TansEmpire

February & March 08

March 30th, 2008

Mackenzie - Here is a summary of her growth & development over the past 2 months

• I cannot start anywhere but with poor Andrew and his first vomit when changing a diaper in early February. He was afraid that with his bad gag reflex this may be an issue but to date all was well. Until one particular diaper change which wasn’t anything unusual but for him something wasn’t right and he had to make a run to the kitchen to throw up! I was laughing so hard I forgot to go and rescue Mackenzie who was left on the change table with a crappy diaper. So funny!
• Mackenzie had her 2 month check up on February 11^th which included some immunizations. Her weight was 11 pounds 7 ounces which is in the 75^th percentile and her height was 23.5 inches which is in the 90^th percentile. Basically she is growing well, the formula is servicing all her needs and she is happy!
• In early February, she developed a weeping and swollen left eye followed by some vomiting late at night so after speaking to the on call doctor it was suggested that due to her age and the vomiting that she needed to be seen at the hospital that night. So our poor little girl experienced her first emergency room visit. The doctor said she had pink eye (conjunctivitis) but it was the vomiting that was more concerning. So we were asked to stay for several hours, feeding her Pedialyte in small increments until they were okay with her to go home. She required the Pedialyte for 3 days and she wasn’t happy as she wanted “real” food. The eye wasn’t really getting better, so she was reviewed in March and given a stronger cream and is better now. Her weight in the ER had grown to 14 pounds 12 ounces but she lost nearly half a pound whilst unwell.
• Due to her weight and length she has now outgrown her bassinet which means I can no longer put her down for her naps in the lounge room near me, she must now take all of her naps in the nursery. When it begins to get dark I put the light on so she can distinguish between night and day. She has now progressed to sleeping around 11 -12 hours at night which is pure bliss for us. We put her down after her last feed at around 10pm or so and don’t hear from her until anywhere from 9am onwards. However this doesn’t work on the days when I need the car and Andrew is working. On those days, Mackenzie has to have her first feed before we set out (I stay in my pajamas - who cares?) so I am experimenting with an earlier bedtime of 9pm onwards.
• She has begun to discover her fingers and hands but not yet her thumb by itself to suck. She isn’t into dummies / pacifiers as yet and maybe never will. Poor Andrew gets confused now as he used to take the hand sucking sign as a signal for feeding time but now that she does it for pleasure and interest he always thinks she’s hungry! (AJV: She takes after me, so she is hungry!)
• As Mackenzie loves her baths with me we decided to take her to a pool so that we could determine whether we should start her in swimming lessons now or wait until the traditional age of 6 months. We had to get her own membership card and photo which is quite hilarious as she will only look like that photo for a month or two. Anyway despite the wading pool being very busy, she took it all in her stride and loved it. She was so busy looking around at everything that was going on (she is quite a sticky beak) and wasn’t concerned with the splashing of water around her. So we will enroll her in classes beginning in May and hope she does well and enjoys herself.
• In February she began to stare at items and try to grasp them with no success, but now in March she is able to grab that item and bring it to her and put in her mouth which is where everything ends up!
• All babies spit up to a degree, obviously some more so with colic and reflux problems. Mackenzie doesn’t have any concerns, partly due to the formula she is on which contains rice cereal (hence the quick weight gain compared to babies who don’t experience rice cereal until they eat solids) to prevent spit ups, so to have 2 severe vomits during the month was quite a shock as we don’t expect it. The first one got into all of my medications so I had to get refills and the other went all over me and her the morning before her first swim. In general she has daily minor spit ups but these were major vomits, just awful.
• Her first laugh was on March 13^th and I was in heaven. I was home alone after a day of not feeling great after a busy day out (I still have to take things easy as my back is a constant source of pain and I still suffer arthritis related exhaustion) this was just what I needed. Thankfully Andrew heard the 2^nd time before he went away for a business trip. It’s just priceless when these milestones occur as all mums and dads will attest.
• Our main concern regarding our precious daughter at the moment is that one night the alarm on her sleep sensor monitor went off. Basically for those without children, it is a monitor which not only allows you to hear the child but also detects lack of movement in the crib after 15 seconds and then sounds an alarm. This is a great weapon against SIDS and one I put first onto my to buy list. Anyway, it went off so we both raced into the room and shook her awake. This was an enormous fright to us and we were on the door step of the doctor’s office first thing that morning and without an appointment we were thankfully seen. They initially suggested she may be congested after giving her a full checkup to ensure there was no chest or lung concerns etc and that we elevate the bed slightly and clear her nasal passages before sleep. So this we did but to no avail, it kept going off and some nights it occurred several times. It’s really hard to say how many of these times she actually wasn’t breathing versus deep sleep as we just shake her instantly as we are scared; it’s very hard to take those few seconds to assess the problem when you are standing there over her crib.
  So I spoke to the doctor again and he commented that at this age babies have a tendency to sleep very deeply and if the sensitivity of the monitor is too low it won’t be able to distinguish between that and no breathing. So we played around with the monitor (by this time sleep was impossible) and we think we have a happy medium. Whilst Andrew was away this last week (will comment on in April blog entry) I had one night where it went off 6 times, 3 times she had woken herself up by the time I got there, once she wasn’t breathing so I shook her wake, others were deep sleep.
  So where are we now? The monitor no longer detects the deep sleep scenario which is great but that means when the alarm sounds she isn’t breathing and this has still happened several times. It is hard to describe how we feel about this and the subsequent sleep deprivation and fear. My sister Amanda had the same experience with her first boy Jarrod and it latest for around 3 weeks and then ceased. We are hoping (and I am praying) that will happen for us also.

