybe saved us some trouble. but i was hesitant to call since i'd already taken miles to see the doctor this week. i didn't want to seem like crazy psycho mom.

i decided to wait it out and see if the next dirty diaper was normal (if you can honestly call yellow poop normal, but whatever). but it wasn't. it was the same as earlier. my heart sank. when i realized it was now friday at 6:30pm my heart sank more. so this time i called my aunt. she has two young boys and i thought surely she could reassure me that this was normal. but she didn't either. we discussed a few internet theories, then she suggested calling the lactation consultant and/or the doctor. the LC didn't answer the phone, so i .....woke up a napping ross and made him call the doctor!

you can page the doctor through the answering service, and what do you know he answered his phone right away, we didn't even have to leave a message and wait for him to call back. ross discussed the situation with him, but when he started asking a lot of questions i ended up having to talk to him (but at least i didn't have to call him!). he said the concern was that it would be blood from his upper GI tract, and with miles' history he wanted us to take him to the children's hospital.

as we were on the phone with the doctor, ross' dad and becca showed up as they had come into town to spend the weekend with us. figuring it would probably be a boring ER wait only to be reassured everything was ok, i told ross to stay with them and drove down to the children's hospital with miles.

we checked in and tried to sit as far away from people as possible, as instructed since miles hasn't had his 2month vaccinations yet. the times are kind of fuzzy in my head, but lets say we arrived around 7.45pm and saw the initial nurse around 8.30pm. she had us go to a different waiting room with less people. awhile later, somewhere close to 9pm, our friend brooke poked her head in the waiting room. she is a nurse at the children's hospital and she "just happened" to be working and saw miles' name. she took us with her back to her area. it was so nice to see a friendly face!

she checked miles out and then they took one of miles' diapers that we had brought with us (gross!) to test it. it tested positive for blood. the doctor finally came around 10pm and said he wanted to admit miles to the hospital overnite. i remember feeling surprised and a little worried. brooke and a friend of hers put an IV in miles' arm...this was really sad to watch, but they did a good job and miles was fairly content to suck on a pacifier dipped in sugar water. they put his arm on a splint so that it would stay in. throughout our stay, the poor guy kept whacking himself with it, though we tried to keep it wrapped in a blanket. the thing was he wanted to suck that thumb sooo bad. he had just recently taught himself how to do it and it was killing him that he couldn't reach it, it was so sad! i'm not sure why he wouldn't suck his left thumb, because he sucks on either one at home.

ross came about 11pm while we were waiting for a hospital room. they pumped pepcid in through miles' IV to help with any stomach acid that was making him uncomfortable. he was mostly sleeping during this time, as he had all day long (another thing that prompted me to be concerned enough to call the doctor). they brought ross and i powerade and a little lunch that they had available. it was a sandwich, apple, teddy grahams, and apple juice. i must have been really hungry (i hadn't eaten dinner before i had come), because i kept telling ross, wow this is sooo good!

we finally got to our room around 1am. the night was mostly a blur, though miles slept through all of it, only eating one time between 10pm and 9am. normally i would be ecstatic for this kind of sleep, but instead it was worrisome. several doctors and nurses came in and out through the night and next morning. there was the resident, the attending, the senior, the GI doctor, and finally the chief pediatrician...all coming in to examine miles, ask questions, and give explanations. i got so tired of talking about miles' poop, telling the same story over and over! they put him on IV fluids to help him stay hydrated since he wasn't eating well, but at the same time this made him full and not want to eat!

since he was so sleepy and not eating much, they had us stay at the hospital all the way until saturday evening. ross called jfer and asked her to drive over so that he could spend time with his dad for a few hours and yet not leave me alone at the hospital. she was all too happy to come over and hold baby miles for a few hours. this gave me a needed break and i enjoyed chatting with her. ross came back in the afternoon to finish out the wait with us. finally about 6pm miles woke up and acted hungry (they took him off the fluids around 1pm so they could see if he was eating and making diapers well) and then he stayed awake for awhile and smiled at us...the first time he had done so in about 48hrs. we were glad to see him back to his normal miles' self! finally we got to go home!

they never diagnosed exactly where the bleeding was coming from. they said it could be an allergy to cows milk protein. they said i should eliminate obvious dairy items from my diet. i have since been mourning the loss of cheese. :(

the other more likely possibility is that his acid reflux was irritating the lining of his stomach and esophagus and causing bleeding. so they put him on two medicines for the next couple weeks...prevacid and pepcid.

so we have already got our first ER visit as parents under our belts. it didn't really hit me until i was driving home. when we got home i just wanted to sit and hold him and look at him. i'm glad he seems to be doing well, out of all the things they mentioned it could be, i think we got a pretty good deal. we were thankful for brooke and jfer and all the other friends and family that called us and that prayed for us. and we are certainly thankful to be home with our little man!

on a roll!

i wasn't sure i believed the doctor when he said miles might roll over any day. but sure enough, yesterday, at exactly 2 months old to the day, miles rolled from his tummy to his back!

