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Owen’s 9-month appointment…and first blood.

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Height: 30½” (95th percentile)
Head: 26″ (95th percentile)
Weight: 22lbs. 10oz. (50–75th percentile)

Overall, she said he looks great and I’m doing everything right. Phew!

She was impressed by his sleeping—she could NOT believe that not only did he sleep through the night, but that he slept from (generally) 6pm–6am. She was even more amazed when I told her that the previous night he slept from 4:30pm–6:30am. I told her we do whatever we can to keep his sleep schedule status quo with no disruptions like being away from home, staying out late at someone else’s house, etc. She said that sleeping that long (through the night) is fairly unusual, but that it’s great—and to keep doing whatever we’re doing because he has great sleep habits and it’s a great thing to start this young! So, YAY us! 😀

He didn’t love getting his ears or chest checked, but he did just fine.

I asked about the H1N1 and the generic flu shot, and they will have them in the office, they are just out of both right now. The nurse said she wouldn’t be in a rush to get the H1N1 since he’s not in daycare and we don’t generally come into contact with a lot of people, but she would highly recommend the normal flu shot. The nurse said the media is making it seem much crazier than it really is—the few cases they’ve actually seen are not that bad. That said, the doctor said if we wanted the H1N1 it would be okay, but also highly recommended the normal flu shot. So I have to call next week to see if they have them in and decide if we want him to get one or both shots.

Right before we left, he had to get a blood test—just a finger prick (he didn’t even make a peep!)—and she put a band-aid on it and said to leave it for at least 10 minutes. I put his mitten on and things were fine. We stopped to see dad at his office then went home, and since it had been much longer than 10 minutes, I took the mitten off. I was doing things around the living room for maybe (MAYBE!) five minutes, when I look over and see something dark on Owen’s lip, and I thought it was some fuzz off the floor or something (even though Tom vacuums every morning) so I come closer and—OMIGOD—it’s blood. BLOOD! 88| It took me a good two L—O—N—G seconds before I realized nothing serious was happening and it was just his finger bleeding.

But OMIGOD—his finger was bleeding…all over. Swear to god it was gushing. It was all over his pants and his face and in his hair—so the band-aid had obviously been off for a bit. So I grab a wipe to try to clean him up and stop the bleeding, and I see him drooling and don’t think much but then it hits me that it is A LOT of drool (it seemed like a bucketful) and I realize that OMIGOD the band-aid is in his mouth! 88| 88| Bad mom, bad mom, bad mom!

So I fish the band-aid out of his mouth while I’m still trying to clean him up and stop the bleeding, and I leave him for like 10 seconds to see if there’s a bandaid in the bathroom and there isn’t, so I grab a tissue and come back and there is blood all over again! From just a tiny finger prick! That had stopped bleeding IN THE OFFICE! Egads. So I pick him up, holding his finger in a tissue and trying to keep his finger out of his mouth, go upstairs to get a band-aid, sit him on the floor, clean him up again, and put on TWO band-aids. By the time Tom got home for lunch 10 minutes later, the band-aid was off again, although thankfully not in his mouth and not bleeding anymore.

So, then I changed him into his fourth outfit of the day. (The first one was soiled by the coffee spill/crawl. The second one was soiled from spit up. The third one from blood.) After lunch, it was outfit #5 after more spit up.

What a day!

Goodbye, helmet!

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We had a helmet check-up today and I thought it was just going to be a normal check-up with some measurements and maybe a bit more grinding on the helmet…but the specialist just took a quick look and said “I think he’s done! I’m extremely pleased with the results!”

88|

I asked if he still had to wear it at night, like had been mentioned before, and he said no! He said since he rolls around so much and sleeps in all positions, he wasn’t worried about nighttime anymore. I also showed him one of the many face-plant pictures and he laughed. I wondered if Owen would still be able to sleep face-plant style without the breathing room the helmet allowed him.

