Where has the last month gone?

Look who's a whole month old today!!

And how did we celebrate? We went to Colonial Williamsburg- and picked up Nana for the week! YAY!! That's right, my mom is back for a visit and is already saving the day.

And guess who else came to visit Cheyanne for her one month birthday. Betty White! That's right.. weeeeeell sortof. She was in Colonial W'burg, and we saw her. But I know if she had known Cheyanne was there, she would have been celebrating with us.

Sound the alarms, or three

Two nights down with our screeching sleep machine and we are doing better. First night was r.o.u.g.h. It went off three times throughout the night. twice because the connectors came unattached from her sides. The other time said she wasn't breathing, but I grabbed her out of panic from the alarm before I looked at it and she seemed to be breathing fine so I think it was a false alarm. But, you want to talk about a beyond scary adrenaline pumping feeling?! Sheesh! Took me half the night just to calm down. She has always slept right at my side in her sleeper on the floor so I get to her really quickly when it alarms, which also lays right next to my head on the floor. But last night, we had a great night. No alarms!! She slept wonderfully. Woke up twice to nurse and went right back to sleep each time. That helped us all sleep a little easier.

The doctor has her on a prescription of zantac twice a day, first in the morning 15 minutes before her first nursing and last at night 15 minutes before her night feeding. Silly doctor, though, as if their is a first and last nursing for this hungry girl. We're back to every 2 hours now. She had a few days of needing to nurse every hour and a half...wore me out! But, she seems back to every 2-3 hours which is much easier on me. But oh my have you ever tried to give medicine (which tastes like peppermint and she HATES it) to a hungry baby and then have to WAIT 15 minutes to feed her?? Yeah, that does not go well. Not so patient this one... I don't have a clue where she gets that from. Hmm, so anyways... back to the medicine. It seems to maybe be helping her reflux. There has not been much of that choking happening the last day since she has been on it, thank goodness. Lets never go back to that place Peapod. We are a stricter plan with her now to help alleviate the reflux as much as possible. After every feeding, she has to be completely upright for at least 20 minutes. She is no longer in her bassinet with the wedge at night either. She is sleeping in her carrier for now on to keep her at a 45 degree angle. She doesn't seem to mind the change at all. I hope that doesn't change because we will have run out of options if it does, except for her to start sleeping on her momma nightly which doesn't give either of us the best sleep. We've tried... although we both sure do love to snuggle at night.

Here she is today. My silly little monkey girl. The theme was unplanned. She was being too cute so you know I took about 100 pictures of just her and her silly faces. Up next for us today, our daily dance party. Have a great weekend everyone!

No false alarms!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement on the last post. I really appreciated reading all of them on the blog and on facebook. Its encouraging to hear about some of your different stories of experience with this. Quick update on today's doctor appointment for little one while Hubs has her in the "steam room" aka the bathroom with the shower on.

We went to the pediatrician and had xrays done of her chest. Imagine, baby who already doesn't like to be layed down especially not on her back laid down on a cold xray table and held there for a few minutes to have pictures taken. Hmm yeah that was not fun listening to the screaming. Thank goodness Hubs is stronger than I am against the cries. Break my heart. Xrays came back and everything looked clear there. The doctor says that she has acid reflux or GERD based on her symptoms and last night's chokefest. He wants her on an Apnea Monitor anytime she is sleeping for at least the next 6 months. Because during her choking last night she also quit breathing a few times, I think its a very good idea and will help us all sleep a little better. Basically, the apnea monitor is little electrodes that go on her chest to monitor her breathing and heart rate. It will sound this crazy loud alarm if she stops breathing again to alert us or if her heart rate jumps or drops. So scary! Tonight is the first night we'll be using it. I'm hoping for no false alarms because most everything I've read or heard on this monitor is that false alarms is common. I'm not looking forward to that adrenaline rush in the middle of the night. Of course, I'd much rather it go off as a false alarm. Bleh, enough of that! Anyways, the pediatrician also put her on a prescription of zantac twice a day. He expects her to grow out of this by a year, I'm praying for much sooner. I hate when my baby is not feeling good. Anyways, thanks again for all your words of encouragement and pray us through a calm night tonight.

See our new daily equipment? Fun.

Somebody please

tell me why at 5 o'clock in the morning, my beautiful but crying 3week old daughter only calms down when i hold her tight and do squats? My thighs are now burning! And there is no cheating this girl. She knows! She could be solidly asleep but the minute I stop, she wakes up? Where did this come from? I've tried swinging. I've tried her usual bouncing. I've tried rocking. I've tried a mixture of all three and pretty much everything else physically possible. nope. Nothing works. Man my thighs are going to look killer if we keep this up. All kidding aside, I'd stay in that squatting position every day for the rest of my life if it meant Cheyanne wouldn't be feeling like this ever again.

Its not been a good day for us here in This Wood House. Peapod is battling some tummy, congestion, and reflux issues. Has been for a couple days. But today it has escalated to a whole new level. What we thought yesterday might be a insatiable baby in the middle of a growth spurt seems to definitely be more of a refluxy baby with choking tendencies. I spoke to her pediatrician and we have an appointment in the AM for him to take a look at her. And let me tell you, a fussy baby is not fun. But more than that, a fussy baby that seems to be in pain and can't breathe has spun me to a whole new level of scared and stressed. Seeing any baby in this much discomfort is the pits, but seeing my baby like this is hell. She can't tell me whats wrong so here we are playing doctor and watching her closely to figure out anything that would make her feel better.

