Cured!

I have some exciting news, everyone!

Many of you have been following our journey dealing with Jay's hydronephrosis (aka enlarged kidney problem) that he's had since pre-birth.

It was first noticed in utero, confirmed it via ultrasound soon after he was born, we visited the local urologist in town with some pediatric experience who ordered some (not so fun) testing at the children's hospital in Madison, and due to the nature of the blockage being abnormal (it was at the ureter tube end that's connected to Jay's bladder instead of the common blockage being up at the top near the kidney) we were referred to a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital up in Madison and were told that due to the blockage Jay would most likely need to have surgery around his 2nd birthday where they pull out the ureter tube at the bladder, snip it and then reattach it. After several visits in Madison, we learned the specialist was taking a position at the children's hospital in Milwaukee. Fortunately our insurance covered him at Milwaukee so we followed him there.

Eating some celebratory pizza
after his check-up!

You may remember me reporting last February, at Jay's last urology check-up 6 months ago , that there was a significant improvement with the dilation in his kidney and that it was possible that the blockage was opening up on its own.

Well this past Thursday we had Jay's regular 6 month check-up again - an ultrasound on his kidneys and bladder and then meeting with the specialist right after to go over it.

He said that as far as Jay's urology issues go - we can consider him cured!

He said the left kidney continues to look healthy with hardly any dilation and the ureter tube doesn't look engorged at all anymore! He said to consider it a temporary plumbing problem that has been resolved!

Guys, this is AMAZING news!

The specialist did tell us at the beginning that while there was the slim chance the blockage could open up on its own, it is rare and we shouldn't get our hopes up as we would most likely be facing the reality of Jay needing surgery to correct it.

Honestly, I had started to prepare myself for the reality of that, pushing it to the back of my mind until the time got closer. It helped that the specialist assured me that he had done the procedure himself (as he would be the one doing it) many many times and so far he has been successful with no complications - he had put me at ease.

But now, no surgery at all, no further testing either (which is GREAT because I have no idea how you get a 2 year old to cooperate when it comes to attaching a catheter to them, not to mention getting them to leave an IV alone or lay still for a 45-60min thorough ultrasound scan with using some kinda of sedative!). He wants us to come back in a year for a follow-up ultrasound just to confirm that everything still looks good but he said that unless anything comes back abnormal we'll most likely be meeting with the nurse practitioner so we can have a quick in and out visit.

I would like to thank ALL of you for your thoughts and prayers as we have been dealing with this these past 18 months or so - I know many, many people have been praying for Jay and specifically that the blockage would open up on its own so he wouldn't need to have the surgery  - it has been GREATLY appreciated!

For all of you out there who have been following us on this tough journey or if you stumbled across this post while trying to find answers to your own questions about hydronephrosis or other kidney/ureter problems your little one might have... let me just say that there is hope! While surgery may seem inevitable to correct it, I pray you have a great pediatric urology specialist like we did (Dr. John Kryger, based out of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) who recommends waiting a few years to see if the problem corrects itself first. It is a rough journey, especially with some of the testing your little one has to go through (please feel free to click the "hydronephrosis" label at the bottom of this post to read back through some of what we've gone through these past 18 months in regards to this), but I hope that if anything, I have given you hope and comfort in knowing you're not alone when it comes to this.

15 Month Check-up!

Yesterday (Monday) we had Jay's 15 month check-up and overall it went pretty well.

Hubby tagged along this time, as he hasn't met with Jay's pediatrician since he was born (not to mention I get tired of him asking at each appointment where "dad" is - it's a weekday afternoon, he's working, duh!) and it seemed to help with Jay A LOT compared to the last time when it was just me and him.

He started rummaging through all the toys in the waiting room, settling on a Sesame Street coloring book and running around the waiting room with it. They let him take it back to the exam room with us too since he didn't want to let it go.

We had a 4pm appointment and it didn't seem nearly as busy so we didn't have to wait nearly as long as we did last time when it was the middle of the day. Jay started getting into everything once again, but this time I had hubby to help me keep him out of stuff so I wasn't on the verge of pulling my hair out.

When Jay saw the doctor walk in, hubby busted up laughing as Jay got this "oh shit!" look on his face -  he realized where he was! LOL

He hung out in my lap while the doctor did the basic exam stuff, but Jay started getting worked up when we laid him down on the table for the last bit.

Jay currently weighs 23lbs, 8oz with his shoes off (24lbs, 1oz with shoes) and is 30 3/4 inches tall. Doctor said he is in the 50th percentile for weight and and 50-70th percentile for height. His height to weight ratio percentile is 50th as well.

So overall, it was a fine exam - no concerns or anything to worry about. The doctor was thrilled to hear about how well his last urology exam went and he seemed intrigued at the fact that Jay matches things now. He didn't seem too concerned about him only babbling a handful of words at this point, just saying to not encourage the baby-talk but to say "bottle" or "water" if he says "ba ba" or "wa wa" to kind reinforce that those are the words he's trying to say. And he was pleased to hear that he's fully weaned off the bottle and onto sippy cups now.

Jay got 2 shots today - they said at his next appointment he'll have 1 left and be done for awhile. While we were waiting in the exam room, Jay figured out the one stool spun around so he had fun with that, and then it sounded like he was trying to say "my ball" or "my book" - he kept getting stuck on the "buh" part and couldn't get the rest out.

We took him to Red Mango afterwards to cheer him up for getting shots today. He did have a slight fever this evening but it broke before bedtime - pretty sure it was just a side effect of the shots. I did put him to bed a little early tonight though as he was just tired and worn out.

Between his check-up and Red Mango we stopped at my mom's house and Jay communicated to her that he wanted to do "Itsy Bitsy Spider"! She was holding him and he started doing the spider thing with his fingers, then putting his arms over his head in a circle, then the spider finger thing again, and then the circle with this arms over his head, all while babbling. It clicked with mom and she was like "Do you want to do Itsy Bitsy?" and Jay was all "uh-huh!" So they sat down and she did and he attempted the 1st part with her, and when she asked if he wanted her to do it again he said "uh huh!" It was pretty neat!

He started refusing milk near the end of last week - he'll drink some at bedtime, but during the day he'll push it away when you try to get him to drink it, so we've been giving him water instead. He loves the berry pomegranate flavor water spray - he drank 3/4 of my mother-in-law's big Aquafina bottle on Sunday and then Monday night, as she went to put her shoes on before they left Jay came toddling over and picked up the bottle and started walking off with it! As far as the milk goes... he gets yogurt at breakfast and I make his oatmeal with milk but I've been a bit more conscious lately to make sure to give him cheese and other dairy products so he's getting some dairy in his diet even if it's not straight up milk. My mom said my sister and I both went through a phase where we refused to drink milk as well and she too had to resort to yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, ice cream, etc to make sure we got enough dairy.Oh well, we'll manage!

Shots and snow

Today was a busy day for us.

First off, we had our 1st snowfall of the season, even though it didn't last long - it came down white, but once it hit the ground it became slush and by mid-afternoon it turned to rain. I held Jay up and we looked out our sliding glass door in the kitchen so he could see (granted he was born 2 days after Snowmageddon, but I'm sure he doesn't remember what snow is since he was never really in it). He seemed a bit confused by the white stuff.

