Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sleep Independence Day
Last night was pretty incredible in terms of sleep.
When I put Andrew down in his crib, drowsy but awake, he didn't cry to be picked back up right away. Instead he spent a half and hour wriggling around, settling and resettling, trying to find the perfect position in which to fell asleep. The only time he got upset was when I left the room for a minute, to see if I was distracting him too much. He didn't even need much patting or back rubbing, or cheek stroking. Mostly he just wanted to hold my hand and know I was there. And then finally, he drifted off to sleep... all by himself.
And then, if that wasn't crazy enough, when he woke up at 12:30am, I merely rubbed his back, said "night night," and held his hand and he drifted right back off. Then at his feeding wakeup at 2am, after he took the bottle, he rolled over and groped for my shirt. He didn't cry or ask to be held. It took another half hour for him to find a position he liked, but... he did it again, to sleep all by himself with minimal intervention from me.
Looks like he may become an independent sleeper before his sibling arrives after all!!
When I put Andrew down in his crib, drowsy but awake, he didn't cry to be picked back up right away. Instead he spent a half and hour wriggling around, settling and resettling, trying to find the perfect position in which to fell asleep. The only time he got upset was when I left the room for a minute, to see if I was distracting him too much. He didn't even need much patting or back rubbing, or cheek stroking. Mostly he just wanted to hold my hand and know I was there. And then finally, he drifted off to sleep... all by himself.
And then, if that wasn't crazy enough, when he woke up at 12:30am, I merely rubbed his back, said "night night," and held his hand and he drifted right back off. Then at his feeding wakeup at 2am, after he took the bottle, he rolled over and groped for my shirt. He didn't cry or ask to be held. It took another half hour for him to find a position he liked, but... he did it again, to sleep all by himself with minimal intervention from me.
Looks like he may become an independent sleeper before his sibling arrives after all!!
Monday, January 16, 2012
5am
i'm hanging out here with my guy, who has decided it's not cool to sleep in a bed, even the futon right next to mommy. I hear that someday, I'm going to want these times back. Hard to believe.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Dating and Viability
Today we had our first ultrasound to try and date the pregnancy. Boy, was it a shocker.
I had tried to estimate how far along I might be. I figured, the only sign I had was the drop in my milk supply, which occurred right around November 1. Assuming I got pregnant around the end of October, I'd be due in the end of July, and that would put me at 11 or 12 weeks along right now. That seemed pretty reasonable. And Andrew would be 15 months old at the birth.
So we went over to Swedish to the doc that Mountain Midwifery recommended. It was a bit annoying - we got there 10 minutes early to fill out paperwork, but they didn't even start my paper work until 10 minutes after my appointment time. And then it was the longest medical history *ever* - I was like, dude, I'm just here for a scan! And then the doc didn't come in the room until a full 40 minutes after our appointment time - and our appointment time was first thing! Bah.
Anyway, the doc came in, and he was chatting with me about what clued me in (drop in milk supply) and when I took the pregnancy test (New Year's Day), and I notice that he's got a condom in his hand. And then I realize he's going for the trans-vaginal ultrasound wand, as if he's looking for a speck or a blob or some really early thing. I said, "Um... I think I'm more like 12 weeks along." And he said, in sort of condescending fashion, "Well, let's just take a look and see what we see, hm?"
As soon as he put the thing in, a beautiful, perfect leg, knee, calf, and foot appeared on the screen (standing right on my bladder, which explained why I had to pee even though I just went).
Doc said, "Whoa. That's a big baby. That's a BIG BABY." And I'm thinking, "Please stop saying it like that!" His resident, who was in training, came over and palpated my abdomen, and she said, "Your uterus is at your belly button. That's, like, 20 weeks!" I plaintively responded, "Well, I might have a bit of a full bladder." And doc said, "A full bladder can make 16 weeks seem like 20 weeks. Let's get the right tool and take some measurements."
