We moved!

If anyone is still out there, I moved my blog! Still blogger but we're no longer Newlyweds and this is no longer just our Newlywed Life, it's our life and our house and my little threesome family so we're moving to House of Sprout!

Come check me out..

http://ahouseofsprout.blogspot.com/

Ponderings of a new mother

Not only do I hate mornings...I suck at them.  My bad habit of being hopelessly unorganized is coming back to bite me!

No post is complete without a dose of cuteness! Ps I'm posting this from my phone so please forgive the pic if its crappy

New respect for mothers

Honestly I always thoughts moms complaining of constantly being tired and complaining about never having time to do anything were being a tad overdramatic but as I'm sitting here typing this post one-handed because my son has decided that naptime will not take place in his pack n play or crib but on my chest and I'm so tired that I'm considering living in my PJ's and having a coffee IV hooked up so I can keep my eyelids open,  to say I have a new respect for moms is an understatement.  So, if you're a mom, I salute you!

The Lil Italian has had quite an exciting 2 1/2months so far in his life.  He started on out in a NICU and we were really hoping that that was going to be the end of his medical drama...little did we know...ohhh, little did we know.

LIl Italian got to start Daycare when he was 8 weeks old and LOVED IT!  They did so much fun stuff with him and he seemed so happy there.  He was htere a week when we noticed he was a little off.  So, after sticking his thermometer under his arm because I'm not quite comfortable sticking that..um..up there.  But it was a 101.9 so off to the pediatrician we trucked on a Saturday morning.

Two hours later, LIl Italian and I were on a helicopter to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh!  He had had a spinal tap to check for meningitis and went into shock afterwards.  So, he was loaded on a gurney and off we went.  Swarmed by a huge team of nurses and doctors when we got there, they quickly treated him and got him stable but not before giving his mom and dad a mild heart attack. He stayed in Children's while being poked and prodded, scanned and searched.  We both may have been uncomfortable with people taking his temperature..up there..but a few days of having it done every four hours and he doesn't mind it quite so much anymore...which is to say he doesn't scream BLOOD MURDER when they checked it. 

All is well now, he's home..he's been pulled out of daycare for the next few months just until his immune system is alittle more matured.  In the end he was diagnosed with acute viral syndrome.  He's all recovered now and growing like a weed!!  This child is sooo full of drama!!  He's lucky he's cute. ;-)

So, no more day care for him...now he stays with Vinny's dad who is absolutely loving this time with him...it's actually more convenient..it's on my way to work and we're saving ALOT of money!  and I go there every day after work to find them sitting his a recliner chatting..it's really so cute! 

I love motherhood though....for every sleepless night, the next night I miss him horribly if he doesn't wake up..for every time he spits on my shirt, I miss when I don't to feed him because I'm at work...I love how he just looks around..you can see it in his eyes that he's learning something new every minute!  Seeing him smile is like an instant high! 

On another note, Christmas is coming way too quick..I don't have cookies made yet and I'm really really hoping I finished Christmas shopping by then!

Only a few more days!!!

Until the Lil Italian is home with us!  Since yesterday, we are both under hospital arrest...just kidding..but it does feel like it.  We're in a special room in the NICU for babies who are going home soon for a couple reasons.  One: since he's a nursing baby, they want to make sure he can nurse around the clock which he can and he does!  Two:  since he's been in NICU since he was born and we were robbed of that "bonding" rooming in, they want to make sure you have it.  And Three: since he is a nursing baby and not a formula baby, they have to closely monitor his weight in relation to his nursing...it takes alot of energy to nurse and they want to make sure he's not burning more than he's taking in.  So, he has his security bracelet on his ankle so he can't escape and we're on hospital arrest together.   This hospital  DOES have good food so that's a big plus!  And they have free Wi-Fi so I'm catching on my Netflix queue in between nursing sessions. 

His first day in clothes!  It was a big day!

Oh dear heavens, this kid really does sleep like me!!!  This pic explains so much about when he was still in my uterus! 