So, Owen graduated today! YAY! He was in the helmet for just over three months (he got it July 24). Three months is apparently an AMAZING amount of time—most have to wear it at least four months, if not more.

It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to not having it on all the time—how bumps to the head (and the like) will make him react. But, he’s already napped face-plant style so apparently he can do that with or without the helmet, LOL. :))

We’re almost done!

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We had a helmet appointment and scan today. We were really thinking/hoping that this would be the visit where we’d get the go-ahead to just have him wear the helmet at night…but apparently we’re not quite there. The specialist said Owen is doing ABSOLUTELY AMAZING but could still benefit from another month, but said he should be out of it by Thanksgiving.

Second Helmet Scan

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Our specialist wanted another head scan to see just how well Owen’s head is doing, so it was back to Livonia and the laser scanner. I didn’t get a picture of it the first time, so here it is:

Something else I didn’t get the first time was the cute little stocking cap Owen has to wear when getting scanned (of course I couldn’t get a good picture). The black dots are stickers pointing towards his ears so they can align the scanned images:

Laying down in the scanner! Of course this is much, much better than the alternative of plaster casting, but it’s still a bit of a challenge because he has to be very still to get a good scan…which means you have to hold his arms (so they don’t fly up and get in the scan) and try to get him to not move. Of course, he would be perfectly still…until the motor started whirring, then he’d twist his head to look at it (which made for a very interesting scan!). I think it took about six tries (scans) this time to get a workable one.

A comparison of the first scan (left, with the cute frowny face!) and the second scan (the bigger head on the right). From the size difference, you can see right away how much his head has grown—and the numbers definitely proved just how much his head had changed shape for the better. Before, the critical measurements were off by centimeters (plural!) and now they’re down to tenths of a centimeter! (If you are looking really closely at the scan and see that the back of his head still looks flat—it isn’t. I asked about it, and it’s “flat” because that’s the tiny spot where his head was laying on the glass.)

After only wearing the helmet for 1.5 months, the specialist is THRILLED with the progress. He is guessing that in a few weeks, if we are all happy with the results, we can go to just wearing the helmet at night!

Go, Owen! Or, should it be: GO, OWEN’S HEAD!? 😀

Helmet Check-Up

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Good news! The specialist said Owen is doing AMAZING and he will probably be mostly done with the helmet in a total of 2½ months instead of the typical 3-4 months! I say “mostly done” because he would probably still have to wear it at night—just to make sure it doesn’t become flat again since he’s still sleeping on his back for the most part.

Our next appointment in two weeks is back in Livonia because they want another scan to see (technically and precisely) just how much his head has changed.

YAY OWEN!

Helmet Check-Up

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Our specialist asked if Owen had a growth spurt in the past two weeks and I said no, not that I’ve noticed, why? He said because his head has shown a DRASTIC change in the two short weeks he’s had the helmet. He still has a long way to go, of course, but there are definite bumps on his head that weren’t there before—meaning the skull is reshaping. YAY OWEN!

Waiting for the appointment:

Six month check-up

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Owen weighed in at 19 lbs 7 ounces (75th percentile) and was 28.5 inches long (95th percentile)—at least I think I have those percentiles with the right measurements (I remember the doc saying he was quite tall, so I think I do).

She wasn’t worried about his eating habits—although she was surprised that he hasn’t liked carrots or sweet potato, as those are typical baby favorites. She mentioned that this is about the time to start introducing fruit, but agreed with me that we shouldn’t do that until he’s eating more vegetables.

What surprised me, though? She was not concerned AT ALL that he can’t roll over on his own yet. I mean, I am not really that concerned—I mean, it will happen when he’s ready (and he IS close)—it’s just the physical therapist who was concerned. So at least I am glad the doc and I are on the same page about that. She even said she didn’t really see a need (at this point in time) to worry about continuing the physical therapy (which is nice, since we have to go through the insurance rigamarole to see if it’s even covered, since we found out it’s a “limited” service). The doc just said “He’s a big boy, it might take him a bit longer.” Cool. Of course, I still need to keep doing his PT exercises to help out but she told me not to freak out about it all. Now, if he’s still not rolling over in a month (or two) THEN we can worry!