He got the wand for my abdomen, and quickly took some measurements of the head circumference and all the long bones. The machine did its little algorithm to average the measurements together and spit out that I was 16wks5days along, due June 20. About 5-6 weeks further along than I thought!
The doc seemed in a hurry and didn't seem keen on just browsing around looking at my beautiful kid who I didn't even know was there, so we didn't get much of a "tour." We did see that I have a nice-looking posterior placenta, which explains why I could feel clear kicks at 16 weeks along. I asked if he could see the gender, since I know that 17 weeks is right on the cusp of being able to tell, but the doc just blew me off and said, "We'll look next time." Well, maybe you would have time to look if you hadn't been running 40 minutes behind!
During all of this, Andrew was playing happily on the floor or on Daddy's lap, oblivious to his new sibling appearing on the screen.
I went back out to the reception desk, and the lady asked if he wanted to see me again. I told her yes, in three weeks. She asked if the doc had said what the appointment was for, what kind of ultrasound? "It'll be the 20 week anatomy scan," I said. Her jaw about hit the floor. "They told me it was a 1st trimester dating scan!" she gasped out. "Yeah, well, that's what I thought it was too!"
It was definitely another surprise, but I'm slowly getting used to the idea of my Irish twins (they'll be about 14 months apart). I know that it will be hard at first, but I really think there are a lot of good things about it.
Can't wait to see what else this kid has in store for us!
I had tried to estimate how far along I might be. I figured, the only sign I had was the drop in my milk supply, which occurred right around November 1. Assuming I got pregnant around the end of October, I'd be due in the end of July, and that would put me at 11 or 12 weeks along right now. That seemed pretty reasonable. And Andrew would be 15 months old at the birth.
So we went over to Swedish to the doc that Mountain Midwifery recommended. It was a bit annoying - we got there 10 minutes early to fill out paperwork, but they didn't even start my paper work until 10 minutes after my appointment time. And then it was the longest medical history *ever* - I was like, dude, I'm just here for a scan! And then the doc didn't come in the room until a full 40 minutes after our appointment time - and our appointment time was first thing! Bah.
Anyway, the doc came in, and he was chatting with me about what clued me in (drop in milk supply) and when I took the pregnancy test (New Year's Day), and I notice that he's got a condom in his hand. And then I realize he's going for the trans-vaginal ultrasound wand, as if he's looking for a speck or a blob or some really early thing. I said, "Um... I think I'm more like 12 weeks along." And he said, in sort of condescending fashion, "Well, let's just take a look and see what we see, hm?"
As soon as he put the thing in, a beautiful, perfect leg, knee, calf, and foot appeared on the screen (standing right on my bladder, which explained why I had to pee even though I just went).
 |
| Well, hello there, future soccer star |
Doc said, "Whoa. That's a big baby. That's a BIG BABY." And I'm thinking, "Please stop saying it like that!" His resident, who was in training, came over and palpated my abdomen, and she said, "Your uterus is at your belly button. That's, like, 20 weeks!" I plaintively responded, "Well, I might have a bit of a full bladder." And doc said, "A full bladder can make 16 weeks seem like 20 weeks. Let's get the right tool and take some measurements."
He got the wand for my abdomen, and quickly took some measurements of the head circumference and all the long bones. The machine did its little algorithm to average the measurements together and spit out that I was 16wks5days along, due June 20. About 5-6 weeks further along than I thought!
 |
| Baby's face, looking up at us |
The doc seemed in a hurry and didn't seem keen on just browsing around looking at my beautiful kid who I didn't even know was there, so we didn't get much of a "tour." We did see that I have a nice-looking posterior placenta, which explains why I could feel clear kicks at 16 weeks along. I asked if he could see the gender, since I know that 17 weeks is right on the cusp of being able to tell, but the doc just blew me off and said, "We'll look next time." Well, maybe you would have time to look if you hadn't been running 40 minutes behind!
During all of this, Andrew was playing happily on the floor or on Daddy's lap, oblivious to his new sibling appearing on the screen.
