10 (and a half!) Weeks and a Check Up

My baby girl is 10 weeks old now!  She's growing so fast!  She's been smiling more and more (whenever she's not sleeping or crying!) and she's been taking more of an interest in looking at things.  She's still not terribly interested in grabbing for things yet, but she really studies anything she looks at and LOVES to watch her mobile spin in her crib!  We've done a lot in the past two weeks, here's a quick (or not so quick, haha) overview . . .

I'm not big enough to really use the jumperoo yet, but it's fun to sit in sometimes!

First and possibly most exciting: SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!  On March 9th (into the 10th).  It was daylight savings, so I was really not looking forward to missing an hour of sleep due to feeding her and then another hour due to the time change.  Earlier in the week I had mentioned to Andy that I thought it would be nice if she would pick that night to sleep straight through.  I didn't think she would actually do it!  I was so proud.  She went from 10:30 pm to 7:00 am with not even any fussing in between.  Granted, her body thought that it was 6:00 when she woke up, but still.  That's pretty darn good!  She's been doing that pretty consistently since then.  She did get up at 4:00 once, but other than that she's been making it to at least 5:30.  Andy's alarm clock goes off at 5:30 and it is CRAZY loud and across the room so it goes off for a while until he can get to it, so that wakes her up sometimes and then she realizes she is hungry.  She has been going back to sleep though until 9 or 10, which is just icing on the cake.  Consequently, I've been feeling a lot  better lately!  That also means though that Ellie's been sleeping less throughout the day.  That wouldn't be a bad thing, but when she's awake, she wants to be held.  So it is still pretty difficult to get showered and dressed for the day.  Everything else I can pretty much manage while holding or wearing her, but that just really doesn't work in the shower.  We usually manage, it's just not terribly easy!

So then on the 12th we had our official two month check-up.  It was ridiculous.  First, the good news: 10 lbs. 2 oz. and (still) 21.5 inches long!  Chunker!  We love our doctor, really we do.  And we've never had any other problems at this office, so I'm pretty sure the nurse was just having a bad day, but it was still enough to make me madder than I've been in quite a while.  I try really, really hard not to judge people in jobs that I couldn't do myself.  There are so many things about nursing that I just wouldn't be able to do, so I have a LOT of respect for the profession, but this was just plain bad.

First, she forgot to get out the little blue pad that you lay the naked baby on to take them out to the scale.  Not a big thing, but looking back it was an indication that her mind wasn't really with-it that day.  Ellie had fallen into a DEEP sleep in the car seat, so she was really upset when I woke her up to take her clothes and diaper off.  Then we took  her out to the scale (with everyone staring at us because she was screaming so loud) and the nurse started at 6 pounds and then went up from there.  Um, you were just looking at her chart.  Can't you see that she weighed 9 pounds last week??  Let's just take our time going up, ounce by ounce, from 6 pounds while she lays there screaming and peeing everywhere.  That sounds like a good idea.  Then when she finally got the correct weight dialed in and it was all balanced, she read it wrong by a full pound.  I was looking right at it and had to correct her and then she was rude to me about it.  You read it wrong by an ounce and it's not that big of a deal, but a full pound?  Come on.

So we get back to the room and she takes her temperature.  I don't think ANY baby likes that.  Especially not a colic-y baby who was just woken up from a nap and is already screaming her head off.  So she gets the thermometer up there and holds it there for a bit and removes it before realizing she had turned the machine on, but hadn't hit 'start', so it wasn't actually taking her temperature.  So we had to do it all over again.  At this point, I was a  little annoyed, but still sympathetic to the fact that she was doing her best with a screaming infant.  Apparently the screaming was so bad that another nurse came in to check and see if she needed help, which she of course denied.

Then our doctor came in and did her stuff and Ellie was pretty good for that.  We got a prescription for an anti-fungal to add to the antibiotic that we are using on her super stubborn rash.  (Sidenote: it is actually helping!  Slowly but surely, those stupid blisters are going away!)  Ellie was due for 4 shots and an oral vaccination that day, so after the doctor was done she left and said the nurse would be back in to administer the vaccines.  Not a problem.  I got Ellie dressed and actually got her to go back to sleep while we waited for the nurse.  40 MINUTES LATER the nurse finally poked her head back in the room and said, "Oh, you're still here!  Oh that's right, you need shots!  I forgot!  Sorry!  Be right back!"  10 MORE MINUTES LATER, "We're looking to see if we have any combo shots that we can give her!  Be right back!"  The she SLAMMED the door behind her, which woke her up and started the screaming again.  10 MORE MINUTES LATER she finally comes in with the four shots and a second nurse.  She took the oral vaccine with no problem and then they double-teamed the actual shots.  They each did one in each leg at the same time so there were only two real occasions of getting stuck.  (Sidenote: the 'backup' nurse that was there was excellent!)  By this time it was 3:30 and Ellie was a half-hour past due to eat, so she was pretty cranky.  FINALLY got all of that done.  Then she walks out of the room and takes our check-out papers with her.  Well, we can't leave without those!  I got Ellie strapped into the car seat and caught her in the hall and asked for our papers, which she was rude about again.  I'm sorry, but if you wouldn't make these kinds of mistakes, I wouldn't have to bring them to your attention.  Not trying to tell you how to do your job, just trying to get OUT OF HERE!

