Day 94: Update

Dr. McDowell just called and said that Rylee's CT was all clear and it looks great! YAY!! Now we just go meet the neurologist next week and see where we go from there! Thank God and all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

Day 94: First Hospital Visit

Rylee slept wonderfully last night! 8:00-5:30 (with a 5 minute wake up around 11:30, I just patted her back til she fell back asleep)! At 5:30, I fed her and brought her back to our bed and cuddled. Around 7:30, I got up to get everything ready for our trip to The Children's Hospital at St. Francis for Rylee's CT Scan. She was in a great mood this morning, luckily.

When we got there we checked in and they brought us to the waiting room, where Rylee started to get fussy because she was hungry. I was told when I made the appointment that there wasn't any reason that she couldn't eat that morning, so Paul fed her a few ounces. I didn't want her to have too much because I was told she would be sedated, and food + anesthesia don't go together. Next thing I know this little old lady (the volunteer receptionist in the waiting room) was freaking out. For some reason Rylee's paperwork supposedly said she was there for an Endo, not a CT, even though when we checked in, the admissions lady pulled her paperwork from the CT file. If she was scheduled for an endo and eating then the endo would be cancelled, when I told them she was here for a CT they were confused, a nurse got involved and many phone calls were made. Then, her paperwork said no IV, and I had to tell them that she in fact was supposed to get an IV. I was really nervous at this point, they didn't have her test right and they didn't know she needed an IV?! Finally, they took my word for it, and we were brought back to get her IV.

She was smiling and laughing while the nurse tech took her vitals and all of her information, then the evil happened. One nurse held her legs and arms done, while talking to her and making her smile (at first), while the other nurse looked for a good vein. Turns out Rylee inherited my veins, small and hard to find, yay (not)! They finally decided on a vein they hoped would work and before they even started Rylee started screaming, she was tired of being pinned down (once again, like her momma). The nurse doing the IV was great and got it on the first try, but Rylee was not going to stop screaming, the nurse holding her down was impressed, ha! Finally, the nurse picked her up and she silenced almost immediately. I eventually got ahold of her and she fell asleep for a quick nap while we waited.

Finally, the CT tech came and got Rylee, and that's when I found out that I got to stay with her! I was so happy to not just hand her off to some stranger. He got her strapped down to the machine, and she was oddly not fighting it. She was actually smiling in the beginning. He got a few images while she stared at the stickers on the top of the machine, but that hype soon wore off, and you could tell the tech was uncomfortable with her crying (once again, this bothered me a little, didn't he work with children all day?!), and he asked me to go get her a bottle or a pacifier. Once I got her bottle, I fed her while he added the contrast liquid to her IV and during the rest of the test and she was perfect.

She did so well! I'm one proud mama! All in all it was a good visit, though the lack of knowledge and communication between the hospital workers kind of worries me, considering that's the hospital our pediatrician would send her to if anything extreme ever happens. I'm hoping it was just a paperwork error and that they are not normally that unorganized.

I'm anxious to get the results (will call the pediatrician this afternoon to see who should be giving them to me). We meet with the neurologist on Tuesday at 7am and he will do an all out physical and schedule the EEG to see if it could be seizures. I'm ready to find out if something is causing the tremors or if it's just something she will have to grow out of (hopefully, this one).

She and Paul are napping now, and it's so cute seeing them cuddle together.

Day 91: 3 months old (1 day late)

I wish she were this happy all day yesterday! But we kept her happy long enough to take some pics with her pickystickies!

Let's see Miss Rylee, you are now 3 months old! According to the doctor appointment today, you are 23-1/4" long (50th percentile) and 12lb8oz (66th percentile), so you've grown a quarter of inch and gained a pound in the last month! Your head is 15" (10th percentile) and the pediatrician is impressed with the growth since birth. You are getting soooo darn big! You are still in 0-3 month clothes, but the length is getting a bit tight, the width/waist is still big though. Not sure what I'm going to do when the length isn't feasible anymore, probably just let 3-6 month clothes swallow you, until you grow into them.

In the past week, you've rolled from belly to back several times, and never when a camera is around. You are trying to go back to belly when you see something you want. I can't believe you're already rolling! It's crazy how just a short time ago, you just laid there, and looked at the ceiling fan (which you still love).