The kid loves his binky!!! 

So, in my last post, I said that i was going to talk about breastfeeding.  Let's talk boobies which is appropriate because it's breast cancer awareness month! 

When I was younger(we're talking early twenties) and thought about having babies I would have never considered breastfeeding.  Um, that would be a little weird to have some little "thing" sucking on my boobs.  But the older I got, the more mature I became and really wanted to try breastfeeding.  My sister in law breastfed all 5 of her kids and she was very open about discussing it and the more I talked to her the more I wanted to.  And then when we had our little boy, the hospital we delivered at were VERY VERY VERY pro nursing!  The doctors do anything they can do support you even if it means a longer hospital stay for your baby and all the nurses in the NICU are lactation specialists who are available to help you!  They're wonderful!  For preemies, breastmilk is like a SUPERFOOD! 

I have no idea what it's like if you have a term baby and dealing with milk coming in, I only know how it is for preemies.  But I thought I'd pass on some of my wisdom and maybe..maybe help someone else who has questions.


1.  when they say you only get a few drops for the first few days...that's LITERAL.  I thought maybe this was exxagerated and ended up in the nursery a sobbing mess(remember, I was dealing with hormones too) because I was worried about my baby.  But the lactation specialist assured me that you ONLY.GET. A. FEW. DROPS.  We had to pull up the colostrum with a tiny syringe a couple times and run it down to the nursey..that's how little we got. 

2.  Pump pump pump and pump!  Every 2 to 3 hours.  without fail.  don't get frustrated by No. 1 and be tempted to skip because you think you'll get more if you "store up", you need to pump and it'll come....it's like Field of  Dreams....."if you pump them, it will come! "  This sucks in the middle of night but you'll only hurt yourself if you miss a bunch of sessions.  I know this from experience...I forgot to set my alarm for one of my feedings and I woke up looking like Dolly Parton and feeling like my boobs had turned into cinder blocks!

3.  Speaking on pumping, don't run out to Target and buy some economy pump. You'll probably need a hospital grade pump...please don't look at the price tag of these, they're $1000 + depending on the brand.   If you have a preemie, there's a good chance, your insurance will pick up the tab on renting you a pump because Dr's have proven that preemies NEED mother's breastmilk.  The pumps you find at Target aren't going to be good enough to get that milk supply started.  Remember you weren't supposed to be making milk yet. 

4.  Don't turn up the sucking power too high..I learned this the hard way when it felt like I was trying to suck my intestines out through one of my nipples (and then I suddenly considering giving up drinking milk due to cruelty to milking cows)  and read in my breastfeeding book that you start on the lowest settting first...I'll be darned..I get more milk on a lower setting (and resumed drinking milk but okay, that's not half bad and makes me sleepy). 

5.  Don't get frustrated when the little darling preemie won't latch..like the other advice, remember, he or she isn't supposed to be here yet.  They're supposed to be relaxing quietly in your womb and getting all their nutrients from your umbilical cord.  So, you really need to be patient and they'll catch up. 


6.  For preemies, learn to love the nipple shield which really isn't as scary as I thought it was!  The Lil Italian just couldn't grab onto my nipples..which is sad because I thought I had good breastfeeding nipples but I guess not :-(.  But the nipple shield makes it a thousand times easier on them...but you may want to grab the smaller size..  Lil Italian was choking on the normal size. 


7.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  I would have given up in those first few days if it wasn't for the nurses here. They've been absolutely amazing and make me feel normal for all my weird questions. 


And here are a couple things that have helped me survive this breastfeeding. 

• My baby, first of all, it took him about a week to catch up but now he's a champion nurser!! 
• My Boppy, I don't always use it but in the middle of the night when I'm exhausted, it's really helping me out. 
• My nursing bras, I had no idea they reallywould be as handy as they are! 
• The nipple shield for the above reasons. 
• My hospital provided me with a Medela Initiation Kit which has all the supplies for all Medela pumps except for hte freestyle so it's compatible with any hospital grade and most economy pumps made by Medela!  Ask your hospital about it.  If they don't have one, look it up online to see if you can grab one. 

