Babies Galore

Last night we had our reunion class with the couples from our pre-birth classes. There was 6 couples total (including us). Now that we've all had our babies, we thought it would be good to get together and see each other, and meet all the babies.

Martin and I hosted the party at our house. We did a bbq and everyone brought something (salads, desserts etc). It was so great to see the couples and the babies were all so sweet. It ended up that there were 3 boys and 3 girls. The babies all ranged from about 5 weeks (the youngest) to 10 1/2 weeks (Jayla, the oldest)...It was nice to chat with the moms, about stuff that we're feeling and stuff that tough - and of course, stuff that's wonderful about motherhood. It was also so nice to hear some of the other babies fussing. And, Jayla was on her best behavoir. She was great....she hardly fussed at all.

The party lasted till about 9:30, then Martin did the dishes and I put Jayla to bed. She was asleep by 10:15, then I helped Martin finish up in the kitchen and we went off to bed at 11pm. I was shocked to see the time when Jayla woke up. It was 4am. So, that's almost 6 hours in a row. I really hope this keeps up. The night before it was5 hours again...so, hopefully this is going to be the new trend. And she had a nice 2 hour nap this morning. She's down for another nap now, we'll see if she stays sleeping for a bit.

And because Jayla was napping this morning, I was able to get some stuff done. Today is Martin's 30th Birthday and we are having a little dinner/cake party for him. Just family. So, I made the cake and iced it, made the spaghetti sauce, did some laundry and some other little things. Oh and Jayla and I went to the grocery store this morning and she was such a treat. She was a little angel in the store. She was getting lots of little 'aww's' and 'oh isn't she cute'....

Okay, so anyway, Happy 30th Birthday Martin! Hope you like your dinner and the cake.
I'll post a picture after the party tonight.

I caved....

Okay, so I don't know if any of you know that we were actually contemplating whether or not to get Jayla immunization. I have been doing some research as well as speaking to the chiropractor on his views and he actually provided us with some very good information. I was going to go into today's appointment (2 month with the doctor) with the decision that we are undecided at this point. I wanted to do some more reading before we made the decision. Well, that didn't sit well with the doctor. He proceeded to tell me about a 3 month old baby who wasn't immunization - this baby contracted (if that's the right word) meningitis. The baby was in the hospital being observed, everything checked out etc. By 4am the doctor sent the baby home with mom & dad, and by 11am the baby had died. They did not know it was meningitis at the hospital. So at this point (after basically being guilted into it, and after the 'it's the best thing for your child' speech) I caved. I said, well, I guess you''re not going to let me out of this office without it....and I cried. I cried because I wish I had more knowledge to base my decision on. I wish that I wasn't so weak, but all I could think was, I don't want my baby to be that 3 month old, who's mom didn't immunize her and ended up dying. And I cried at that....the thought of my baby dying and living with the fact that I could have saved her by allowing the nurse to give her these needles. I hugged and kissed her and told her how much I loved her and that I hope that mommy made the best decision possible for her. Then I brought her home, gave her some baby tempra, swaddled her up and rocked her to sleep, in my arms. She's now sleeping quite peacefully.

Anyway, on a positive note, she is still growing - and luckily, her weight gain is slowing down a bit. She was 11lb 11oz today - at 2 months old exactly. It's June 13th and she was born on April 13th...

As for her sleeping - she had gone back to sleeping 3.5-4 hours at a time...(for the first sleep of the night) and last night - another 5 hour sleep. We finally got her to sleep at 11:30 and she slept till 4:30am...so, I was happy about that. Maybe that will become more consistent. I ordered a swaddleme sleep sac that's supposed to help keep them swaddled with their arms down for longer and maybe that will help. I know this is going to sound like we're horrible parents, but we actually put a piece of tape at the end of the blanket (just at the tail) to secure it and to prevent her from wiggling out of it. So, this little sac actually has velcro and little tabs that stay shut. So, let's see if she stays in it and stays sleeping longer than 4 hours...

Well, I guess that's all for now.

She slept "through the night".....

Isn't that what those insane parents say when their baby sleeps for 5 hours straight? Well...Jayla did it last night. I thought that she was going to wake up after 45 minutes (we put her to bed at 10) like she did the night before, but nope...she ended up sleeping till 3am. And I know what you're all thinking...wow...that must have been a nice long sleep for you. It would have been, except first of all, thinking that she was probably going to wake up at 11, I didn't go to bed right away and second, she is the noisiest sleeper ever. Even though she's in the nursery, I still have the monitor on and I can hear every time she thinks she's ready to get up. So, last night that was at 10:45, 12:30, 1:15, 2:00 and 2:30...and then at 3 she really did get up. So 5 hours in a row...I was so impressed.