Everything else is fine. He got shots (which he of course didn’t like) but two minutes later he’s smiling and happy (but maybe that was due to the Tylenol I gave him beforehand). She is glad we got the helmet and wants to see him in a month “to keep an eye on it.” Which I found ironic, since we are seeing an ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALIST every two weeks and they are monitoring it…

Helmet Check-Up

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So I had to take Owen in for a sorta emergency (not really EMERGENCY) helmet adjustment appointment today. Over the weekend, when we took the helmet off, we noticed that he had two huge red spots behind his ears—and one of them even had a sore starting (with what looked like a pimple on it!). 88| Poor guy, it must really have been sore and irritating—he has always kinda reaching up and trying to scratch at his face/ear, but we assumed it was just because it was something he wasn’t used to touching his face. Tom tried to use the dremel to pare it down, but of course we didn’t want to do to much in case we ruined the helmet (and had to buy another one).

I called first thing in the morning and they got us in that afternoon (unfortunately, I had to miss a mom’s group meeting) and made the necessary adjustments (they use some type of tool to grind away the foam core) and told us NO MORE DREMEL! We didn’t hurt it, but they said if there are issues like that again, just leave the helmet off until we can get in to see them. Then they made some adjustments to other parts of the helmet (above his brow line, and gluing a side piece in) and that was it.

We have our regular check-up next week, which we may be able to postpone if there are no spots that need attention and if he seems to be doing okay.

A Busy Day

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First we had mom’s group from 10-noon and then we had physical therapy from 3-4. I never specifically woke the boy up, but he still didn’t nap as well as he normally does…so at the moment, I’m waiting for him to fall asleep (he was out within two minutes of leaving PT, but since I moved him to the pack-and-play when we got home, he woke up).

The mom’s group topic was sleep, and surprisingly, I didn’t have much to say or ask about…since Owen really is doing pretty well. The guest’s basic philosophy on everything was “If you like it and/or it works for you, go ahead and do it” — whether that means having them sleep in a car seat or having to take them on a car ride to get them to nap. While I agree with that to a certain extent, I draw a line at using anything really odd to get him to sleep. That said, he is apparently an easy baby since he goes down without a fight (most of the time).

It makes me feed bad (and good!) to hear what some of the other moms are going through sleep-wise…babies that can’t self-soothe at all or who have to be rocked to sleep before being put in the crib. Or babies who scream for an hour first or have to be walked around to calm down. Egads. I guess we have it easy. Most of them are still getting up at night, too, for at least one feeding—so I’m not alone. Of course, there is also a mom or two with a baby that sleeps from 7-7 or 10-8.

The hardest part of the group for me is seeing all the other babies rolling over or stretching themselves up on their arms or sitting up well on their own…since Owen is not quite there yet. Yeah yeah yeah I know all babies are different but it still stinks to see most of them ahead of him. A lot of the babies are also eating a lot of real food—like an entire baby jar at a time! They were surprised when I told them that Owen doesn’t really want anything to do with food—or that we just haven’t found the right food yet. He seems to want to eat (he opens his mouth when he sees the spoon) but he hasn’t liked any of his options yet. I happened to mention it to the physical therapist and she said by six months (which is next week!) he really should be eating some amount of solid foods…and said if he doesn’t start soon, she might recommend I talk to a specialist! Egads. Of course, I need to ask the pediatrician about it next week at his six-month appointment.

So, the physical therapy. She said he’s doing better. He rolls to one side much better than the other, so we have to keep working on that (he still doesn’t roll over on his own, except for a happy accident now and again). He has good neck and leg strength and his arm strength is getting better. We had thought today might be the last appointment for awhile, but after seeing him today, she said still wants to continue to see him. At least we have moved the appointment time to 3pm instead of 7am (although, honestly, I might like the 7am better because it’s MUCH quieter and cooler in there).