Can't wait (well actually, I can since I'm not a fan of cold weather) til our first real snow storm where the stuff sticks and is actually enough to cover stuff and he sees and feels it!

Anyways, Jay had his 9 month check-up today, which I left a half hour early for, giving us extra time not because of the snow, but because for some reason, here in Northern Illinois (where it snows often between November and February and sometimes even into March or April and as early as October) the majority of the cars on the road drive like they've never seen the stuff before - it's ridiculous but it happens. EVERY. YEAR.

Jay fell asleep in the car and woke up as I was carrying him in when the falling snow was hitting him in the face (he was not happy about that!).

His 9 month stats were good - 20lbs 8oz (50th percentile), his head is in the 50th percentile also, his length is 28inches which is a little short but nothing to be concerned about (while hubby's side of the family is all around 6ft or taller, no one in my family is 6ft so it seems Jay is just taking after my side more right now in that department). The doctor got to see him crawl and pull himself up on anything and everything (he literally crawled all over the exam room and I had to pull him away from the trash can and bio-hazard can, lol...) and he was sitting up just fine too so developmentally he's right on track and he said to keep doing what we're doing diet-wise but to go ahead and try to get him using a sippy cup more.

He did hear a slight heart murmur though, which he said isn't too uncommon at his age as their bodies are growing so fast and it's just the heart trying to keep up - he said it's probably benign and nothing to worry about and years ago would have said we'd just check-up on it again a few months, but since we have the resources and technology now to easily check it out he wanted to refer us to a cardiologist just to make sure everything was a-okay. I *really* do hope it's nothing - with his kidney/ureter issue and his week-long stay in the hospital at 3 weeks for eating problems I really don't want to deal with another major medical thing!

Jay got 2 shots today - his last Hep-B vaccine and his 1st flu shot (the 1st one is in 2 parts though so we have to go back next month for part 2). Originally hubby and I weren't sure about getting him that one, and lately I've been torn about it which hubby told me to do what I felt was best. I talked with the doctor about it, explained my concerns and it basically came down to the fact that him getting the flu would be a lot worse than most things you hear about from the vaccine (which he said the majority of the bad that you hear is usually the rarest occurrences, which is a risk you take with anything really). I am staying firm on the chicken pox vaccine though - I just don't see the point in having a vaccine for that and think it's completely unnecessary.

Naturally, he didn't like getting the shots.

He also didn't like his physical exam, with the doctor trying to look in his eyes, ears and nose (although I think part of it was he didn't like being held still, as he's at the point where he just wants to go, go, go!).

They were impressed with how many teeth he has (7 already, and I noticed the whites of 2 on bottom breaking through today!).

He also has this thing lately about opening and closing doors - 1 nurse came in and left the door ajar, Jay quickly crawled over to the door and shut it and then sat in front of it, lol... she was like "Uh... are you trying to lock me in here with you?". (Hubby informed me tonight that Jay followed him into our bedroom while he went to change out of work clothes the other night. Hubby turned the light off when he was done and thought Jay was following behind him... nope! A few moments later hubby heard Jay shrieking from the bedroom - apparently he was playing with the door and shut it while he was still in the room, locking himself in the dark! Oops!).

So, overall things are looking well aside from a possible heart murmur that we're hoping is nothing!

Urology update, playgrounds and the ghetto zoo

Tuesday was our 3 year wedding anniversary. We had an adult evening out, going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then stopping at Red Mango and just sitting around and chatting as we had a few hours baby-free for the evening.

Earlier in the day I had to run a few errands and decided to take Jay to Sapora Playworld which is the big local indoor playground area in the same building as the indoor ice rink. They have a baby area with a smaller set of play tubes as well as some squishy mats the kids can play, crawl and climb on too. I thought it might be fun for him and my mom pointed out last week that he should probably spend some time interacting with other kids and babies as he's mostly around adults.

Well, he was a little freaked out and stayed glued to me the whole time.

I tried to sit him down on one of the squishy block mats and he cried so I sat on one and held him on my lap til he got comfortable with the setting and then I sat him down on the mat next to me, with him clinging one fist to my shirt. There were a few other smaller kids there - one little girl came right up by him and he though she was funny. A few 6 year old girls came over and were fussing over him, but kept inquiring why he wasn't crawling if he could do it and why he wasn't playing - why was he just sitting there, watching? My response that it was his 1st time there and he was just taking it all in and that he didn't want to crawl right then didn't seem to satisfy them, lol... I tried to get him to climb/crawl on one of the squishy mats up to the next one but he freaked out instead.

We spent a half hour there though, so maybe if we make it a regular thing he'll get more comfortable and start playing. Under 11 months is free and then it's $1 til he's a little older, but they also do half price Tuesday.

He had another night terror Tuesday night. I was tired and so was he so we both went to bed a little early, however he woke me up at 230am, shrieking. I jumped out of bed to check on him, picked him up, and sure enough, he was having one, eyes clenched shut and no sign of snapping out of it. It lasted a few minutes, however he didn't seem to be able to get comfortable in his crib, freaking out when I laid him back down, so he snuggled in bed with me for a bit til he was sound asleep again. I hate these. He hasn't had one in awhile so I guess we were overdue for one =(

Wednesday night Jay learned how his bottle nipple works and that if there's milk in it, then it probably isn't a good idea to squeeze it with his hands or flick it - while playing with the bottle nipple instead of drinking he sprayed milk all over his face, the couch and my mom's leg, lol... he startled himself too, as he didn't realize what he had done right away - it was pretty funny!

Thursday we got up early and drove up to Madison for his urology appointment with the pediatric urology specialist up there and also had an ultrasound so they could see how it's doing.

Nothing new really - they said his left kidney is slightly more dilated than before, but not much and that it was nothing to worry about at this point. He said he'll probably have us do another check-up around his 1st birthday, then come back for another one 6 months later and then at around 2 years old we'll start discussing doing the surgery. Unfortunately, we're not sure yet if we'll be seeing this specialist again yet - he told us he's transferring in the next few months to the children's hospital in Milwaukee to be the pediatric urology chairman there. He invited us to come see him there, but I'll have to check with our insurance to see if they'll let us go there. He also referred us to his associate there in Madison, whom he had us make an appointment with for next time in case we decide to stay there, and he also gave me the names of the specialists at the children's hospital in Chicago that he would recommend if we chose to go there.

Jay was amusing during his ultrasound - the tech needed to check both his kidneys and his bladder to make sure there was nothing new and while checking his right kidney she needed me to roll him on his side, facing away from her. Well... him being curious like he is, he kept wanting to roll back over to see what she was doing and check out the ultrasound monitor, lol... he laughed when she rolled the wand over his bladder area so I'm guessing he's a little ticklish there (he's also ticklish in his armpits and on his sides - both mommy and daddy's ticklish spots! lol...). She let him stay on his back for his left kidney but then he noticed the other ultrasound wands within reach and their cords and started grabbing for those! lol... He freaked out during the visit with the specialist when he picked him up to check him out, but was fine 2 seconds later when mommy took him! Silly baby!

