Feeding Daddy

20 months

Justin is 20 months old today. It's hard to believe, but in just 4 months he'll be 2. Wow, where is the time going? But he's been up to a lot lately. He recently started walking, or should I say running as you can see in the video below. And he's become a pro at climbing up and down on all the furniture. He loves dropping/throwing things over his crib, high chair, or the security gate and then saying ugh oh. He's also doing really well in his therapy sessions and is starting to put shapes in the right slots. Of course this is when he's not eating them, but I digressed, lol. We're now moving on to stacking skills.

New words: block, circle, uncle, gurgle, apple. He's working on saying Bailey, although he can only get out Bai right now. But it's so cute how he chases after her saying Bai, Bai, Bai.

It still stings just a little, but I think I've finally gotten over the fact that Aiden is now wearing the same size clothes (12 months) and shoes (3 or 4, depending on the brand) as Justin. At the rate we're going I'm pretty sure that Nathan will be bigger than his big brother, but we'll see.

Look whose walking

33 week appointment

BP: 125/87
Total weight gain: +1 lb
Nathan's heart rate: 144 bpm

The last u/s I had while in the hospital showed that Nathan weighed 3 lbs 9 ozs. And my stomach is measuring 34 cm so Nathan seems to be growing just fine despite my lack of weight gain. I would've thought I'd gain weight being on bed rest but obviously not.

I'm still having contractions, about 4-5 a day, but the Dr said that at this point in my pregnancy I'm going to have contractions, even as many as 4 in an hour. So he wasn't worried with the amount I'm having. Of course, I need to keep an eye on them, call if they become more regular and keep taking my medication.

I did get some clarification on something I was told while in the hospital. When I was admitted one of the Dr's said that the goal was to get at least 2 more weeks out of this pregnancy, which would get me to 34 weeks. I was so out of it that I never really questioned it, even though I always thought the goal was to get me to 37 weeks. But today the Dr clarified that since the percentage of babies going home with mom at 34 weeks gestational age is pretty high, extreme measures would not be taken IF I were to go into labor. And at 36 weeks they totally lift all restrictions and would not do anything to stop labor. So, with that said, I'm still on bed rest and should take it easy, but with each passing week the level of worry decreases.

Born to be a fan!

Justin's ready for the Michigan State - Michigan game. Go State!

Feeding progress

Justin's been making some real progress when it comes to solids. Although he's still on stage 2 baby foods he's doing really well with finger foods. He's mastered the Gerber baby puffs and has moved on to goldfish and vanilla wafers. We've also been putting other finger foods (cheese, apples, carrots) on his tray to experiment with, and although he won't eat them, he is picking them up and putting them in his mouth. Yesterday he grabbed a piece of waffle off of my plate and actually ate it, I was so proud!

Justin still gets the majority of his calories from Pediasure via a bottle and will continue to do so more than likely until he turns 2. But to get him used to drinking water and juice we reintroduced the sippy cup. He's doing so much better this time around with solids and the sippy cup, which makes me think he just wasn't ready before.

Maternity Photos

Given last week's pre-term labor scare I figured I'd better have maternity photos taken sooner rather than later. So since I'm on bed rest Carl and I set up a mini-studio in our living room. I think we got some pretty good shots for amateurs. Click HERE to see the photos.

Home on bedrest

After 5 days in the hospital I'm finally home. I'm still having contractions but since I'm not dilated and my cervix is still long and closed they sent me home on medication to help control the contractions and put me on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. The next 5-6 weeks will be tough but at least I'm home, I missed Justin.

Admitted to Hospital at 31w, 5d

I felt uncomfortable when I woke up yesterday morning, but no more than usual. But when I got to work I was feeling even more uncomfortable, so my boss offered to drive me home. I called my dr. and they told me to come in to get checked out. But they didn't notice anything so they sent me to the Hospital for monitoring. As it turns out, I'm contracting, so they started me on magnesium sulfate (what fun). I can't eat or get out of bed for 24 hours while on this, BUT, it does seem to be helping the contractions. Things were pretty quiet overnight, but I had a few this morning and now they've subsided again. I also got my first steroid shot yesterday. Initially they thought they were going to have to deliver me early and then decided to try and stop the labor/contractions. I'm due for my second steroid shot around 2pm, around the same time the magnesium stops. At that time they'll evaluate if I need to continue on the magnesium or if they can switch me to something else. At any rate, I'm not going home today. Even if they're able to stop the contractions/labor they'll transfer me to the antepartum unit for a few days before they send me home. Looks like bed rest for me from here on out.

Justin's walking

He's still trying to catch his balance, and knows that crawling is much faster at this point, but he's getting braver and attempting to walk more often.

31 week appointment

BP: 138/63
Total weight gain: +6 lbs
Baby's heart rate: 144

I gained 3 lbs and my stomach is measuring 31cm so Nathan's measuring right on track.

My blood pressure is still good and there was no protein in my urine today, YAY! So looks like last week's sample was just a bad sample as the dr. had suspected. She said that's pretty common since they don't require a clean catch sample.

So all in all things are looking good and I don't go back to the dr. for another 2 weeks.

I almost cried

tears of joy, that is, when I saw Justin take a few steps unassisted. Carlene has witnessed it several times and secretly I'm a little jealous that I wasn't the one to see his "first steps". Carl saw him take steps earlier this week but I somehow kept missing it. But I saw firsthand last night and I got teary eyed, my baby's growing up.

Worst Mom Moment

Unfortunately I have to admit that tonight's events weren't the first time I've felt like the worst mom ever, but what J did tonight is somewhat humorous so I don't mind sharing with the world, lol. Anyway, he ate my deodorant. The bad thing is I saw him chewing on it, like he does with everything, but the cap was still on. I stepped away to use the bathroom and next thing I know Carl's telling me that J is throwing up all over the place. When Carl called poison control they said not to worry because it's not toxic and that they receive a lot of calls about babies/toddlers eating deodorant. We don't think J digested any of it since he threw up immediately after; for once his reflux actually came in handy. And soon after he was back to his normal self, laughing and smiling, and back to chewing on everything. But after this I definitely need to be more careful. I thought I had baby proofed the house but we need to go back and revisit everything to make sure nothing is within his reach.

Silly boy

J will do anything to avoid a diaper change and is always trying to stand up on the changing pad. Since he's getting older I decided to censor some of his more revealing pictures, but it was too cute not to post.

Justin's new smile

J likes to squint his eyes and look up at you when he smiles.

30 week appointment

BP: 127/65
Total weight gain: +3 lbs
Baby's heart rate: 152 bpm

Well, I haven't gained any more weight, but I haven't lost any either. And since my belly is measuring right on track at 30 cm I guess it's not an issue.

Good news, my blood pressure is still good. Bad news, I have protein in my urine and I started crying when the dr. told me. This is not something you want to hear when you've previously had preeclampsia. Because my blood pressure was good she wasn't too concerned, however, given my history she's having me come back next week for another check. In the meantime I'll check my blood pressure daily to ensure it's not creeping up there. Keep your fingers crossed for me, this baby needs to stay put for another 7 weeks.

Adventures in babysitting

While we were babysitting, Justin crawled into the laundry basket. Did he think he was dirty? Couldn't be since I had just given him a bath.