The line to check-out was super long, but a kind office lady opened up another station to help me so that we didn't have to wait.  I think she did it to get the crying baby out of the office, but it was still nice.  Like I said, we've always had good experiences there except for this one lady.  So we left the doctor and went to the pharmacy, where the line was pretty long again.  Luckily both of these places are within blocks of our house, so as soon as I paid the pharmacy bill, we had a short trip home and Ellie finally got to eat.  Poor baby was pretty miserable the rest of the night from the shots, so we kept tylenol in her.  The next day she just wanted to sleep all day, but didn't seem like she felt bad otherwise.  And after that she was back to her normal self.  I guess I'm the only one that is still suffering ill effects from that trip to the doctor.  Ugh.  I still can't get over how bad that trip was.  I guess the best news is that we don't HAVE to go back until May!  We may very well be in before that for something or other, but the goal is to not be back until our 4 month check-up.

Ok, enough ranting about the doctor!  Ellie's been meeting LOTS of new friends lately!  Two Saturdays ago she met her Great-Aunt and Uncle on Andy's side of the family.  She got cranky and wanted to eat in the middle of their visit, so we gave her a bottle that we had in the fridge. Sunday was church, so she got a bottle during Sunday School and then there was a fellowship meal after the service, so she had a bottle then, too.  I was keeping up with pumping the whole time, but apparently not well enough.  Sunday evening, Andy's cousin and his wife and daughter came over for a bit, so she had another bottle.  I got a chill in the middle of their visit and just couldn't shake it.  I thought maybe I was just chilly.  It had been REALLY nice out earlier in the day, but when the sun went down it got downright cold, so I thought that was my problem.  Took my temperature after they left and sure enough, I had a little fever.  Hmmm, that's odd.  I didn't feel sick.  Within an hour it was up to 103!  That's when I figured it out.  I had had plugged ducts before, but they always cleared before it could build up any kind of infection.  I guess I was too busy that weekend to notice or properly take care of it.  After Ellie ate her night time meal, I was able to clear it and get it drained.  I will spare you the details, but it was pretty gross.  The fever was gone INSTANTLY.  The next day, I was pretty sleepy all day long, but made an otherwise rapid and full recovery.  Ugh, I hope that never happens again!  Luckily, we were able to have really nice visits with all of those family members!

Playing on my new Tummy-Time mat!  Thank-you Adam, Sarah, and Luci!

Sometimes Tummy-Time turns into Nap Time!  It's hard work being so cute!

Sunday afternoon, before our visitors came over, we were able to go out and take our first family walk in the park!  I loved it.  Andy loved it.  Ellie took a nap.  Usually I take that to mean that she's having a good time, haha!  I can't wait until the weather warms up for good and we can do that on a regular basis!

This past Saturday, we had a bunch of college friends over to hang out and catch up.  It was SO WONDERFUL to see them all!  We had seen some at a wedding in November, but not everybody.  Two of these friends had gotten married in January, when Ellie was just two weeks old.  We were so sad to not be able to make it to their wedding, so it was especially nice to see them now!  And another set of friends are expecting a baby of their own in May, so it was fun 'talking shop' with them.  It was just such a good afternoon/evening.  We're planning on doing it again this summer, once we get the pool opened up.  I can't wait!

New Friends Anna, Miley, and Laura!  (Their husbands refused to hold me!)

Sunday, Ellie got to celebrate her first St. Patrick's Day!  Usually, we don't really do anything to celebrate this particular holiday, but I couldn't resist this adorable little shirt.  I had dressed her in it and her first pair of jeans for church and she proceeded to poop all over them during Sunday School.  So she ended up wearing something else most of the day, but it was laundry time anyway, so it got all washed up and was still able to be worn for part of the evening.