Owen has a helmet!

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Just to be on the safe side, I called in the morning to MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE they 1) had the helmet and 2) it was the right one. They couldn’t check it at that exact moment (from the gist of the conversation, it seems only the specialist can open the box?). But I was assured it would be double-checked as soon as he was free, and we would get a call if there was a problem. We didn’t get a call, so it was off to Livonia to try on the helmet and get it fitted! Tom was able to go, so I was happy about that.

Our “substitute” specialist was nice, but it will be good to see our regular guy again (I am sure they are both equally qualified, but the guy we saw today made sure we know they do things a little differently from one another).

So without further ado…here’s Owen the first time he tried the helmet on:

Making the marks of where to cut it out for his ears and around his face:

The burp cloth is there because he just ate, hadn’t burped, and we wanted to be prepared. Oh, and still making marks and checking the fit:

Just one of those cute baby faces we didn’t know we got until we looked at the pics afterward. It just makes me laugh…because he really wasn’t uncomfortable or upset or anything:

TA DA!

On the way home…since it was past nap time, he was out in a few minutes. But isn’t he cute?

He only had the helmet on for 45 minutes (it takes 5 days to work up to the 23 hours a day thing) and look how sweaty his head is! I can’t FATHOM what it will be after 23 hours! Hoo boy. And they said after a while, there’s no real way to clean it. Lordy.

So, the first day he has to wear it one hour, then off an hour, then on an hour, etc., and no naps or nighttime. The next day, it’s two hours on/one hour off with no naps or nighttime. The third day it’s four hours on/one hour off but then including naps and nighttime. Day four is eight hours on/one hour off plus naps and nighttime. And then day 5 we jump to wearing it 23 hours. We only get to take it off for an hour to bathe him and let the helmet air out. (Although, he did say we could take it off for like 15 minutes here and there throughout the day to dry his head and let it air out IF he’s truly a big sweater. We assured him he IS. I really don’t think they believe us. Oh, and there are holes in the back of the helmet, but it’s not for air flow—it’s so they can look in and check how his head is fitting. They guy assured us that more holes did NOT help with air flow.)

I think this helmet it going to be WAY STINKY in a month or so, considering how much the boy sweats. I mean, seriously. His head sweats just laying on your arm for a 15 minute feeding! And his hair was soaked from just the 45 minutes he wore it on the way home! It can be cleaned, but not REALLY cleaned—they say you can wipe it out with rubbing alcohol or try to get rid of any smells with nail polish remover. You aren’t supposed to put powder in it and you can’t use Febreeze or anything chemical because it’s touching his head and could cause an allergic reaction.

It’s also going to be a challenge for the next few days—as it’s nearly impossible for one person to manage the helmet alone. It takes two hands to open it/put it on…so it really is necessary to have someone hold the boy while the other person puts it on. If he would sit on his own (which he can almost do, but not well enough to sit STILL for helmet placement) it would be doable. At least it’s the weekend and Tom will be around for the most part, and by next week maybe I will have mastered the art of baby wrangling with my legs so I can put the helmet on alone.

The worst part of the day was that he missed his 1pm and 3pm naps—he had about a 30 minute catnap on the way there and back, but anything less than an hour doesn’t count as a NAP (according to my sleep expert book!)…so he’s extremely cranky at the moment not wanting to sleep but desperately needing to.

Wait.

The mobile has stopped and I only hear ever-so-faint whimpering and heavy breathing. I think he’s finally out. Phew.

Oh crap.

He sneezed and woke himself up. Now he’s fussy and screeching again. DAMMIT.