My night/morning thus far for recording purposes:
Crying baby? Check.
Spit up covering outfit (mine and hers)? Check.
Spit up covering outfit change number two? Check.
Our first explosive poop while consoling a coughing/choking baby? Check.
Said explosive poop covering the bassinet? Check
Niagra falls like urination while consoling a coughing/choking baby? Check.
Surprise spit up covered couch pillows (two)? Check.
After late night phone call with the pediatrician on call, discuss with husband if we should be heading to children's hospital emergency room? Check (not yet necessary and hopefully never will be).
Unfastened diaper eruption all over everything in 6 inch radius including third pair of pajama pants? Check.
Sweet nuzzle into my neck attempting to calm down and just as I lean in for the kiss, a burp more appropriate for a forty year old man is let out followed by lovely spit up on face? Check.
One hour of sleep while husband took over and sat in the steamed bathroom with baby to help ease her breathing? Check. And thank you.

So that's been my night thus far. My poor baby! I can't think of anything worse than to see her so uncomfortable and not know how to fix it. Our doctor's appointment in four hours can't come fast enough.

my sweet baby trying not to choke anymore

herz so pitiful

at least its not the picture of the bassinet...

_____________________

I just noticed that this is my 100th post. Crazy. I had hoped to do some special post for my 100th. Too bad. Maybe for my 200th instead.

Weekend Wadventures

The W is silent. Here are some pictures to show you of our "Wadventures"
__________________________________

Cheyanne met her giant great grandparents, great aunt, and great cousins in NC. She could not have been more perfect all day.

We practiced her surprised winner look for the Miss Baby Universe competition.

(Ok this one was just too funny not to include it)

We took our first nature walk. She's quite the outdoorsy girl my little Native American baby.

(She stayed awake for all of three minutes...).

And to round out our fun, Cheyanne had her first public outing going to see her daddy coach his football team at their big game. He did great. His middle schoolers, not so much. Grandma came too to help me not freak out so much with so many germy people around. Eeek germs!

It was entirely too loud, so she stayed like this for most of the time. She didn't mind. I don't think she even noticed, from being so interested in everything else but her earmuffs.

What to do?

What do you do when you have a screaming baby who's not hungry, not wet, not hurt, and not able to convey what is actually bothering her besides the serious lack of afternoon napping? You sing. Or at times when you don't know the words, you make up words and insert humming when you're sleep deprived brain can't catch up. And what songs do you sing? Well lullabies of course. "Hush little baby don't say a word. Momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird won't sing. Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring don't shine. Momma's gonna buy you a hum hum hum..." Something like that. And what do you do when you run out of sweet lullabies to sing or make up or hum? You sing Christmas carols. "O Holy Night. The stars are brightly shining. Hum hum hum hum hum hum hum hum hum hum."

Yeah I really need to do some serious lullaby googling. Fast. Any suggestions?

the many faces

This is what I've been staring at all day. Does it get cuter?

Date night

Here it is 10:30 at night, I am sitting on the couch in the dark with my husband fast asleep beside me, my baby is in her moses basket next to him on the couch starting to stir in her sleep, Monday night football is on (not being watched), and its my second anniversary. I am finally able to steal a few minutes to myself and sit down to write this post. Whoever said that staying home with a baby is easy is crazy. What did I do today? I actually don't have a clue, but whatever I did, it sure went by fast.

I did make my husband a special anniversary dinner. Breakfast for dinner. Most importantly, french toast with real french bread,. His favorite. That meal was purely for him because I am NOT a fan of breakfast foods, especially not for dinner, my favorite meal of the day. However, to toot my own horn, my french toast was pretty dang good. My scrambled eggs weren't too bad either. Ignore the red solo cups. I skip fancy on a regular basis.



We had our night of fancy a few nights ago. I nervously (sorry babysitters) let the grandparents (both mine and his parents) babysit so we could go out for a real anniversary dinner. It was a nice hour and a half out with Hubs. I was a nervous wreck. It felt so unnatural to be without her. I still feel a little bad about being away from her but the grandparents all had fun and enjoyed their time with her and each other. And it was really nice to be alone with Hubs since we hadn't been in weeks. And we needed it. We went for Japanese at a new place two minutes away and I got my sushi I've been missing! Mmm so good. Nine months without it. I made up for lost time with this killer good with spicy tuna/spicy salmon/avocado. Even anti-seafooder the Giant ordered a spicy tuna roll and liked it. Shocking!! Hope that those new taste bud sticks around so we can start having sushi nights.
Here we are before leaving for dinner.



Today was the first day Cheyanne and I were on our own. Mom left yesterday to go back home with Dad. ::Tears:: Hated seeing Nana and Skipper leave!



The Giant went to work. So, it was just her and I. After a long night last night of up every hour and a half to two hours to nurse or calm a crying baby, I was a wee bit sleepy so Peapod and I cuddled all morning in bed. She went easy on me this afternoon thank goodness. I think she saved some energy for when her daddy got home. They played up until she conked out. He got her to smile at her rattle again tonight. She even held it on her own tonight. My strong girl. Although, I made sure the Giant hovered to make sure she didn't knock herself on her head with it while I finished making dinner. In typical Giant fashion, he had her doing bicep curls in no time.



So now its late. Baby was just fed. And I'm tired. So, off to bed I go for a few hours before somebody's up and hungry again. Goodnight Moon.