They weighed him too - he's now 18lbs even! Yay! My baby's gained 1lb and 1oz in a month!

We stopped at the infamous Ella's Deli for lunch before heading back to town. My parents used to take me there when I was little as there's soooo much stuff to look at, including all sorts of things moving around above your head, a little train on a track that goes all around the restaurant, a working carousel just outside and lots of other fun stuff! Jay seemed to enjoy it - he was starring and looking around at everything. They're also known for their ice cream desserts so I ordered a small dish of mint chocolate chip and let Jay eat some of it after he had his lunch - he still likes it! (we had let him have some at the fair last month).

It was a tiring day and we spent the late afternoon out at the mall with my mom and sister, getting stuff for her and holiday clothes for Jay since that stuff sells fast at work!

Today I had my annual gyno exam and since I didn't bring Jay with me to my 6wk follow-up, I brought him with this time so they could all see him. They all fussed over him and he ate it up.

We had to run a few errands too, one of which was getting kitty food at Petco (we buy the Hills Science Diet stuff and the only places that seem to sell it are Petco and Petsmart) so I took Jay with and we walked around looking at all the animals and fishies. A friend on Facebook referred to it as the "ghetto zoo" which is quite funny, but true! Jay was once again fascinated by all the fish, as well as the ferrets and guinea pigs too this time! The turtles were mostly sleeping, as were the birds, hamsters/gerbils and cats. We didn't see that many people walking doggies with them this time either. He still enjoyed it though!

6 month check-up

Today we had Jay's 6 month check-up and it went VERY well!

He weighs a whopping 16lbs 14oz - just under 17lbs! - and is 26.5 inches long! Last time, at his 4 month check-up he was 13lbs even and 25 inches long, so he hasn't gained much length-wise but he did gain almost 4lbs in 2 months! This puts him in the 50th percentile for weight for 6 month boys and 50th percentile for his weight for his length, meaning despite a rough start our baby boy is now average for his age!

So exciting!

His next check-up isn't until his 9 month one inNovember (aside from his trip up to Madison in September to meet with the pediatric urology specialist). The doctor said physically everything looks good and told us to keep using the Johnny Jump-Up (he said he wasn't fond of walkers) and to make sure he's getting plenty of tummy time since he'll probably start crawling soon. He didn't say too much about his bottom front teeth already coming through, other than the average age for teeth is 6-9 months so he's a little ahead there. He did say he's got great muscle control in his neck though! He said to keep him on formula and the solids until a year old...

Little Man (with daddy) greeting mommy after
a night of work

...which means we can put the sippy cup on hold, as Jay doesn't seem to really be taking to it much either. The 1st day he at an ounce or so and the 2nd day he ate 2oz but he hasn't been interested in it since. I think he gets too frustrated with it as he can't drink it as fast as he can a bottle. Guess we'll just keep trying from time to time though!

We've finally gotten through all the veggies and fruits. Jay doesn't seem to like green beans but he'll still eat them - the only solid we've tried that he won't eat is peas, lol...

We also tried giving him a bath in the "big tub" as he's definitely outgrown his baby tub (we put him in it and all the water goes out, lol...). He LOVED the big tub! He hasn't played with any of his bath toys yet, as he's too busy splashing in the water while we clean him, lol... bathtime has been much more enjoyable for all of us since moving him to the big-tub as he would scream and cry in his baby tub for no apparent reason! But not anymore - no more crying at bathtime!

Jay's meeting with the pediatric urology specialist & official diagnosis

So I'm sure everyone is wondering - how'd Jay's appointment with the pediatric urology specialist go today?

Seemed like it went well and was very informative.

They weighed him to start and checked his vitals - his blood pressure was good and his weight is up to 13lbs, 2.8oz so he's gained some since his regular check-up he had last week.

The specialist went over the scans from the testing they did back in April and explained more of what it showed and what it meant.

Jay's official diagnosis now is that he has a UVJ ureter obstruction. Below is the diagram that the specialist drew me for to sort of explain what's going on:

On Jay's right side (the left side of the image), his kidney and ureter look perfectly normal, going into the bladder as it should. On his left side though (the right side of the image) the part of the ureter tube that feeds into the bladder (the UVJ) is tapered off so much that nothing can get out (or in) and a bit deformed.

I asked what causes this and he said what happens in these cases generally is that at about 2-3 weeks after conception is when the bud of the ureter tube is formed on the bladder and branches out to form the tube up to the kidney. Basically, his left one was just a dud and didn't form properly.

He said that while it still is possible that it could grow and open up on its own as he grows, he said he doesn't want to get our hopes up and said that realistically he'll probably need the surgery to fix it. He said it's basically a problem that he has "bad plumbing" and that he can fix it, as he has plenty of times before and says the surgery is almost always successful (of course they can't say it's 100%, as there's always that slim chance something could go wrong, but he seemed very confident that it was just a simple, minor procedure and nothing to get worried about). He said what they'll do is they'll continue monitoring it via renal ultrasound every 3-4 months and when his bladder is big enough (usually between 1 and 2 years of age), he'll do the surgery, pulling out the ureter tube from the bladder, cutting off the bad part and then reinsert/attach it to the bladder.

He said other than the UVJ obstruction, everything else about Jay looks 100% - he said even the kidney that's blocked looks to be completely healthy, and while you only need 1 kidney to leave, just in case something happens down the road to the one, he'd like to have the other one fully functioning as well so we don't have to worry about it then.

He said another option they could do if it became necessary (ie: something happened to his right kidney and we needed the other to function asap), they could do a temporary ureterostomy where they make a hole in him and the tube is sticking out onto his belly and that everytime he pees it would drain out onto his belly... yeah, that just sounds messy, and gross and more of a hassle than we need, so we're not planning on doing that.

He also put him on another antibiotic, taking him off the amoxicillian, so that he doesn't get any long-term effects of the amoxicillian (I guess it's been known to give stomach problems and can cause diarrhea) and this one is more to prevent and treat any possible UTI infection (basically, it's more specific than the amoxicillian).

So... I'm doing alright. Not thrilled at the fact that he'll probably have to have the surgery come 2013, but it is a ways off too so it's not like I have to think about it. He'll probably have the scar from where they go in on the left side to get to it though for awhile... the doc's confidence though at how well the surgery goes seemed to put me more at ease, so I guess we'll just deal with it when the time comes.

4 Month Check-Up and then some!

4 months old already!

Just realized I haven't really posted too much on here lately.

Honestly, there hasn't really been much to post about.

Jay's still flipping from his tummy to his back and he's been working on going back to tummy and getting pretty close! He gets stuck on his side though, as he doesn't seem to be quite able to get that last push over.

He's fascinated by our smartphones still - hubby found this app, Multi-touch Visualizer - where when you press the screen a colored circle and line crosshairs pops up. You can touch several fingerrs to the screen at once to get multiple colors. Jay loves it.