Anyhoo…I still can’t fathom him having to wear this for the next X number of months. We asked when he will have to be rescanned (to see how much his head has changed shape) and we were told maybe at eight weeks or maybe not until 16 weeks since we should be able to tell just by looking at him. Eight weeks? 16 weeks? Logically I know it’s going to be that long—but actually hearing it out loud was another story. SIXTEEN WEEKS….FOUR MONTHS. That’s a long time. 🙁

That said, they said we might be able to see some changes within 2-3 weeks, so I’m really looking forward to that and hoping we do…just so I can SEE it working.

We do, however, have to go back for bi-weekly checkups. Except for the first one, which they like to schedule for one week. Unfortunately our guy still won’t be back from vacation, so that means we either get a SECOND new guy if we don’t want to drive to Livonia—or we get to see the same guy we saw today, but we have to drive the distance to Livonia. GRRRR.

P.S. It’s now 5:21 and someone STILL isn’t asleep. And he’s been fed AND changed. Hoo boy. He needs to sleep so we can get the helmet on him again for a bit tonight before he has to go to bed!

Helmet Appointment

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Today was the day Owen was supposed to get his helmet. Yes, SUPPOSED to get his helmet.

We were fit into the schedule for today because our specialist was going on vacation for 1.5 weeks. Luckily we only had to drive about 15 minutes, as the appointment was in Southfield (versus Livonia, where we had to go for the laser scan). I picked up Tom, and off we went.

As we were waiting in the exam room, we heard our guy (the specialist) say to his assistant, “It should still be in the box. It’s probably not even opened yet.” And we didn’t think anything of it.

Fast forward a few minutes when he comes into the room to apologize—seems they sent the helmet in the wrong color/pattern. We were supposed to get a light blue helmet but instead got this:

Yes, a PINK helmet with BUTTERFLIES! 88| >:XX

They are rushing the second one and it should be here Friday. (So, hmmmm, it took 1.5 weeks for the first helmet, but after a mistake it only takes 2.5 days?) But now, since our guy will be on vacation, we have to drive to Livonia. Ugh. And Tom might not be able to go. Double ugh. >:XX

Yes, mistakes happen. And they apologized over and over and over. But it’s still annoying. And we could have avoided even GOING today had they actually OPENED the box when they got it and saw it was the wrong one.

Sigh.

Second PT session

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Owen had his second Physical Therapy appointment this morning. The worker said he did very well—but of course we still really have to work on belly time. Of course, she makes it all look easy and deals with his frustrations much better than I do (she IS the professional, after all!)… 🙁

Of the 50 minutes we were there, he probably spent 25-30 total on his stomach, which is a miracle (and he was even tired and cranky the last 10 minutes). So I come home, all hyped up to try everything and positive it’s going to go well…and five minutes into it he’s frustrated and I’m frustrated and it spirals downward from there.

Hoo boy.

We can only keep trying, I guess.

Owen needs a helmet!

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As we were predicting, the physical therapist recommended a helmet for Owen. She checked out his abilities and for the most part he’s right on track—reaching, propping himself up on his arms, head and neck strength—but he’s a little behind in some areas because he hasn’t spent much time on his tummy (which we all know he HATES, although he’s getting a little better).

So we have a list of exercises to do with him and we have another PT appointment next week…and he goes in to get measured for a helmet hopefully next week. The process isn’t nearly as bad as we thought it would be, either—all we had found online was a casting process but we actually met with the orthotic specialist today and they have one of two head scanners in the entire state—the STARscanner uses eight cameras and four eye-safe lasers to capture head shapes in less than two seconds:

So, he will have to wear the helmet for 4-6 months (depending on his progress) for 23 hours a day, plus have an appointment every other week to measure his head again to reconfigure the helmet.

I know he won’t remember it at all—and I know it’s what’s best for him—but it still kills me that we have to do this. But, I guess in the grand scheme of things, he could have MUCH worse problems, so we should be grateful.

Appointment Update

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So what do we get in the mail today? A form letter from the physical therapy place saying that:

Unfortunately as insurance companies continue to reduce costs and benefits, we are finding that Pediatric Rehabilitation services are often declined.