• Hot washcloths...these are awesome for letting your milk come down.  I don't really know what this means...but my milk comes in so I'm assuming I'm just missing it..But I do know the washcloths make them feel better
• Milk storage bags.  I have the Lansinoh(sp?) and I love them because they have exactly the information that the nursery needs labeled. 
• And a husband who is willing to wake up with you at 3am so you have someone to talk to and is willing to take your milk downstairs and let you go back to sleep.  Seriously, having Vinny be so supportive has been WONDERFUL! 

Wow, why is it that all my posts lately are so long and probably boring to everyone else but me :-)

So, what's going on with everyone else?

Csections and what I learned through my pregnancy

I don't know exactly why but I was dead-set on having a vaginal birth.  For some reason, I thought it was like a right of passage..earning my stripes of motherhood by going through it all.   By feeling every push and every contraction.  But when the doctor told me they needed to get my baby out, I didn't care about any of it.  I cared about him and I guess that's what earning your stripes of mother hood are.  Caring about your baby more than you care about yourself or some crazy notion of what motherhood meant. 

The Csection really wasn't bad at all.  My anesthesiologist was great but he's not the one who did my spinal.  A student did only I didn't know this was gonna happen until a needle was in my back and the anesthesiologist was showing him where to put it...try relaxing and breathing through that!!   But the nurses were amazing which is another thing.  Talk about caring..I was hugged and comforted more times in that 15 minutes by strangers than I have ever been and for someone who has a bubble and doesn't like strangers really getting too close, it was exactly what I needed.  But student or not, he did a great job...at least I assume he did because about 2 minutes later, I was numb from about the rib cage down.

So, my doctor came in and said we were gonna start and I looked around and no Vinny!!!   The doctor said he was pinching me really hard but I couldn't feel it so good to go!  Still no Vinny!!!  Then the doctor asked where he was and they realized they forgot to get him!  Then I see him being thrown through the door. 

**Now this part was told to me from Vinny**  He was waiting in the room like the obedient husband/father than he is.  They told him they'd be in in about 5 minutes to get him ready.  So, when ten minutes had passed and no one got him, he poked his head out of the room just in time to hear a nurse say "Oh my God, I forgot to grab the dad!" so he sprinted down the hall to a nurse that was laughing and holding up a gown for him and then whipped him around and tied it and pushed him into the room where his wife was already getting cut. 

It's the weirdest thing, I could feel them pushing around and yanking me around but no pain at all.  Then I feel them pushing down on my stomach and everyone yells "Happy Birthday!" and my baby is shown to me over the curtain that they've put up so I can't see the beautiful disgusting bloody mess that I'm sure they've created on the other side.  He looked soooo tiny and wasn't really doing much.  The nurses yell and tell us he's doing good and just staring up at them.  Then we hear him cry and that was the moment that my world flipped upside at least 15 times.   His nurse told us that his APGAR was a 9 which was music to my ears!!!  They handed him to Vinny for a few second and then took him to RICN since he was so early.

The pain the next day was pretty bad and I needed the pain meds around the clock but by the next day...I was extremely aware of the BIG side effect of pain meds which is that they prevent other things from happening if you know what I mean, so bye bye pain meds...I wasn't gonna take those suckers unless it felt like my stomach was being ripped in half!  I like to be an optimal pooper ;-)  But I also really didn't need them as much. 

No staples though!  YAY!  They used sutures and glue and steristrips..they say this helps the scar.  And I know from my experience working in OB that the staples always seemed to come loose or get twisted which caused so many problems taking them out so I was perfectly content to not have them.

And that was my csection story and the Lil Italian's entrance into the world.

wow, this post ended up being WAY  longer than I planned.  So, what I have learned through this pregnancy..