I went back out to the reception desk, and the lady asked if he wanted to see me again. I told her yes, in three weeks. She asked if the doc had said what the appointment was for, what kind of ultrasound? "It'll be the 20 week anatomy scan," I said. Her jaw about hit the floor. "They told me it was a 1st trimester dating scan!" she gasped out. "Yeah, well, that's what I thought it was too!"
It was definitely another surprise, but I'm slowly getting used to the idea of my Irish twins (they'll be about 14 months apart). I know that it will be hard at first, but I really think there are a lot of good things about it.
Can't wait to see what else this kid has in store for us!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sleep training
Because we've had to wean to formula due to low milk supply, our nighttime strategy has become problematic. basically I've been side-lying nursing whenever he wakes up so we can both go back to sleep as soon as possible. However, since the onset of low milk supply, he's been waking up 6-8 times a night, and since we've begun the weaning process, it's even more often than that. Last night, for example ended up being 11 wakeups, with some sleep intervals only 20 minutes. Obviously this is neither healthy nor sustainable for him or me, so something had to change. I've been happy to continue to try to night-nurse him, just to ease the transition to weaning, but really, I can't live with this schedule much longer.
I've been working on updating our go-to-bed routine, to move the feeding part earlier and then not nurse or feed to sleep. I was hoping that once he realized we weren't going to nurse to sleep, this would catch on for the rest of the night. Going to sleep initially without nursing worked fairly well right away. There was a bit of protest, but mostly he'd just eventually roll over and close his eyes. However, he was waking up earlier and more often demanding to nurse, so that plan sort of backfired.
Last night he went less than two hours on his first block of sleep, and then he demanded to nurse. Some light bulb went on in my head and I realized that we were going to have to make a change. So I decided that I wasn't going to nurse him.
Boy, was he MAD.
He cried in my arms for about an hour. Then he cried in Travis's arms for about a half hour. Then he cried in my arms for 20 minutes before finally accepting his fate and dropping off to sleep. He had wakeups for bottles at 12:45am and 3:45am and a short "oops I shouldn't be awake yet" wakeup at 5:30am before waking happily for the day at 6:30am. He didn't ask to nurse again all night. And he's been in a great mood all day.
I have all sorts of mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I do think that ultimately it was the right call to quit night nursing cold turkey. The sooner he moves on, the sooner we can try to reestablish some sort of workable sleep schedule. And it was really important for me to be there with him while he was upset. Hopefully this was the worst night of this thing and it'll get better from here.
I've been working on updating our go-to-bed routine, to move the feeding part earlier and then not nurse or feed to sleep. I was hoping that once he realized we weren't going to nurse to sleep, this would catch on for the rest of the night. Going to sleep initially without nursing worked fairly well right away. There was a bit of protest, but mostly he'd just eventually roll over and close his eyes. However, he was waking up earlier and more often demanding to nurse, so that plan sort of backfired.
Last night he went less than two hours on his first block of sleep, and then he demanded to nurse. Some light bulb went on in my head and I realized that we were going to have to make a change. So I decided that I wasn't going to nurse him.
Boy, was he MAD.
He cried in my arms for about an hour. Then he cried in Travis's arms for about a half hour. Then he cried in my arms for 20 minutes before finally accepting his fate and dropping off to sleep. He had wakeups for bottles at 12:45am and 3:45am and a short "oops I shouldn't be awake yet" wakeup at 5:30am before waking happily for the day at 6:30am. He didn't ask to nurse again all night. And he's been in a great mood all day.
I have all sorts of mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I do think that ultimately it was the right call to quit night nursing cold turkey. The sooner he moves on, the sooner we can try to reestablish some sort of workable sleep schedule. And it was really important for me to be there with him while he was upset. Hopefully this was the worst night of this thing and it'll get better from here.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Quickening
I was laying on my stomach on the living room floor, and I felt the baby move for the first time. Crazy. This is really happening!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)