Howard County New Moms Support Group

In February one of our weekly meetings was at the local library to show us all the resources that are available to us. The library world has sure changed since I was young. This library allows food and drink, plus talking and noise of all things. Their children’s area is fabulous and they even loan out toys which have been cleaned between each use. Seeing as we aren’t here permanently this will be a great place for me to utilize for Mackenzie for books, DVD’s, toys and more. The library also has regular story times for specific age groups in an enclosed room so that kids can sprawl out everywhere. All in all it’s a great place and as it’s only a 20 minute walk from our apartment, it’s a place we will be visiting regularly as the weather improves.

Our final meeting arrived but as a group we decided that we all needed the support and friendship this group was providing so we are continuing to meet on our own. Now that we are continuing the meeting we needed some organization, so I nominated myself to be the organizer for the group, arranging outings and scheduling the calendar and so on. A lot of our meetings are here in our apartment which is fine whilst the little ones aren’t on the move, plus we ensure we alternate weeks with events out of the house. Half of the moms have returned to work so we are also planning weekend events so we can still keep in touch and some events will involve the partners also.

Internet Mom’s Group

We attended an infant’s playgroup during March organized by the Internet Mom’s Group I am also a member of. Previously this group focused on events for toddlers and upwards but now many members are having second children and are looking for events for their infants now that the older ones are at school or preschool.

Although Mackenzie was the youngest one there we had a good time. This event unfortunately is in the afternoon on the same day as my Support Group Mom’s so I don’t get to attend all of them.

The only downside to being a member of this group is that most of the members are based in southern Maryland around 30-50 minutes away as the woman who started the group lives in Silver Spring, 35 minutes from us towards DC and VA so many moms and events are that way not towards the north and Baltimore which makes attending regular events quite difficult.

Malvern, PA

We spent 2 weeks back in Malvern PA, the same place where I spent a lot of my pregnancy, stuck in the hotel room vomiting. This time instead we were stuck in the hotel room for different reasons. The first week Mackenzie was recovering from her pink eye and vomiting so we needed to stick close due to cold weather and getting her back into a routine. The second week I developed tonsillitis so I wasn’t well enough to do anything.

 The weekend in between we came home as Monday was a holiday. Since we also had a hire car (Andrew had driven up the day before me as Mackenzie & I had her 2 months appointment on the Monday) meant I had to drive home whilst sick with tonsillitis. So I followed Andrew the whole time and we took a lot longer than we normally would, even with having to stop for Mackenzie.

Mackenzie travelled well and adapted to sleeping in the port a cot in the hotel rooms lounge room. She was also a good traveler in the car which was great, giving us no problems so long as we stopped when feeds were due.

Whilst away, it was Valentine’s Day which was also my Mum’s 60^th. We had plans to have a nice romantic night out (with bubs in tow) but with the tonsillitis I couldn’t eat anyway so we stayed in and got takeout, not very romantic but practical. We were also unable to go to Marrakesh (our favorite restaurant ever, talked about in previous blog entries) this visit due to snow as the roads into Philadelphia are awful at the best of times, but in snow it would have been a nightmare. Next time maybe!

Other items of interest these past two months are the decision to get our groceries delivered. This saves our time on the weekend or me trying to with and infant. It is very cheap and convenient, with all items placed in the kitchen for you to unpack. I love it. I was also very happy to discover that our local supermarket has begun to stock custard and Ribena in the upgraded international aisle. The custard however is in a tin, but beggars can’t be choosers!

Lastly, Easter came and went for us as it’s not celebrated here as a national holiday despite the country being predominately a Christian Nation so Andrew worked. So it didn’t really feel like Easter at all. I miss the Good Friday appeal in Victoria and having family meals on the Sunday or Monday, plus the footy games. Although I am watching our international channel and seeing many of the games which is great.

So, once again a long entry, my apologies. I will try and make sure I post April’s as soon as the month ends as I find it hard to remember 2 months worth of stuff. We have more photos & videos of Mackenzie but as at the time of posting this they aren’t on the Internet. They should be up next weekend so you can click on the links at the right side of this page under the heading of Links for the photos and videos.

Entry Filed under: January 07