Nannie has given you a new nickname: Polar Bear. It has stuck! It's due to the bi-polarness of your attitude most days. You can go from laughing to screaming in 2.5 seconds flat. Though most of the time you are a joy to be around now. You love talking to your daddy in the evenings and on the weekends, and I love to just sit and watch how much you love and enjoy him.

We are still getting over the cold, and currently you are napping in your swing, because laying in the crib isn't helping the congestion. You are sleeping GREAT in your crib, last night you slept 7:30pm to 5:00am, and then came back to bed with me and at 8:45am I woke up and you were still asleep. Your doctor appointment was at 9:30! Let's just say I was a bit frazzled. I woke you up at 9:10, to get ready to leave, luckily the doctor's office is only 5 minutes away.

We had an appointment today to check growth and the tremors you've been having in your legs. Even though they aren't as frequent, they have localized 95% to your right leg, and some are increasing in length, so Dr. McDowell wants to do a CT scan and EEG to make sure the tremors aren't being caused by seizures. The CT scan will be Thursday morning at 9:30, they will have to give you an IV and sedate you, and I'm scared to death. I don't have an appointment for the EEG yet, but hopefully it will be soon so we will know for sure what's going on. The pediatrician doesn't think it's anything serious since it's only affecting the lower extremities (not a whole side of the body) and seizures usually last at least 30 seconds. He just wants to make sure it's nothing big.

Enough of this negative, let's look at how big you've gotten!

Day 87: So Close

This is going to be really short... after a rough night last night, Rylee did something very exciting today.

Paul laid Rylee down for a nap and then came in the living room and said "She's going to roll over!" I was thinking he was crazy, so I followed him into her room and she had rolled from belly to her side, and as we stood there and watched she rolled side to back! She's so close to doing it in one motion, and had the side of the crib not been there she might have been able to without stopping. I'm so excited for tummy time now!

Day 86: First Cold

This has not been an enjoyable first, and it's all mom's fault. That cold I had last week, well it hit Rylee hard Saturday night (I thought her throat was sounding scratchy Friday night but thought I was crazy). However, we had a good first before the cold. Paul and I took Rylee to the zoo on Saturday inbetween the rain storms.

Outside the chimpanzee area

She lasted all of about 10 minutes before she fell asleep in the Ergo. I'm glad Paul decided to take the picture when we first got there, or we wouldn't have got one. So Paul and I enjoyed walking around the zoo, but was sad that the seal exhibit had been closed for remodeling, it's one of our favorites! Can't wait until next summer when it'll be open again and Rylee will actually enjoy running around the zoo. We timed our outing perfectly because as we were nearing the exit, the rain clouds started coming in and as we were putting Rylee in the car (who decided to wake up) it started to rain.

scary clouds

I will say that I got a lot of weird looks while walking around with Rylee in the ergo! Paul says it's because I put the head cover over her and/or because of her red hair. I think it was because here we were 2 adults with a sleeping almost-3 month old and no other children at the zoo. HAH! I was surprised to not see more babywearing mamas, especially since the week before at the mall I saw 2 or 3! There's no way Rylee would have stayed in the stroller that long!

That night, Paul had a guys night with Josh and Jeff so around 5pm he left and it was just Rylee and I. We did bedtime routine and then the house was quiet! I didn't know what to do with myself. Luckily, ABC Family had a Harry Potter marathon going, and I had a book to read. Unfortunately, Rylee woke up with a definite sore throat around 11:30, and would only go back to sleep in my arms, every time I laid her down, she was right back up. Rylee moves around a lot in her sleep, so co-sleeping without Paul there made me nervous, but I had to lay down too, since it was around 1am at this point and my arm was completely asleep. So I laid in the middle of our bed with the pillows piled around me and let her sleep on my chest, just like when she was a newborn. I awoke at 4am to a completely congested baby and a husband sleeping next to me (I was shocked I didn't hear him come in).

