Well, still not over the hump!

What a crazy week it's been! We started off our week with a great trip to the Zoo! It was 27 degrees and we were there for just over 4 hours! Nash seemed to really like the fish in the aquarium the best. We also got to see the penguins, which are new to the zoo, and it was a great way to finish off our first day at the Zoo. We have an annual pass so hope to go about once a week.   

Jen and I with Cian and Nash at The Calgary Zoo

On Tuesday we went to see a new pediatrician. It was really just a chance for us to meet him and for him to get to know a little bit about us. They weighed him and according to their scale he weighed 14 pounds, 9 ounces. At Children's they want us to compare his weight from their scale so I basically ignored his weight and figured I would know how much he "really" weighed on Wednesday.

Wednesday my parents arrived from Ft. Mac on their way back across the country to New Brunswick. My Mom came with me to take Nash to get weighed and have his "6 month blood work" done. When it came time for them to actually take his blood, it was not fun. There were two techs getting ready to take his blood and it appeared as though one was learning. I know that everyone has to learn on someone's kid but really, did it have to be on mine? I also know that it can be tough to draw blood from babies, but man, I was not a happy camper. After several failed attempts from "newbie" I suggested maybe we could try another day since we would be coming back to do a full clinic visit in a few weeks. At this point the other tech took over, switched his arm, warmed it up with a heat pack, tried again and was successful. In the end, it was Baby Einstein that kept him fairly calm and he did much better than I anticipated. This blood work is to test all kinds of stuff including his vitamin levels etc. They called this morning with the results and said everything looks great.

How sad is this face!?! Nash once home from getting blood work done

As for weight, he was 14 pounds, 10 ounces so still not over what I consider to be that "hump". I also found out that P.J. lied about his weight last time to try to make me feel better about the whole situation. He was 14, 3 and he told me he was 14, 4. He should have at least lied by a bit more than 1 ounce! Anyway, after the dietician plotted his weight he is around the 10th percentile so again, could be better but he gained an average of 13 grams a day in the past two weeks compared to 8 in the previous weeks.

We started Nash on Rice Cereal last Sunday and then tried Avocado on Wednesday. He loves the rice cereal but when we tried Avocado he had a fit! He screamed and cried and gaged and tried to spit it all out. I tried again yesterday but it was a no go. I may have to try the suggestion from a friend of mixing it in with the rice cereal. Today we are going to try Kidney Beans and see how he does. I'm looking forward to him trying new things and optimistic that this it may also help with his weight gain.

Resisting the urge...

Today I resisted the urge to weigh Nash. I went to a "Feeding Your Baby" class and it was in the room just down the hall from where I usually weigh him. With the scales at Children's Hospital being the ones that we are basing everything off of I don't want to weigh him elsewhere and then be disappointed when I go to Children's and it be off. So, as hard as it was, I didn't weigh him today knowing that he will be weighed on Wednesday. I really hope we have gotten over that 14 pound hump!!

I must say that I've been really impressed with the support and free classes that Alberta Health provides to new parents. We did the 10 week "Birth and Babies" class (which was not free) and since then have done the "Mommy and Baby" class (6 weeks), as well as today's "Feeding Your Baby" class, for free. The class was good but I've done a lot of reading so didn't really learn anything mind blowing. I did pick up a few tips and I'm looking forward to trying new foods with him. I haven't tried anything except for the applesauce and pear for him to take his enzymes. I know most people start with Rice Cereal but our dietician briefly talked about it and suggested to maybe start with "Meats and Alternatives". Ugh, just the thought of making puréed meats is grossing me out. We have an appointment with a new pediatrician on Tuesday and then back to Clinic on Wednesday so maybe I'll hold off until after I see them to start. Or, maybe I'll start Rice Cereal tomorrow and then introduce Meat and Alternatives throughout the week one at a time...

This week we also started a library program called, "My First Parent/Child Mother Goose Experience".  Nash's best buddies Cian and Mason as also in the program and we had fun learning new songs and rhymes with the boys. I couldn't remember a single word once I left but it's all about repetition and then they'll give us hand-outs at the end of the program with the words. It also helps when Jen sends me voice memos of her singing the songs in her car as soon as we left so she wouldn't forget the words!