I don't know if we can attribute this new success to the chiropractic adjustments, but it seems they are doing something. In fact, yesterday when we came home from our visit, I fed Jayla and then put her down around 12:30pm and she slept till 4:30pm...a nice long nap. And I myself, enjoyed 3 hours of sleep...uninterupted....she seems to be a less noisy sleeper during the day.

I was trying to replay our evening last night - so that we can duplicate it....in hopes of another 5 hour stretch of sleep. Here's what I can remember. She got up at 4:30pm I fed her (on and off till about 5:15) changed her diaper. Daddy came home at about 5:30...he played for a few minutes before going to sleep himself (he had a migraine)....then I fed her for a little more and she was asleep by 5:50pm. I then went ahead and did my pilates workout, made and ate dinner by myself :( and then I called my mom and sister to visit. We got Jayla up about 8:15pm, changed her, aunt Amanda fed her a bit of EBM from a bottle, then she had a big poop! She was so serious as this was going on....she meant business. We changed her, then daddy got a bath ready. This was around 9pm, so we bathed her, put some lotion on, new diaper and some jammies, then I fed her a bit more. Grandma, Grandpa and aunt Amanda had to go, so they kissed her goodbye...I went upstairs swaddled her and tried feeding her some more. She ate for a few more minutes...and then she was sleepy. So, I put her in the crib, put on the white noise machine and let her fall asleep on her own. It worked...And that was around 10:10pm when she was out like a light....I now start thinking...what was the magic ingredient??? The EBM out of a bottle? the presence of grandma, grandpa and auntie? the bath? the poop? I don't know...but hopefully we have a repeat of that tonight...cross your fingers folks!

Oh and Amanda took an awesome picture of her in the bath...I have to share!!

We're trying something new...

Well, new to us that is. Basically it was upon the recommendation of our pre-birth instructor. She had a colicky baby and it seemed to help with her little guy. We've decided to seek the assistance of a chiropractor. I know, some of you are probably thinking that she is too little to be adjusted, but the adjustments on an infant are entirely different to that of an adult. Really, it's more like putting a small amount of pressure on the parts of their spine and neck that are tight. It's been shown that all infants could benefit from some adjustments due to the traumatic experience of the birth. It's very hard on the babies, being born. It's a very small, tight space and there are bound to be parts of their little bodies that were squished the wrong way.

Anyway, yesterday was the first appointment. The doctor did some adjustments to her spine and her neck. He explained that the parts which were tight were all related to the sinuses, tongue (which could affect her sucking skills) stomach, digestive system, small intestine, large intestine, etc. His belief is that colic is more to do with an inbalance in the nervous system, but also the additional gas pain and improper digestion is obviously a cause for Jayla to be so fussy. We went again today for another adjustment. His recommendation was to see Jayla every day for 5 days, then 3 times a week for 2 weeks, then 2 times a week for 2 weeks. Then we'll see if we need any further appointments. By then, she'll be 12 weeks, and hopefully it'll pass by then anyway. But if this will make her more comfortable, I am willing to do this. It will mostly be covered by our health plan (luckily), but if we do all 15 visits, we'll be paying about $100 ourselves. The doctor also had some other suggestions for us. Like, not lifting her by her feet when we change her (crunching up her spine) instead rolling her side to side....and putting heat on her tummy after a feeding to keep the blood circulating in order to help with digestion, quiet environment - no tv or radio - in order not to over stimulate her, and also to keep up with the massaging, especially the techniques that help with her tummy.

I went to a wedding shower last night and there was a baby there who was 4 days older than Jayla. This baby was so calm and quiet. She didn't make a peep the whole time we were there and Jayla was on and off crying the whole time we were there....it's upsetting, but I guess that it's just the luck of the draw. There's nothing we can do to prevent having colicky babies, it's just a matter of being able to find something that helps soothe them. And luckily, we do have some techniques that work for us....

One more thing to add...we weighed Jayla while we were there yesterday and she was 10lb 12oz...so, that's almost 1.5 lb in 2 weeks...It seems her gaining is slowing down some. I think I read that it's about 5-7oz per week in the first month, then about 1.5lb per month until they are 6 months...so, she has passed that - I guess it's good to know she is getting enough to eat. Hopefully, she's not getting too much...