We took her to the bathroom and got the shower on hot to produce steam and let it open her up a bit. Paul stayed up with her and tried to get her back to sleep and eventually took her for a drive. I woke up around 7:30 and had a text saying they were sleeping in the garage! Apparently, she finally fell back to sleep and he didn't want to wake her by taking her out of the car, so they slept in the car together. On Sunday, Paul had a lot of homework and studying to do, so Rylee and I went over to my parents' for the day, and we all took turns dealing with a sick, unhappy baby.

She's finally starting to feel better, especially since I got the best invention! The Nosefrida! It's the most disturbing thing, but it works so much better than the bulb syringe aspirators! If you have a baby get one! No matter how disgusting you think it is, do it! I couldn't believe how easy it was and how much gunk it got out, especially since I had been using the bulb syringe a few times a day everyday since she was congested.

I'm ready for this first cold to be done, so that we can get back on track. It has completely messed up her night sleeping, so hopefully we can get back to where we were soon...

I can't believe my baby will be 3 months old on Sunday. Until then...

Day 80: One Sick Momma

So lately, Rylee has been pretty consistent with her sleeping: down between 6:45 and 7:15 depending on her mood, awake around 2am to eat, and then up for the day at 6am. So, when I awoke suddenly, feeling unusually refreshed, I was quite confused. I immediately grabbed my phone and saw that it was 4am. Hmm... odd. I turned the video portion of the monitor on and, to my motherly horror, see what looks like Rylee's face pressed into her bumper pads.

Sidenote: Rylee has been a tummy sleeper since 6 weeks old when I first put her in her crib. Before that, she was a side sleeper in bed with us. I like to break the rules :) When Rylee sleeps she scoots herself around her crib a lot, usually into the upper left hand corner, where she eventually wakes herself up because she can't go any further. Ok back to the story...

My first thought was "OMG she's suffocated herself against the bumper pads!" I sat and stared at the monitor for a good 2 minutes willing her to just move so I would know that she's alive. You might ask why didn't you just go to her room? To which I say, I was scared to see my baby dead. Yes, this was going through my head at 4am this morning. When she never moved, I went to her room and saw that there was about her hand's width between her face and the bumper pad, just enough room for her to suck on her fingers if need be. I felt better that she wasn't smashed into bumper pads. I then leaned over her crib and got my head as close as I could to hear her breathe, it took a few seconds but I heard it. I went back to my bedroom and continued to stare at the monitor, I refused to sleep until I saw her move. I didn't trust that I heard her breathe. After several minutes, my normally active sleeper still hadn't moved and I was starting to panic. Did I really hear her breathe?! Was it in my head?! So I went back to her room and did it again, this time she squirmed and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

I go back to my bedroom and stare at the monitor some more, just in case. At this point, she turns her head so that it is face down into the mattress!! What?! Is she trying to give me a heart attack since she let me sleep?! Paul kept saying he would go move her away from the bumper pads, but I knew this would completely wake her up, and then he would get ready for work and leave, and I would be stuck with a baby that woke up at 4am and who only takes 30-45 minute naps. I DON'T THINK SO! Finally, she turned her head back to the side, and I went back to sleep. She slept until 7am!! Had I not gone to bed feeling horrible and waking up feeling more horrible, I probably would have been pretty refreshed for the day.

Unfortunately, when I went to sleep my throat was feeling a bit scratchy. When I woke up, I had a full on sore throat, runny nose, the whole shebang! What does a sick stay-at-home mom do when she has a less than 3 month old that is used to cuddling and kisses all day?! Luckily, it was a pretty normal day for us. She would be awake for about an hour to an hour and a half, get cranky, sleep for a short amount time, rinse, and repeat. We I did have fun dressing her up in green and taking pictures for St. Patrick's Day! She did pretty well throughout the process and 2 wardrobe changes, and only got fussy for a few minutes, then Tess came to the room and cheered her up.

Paul got his stitches out today and was told that they got all of the cancer YAY! He goes back in 3 months just to make sure everything is healing properly, but it looks like we made it through this little ordeal pretty well. I found out he likes to tell people at work, that the cut is what he got for back talking me, and then he tells them the truth. They believe me cutting him over the whole cancer story! WHAT?! It's more likely that I cut my husband than him having cancer?! That's crazy, people are crazy.... funny, but crazy!