Excuse me? We immediately thought it was a form letter telling us nothing was covered—and we were freaking out. But then it continued:

We cannot guarantee therapy coverage by your insurance company. As a result, we strongly encourage you to call your insurance company and check to see if your plan covers the therapy your child needs for his or her diagnosis.

I thought that’s why it was taking a few days…because THEY were checking into that for us? 🙄 They could have just handed me the damn letter when I turned in the prescription and saved me a week of waiting.

So a quick call to Tricare confirmed that it is ALL covered (well, PT evaluation, Therapeutic Activities, and Therapeutic Procedures are covered). So at least that is good.

We have to call tomorrow morning for an appointment.

Scheduling Rant

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So, Owen has a flat head. Positional Plagiocephaly they call it.

plagiocephaly

Anyway.

So the pediatrician wanted us to see a physical therapist. Fine. She said it’s easier to treat the younger you start. Fine. So she wrote us a prescription and gave us a phone number. Fine.

Well, it might have been nice for the pediatrician to warn me that it might take up to a month to even SCHEDULE an appointment. Ugh.

Silly me, I thought it would be like any other appointment—I call, read them the prescription, and they make an appointment within a few days (like has happened a few times so far). So I waited about two weeks (my fault, but life happens, I lost the number, forgot about it completely—and besides, I didn’t think it was THAT big of a deal) and then finally called and oh, you have to bring us the prescription (not just give it over the phone like I’d done before). Fine. Then they said it would take 1-2 days for the paperwork and then someone would call to schedule an appointment. Fine.

Well, a week later with no phone call and I called back and she said oh, so and so hasn’t looked at it yet and it’s still going through the insurance process (or whatever) so it might take another 1-2 weeks until I call you back…to schedule the appointment. Schedule. Which means the appointment could still be WAY off.

>:XX

I guess I’ve just been spoiled with close-to-immediate scheduling before this. My bad. Lesson learned.

Owen’s Four-Month Checkup

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Well, for starters, he is a BIG boy!! He weighed in at—are you ready???

16 lbs 1 oz 88|

That’s a 5# gain from his two-month appointment! And he is 26″ long (7″ growth since birth)! The doc commented that he is a big boy—which is funny, because he doesn’t really seem THAT big to me.

She is still concerned about his flat head, and recommended an appointment with a physical therapist! I told her that I honestly wasn’t that concerned, and she did say that it will eventually round out, but that the longer it takes, the harder it will be—and that by this age (four months) it should be rounding out more than it is. She suggested we at least go to one appointment (she was pretty sure our insurance would cover it) and then decide from there. He just does not like being on his stomach—which she saw when she tried it in the office. Less than two minutes and he is NOT happy and lets you know.

She listened to his chest and said he does sound a little congested, but nothing to worry about—his lungs sound clear. She said if it gets any worse we can set up the humidifier but not to panic in the meantime. It might even be allergies. (I am not that worried, as he has sounded somewhat congested to me for the past month or so.)

She said we can start giving him rice cereal—if he wants it—since he seems to be developing quite well (weight, motor skills, etc.). She said it is NOT recommended to add the cereal to the bottle, however, because it’s better for them to start getting used to the spoon and eating normally. So, we might try rice tonight!! I’ve got to go dig out the baby spoons!! She still recommends veggies wait until six months.

She noticed his eyes were still leaking but didn’t seem concerned with it. We are to keep using the medicine and keep it clean with warm washcloths. She said six months is often the magic age at which that goes away.

I did ask about him being so out-of-sorts lately, and she didn’t really have any definitive answers (damn!). She said it could be due to a variety of things like a growth spurt, teething, reactions to the formula, allergies, etc. I even asked about the strange poop incident and she had no idea. She guessed maybe it was something I ate (passed through breastmilk) but I am not breastfeeding or pumping anymore, so I said that couldn’t be it. Then she was stumped.