He also loves this Youtube video of Elmo playing "Elmo's Song" for Big Bird and Snuffy, although he tends to get fussy when Snuffy's on screen and Elmo isn't, lol...

He's still working on that first tooth coming in so not really much progress there.

Today (Wednesday) we had his 4 month check-up. He's up to 13lbs even, which means he's doubled his birth weight and is in the 25th percentile. He's also 25inches long. Doctor said he's looking healthy and was impressed by how well he was holding his head up and keeping control of it, as well as how strong the rest of his muscles seemed.

He said we can start him on the rest of the solid foods, as it seems like he's eating just fine, so we gave him some sweet potatoes to eat for dinner. I think what we'll do is give him the full serving of rice cereal he's been eating at breakfast, bottle for the afternoon, sweet potatoes for dinner and then just a bottle before bed. He seemed to like the sweet potatoes pretty well though, eating about half a jar before not wanting anymore and just drinking the rest from the bottle.

He also got boosters of the shots he had last time, which he wasn't happy about. Took a good minute or so to get him to calm down afterwards - I let him cuddle with me, Elmo and his binky for a minute or so before I get him ready to leave the doctor's office. He's been sleepy most of the night, taking a long evening nap and going to bed a bit early - we're pretty sure it's just the shots making him sleepy.

But the doctor said he's doing well, which is good news, and he said the only issue we seem to have to worry about now is just his kidney blockage as his growth and eating are just fine!

Also, tomorrow I have to call our insurance company and maybe bitch them out.

A week or so ago we got a rather high bill for Jay for the testing on his kidney they did up at the children's hospital in Madison back in April. We were a little confused as we had already met his out of pocket expenses this year due to the week long stay in the hospital back in February, but today we got an "explanation of benefits" notice which explained it. Apparently, the children's hospital in Madison is out of our network! The problem, is that when Jay's urologist wanted to send us to one of the nearby children's hospitals to do the testing they had me call our insurance and find out which of the 2 nearby (Madison and Chicago) were in our network, as they would prefer us to go to Madison, but said that for some people it's out of their network so we could do Chicago instead if that was the case. So I called when we got home and the male representative I spoke with confirmed that the children's hospital in Chicago was in our network but had to check the one in Madison. He spent a minute or so pulling up the information and confirmed that both were in our network so going to either one was fine.

So yeah... not sure why they're saying suddenly it's out of network now when I had called and specifically asked if it was and was told that it was. Obviously if it wasn't we would have gone to the one that was! Kinda miffed... and right now I don't know what we're going to do about his appointment up there on Monday as his urologist in town is now referring us to the one up there since Jay's case is a little more uncommon - if this new doc isn't in our network I'll have to cancel and let the urologist's office here know that and have them set us up with a doctor in Chicago (despite the fact I had *just* confirmed his appointment on Monday earlier today! Grrrr).

Oh and his doctor said we can give him water or pedialyte too while we're out to keep him hydrated, as he said he doesn't have any problem with that.

So that's how things are with us!

Urology follow-up and teething begins

This morning Jay and I met with his urologist to hear what they found out regarding the testing we had done up in Madison a few weeks ago.

The good news:
As they told us at the time, there doesn't appear to be any refluxing back up into the kidney, so that is good!

The bad news:
If you look to the image posted here, you'll see that each kidney is connected to the bladder via a ureter tube. In most hydronephrenosis cases the blockage takes place at the top of the ureter at the kidney. In Jay's case, the blockage is at the bottom of the ureter, near the bladder.

This is a bit more uncommon so his urologist is classifying it as severe. He did say again though that in most cases it will clear up and unblock on its own as he grows and gets bigger with age, however he wants to refer us to a urologist up at the children's hospital in Madison and have us go from there. Odds are they'll just continue to monitor it and keep him on the amoxicillin for awhile - I really hope we're not looking at surgery anytime too soon, giving it a chance to unblock on its own.

In other news, it appears Jay is starting to teethe.

Over the weekend he started getting really fussy for no reason. After mentioning it on Facebook, someone asked if he was drooling a lot more and suggested he might be teething. I had read he could start as early as 3 months, which is officially on Wednesday, so we knew it was going to start happening soon! He's been drooling uncontrollably quite a bit, sticking whatever he can into his mouth to chew/suck on (just today while out shopping I noticed him munching on his blankie!). We can't tell where the tooth is going to be coming in at yet - he's had ridges in his mouth since day 1 and all we still feel are the ridges. We bought Baby Oragel too but haven't used it yet and so far he doesn't like teething rings. Poor little guy... his mouth was bothering him last night at bedtime too so I let him sleep with us all night for snuggles, as that seems to put him at ease a little bit.

Kidney testing in Madison

Today Jay had his kidney testing up in Madison at the American Family Children's Hospital at University of Wisconsin - Madison and took his first "long" car ride and out of state trip.

I got up just before 6am to get myself ready before feeding him and getting him ready, stopped for gas and picked my mom up since she was coming to keep me company on the drive as hubby had to work. The GPS estimated about an hour and 40 minutes but it really only took us about an hour 15.

We got there just before 9am and found where we were going. They got us settled in a day treatment room and started getting Jay hooked up by giving him an IV (which sucked as they had to stick him twice to get a good vein) and put the catheter on him, which he didn't like one bit! Poor little guy... They let the IV hydrate him for bit, which made him fall asleep too.

The first test was a lasik scan where they scanned his kidneys and stuff for like an hour watching them fill and drain, etc. Fortunately he slept through most of that. We finished about 1130am and had to wait around until just before 1pm when he had his 2nd test which involved barium GI (it was called a VCGU). He did okay with that one. He was naked for it and pooped on the towel but it was alright - they got it cleaned up. The said the good news was that he wasn't showing any signs of reflux in the kidney, so it's not like anything was getting stuck up in there!

As we were finishing up the VCGU there was a statewide tornado drill and so yeah... we had to wait around for someone to come back to the front desk to validate my parking! Oh Wisconsinites and your silly statewide drills!

Jay did a great job though - I've VERY proud of my Little Man for taking everything as well as he did! Of course he cried a bit when they were sticking the IV on him and the catheter as expected but other than that he was momma's good boy! He also LOVED the Pedialite they gave him too! We fed him around 1130am but since he still had the barium test to do at 1pm they only wanted him drinking clear liquids so they gave us a bottle of apple Pedialite and OMG he wolfed that down!

Hopefully this will be the last of any testing he'll have done, as unless he needs surgery to unblock the blockage, they can just monitor it via ultrasound every few months and hope it'll unblock as he grows.

This weekend is a busy one for Jay - tomorrow he gets to go to mommy's deskjob with me as they actually have something for me to do and want to meet Jay so they said to bring him with and my 1 boss will help me watch him while I work as she's dying to see him. Then tomorrow night we're going out to dinner for Aunt B's 18th birthday (which is Monday). Saturday mommy's going to try and take him to see the Easter Bunny first thing in the morning as the local Rockford Kid's Club has get your photo taken with the bunny using your own camera for $1/kid! And Sunday he gets to meet his cousins Noah (who's 4 in July) and Lucas (who is 4 months older than Jay)!