he was taking a nap in his crib on his tummy. i had placed him laying across the short side of the crib and covered him with a light blanket. i then seized the opportunity to take a shower! i heard him start to fuss on the monitor, but i went ahead and finished my shower and got dressed before going in to get him. when i did, i sure was surprised! he had kicked the blanket off and turned himself to lay the long side of the crib....and was on his back! he didn't seem to thrilled about this as he much prefers his tummy. i was so proud. :)

i wanted to see him do it! i laid him on our bed and sat down next to him. he immediately flipped to his back, but i suspected my weight had assisted him, haha. so i put him in his pack n play and turned on the video camera. and took 8 minutes of video until our camera memory card was full. he fussed but did not roll over. o well.

lest you think this was a mere accident, you do need to know that miles repeated his new skill today. again he was laying on his tummy in his crib and taking a nap. when he woke up i didn't go get him immediately, hoping he would fall back asleep. but no. so i went to get him and again he had shed his blanket, turned himself 90 degrees to the left, and....flipped to his back.

i can't wait to catch him in the act! if i can catch it on video, i will certainly share it with you as well.

commenting

to my poor grannies and others who are having difficulty commenting:

i changed it a little bit. you can try again and select name/url. put your name like "sharon" or whatever you want and leave url blank. this should work for you. or you can choose anonymous. if i have to change it back because of spam comments, i will show you how to use one of the other profiles. hope this helps.

2 months!

dear miles,
today you are 2 months old...i can hardly believe it!

eat
you are turning into quite the fattie :0 yesterday at the doctor you weighed 10lbs 5oz. you still like to eat every 2-3hrs though every once in awhile you give me a 3 1/2hr break. i think 4hrs is your current record. you still spit up all the time, which is gross, but hopefully you will get over it soon.

sleep
you love to sleep. especially on your tummy. if we lay you on your back, you thrash around like an upside down turtle! but if we lay you down on your tummy, you scrunch your legs up so your booty is in the air and suck away on your pacifier until you fall asleep. for the 1st 2 weeks of this month we had slipped into the habit of you sleeping most of the night in our bed or with me holding you, because you no longer liked your bouncy chair for sleeping. this was not what we wanted, so we worked on getting you to sleep in your pack n play. it took a few nights of half and half, and i moved your pack n play right next to my side of the bed so i don't have to get up to help you out....but for the last 2 weeks you have been sleeping in your pack n play at night. during the day you mostly take naps in your crib, or you and i take a nap on the couch together. your sound machine is in your room so when i put you down for a nap, i usually turn it on to the ocean and this helps you fall asleep. sometimes i pat your back for a little bit, but mostly you put yourself to sleep all by yourself.

"schedule"
you generally wake up between 5-6am to eat, then are awake for an hour or two. i don't like to be awake at this time so mostly i just hold you and you bop around while i fade in and out of consciousness until time for you to eat again around 8am. we usually both fall back asleep on the couch until 10am or so and then we hang out until noon. sometimes you fall asleep...you are a very sleepy little man! sometimes in the afternoon you will take a 2-3hr nap and you almost always sleep from 7-10pm, but pretty much we just follow the same 2hr routine of eat, about 30min awake time, then you fall asleep until you are hungry again. after you eat around 10pm you usually stay awake for awhile, then we go to bed sometime around midnite, right after you eat. you sleep in your pack n play, waking up at 2 or 3, then up for the morning at 5 or 6. thats a lot of sleep! i wish it would come in longer stretches, but i know it will come with time. i love the faces you make when you are sleeping and stretching. you have started wiggling around while you are asleep, you sometimes turn 90 or 180 degrees!

skills
you really would like to be able to suck your thumb. you work really hard at in and when you are successful you seem so pleased, until you accidentally yank it out of your mouth. sometimes you end up with your pointer finger instead, but this seems just as tasty to you. you don't really root around as much as you did last month, but i can tell when you are hungry because you bop around saying "eh eh" and eat your fists, alternating each one and bopping your head around. its almost as cute as rooting! and all this shows you are gaining control of your hands.

you are starting to pay attention to things around you and follow them with your eyes. i especially like when i can tell you are looking at me.

and you smile! sometimes. its becoming more and more frequent every day. about 1-2 times a day now you will look at me and give a big ol' grin...love it! you almost always smile at your sailboat mobile when i turn it on while i am changing your diaper. you also like looking at the blinds, fans. and the decorations in your nursery! when your daddy carries you, you pull your head back and stare up at his face, it is too funny! i think you like the sound of his voice.

i am enjoying spending all day with you and just chilling out enjoying each other. this month on mondays we've gone to watch daddy play tennis, we've also met him for lunch a few times. we went to dallas to meet nana, delbert, and papa. your auntie jen came to visit and she babysat you. we also took you to see a movie. we went to the lake for july 4th. your grandma k, aunt rachel, and aunt bekah came to visit and help while your daddy was out of town and we went out to eat, shopped at target, and dressed you up as a cow to get free food from chick-fil-a! we've gone to the park several times, and you've watched daddy and me play tennis sometimes. you go with me to the grocery store...you still love riding around in your sling!

the doctor says you are very active ....doctors have been saying this about you even before you were born, sometimes it worries me a little bit! he also thinks you have great spinal control and may start rolling over any day now. watch out world!