After Rylee's last nap, Paul and I decided to take Rylee outside and play for the first time. We've been on several walks, but she's always been pretty covered in the stroller. This time we brought out her activity mat, laid her on it, and just played for about 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun and I think she really enjoyed it. She kept looking up at the sky all confused, Paul and I are convinced that she was looking for a fan and couldn't understand why there wasn't one there! HAHA She loves her ceiling fans!

Now, Rylee is asleep and so is Paul and here I lay writing this blog. I still feel pretty crappy, and I can't breathe. My sinus pressure has gone away thanks to the Aleve Cold & Sinus, but other than that all symptoms still remain. I feel like my bedroom is the Sahara Desert right now, even though the A/C is on and everywhere else in the house feels pretty good. I hope I can fall asleep soon and that I wake up feeling better...

Oh and here's to hoping Rylee has another long sleep night, and that I don't have a panic attack :)

Day 77: I Have an Obsession

First a Paul update! He is doing great! He has a black eye (from the anesthetic, etc) and 9 stitches in his face and some slight swelling, but it's not looking too bad. He'll have the stitches removed on Thursday, which I think is pretty fast but I guess not. We'll just have to keep an eye on it and keep him covered in sunscreen. Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts during this time, it has meant a lot to us!

Rylee is doing great! Pretty sure she is going through her 3 month growth spurt. Normally she eats 23-27oz from midnight to midnight. Today she has had close to 35oz! And she's eating about ever 2 hours. She is also being very clingy. If I leave the room for more than 30 seconds, we have a complete meltdown on our hands.

I'm pretty sure she becomes more intrigued with her hands everyday. She absolutely loves to "stand." If she's starting to get fussy, I hold her in the standing position on the bed or my legs and she immediately starts smiling and cooing. It is the cutest thing ever! We do a lot of "sit ups," as well. She tries to do it herself, and as soon as we grab her hands she pulls herself up to the sitting position. She has started to turn her feet down once in the sitting position to stand herself up! She's growing so fast and getting so big!!

Now, my obsession... cloth diapers. Oh em gee! I love looking at them, shopping for them, and getting them in the mail! I'm up to 15 (not counting 4 of one brand I don't like, and 2 that don't fit her yet) and I have a few more on the way! They are so amazing, look adorable, and so easy to keep up and take care of. I don't know why people ever switched to disposable! I'm excited to get a clothesline so I can start sun drying them once I have enough in my stash! If you want to talk switching to cloth, just ask me! I researched it so much before Rylee was here and was scared to death about doing it, but I actually look forward to diaper laundry!!

I can't believe my little girl will be 3 months old here in a few days! It's gone by so fast!! I know all parents say that, but, really?! I love watching her learn something new everyday.

Day 72: It's Been Awhile...

So I haven't posted since last week. Oops! Rylee is finally starting to sleep again after her shots. It took about a week to get back into a groove at night, but we're doing good now. She goes to bed about an hour earlier than what we were doing, but it seem to be working well. She's been sleeping from 7pm-2am and then whenever I get her back to sleep (latest 3am) to about 7 or 8am. Now if only I could go to bed earlier then I would feel more rested. I feel like she has grown a lot developmentally in the past week. She is learning to reach out and hit things she wants to move and actually hits them, where previously she would accidentally hit them and get excited. She's starting to love her Sophie giraffe, and it's the cutest thing in the world to me right now. We are increasing her Zantac doses to 1.5mL 2x a day from 1mL since her spitting up and silent reflux is starting to get bad again.

Oh and she's starting to nap! Now the naps aren't very long but they are frequent. She has been sleeping about 45 minutes 4 or 5 times a day. She does usually have one day a week where she'll have a long 3-4 hour nap. I'm reading 'The No-Cry Nap Solution' in hopes it will help me lengthen her naps and get them to be consistent. As I type this, she's been napping for almost an hour!

Finally, her leg tremors have been decreasing! In fact, other than last night when she was really upset, I can't remember the last time I felt one. Thank you for your prayers :)

Now, I need to write about something that's not Rylee related.