1.  I didn't know I could love someone that much...first my husband...I loved him of course..I married  him and was thrilled to have his child. But when I waiting in the OR for him to come in, I NEEDED him.  And watching him hold our son hits me straight in the heart every time!  I L.O.V.E. that man.   And the next part is the obvious..the Lil Italian..that little boy completely owns me.  I hold him and I can't imagine my world without him.  When I leave him every day, I physically miss him.  It's a pain like nothing else I've experienced.  I know he's in great hands but if it were up to me, I'd be perfectly content living in the uncomfortable recliner they have in his room.  I can't wait until he's home.

2.  I loved being pregnant.  Granted, I knowpeople say the last few weeks are the hardest and I got to miss that but I still loved being pregnant.   Even when I was in my first trimester and throwing up all my internal organs, I loved being pregnant. 

3.  Family family family.  Everyone likes to think they can count on their family but when sometimes comes up, are you sure you can?  I know I can!  The Lil Italian is in a hospital that's an hour away and every day my family (both mine and Vince's) call me every day to ask if they can give me a ride, to check on me, to check on him, and to see if there is anything they can do and they mean it.  That's family and you need them.

Hm..I thought that was list was gonna be longer...But I guess I hit the most important parts. 

Next up...breastfeeding!!!  Today I talked about poop...why not talk about boobs tomorrow?!

Do I have a surprise for you!

Meet the Lil Italian! Born five weeks three days early in a highly dramatic fashion! Just like Momma!

He's doing absolutely wonderful, he's just itty bitty and needs to put on some weight.  We're so so so so so lucky! 

Wednesday morning I was scheduled for another screen so I went with my mother in law.  My mom wanted to come but I wasn't concerned so I told her to go to work with no worries.  I had my appointment and was thrilled to hear that my dopplers were okay so we would just check them in a week.  Then as my doctor walked out the door, he reminded the tech that he wanted another growth check just to make sure our baby was growing as he should.   The tech started and I could see that he had barely grown at all.  So, she called the doctor back in and he redid all the measurements.  He informed me that our baby had barely grown since the last check.  His vitals were great and since I got my steriod shot the week before I would be delivering our baby that day.  Boy, was I glad I thought to bring my hospital bag at the last minute.  I asked to make sure that Vince could get there in time and the doctor said we'd be monitoring the baby so he would wait unless something showed up which he wasn't concerned about because the baby was doing great to this point.  And I called my mom. 

I really wanted to try to a vaginal birth.  So, he checked me and the baby was head down so he ordered a contraction stress test to see how he would handle the stress of labor.  About 1 1/2 hours into it and he was doing great until they upped the dosage and the very first big contraction, the babe was NOT a fan and his heart rate dropped down pretty far so the stress test was stopped and we were just going to wait until there was an opening in the OR and since it wasn't an emergency it could be hours.

My mom got there and Vince got there in record time(I still don't want to know how fast he drove)

Seriously and literally five minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in and said that there was an opening now so I'd be having the baby in the next 20 minutes.   So, about 20 minutes later, our little son was born into the world SCREAMING!  And the problem was discovered.  There was a kink in the cord just like a garden hose and eventually it would have kinked permanently and had a much uglier outcome.  But the doctor said he has no idea and we'll never know why it kinked and wasn't able to come undone like it normally does and how early in the pregnancy it happened.  But he did say it was very rare and didn't expect it to affect any other pregnancies. 

So, the Lil Italian was taken down to NICU(well they call it RICN (Regional Intensive Care Nursery) because of his size and gestation.  He never needed oxygen, his lung were mature.  His vitals are perfect.  His weight was 3lb 8oz. His nurse said the only rare thing about him is that he didn't cry hardly at all (this has changed and when he's not happy, HE IS NOT HAPPY!).  Within 12 hours, he was upgraded to the next unit which is a great thing!  YAY! 