2 month check-up

Figured I'd sneak an update in here while Jay's still asleep - he fell asleep in the car on the way home from the doctor and is still asleep in his carseat/carrier! Someone's going to be hungry when he wakes up though!

So we had his 2 month check-up today and everything is great!

He's measuring just over 22inches long and with clothes on his weight is 10lbs, 4oz, so without clothes we're figuring right around 10lbs! Yay!

The doctor said we can just make his formula the "normal" way as it says on the package rather than mix in extra to make 24 calories like we had been. He also said we can try giving him a little bit of rice cereal if we wanted just to get him used to eating from a spoon, but he said most tend to wait til 4 months, so either way it's up to us.

Jay had a few vaccine's today too - one they gave orally which he took just fine as he's used to taking his amoxicillin orally, and the other 2 were combo ones via shot. He didn't like those and she said the 2nd one would sting a little bit too. Poor guy... he wasn't happy about that one at all but was fine soon after she was finished giving them to him.

So we don't have to go back to the doctor until his 4 month check-up in June, which is good, although we still have our appointment up in Madison next week for his kidney testing and then a follow-up appointment with his urologist 2 weeks after that.

"It's Time to Build a Word..." - kid's shows, moving & more!

Just realized it's been about a week since I last posted.

Not too much has really happened. We're officially closing on the house this Thursday at 230pm so by evening we will have the keys to our own house! Yay!

Jay, 2 months old
(8 weeks, 3 days in this photo)

Jay can fit into his 0-3 month clothes now as I've had him running around in the onesies this past week. He's also been able to finally wear his shoes too - they don't look like giant clown shoes on him anymore!

We also started using the size 1 Pampers Swaddlers diapers too and I like them much better than the Parent's Choice Walmart brand we were using. While the Walmart ones fit great, I've noticed the past week or so he's been getting a pretty bad case of diaper rash. The Pampers ones are nice as they're a lot softer on his skin and they're virtually leak proof which is nice as we've been having issues with him leaking lately.

He's become more alert in the past week or so and so we've started watching kid's shows on PBS/WTTW. He usually watches some Sesame Street or WordWorld while he eats his morning bottle and falls asleep during them for a few hours - he usually sleeps about 6 or 7 hours at night and then wakes up to eat  and falls back to sleep for about 3 or 4 more hours. During his afternoon bottle (after he wakes up) we usually watch either Clifford, Curious George or Arthur. I'm not let him get hooked or addicted to TV or anything, but since he is more alert now and we've noticed him watching the TV when it's on I don't see any problem with him watching early learning shows while he's eating throughout the day. PBS seems to have the best younger kid friendly shows too. I really like the WordWorld show - everything in the show, from characters to objects and buildings, is made out of the word of the character/object/building. Like the duck character is made out of the letters "d-u-c-k". It's really cute! And the show uses bright colors too so it gets Jay's attention.

 

Sesame Street's Abby's Flying Fairy School
segment with animated background - most
of the segments in the show now have
animated backgrounds!

Has anyone watched Sesame Street lately? To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed by the current format. Growing up, it took place on the actual Sesame Street with the adults and kids interacting with the puppet cast of characters with various short segments dispersed throughout the show. Well now, we briefly see the actual Sesame Street (at least from what I've seen in the episodes we've watched) and the whole show is in various segments. Many of the puppet characters are now standing in front of CGI animated settings rather than actual real settings (half the time the puppets look CGI animated too!). And between each segment is a red monster who's hanging out in some city park introducing each segment (such as Elmo's World and Abby Cadabby's Flying Fairy School) with a real kid. Maybe it's just me, but I miss the old school Sesame Street from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that I grew up watching myself as well as with my sister. This new "updated" version just isn't as good in my opinion.

I started back at work this past weekend, working a 4.5 hour shift (it was supposed to be 4 hours but we were busy and the store was trashed so they asked if I could stick around for an extra half hour). It wasn't too bad. They changed the keyboard on the registers so that took a bit of getting used to (I hadn't worked a register since the very beginning of January!) and by the end of my shift I was doing returns pretty well too. After maybe the 1st hour or so I was feeling comfortable with everything again, as far as working a register.

After my shift I bought Jay a pair of sunglasses as we had display of them but only a handful left in the 0-2yr size and he's going to need a pair for this summer. They're a little big on him, as his nose isn't big enough to keep em on his face yet, but he'll grow into them! They're $3 each right now (normally $4.50 or 2 for $6) if you want to pick some up for you kid. After my employee discount I got them for $2.41 total - not a bad price considering they're Children's Place and not Walmart! There's a cute pair of sandals I want to get him too but I think I'm going to wait until this weekend to get them for him as they're $9.95 and this weekend we have employee appreciation days where we get to take 40% off instead of 25%.

The next few days are going to be quite busy.

Today (Wednesday) Jay has his 2 month check-up where he's going to get several shots which I'm sure he won't be too happy about! Hopefully the doctor will cut back his calorie count and just let him eat the normal amount so we don't have to mix extra into it and the formula can last a little longer. I'm guessing he weighs close to 10lbs too - guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow! Also, I have work tomorrow night for a few hours in the evening.

Thursday, like I said, we are closing on the house and then that evening my dad's coming over to fix the drywall in the one room while I start painting Jay's room as I need to get the blue layer on first and then the brown and then do the detail. Friday I'm going to be over at the house alllll day as we have our washer, dryer and fridge being delivered and Comcast is being installed - I plan on working more on Jay's room and doing some basic cleaning before we start moving everything in. Also Friday we're borrowing my dad's jeep and transporting all our boxes over from the apartment and then going shopping for other household items we need to get. Saturday is the big moving day as we're renting a U-Haul and moving over all the bigger items. Sunday I'll be back at the apartment for a few hours cleaning up here.

Late night updating

So I should be sleeping since Jay's asleep and we have to be up early but I'm not really all that tired right now...

Friday was my post-partum check-up at the OBGYN and it went very well!

They weighed me and with shoes on I'm down to 172 from my max pregnancy weight of 193 (with boots on). My pre-pregnancy weight was 162 or 164 (I'm not entirely sure which), so I'm not too far away from getting back there! At least 20lbs in 6 weeks though... wow! I already need new jeans too - my size 12s are too loose on me and the only pair of 11s I have run small so I can't quite fit in em.

The nurse practitioner I met with said my tear healed beautifully - she said to be honest she couldn't even tell I had had a tear, that's how well it healed! She gave me the "okay" for everything though and wrote me a note so I can get back on the schedule at The Children's Place and she filled my prescription for my birth control pills. They want me to come back in 6 months for an annual pap as well as a blood test to check for the gestational diabetes stuff rather than have to sit around and do the drink again.

Without going into too much detail, since we got the go ahead, hubby and I had a go at things right away. Everyone had warned me it was going to hurt A LOT, and I'll admit, it did hurt a little bit however we eased into it and it wasn't too bad... honestly, doing it after my LEEP surgery hurt a lot worse!

This weekend we started packing up our apartment in anticipation for our upcoming move in a few weeks - we made a pretty nice dent in things!