Since, Paul and I got married back in June 2009, he's had (what we thought to be) a scar that was GROWING on his face. He always had this little scar from where one of his dogs bit him when he was younger, but after all the smiling for wedding pictures the scar busted open and bled and has been getting bigger ever since. Last Monday, Paul finally decided to get it checked out. He was sent to a dermatologist where they ran a biopsy on it, just to rule out cancer. I've been nervous since he told me they ran a biopsy, but no one expected it to be cancer. Paul went in for a follow-up on Monday and the news from the doctor knocked me to my knees.

It is a benign skin cancer cell, key word benign, scary word cancer. The doctor was shocked (she didn't expect it to be cancer at all!) and is worried because he's only 24 and shouldn't be worrying about skin cancer. On Friday, the doctor will be removing the whole portion of the "scar" from his face. I've cried and prayed a lot since Monday. I know it's benign, but now we have to be extra careful forever and the chances of this popping up elsewhere are going to be higher. The word cancer is such a scary one, and I hope and pray this will be our only experience with it.

He also has a root canal tomorrow and is now worried that his teeth problems could be caused by gum cancer. I hate that every time something weird happens we're going to think "Could it be cancer?" Paul's got a few rough days ahead of him, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

OK, I need to end this happier... pics of my cuddle bug!

Love Bumbo Time

She only wanted to be naked that morning! Love her fluff!

Napping with Sophie

She loves her Sophie!

I was dancing for her!

My old boss (Aunt Monica!) made this for Rylee! It's beautiful!

Day 66: Less Than 300

So, on thebump.com there is a little ticker that counts down to your baby's birthday. Um, it says 299!! WHAT?! I know that's still a long time but less than 300 days until she's one! Too fast, way too fast!

So, as most of you know or have read, Rylee is a bad napper and a pretty good night sleeper. Well yesterday and tonight/today, she was a horrible napper and a bad night sleeper.

It all started after a great night of sleep, she even went back to sleep after her 5:30am waking until 8am! This never happens, usually when she's up at 5:30 she's up for at least a couple of hours. At 10am, I had an eye appointment so my mom offered to watch her at work while I went and found out I've gotten even more blind (-750 and -650!!). When I got back she had just had about a 45 minute nap (not bad, for Rylee). I let my boss know that I wouldn't be returning from FMLA maternity leave, and then showed her off to my department as since went back and forth between napping and staring blankly on my chest. We didn't even hit the highway before she was asleep in the car, I needed gas so we went and saw Daddy at QuikTrip.

Here's where the problem began. When we got home around 1:15, I fed her and rocked her for her nap. Around 2, she started the "I don't want to take a nap" screaming. Around 2:20, she fell asleep for about 20min (more like Rylee) and woke up even crankier. Finally she slept from 4pm-5pm (still not enough for the day), and was once again cranky when she woke up. When Paul got home from work, we went on a nice walk around the neighborhood, and she was great. Staring at her toys and listening to all the sounds. When we got in the door, it was cranky time once again.

Finally, at 7pm, we started our normal bedtime routine. It started off great, but towards the end of bath time, the screaming started again, and lasted until she was fully dressed for bed and had a bottle in her mouth. She usually only gets upset after getting out of the tub, until I have her dressed. She ate, we rocked, and by 7:45 she was out.

Now, most of what has happened up to this point is pretty typical, this is where it differs. At 8:40, she's awake, what?! This never happens. Once I lay her down for bed time, she's usually out for 5-7 hours. So, I pick her up once the fussing got to crying, fed her a little more, and rocked her back down. At 10:30pm, Top Chef was over and I decided that she was down for the night, so light's out for mom (Paul's been asleep since 8:45). 1:30am comes around and she's awake for her normal middle of the night feeding, somehow Paul got to her first so I let him handle it. 35minutes goes by and she's still awake (not normal), so I go in there and it takes me another 40 to get her to sleep again. Since then, she's probably slept MAYBE 1.5 hours. Yes, it's 5am!!

So my normal night sleeping baby has been awake most of yesterday, and a lot of the night, other than that 6 hour stretch. So I've been awake most of the night, other than that 3 hour stretch. Paul has meetings today and will be at work until 8pm, so I think it's going to be a long day.

I just hope this was a rough night (and possibly still due to her shots from Monday) and not a sleep regression....