He does need phototherapy for his bilirubin but this is expected and he chills out in his tanning spa which we both hate but understand that he does need it.  When we get to do kangaroo care, he's at his happiest.  But we can only do it for a limited time right now because he needs to stay under the phototherapy. 

But I'm doing great( not that anyone cares about the mom anymore now that there's an adorable baby to go gaga over..I know I'm one of those people who just go nuts over him, hehe!)  I really did want a vaginal birth but honestly the csection wasn't bad at all..but that's all for another post)! 

A little late on updates but I have a good excuse!

Hi!  It's been a crazy last week or so! 

I'm 34 weeks!  woohoo!!  Only 6 weeks to go according to all the books and everything but it feels like Baby Boy is doing everything he can to try to come early!  Like scaring the crap out of his parents and his family..oh he really is my child..everything is high drama! 

I had an appointment in Friday to check on the umbilical flow and it appeared that everything was not only what it was before when he was worried but now worse.  So, I was promptly taken over to Labor and Delivery and hooked up to a nonstress test again.  I passed again with flying colors which according to my doctor didn't quite make sense so he was worried that something was happening in all the time that I wasn't hooked up to a machine so he admitted me to hospital and I was started on steriods for his lungs and I was told that I'd most likely be delivering in about 48 hours.  Thank heavens again that I packed my hospital bag. 

Baby Boy was doing great on his monitor all night!

So, with my husband on call and out on calls, my in laws all away for the weekend, I was admitted to a hospital that's an hour away from my hometown.  My mom stayed with me till about 10 pm Friday night when Vinny was able to get there.  My room was pretty sweet if I do say so myself, it was huge with a big bed in the corner for Vinny to sleep in. The hospital I stayed in doesn't have set times for meals or anything, you just order room service off of their huge menu and it's brought up to you and I have to say, the food I had was pretty yummy! 

What I thought was possibly my last belly pic, 34weeks exactly

I stayed on the monitor all night and Baby Boy did great, never even a hint of decreased heart rate or movement.  My doctor came in the next day and repeated the scan and the flow was back to better and not only better but normal which confused him so he traced the entire length of my umblical cord(at least where he could)and saw that it was normal in some areas but there were areas that it showed reverse flow and some places that it showed absent flow.  His best guess was that the umbilical cord is getting pinched under an arm or around something and when Baby Boy moves or flexes, it gets pinched more and cuts off the flow(at least this is how I understood it).  So, since he did great all night.  NO baby delivery for us this weekend!  I just needed to get my second shot of steriods for his lungs(in case something would come up and I would need to delivery him, his lungs would be all set!) and I could go home! 

Not this time!  I get to go home!!

So, I'm 34 weeks and at least for another week, Baby Boy is still safe and sound inside!

I'm doing the survey a little different now because alot of those questions don't really apply anymore, ya know!

Total Weight Gain: 10lbs even right now!  I've been told to keep on packing on the pounds! 

Weight of Baby:  When I was 32w2d, Baby Boy was 3lb4oz(which is very small), when I was checked on Friday(33w6d), he was 3lb12oz so he's gaining.  Our Goal is 5lbs because normally at 5lbs, they can come home if they're born!  Grow Baby Grow!

Any Signs of Labor:  Nope, not a one.  When they hook ya up for an NST, you also get hooked up a monitor for contractions and no contractions have showed up! 
Breathing:  Baby Boy was breathing beautiful on his biophysical profile on Friday so that's a great great sign and he got his two shots of steriods so his lung function should be wonderful when he's actually born! 
Stretch Marks:  None on the stomach yet. 
Swelling: Nope.  But I have been really realy careful about making sure I'm getting at least 2 1/2 liters of water a day so that might be helping too! 
Nursery done yet:  HAHAHA!!  WE have a crib all set up.  And the changing table gets delivered tomorrow..according to Amazon, that is! And we're going out today and grab a couple things but that's realy it so far..I know, I know, I need to get cracking! 

33w5d

Oh this boy is going to cost me alot of money...in hair dye to cover up all this gray he's gonna give me!!!