We bought a basic 1 gallon humidifier too at Walmart - it seems to be helping, Jay hasn't woken up with a stuffy nose since we started using it!

We also gave Jay his weekend bath last night... and at the end of it, Little Man decided the tub needed to be turned into a fountain! It was the funniest thing ever and his facial expression (his surprised "whoa" face where he gets all big and wide-eyed and his mouth makes an O shape) made it even funnier! And he didn't just shoot pee up once, but twice! Hubby and I both about died laughing! Seriously, considering he only has 1 working kidney at the moment, he pees A LOT and seems to get a good range on it too!

This morning I'm taking Jay to Grammie's Grandma Shower that her ladies she meets with on Mondays for coffee are throwing her - they were going to throw it at the beginning of February but Jay was born around the time they had originally planned and then we had the hospital mess too when they rescheduled it... since he's here now though they've invited me to come and bring him too so we're doing that early this morning. Then later today in the afternoon we have our home inspection - hopefully everything goes well with it!

The past week

Where did I leave off...

Let's see...

Last weekend hubby and I went into Schaumburg for Jeny & Tim's engagement bash at Gameworks. It was pretty fun and they had quite the turnout of friends show up throughout the night too, many of which I had met before. We had dinner with them in the attached restaurant and by the time we were done eating they had kicked out all the under 21 people and had the bar going. It was my first time out drinking since last spring. I started out with a long island which got me a little drink by the end of dinner, then we did a shot (I chose Jager, having forgotten that it tastes like cough syrup) and then I got an Ameretto stone sour but it was kinda weak so I finished it rather fast. I went back and got another long island although I didn't drink it fast enough and the ice melted and the last 1/3 of it was really watery. We played a bunch of games though - I played some DDR (and did pretty decent considering I was technically drunk) and made to level 3 of Capcom vs Marvel a la button mashing (I gave up paying attention to the buttons and just mashed em all at once, which proved successful!). Around midnight we decided to start playing the games that give out tickets in hopes of getting Jay a stuffed animal. It ended up being a fun night!

On Sunday we took Jay to his first birthday party - my friend's daughter turned 1 and they had a bunch of family and friends there, including a handful of us with babies. Jay was the youngest of the babies and the only boy too. He kept sleeping on and off throughout the whole time although he did sit in my lap and watch her open her presents for a bit, which was cute! He also got a goodie bag which included 2 Garanimals finger puppets, a fishy water squirter and a teether. I'd say it went pretty well!

1st stroller ride on the nearby walking/bike path

It's been nice out this week too, in the upper 50s/low 60s the past few days. On Wednesday Jay and I went for a walk via the stroller out on the nearby walking/bike path. Gotta admit, I'm going to miss having that around the block once we move! Jay seemed to enjoy it - he stayed awake the whole time, just looking around and taking everything in...

Monday was his follow-up doctor's appointment. He weighed 8lbs even - woot! The doctor officially reduced the amount of calories we're giving him (24 down from 27, even though I've been giving him 24) and we don't have to go back in until his regular 2 month check-up at the beginning of April. He also got his Hep-B booster, which poor guy... he didn't know it was coming! He was all sucky calmly and happily on his binky when she gave him the shot and wow... he shrieked and it took a good minute or so of mama hugging him and rubbing his back to get him to calm down.

I also asked about him waking up all congested with a stuffy nose lately - doctor said it's probably just humidity, as that tends to affect babies when the weather gets warmer out. He suggested we get a humidifier or child saline drops to stuck in his nose and suck the stuff out. I think we're going to look into the humidifier. 

Yesterday we had his follow-up urology appointment where they did an ultrasound there. The doctor said the kidney blockage looks slightly moderate so they're going to have us go up to the children's hospital in Madison for 2 tests, one of which is a renal scan that might be able to tell us why it's blocked and the other involves a catheter which isn't going to be fun =/ This should take place in about 2 weeks.

We also went to the bank and signed the loan paperwork - assuming our home inspection on Monday goes well, we should be closing either at the very end of the month or the first week of April, yay! Jay needs his own room... it's hard putting him down at night and keeping him in his own bed as I wake up to the slightest noise he makes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jay celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day too - I had gotten him a green onesie at Target that says "Irish (I wish) you would KISS ME" as on my side of the family we're both Irish and Scots-Irish.

Today I have my post-partum check-up at the OBGYN. Going to see about them getting me back on the pill (although now I have to wait til next month to start taking it) and get a note saying I can go back to work as The Children's Place requires it for me to come back and be put on the schedule. Hopefully that goes well!

End of week wrap-up

So Jay is 5 weeks old this morning.

Mommy's Little Monkey

The visiting nurse came Tuesday evening and weighed him at 7lbs, 11oz (despite the doctor's office scale the day before clocking him at 7lbs, 6oz) and then she came for the last time this morning and he weighed 7lbs, 13oz! Either way, he's growing!

Once he hits 8lbs we can start fitting him into some of the 0-3month sized clothes he has plenty of, as those are good for 8-12lbs - I'm guessing after next week he'll be into them (which is good cuz the St. Patrick's Day onesie I bought him is newborn size!)

Last night he slept a good 3 hours in the bassinet (from about 430am-730am) before waking up to eat. He's also been eating 2.5-3oz per feeding on average and sometimes he'll down as much as 4oz! I'm thrilled!

Today was a nice day - we woke up by 1030am as the visiting nurse was supposed to be by a little after 11... well she didn't get there til almost noon, but whatever. Then we took a nice nap together on the couch til about 230pm and then got ready to go out to the mall for a bit to do some mall walking with mommy's friend and her 2 young kids (one's 4, the other is turning 1 this weekend). Jay fell asleep as soon as we got to the mall and didn't wake up til almost 2 hours later when we left. Then my inlaws came over for a bit to spend some time with Jay and now we're just hanging out the 2 of us like we usually do late at night.

Jay's latest thing this week, aside from being alert and looking at everything, is faking sleep. When he wants you stop trying to burp him he'll pretend to fall asleep. When he doesn't want his binky anymore, he'll pretend to fall asleep. His honorary aunt Jeny who's in town this week to do some wedding planning came by and soon after she started holding him he pretended to fall asleep as he didn't know who she was. How do we know he's faking? He over exaggerates his breathing, will creep open one eye to peak out and see if you notice him "sleeping" and he'll give this big silly grin if you catch him with his eye open, lol... it's pretty funny!

So tomorrow Jay gets to spend the evening with Grammie and Grandpap as mommy and daddy are going into the suburbs and then Sunday Jay has his first birthday party to attend (my friend's daughter who's turning 1). Next week I have 3 doctor appointments to go to - Jay's follow-up at the doctor's office on Monday, his follow-up urology appointment on Thursday, and then on Friday I have my 6 week post-partum appointment - hopefully I'll get my birth control prescription filled and a note saying I'm good to go back to work as I need to make some monies so I can spoil Jay some more and get us furniture and decorative stuff for our new home.

Hospital follow-up

Today we had our follow-up doctor's appointment since being discharged from the hospital a week ago.