It's getting to be pretty busy with the Library program and doctors appoinments etc. so we're going to have a lazy weekend at home and then Monday Nash will be having his first Zoo trip! Well, technically he's been to the Zoo but it was for "Zoo Lights" on Boxing Day where he slept the whole time and the animals were all inside so it's doesn't really count. But yes, we'll say that was his first "time" to the Zoo and this will be his first "experience" at the Zoo. I'm wondering what he'll think of all the animals?

Could it be? Could we be over the 14 pound hump?

Could it be? Could we have finally gotten over that 14 pound hump?!? So it feels like Nash has weighed right around 14 pounds FOREVER! Well, I guess that's because he has. He was gaining an average of 1/2 pound per week until 3.5 months and then he hit a wall. At his clinic appointment last week it confirmed that in two months time, he had gained almost a pound. So, the plan was, and still is, feed more. He sleeps so well through the night that I don't want to start to have to wake him to feed, so in order to get in what we think will be enough it means feeding every two hours during the day. Between feeding and physio and the occasion nap it doesn't allow for much else! It also makes it hard for me to keep up with how much he needs so I had to supplement with formula both Thursday and Friday night. There's something about nursing, and then not having enough milk to feed him, that makes you feel guilty but I have to realize I won't be able to nurse him forever and there's nothing wrong with formula. Sure, breastmilk is what is best for him, but I can only do what I can do. Yesterday I tracked down a health food store near our house and was able to pick up some herbal supplements that should help with milk supply. They are huge and I feel like I'm eating plants all day long but if it helps, great. I'm more interested in trying the "Cookies" that a friend has suggested. These "Lactation Cookies" have ingredients like oats and brewer's yeast that are suppose to help but they also have chocolate chips. Mmm...chocolate. I hope they work!

So after this feeding frenzie we've been on I've done the old weight myself and then weigh myself holding him and today, there's a 15 pound difference!! Who knows how close to accurate it is but for the most part when I've done this I've been pretty close with my guesses. I'll be very anxious to see when we go back (in a week and a half) how much he'll weigh!

Nash playing with his toys in the Exersaucer

We did manage to sneak in a pool date on Friday and Nash had fun using his new pool floaty in the big pool. He was just chillin' reclined in his floaty, sucking his thumb, hanging out with his buddies Mason and Kieran and checking out all the ladies. He didn't however appreciate being splashed and made sure to give the girl who splashed him a dirty look. He also took a wave in the back of the head and didn't seem to be too bothered by it. He didn't get any water in his mouth and after the initial shock of it and me scooping him up quickly enough to make sure he didn't cry, he forgot all about it. Next time Michelle will realize what that "buzzer" is for (waves starting) and give me a heads up as I totally didn't hear it. We are looking forward to starting our Saturday morning swimming lessons early May and then hanging out in Nana and Granddad's pool in New Brunswick at the end of June.

I blew up Nash's pool floaty, went to grab something and came back to this:)

Latest clinic visit

Well yesterday was a long one! We started out our clinic day with a gentlemen giving us his weekly parking pass as his son was released sooner than expected. Yeah, score for us! This was a great day to receive this since I would later be going back for a parent night therefore paying for parking twice, which is not cheap at the hospital.

At the beginning of our visit, Nash checking out the playground from the window

Once our appointment started we were cruising through seeing everyone and we thought maybe we'd get out of there early! Then after about two hours we hit a wall, starting to have more wait time in between seeing people. Nash kept it together for a couple of hours but I must say, by the third hour it was getting to be a bit much and had to pull out the Baby Einstein on the IPhone. We got him calmed down and then I rocked him to sleep and he had his afternoon nap on the bed. It took everything for P.J. not to get on that hospital bed and have a nap himself. The only person we had left to see was the Respirologist on that day. Well I can appreciate the time that she was taking with another patient, and would hope they would take that time with my son if needed, we waited over another hour to see her for five minutes. At one point I left and walked the halls thinking they had forgotten about us. It was a ghost town and then finally found someone who checked and then assured us we weren't forgotten. So after it was all said and done it was a four hour clinic day. Next visit I'm packing magazines and a lunch!