And that's pretty much all that's been happening in the past two weeks!  This week is scheduled to be pretty boring, which is nice every so often.  Yesterday I was even able to work on some unpacking!  I got half of the bookshelf done.  It was really difficult to do while wearing her in the carrier, but my sore legs are evidence of it being a great workout!  If you need to do some strength training for your legs, just let me know and you can borrow her sometime :-)  

2 Months!

My little Ellie is 2 months old today!

(she generally has better control of her head than that picture shows - she just must have been feeling lazy!)

I can't believe it!  She's getting so very big.  Her doctor is out of the office this week, so we won't have her 2 month check-up until next week.  I did have her at the doctor on Friday though, so we're just going to call those her 2 month old measurements. She weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long.  I saw the graph of  her growth and the line is really steep!  She's making really rapid progress toward catching up to other 'average' babies her age.  She's finally grown out of a few of her newborn sized onesies, although we just made that determination on Sunday morning.  Her 0-3 month sized clothes are still a little too big, but that won't last long, I'm sure.

(as a reminder, here's what that same outfit looked like on her 2 months ago . . .)

Ellie still is struggling with her digestive issues, so we had another doctor's appointment on Friday to see what it could be.  She said that it clearly isn't a dairy allergy (yay ice cream!), so it's probably 'just' colic.  She has a mild case, which I'm very thankful for, but it's definitely colic.  She will sleep at night (so far), which is a HUGE blessing, but she is very fussy and restless during the day, which makes it nearly impossible to get anything done.  Yesterday, for example, she was content to sit in her bouncy chair for about 20 minutes, so I was able to get a shower.  After that, she was screaming unless I was holding her.  I needed to run to town and do some errands (like getting books for my Tuesday night student), so sometimes I just had to let her scream.  As soon as I got her in the car, she was out.  Completely gone.  And she slept for the entire 3 1/2 hours that we were out.  There's just something about riding in the car or in a shopping cart that really relaxes her.  It's not the car seat.  If you put her in it and just let her sit, she's not a happy camper.  But snap it into the car and start driving and she practically hibernates.  Until you're stopped at a red light - then she wakes up and fusses at you until you start going again.  *sigh*

Snoozing in my new swing - THANKS GRANDMA!!

Luckily, the doctor (and pretty much everyone else) said she should grow out of it.  But no one can say when.  The doctor mentioned that around 2 months is when the colic symptoms are usually the worst, so hopefully it will start getting better from here on out.  It's just so hard when she's crying and there's nothing I can do for her.  It really makes you feel like a bad mom.  You have that feeling that you SHOULD be able to comfort your child.  You SHOULD know what's wrong and how to fix it.  The incessant crying combined with the lack of sleep really wears you down.  I can't imagine how it would be if she had a 'bad' case of it instead of a 'mild' case.  She does have one or two times per day where she is mostly happy and content, at least for a little while.  I live for those times.  She actually smiles and wants to play like a typical baby her age.  It's encouraging to know that my happy girl is still in there somewhere.

Hanging out "reading" a book while Mommy does her hair

In other news, on Saturday we went to the local hardware store for a picture with the Easter bunny!  They partnered with a local photography studio and provided a family fun day with snacks and crafts for the kids and free pictures with the bunny.  It was nice!  Ellie obviously wasn't old enough for anything but the picture, but that's ok.  I was nervous that she would scream or puke on him, but she was great.  She fell asleep as soon as the photographer put her into his arms.  He must have been pretty warm and snuggly.  We get to go pick them up on Saturday, so we'll see how they turned out!

Look at my big muscles!

We also tried our first cloth diaper last night!  We've been meaning to for a while, but she still has that really stubborn rash on her bottom that requires an antibiotic ointment to be put on 3 times a day.  It's generally not a good idea to get that kind of stuff on the cloth diapers, so we have to keep using disposables most of the time.  Anyway, the cloth fit pretty well.  It's still a little big and bulky, but since she's not sitting up or moving around a whole lot, it doesn't seem to bother her.

And that is what we've been up to!  March is shaping up to be a pretty exciting month - two holidays PLUS Mommy's birthday!  And the weatherman says that it is supposed to be in the 50's this weekend, so hopefully we can get outside and take advantage of the park across the street!  I can't wait for some sunshine and fresh air - I think it will do us all a lot of good.  Stay tuned for another update next week after our 'official' 2 month check-up!

PS - Ellie is super stoked to hear that she has a new baby cousin!  First cousin once removed, that is.  My cousin April had a little girl, Amelia, this morning!  We all can't wait to meet her!  Congratulations to April, dad Ben and new big sister Sarah!!