They weighed Jay as being 7lbs, 6oz, which seems to be consistent with the scale the visiting nurse has been using and continuing to show that it seems Jay is putting on an ounce a day! At the rate he's going, we should be out of newborn sized clothing and finally into the 0-3 month sized ones within 2 weeks or so! How exciting as we have a bunch of 0-3 month sized stuff as that's mainly what we were buying as we thought he was going to be a bit bigger, like at least 8lbs!

Doc was looking over all the lab test results that came back too - he was going to double check with the doctors we had at the hospital, but he said from what he could tell everything looked fine.

He said that Jay looks a lot better than he did last time he saw him and that he said he finally feels a lot better about him too now that he's put on some weight and is finally growing like he should. He wants us to come back in a week just to see how he's doing, if he's continuing to progress. Then hopefully we'll be back on the regular doctor's visit schedule.

Tomorrow we're signing the final contract to the offer on the house and then we just have to wait for the loan to go through and then we can close on it. Our lender said it shouldn't take more than 3 weeks, but you never know. Hopefully we'll be closing by the end of the month if we're lucky and moving in right away too!

A day to celebrate

Today we had a number of things to be happy about!

First, we had Jay's first appointment at the urologist. Since the hospital did an ultrasound on his kidney last week while we were there, today was more just a meet and greet with the doctor as he said there was no need for another ultrasound on it so soon. He did say though, when I asked, that it doesn't look to be severe at all - more mild in fact - and so we don't need to talk or think about surgery at this point yet. So yay for that! He has coming back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound on it though and it looks like we're just going to be monitoring it that way for awhile in hopes that as Jay continues to grow it'll just naturally unblock itself.

Then, throughout the day I had several interactions with our realtor. He called me back this morning while I was feeding Jay, apologizing for not getting back to us yesterday as he somehow missed the message that we had called when his meeting ran long and he just got it this morning. We told him the counter-counter offer of $70k was fine, but he did said he was going to push for the later closing date just because he wanted to make sure we had enough time for the loan to go through. At lunch I got an email from him with an attached amendum from the bank/seller saying for us to look through it and call him to set up a time to sign it. Then he called me a little while later going over a few things in it (I hadn't had time to read through it yet) and also said that he was able to get them to accept our previous offer of $68k! How neat! Also, hubby dropped off the rest of the paperwork the bank lady needed and she emailed me to confirm that we were good to go!

So it looks like we'll be moving by mid-April at the very latest! How exciting!

Also this afternoon we had our next visit with the visiting nurse to check Jay's weight - he's up 3 more ounces (now 7lbs, 3oz)! Yay! I hope the doctor is pleased with his weight gain when we go back in for his post-hospital follow-up on Monday.

4 weeks come and gone!

Tomorrow morning Jay is going to be 4 weeks old already! I guess losing a week, stuck in the hospital really made it fly by!

So they say by the end of the first month he should start holding his head up... well, he's been working on that since he was 3 days old and he's gotten quite good at it, being able to hold it straight up on his own for several seconds.

He's also sort of getting into a routine - we go to bed around 330/4am when daddy gets home from work (Jay is usually finishing a bottle or just recently finished one by this point). Jay wakes up (usually) around 6am wanting to eat more and then again around 9am when daddy is leaving for work. Then we go back to sleep til about 11 or 12 and he eats "lunch" before taking a short nap, eating again around 3pm and then he passes out til 6 or 7pm before eating again. He usually eats again between 9 and 10pm, falls asleep and then eats again around midnight or 1am before sleeping a bit more until it's time to eat again.

The last 2 nights though he skipped the 6am feeding and just slept right through for a good 5/6 hours straight! He sleeps in the bassinet for a few hours (which is better than none like before!), but usually ends up on my chest, snuggling with me.

He's becoming more aware of things too - he likes to look around and take things in (in the hospital one night, I was sitting on the chair at an angle where he could look out the window in the door and out into the hallway - he was very intrigued by people walking past!) and when I read to him now he looks at the pictures on the pages too! He's aware of daddy - there were several times last night where no matter what I did he wouldn't stop crying and fussing... I passed him off to daddy and within a minute or so he was calmed down - he just wanted daddy and not mommy! Doh!

Tomorrow is his first appointment with the urologist... I'm hoping his enlarged kidney is only mild or moderate and they just want to monitor it instead of it being severe and him needing surgery to get rid of the blockage!

We've had several counter-offers already on the house - they came back to our $65k offer with $71.3k... we countered with $68k and today they came back with $70k which is what we were wanting them to drop it to! I didn't get to speak to our realtor today though to confirm the offer, as he sent us the email and said he was going to be in a meeting all afternoon and to call him between a certain timeframe as he had a house to show later in the day too... I called but the receptionist said he was still in his meeting so I left a voicemail and sent him an email saying to call us when he could... so we're waiting. Which sucks. But unless something major falls through, we should be closing on the house near the end of the month and moving in ASAP!

We also got some fun stuff coming up within the next week - I'm excited!

My college roommate is coming up from Dallas to visit for a week or so and get some wedding stuff done as they're having it up here. She's got an appointment for us bridesmaids setup at David's Bridal this Sunday so we're meeting for lunch beforehand and then trying on dresses! Then on Wednesday her and her fiance are coming to us to visit and meet Jay - she said she plans on buying him Converse shoes as he grows up. Fine with me - they're cute! Friday they're having an engagement party with their friends up here at Gamewerks in Schaumburg so hubby and I are planning on going. The following Sunday is my good friend's daughter's 1st birthday party that we're invited to, so that should be fun! Our kids (her son just turned 4, her daughter is turning 1) are likely going to know each other pretty well as we're planning on going for regular walks this summer and doing other stuff together once the kids are a little bigger (like play days at the children's museum, etc).

Jay update!

Today we had our first visit from the visiting nurse as they said one would be coming twice a week for 2 weeks to check Jay's weight and make sure he was still making progress, growth-wise.

Well, as of this evening, he's up to 7lbs even! Woot!!

The visit went alright it seemed - he screamed bloody murder when I had to strip him down so she could weigh him and he ate 2.5oz while she asked me a bunch of questions about him and my pregnancy and delivery, etc.

She'll be back Friday for another weight check up.

I ran into our landlord today for the first time in months. He saw me carrying in Jay in his carrier and helped get the door for me, asking if he was our baby or someone's we were watching. I said he was ours and the response was "Really?! I didn't even know you were pregnant!" I told him Jay was almost 4 weeks old and he was surprised too! Guess our landlord's been out of the loop! lol...

I also realized that the house we put an offer in on today is in the city and not the county so that means we can finally get library cards!! I'm so excited - I haven't had a library card since I was a kid when my dad would take me a few Saturdays a month. See, here if you live in the city, your library card is covered by your city taxes, but if you live in the random county patches well, it's $100 annually that you have to pay upfront so obviously you can see why I haven't had one in years. I'm really excited though and I look forward to taking Jay to get a library card in a few years too!

And on a sidenote...