Keeping him entertained while waiting

So, we didn't hear anything we weren't already expecting to at this visit. Nash is doing great for the most part...his lungs are clear, his motor development is great, he grew 2.5 cms and then there's his weight...let's just say they didn't pull out the growth chart and plot his height and weight this month. I'm sure they don't want me to stress but it's hard not to, in two months he's gained just under a pound putting him at 14 pounds, 4 ounces yesterday. So we're going to try feeding more frequently, continue adding the powdered formula into the breastmilk once a day and go back in two weeks. We won't have a full clinic appointment but will have him weighed and since he'll be almost 6 months, they will do his blood work and put his poo under a microscope.

After leaving clinic we had a quick visit and supper with friends that live in the North end so that I could go back to the hospital for the parent night. It was great to meet a few other parents and put forward questions and hear suggestions from parents who have been at this a while as well as clinic staff. One thing we did talk about was the wait time during clinic. I'm not sure how this can improve but maybe Home Concepts can install a few tv's!

Applesauce a success!

So I mentioned yesterday that I was going to try to give Nash his enzymes in a bit of applesauce and it was a success! Well, for the most part. He did spit up a bunch after I fed him so who knows how many he actually digested. It was quite funny to see his reaction to the applesauce and I tried to get a video of it. Keep in mind it's hard to feed him and take a video on my phone in the other hand at the same time but here it is!

I gave it to him again this morning and he seems to like it and he's quite interested in the spoon. It's making me more excited to be able to try new foods with him soon! If you've never had to give medications to your child at every single feeding it's hard to imagine how big of a step this is. Just something as simple thing as a tiny bit of applesauce on a spoon I know, but it makes things so much easier. It also symbolizes one step closer to him being able to take them in his food and not even know they're in there and then one day being able to take them himself.

Some days I just wake up and wish that for one day I could just play with him, feed him and just go about our day. If he had to feed, how easy it would be to just feed...how I wouldn't worry about how much physio I've gotten done throughout the day. Ten minutes here, 5 minutes there, did I do enough? I'm not trying to complain, I guess for me I'll never know anything different and neither will he, but still, some days these are the thoughts that go through my head and today is one of those days. It's tough being a new parent, and it's tough being a new parent who is essentially responsible for the overall health of such a precious person. Everything I do is for him whether I'm tired, frustrated, annoyed, upset, angry...none of it matters, I just want what's best for him and so that means medications, daily physio, doctors appointments and trying to maintain an overall positive attitude toward the whole thing.

5 months! Where does the time go?!?!

Five months already! Crazy! I can say that things are finally starting to get a bit easier. I think it's because he sleeps through the night and therefore we're both more rested throughout the day. We still need to work on daytime naps though. Yesterday he was so overtired, rubbing his eyes, and then fell asleep in his swing. I then tried to get him to nap in his crib. I tried the whole "Cry it Out" philosophy and it was a 40 minute battle that I eventually lost. Today he's had one nap in the crib for about 30 minutes and he's currently napping in the swing and I'm saying, screw it and letting him.

Happy 5 months Nash!

Nash is learning and doing new things all the time and I'm looking forward to starting solid foods with him in just a few weeks. I plan to make all/most (?) of his food and so have got my "Baby Bullet" ready to go! Just purchasing a food steamer and getting a few books for ideas. A friend told me that the books by Annabel Karmel are pretty good so I'm going to start there. What I'm most looking forward to is that I will then be able to put his enzymes into his food! Our dietician told us at the very beginning that we could give the enzymes with a little bit of apple sauce and we tried it and he didn't like it. (Keep in mind he was only three weeks old when we tried) I'm thinking that I may try again this week as you can only imagine that nursing him while he has all of these enzyme beads in his mouth is not fun for momma. Here's an older picture of him with a mouth full of enzymes sound asleep. Of course he was screaming because he was starving 5 minutes before this was taken. Gave him his enzymes and out like a light.