"sick" dr visit

miles will be 2 months old tomorrow, but his 2month checkup isn't until next week. i did break down and take him to the doctor today. he was uncharacteristically fussy last week and this morning was more of the same. his nose seems stopped up, he is spitting up all the time, and he is screaaaaaming between feedings. the doctor believes he has some issues with reflux, but not to the point where he would like to give medicine. this is mostly because miles is gaining weight so well. he is 10lbs 5oz today! this brings him up from the 2nd percentile at birth, to the 19th percentile. the doctor did say it is ok for miles to sleep on his stomach since this helps him feel better. i have been doing this for a couple weeks but was feeling slightly guilty about it as it is not the currently recommended practice.

naturally while we were at the doctor, miles seemed happy as could be. no sign of fussiness or spit up anywhere. he did get some mild hiccups but thats about it. i told the doctor he must have cured miles! he said yes, that's what we do with our stethoscopes!

so i was sort of frustrated. i'm glad that miles does not need medicine and that he's gaining weight so well. but what to do with this unhappy baby!?!?! fortunately, miles gave me a break this afternoon. he fell asleep on the way home from the doctor around 4.30pm and has essentially been asleep ever since (its now midnite) waking only to eat and for about a 30min stretch at 10.30pm. does this mean he will be awake all night? here's hoping not! but i took a nap too just in case. also, only one little spit up episode in all this time...could he really be better?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?

cow appreciation day

ross was scheduled to leave town last monday for work, so i had planned to load up the dogs and miles and head up to my parents for a few days. everything was going great until someone ran into ross' car the night before we were both leaving. i canceled my trip, but my mom and sister rachel were nice enough to come spend the week with me to help out. my dad and jared drove over and dropped them off before heading home from the lake...thanks :)

this made for a super easy week for me. especially because bekah had planned a visit beginning on thursday. so by the end of the week i had 3 babysitters! i was able to get "lots" of sleep while they were here helping. miles chose this week to be his first ever fussy week, so i was especially grateful for the help.

we mostly just hung out with miles. we went out to lunch a couple times and made several shopping trips to target. our main excitement was cow appreciation day at chick-fil-a. thursday evening we made cow costumes so we could get free food from chick-fil-a. friday we went there and got free lunch! everyone thought miles was super cute and they asked if he could take his picture with the cow, which we did. it was so much fun we went to a different chick-fil-a for dinner :)

you should vote for miles in the chick-fil-a photo contest!

miles goes to the movie

on the afternoon of july 4th, jfer and i decided to go to the movies with miles. we went to see the proposal at the mall...i figure if you are watching a movie at the mall you are not expecting some high class experience and should not be too disappointed if your experience is interrupted by unruly teenagers or crying babies. we settled in on the 2 end seats of the very back row, armed with a burp rag, a pacifier, a bottle, and....slurpees! i put miles in his sling and except for a few grunts, he was quiet and asleep the entire movie, not even waking up to drink his bottle. it was a good experience, though i hate to get my confidence all up and then experience total disaster next time. so i am still wary of the movie going experience. i think miles enjoyed it except it was so LOUD and that we made him go see a chick flick as his first cinema experience.

4th of july

we spent the 4th of july weekend with my fam at lake lbj. jfer, miles, and i drove over friday morning and arrived just in time for lunch. we hung out while everyone enjoyed miles and watching wimbledon on tv. later that nite we had brisket for dinner and ross came over to join us. early saturday morning we took the boat out and some people went tubing and had a blast. miles didn't go on the boat because he didn't have a life jacket but i bet we will get him out there next time. saturday afternoon we drove home and that nite jfer babysat miles while ross and i played tennis with fireworks going on nearby.

a postpartum date!

my sister jfer was in town on wednesday night and volunteered to babysit miles if ross and i wanted to go out. she didn't have to ask us twice! we decided to go over to our neighborhood tennis courts and play tennis and then went to sonic. jfer did a great job watching miles and we were so glad to have time to hang out!

she also came to visit us this weekend. she came on thursday night and we hung out while she loved on miles. friday and saturday we went to lake lbj with the fam (more on that in another post) and then saturday night she offered to babysit again! we hit up the tennis courts at the high school. we each hit a few buckets of balls from the ball machine then played some tennis. hmm we could get used to this! :)

5 generations!

last weekend we braved a 3hr trip to the dfw area to introduce miles to his great-grandparents and his great-great-grandpa. i drove on the way up there and ross handled miles duty. we stopped once to change a diaper, but other than that we just drove straight through and made it to nana's just in time for lunch. shortly thereafter my papa and my parents showed up for a wonderful lunch nana made for us. we chatted and took pictures and ross and i made the most of the occasion by taking a much needed nap! we also made a trip after dinner to see my papa, mildred, and miles' great-great-great-aunt grace over at my papa's place. we spent the night, then hung out the next morning before heading home. ross drove and i handled miles duty and he again did awesome in the car. it was a great trip and we were so glad to get to go!