Jay is NEVER going to have clean sleeves again. This weekend at the hospital he figured out that he can wipe his mouth off on his sleeve and he was regularly beating me to wiping the milkies off his face! We started him back on his medicine tonight and while we had a bib on him, he attempted to wipe his mouth off with his "good" shirt sleeve... this is bad because the medicine is pink and stains! We kept having to grab his arm to stop him from doing it! lol...

Just not Jay's day

So today we had Jay's weight follow-up appointment to see if he had gained anymore weight this week as on Monday his 10 day weight gain wasn't quite what the doctor would have liked it to have been.

Well... he LOST weight!

At the appointment Monday, with his clothes on, he weighed 6lbs, 9oz, today he is 6lbs, 7oz!

><

The doctor said he doesn't look or seem dehydrated, his color is good, and he's pooping and peeing as much as he should so it's not like he's starving, but for some reason he's not gaining weight.

He told us to get some formula and 4oz bottles and start supplementing over the weekend, doing 5 minutes of breastmilk if we want and then giving Jay a bottle of formula a minimum of every 3 hours in hopes he'll gain some weight over the weekend as we have another follow-up on Monday morning. If he doesn't gain any back and then some we'll have look into there maybe being another reason why he's not gaining any weight.

We're thinking it might just be that my milk production is low - Jay nurses plenty, that's for sure, sometimes as often as every hour or more during the morning hours! But we notice it seems to pass through him real quickly (like before he's even done eating) and I've noticed the past few days my boobs don't seem as "full" as they were...

Maybe switching to formula though will help him sleep better at night (and maybe even in the bassinet!) if he's getting a full tummy - I know it'll help me a little as I won't feel so "on my own" when it comes to feeding, as others will be able to feed him now too.

My mom bought him some Nuk brand bottles, as I had tried The 1st Years Breastflow ones last night and Jay didn't seem to take to it well - his binky is by Nuk though and their bottles have the same nipple as his binky so that seemed to go a little better although he only ate a little over an ounce...

Poor Little Man - just isn't his day today, with the bad news from the doctor about his weight to having to switch to formula... on top of it, when we got home from shopping I went to change his diapey and well, in the process he peed all over himself again and this time he got some in his face! Poor guy... he had the initial shock of it hitting his face before he started freaking out... I did a quick "mop up" of him and the changing table before taking him to the bathroom for a spongebath and hair wash, which he wasn't happy about either! Daddy came home though and he's been snuggling with him ever since.

Some 1sts for Jay

Yesterday was February 14th - Valentine's Day - and it was also Jay's 1st trip to the doctor's office!

Daddy couldn't join us so Grammie tagged along. Getting ready in the morning was going smoothly - we seem to have a bit of a routine, where Jay sleeps for a few hours, eats, goes back to sleep and wakes up a few hours later more nom noms before mommy gets ready for the day. I figured I'd feed him again before we left for the doctor's office and change his diaper too so he'd be good to go. Well... as expected after he eats, Jay had a poopy diaper. As I'm changing him, waiting for Grammie to arrive, he pees... and gets himself on the top of his shirt as well as entire side of his hair! We had just given him a bath the night before too! Quickly, I wiped and wetted his hair as we had about 5 minutes til we needed to leave, and changed his clothes.

We got to the doctor's office with about 5 minutes to spare and all the nurses and staff couldn't get over how little he was and how cute he was.

They weighed him - at 10 days old he weighed 6lbs, 9oz - at birth he was 6lbs, 7oz and when we left the hospital he was down to 6lbs, 1oz. He also measured 20inches long - 1 inch bigger than he was at birth. The doctor wants us to come back in at the end of the week to weigh him again, as he feels he should have gained a few more ounces over his birth weight than he has and said that unless he's sleeping, make sure he's eating every 2-3 hours (which is what I've been aiming for), otherwise we might have to consider supplementing with formula (which I have no problem with, but hubby would rather not have to spend the extra money on it when we could just breastfeed for free).

We also discussed the kidney ultrasound - it appears that one of his kidney's is indeed blocked, and while the doctor said that the Good Lord gave us 2 and you only need 1 to function which clearly the 1 is working just fine, obviously he'd like both of them to be working. He called up a pediatric urologist in town and have us meeting him in 3 weeks to see how it's doing with a follow-up ultrasound. He said it is possible that as Jay grows, the kidney could very well unblock on its own, but it's worth looking into now. The official term for it is called Hydronephrosis - he's a good article on it that states exactly what the doctor told us for those that are interested.

He did give us a prescription for Amoxycillan as right now there is concern that with the blockage, there may be old urine/fluid trapped inside the kidney which could eventually lead to an infection so we need to take preventative measures to kill anything off now so that doesn't happen.

Snuggling with mommy

Other than that, the doctor said he's perfectly healthy. Jay of course did not like the physical part of the exam when we had to strip him down to his diaper - poor kid doesn't like getting undressed or having his diaper changed, so I guess we won't have to worry about him being a little exhibitionist anytime soon!

We gave Jay his 1st prescription last night - 3/4 a tsp administered by a dropper into his mouth around "bedtime". Daddy held him while mommy gave it to him in 1/4 tsp increments so he could swallow easily. He seemed to like it! We read over the side effects and allergic symptoms and I monitored him the next few hours just to make sure he didn't have any reactions to it. Seemed to be okay!

Regarding his prescription, our local Walgreens yesterday seemed to be the place to get flicked off at!

I drove through on our way home to drop off the prescription as I'm going through the parking lot, this redneck in a truck is backing out. I had a stop sign there so I was waiting, but the guy nearly slammed on the gas while backing up and literally almost backed into me - he was about a foot or 2 from my front bumper when I laid on the horn, as he backing out too fast! The guy however must not have realized how close he came to backing up over me and stuck his arm out his window, flipping me off and yelling a big "f-you!" before peeling out - people leaving the store looked as confused as I did! Hubby picked up the prescription about an hour later after work and since Jay was new in their system it was taking a little longer than normal. Apparently the middle-aged woman behind hubby in the drive-thru was getting impatient and started screaming and yelling at him for taking too long and flipped him off as well!

Yesterday was also Valentine's Day. Hubby and I went out for dinner at Red Lobster while Grammie babysat Jay since my dad's out of town all week and she can't get enough of the Little Man. We were only gone a few hours and as much as I love my Little Man, it was nice to get out just the 2 of us. Jay also got his first Valentine's Day card from his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (my dad's parents) and they gave him $5 too - I'll hang onto that, maybe buy him a book or toy with it when he's a little older, as he's not much for toys yet.

Watching Star Wars with daddy

We also took him out to the mall on Sunday for his first ride in the stroller. He fell asleep as soon as we were in the car and slept the whole time we were out at the mall. We stopped in at work for me to show him off to some of the girls - the one manager couldn't get over how cute he was. I also learned I can't go back to work until I get a note from my doctor at my post-partum check-up that clears me. We had a bunch of random strangers at the mall commenting on how cute he is, asking how old, etc - hubby said he forgot that now that we're parents, anytime we go out in public with Jay we're going to have that happen! lol...

It's supposed to be in the 40s later this week - I'm hoping it doesn't rain so I can bust out the stroller and we can go walking on the walking path for a bit!