And then came the dreaded immunization boosters. Tom was with me this time—so he got to experience the trauma for himself. Part of me wants to cry (of course) seeing my boy in such agony…but the other part of me wants to laugh a little because his crying shrieks are so loud and fierce…yet cute at the same time. His little face gets pure red and he screams bloody murder…but then after it’s over, he calms down pretty well. By the time we were out of the parking lot, he was sleeping (it also helped that he missed his earlier nap so that + the shot trauma + car ride = hopefully a good nap). He’s still sleeping in his car seat as I write this.

So overall, it went well, and we don’t have to go back for two months, on his six-month birthday.

Two-month checkup

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So Owen had his two-month checkup this morning. I was most intrigued to find out just how much weight he had gained—the doc had said last month that she wanted to see him gain one pound by this appointment. While I was CERTAIN he had gained at least two pounds (or more), Tom was CERTAIN he had maybe gained the requested pound.

Want to take a guess who was right? :>>

Mr. Piggy gained—are you ready?—3 lbs. 12 oz. since his last appointment! He went from 8 lbs. 1 oz. to 11 lbs. 13 oz!!! 88|

HOLY WAH!

Does a mom know or does a mom know? 😉 (Although, granted, even I underestimated how much he gained.)

He also gained about 1.5″ in length (although I joke that I swear he grew about eight inches!). If I recall correctly, he is currently in the 25th percentile for head size, 50th percentile for length, and 75th percentile for weight.

Then came the NOT FUN part…vaccinations. All five of them. XX( The oral one went perfectly fine—it’s apparently sweet and babies like it. So, one down, four to go. The next was a twofer (combination of vaccinations) in one shot in one leg and then two individual shots in the other leg. The nurse was wonderful and could not have been nicer or done the shots more quickly…but of course by the time she got to the second leg, he was SCREAMING. I have never seen his little face so red. She said it wasn’t really the needles that bothered them so much, but rather the actual medicine that hit their system. Poor little guy.

It actually wasn’t too bad on me, either—thankfully. But then, his screaming didn’t last all that long, and soon he was back in his carrier with his pacifier and then he was out cold. The doc warned us of all the possible side effects—including major crankiness and a potential 102° fever for the next two (TWO!) days—but so far, knock on wood, he’s just been sleeping. He did wake up long enough to take a bottle, but now he’s sleeping again:

I certainly hope this is his only side effect…

One month check-up

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Owen had has one-month check-up today…and he’s doing well. He now weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz. which is an increase of just over 1# since we had him weighed two weeks ago! The doc was happy. His head size, weight, and length are all in the 25th percentile.

I asked her opinion on how to get him to sleep more at night, and all she basically said was “He should be sleeping between 3-4 hours at a time. Make sure he eats enough before you put him down.”

Ooookay, that didn’t help much. You told me what he should be doing (which he does sometimes sleep 3-4 hours at a time) and something I am already doing (making sure he eats enough). Interesting.

She asked how long he feeds and I said anywhere between 15 minutes an an hour. She said that was not good—he should feed for a max of 20 minutes (each side) and should never eat for an hour. Ooookay. So, we’ll try it and see.

She said she is okay with the pacifier.

I mentioned he sleeps well on his stomach sometimes (like for a nap, or after belly time) and she said he should never sleep on his stomach. Ooookay. 🙄 I mean, I know technically it’s not recommended, but I don’t think doing it here or there is going to do any harm. I mean, a few years ago, sleeping on the stomach was recommended. That said, I know she is just telling me her opinion…and she is being nice about it…but I still feel like I’m getting a mini lecture and it kind of irritates me. 😐

His next appointment is in a month and she expects him to gain another 1.5#. At the piggish rate he’s been eating lately, I don’t see that being a problem.

A-OK Ultrasound

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Owen was a trooper—he pretty much slept through the entire thing! That said, it wasn’t invasive (plus he had just eaten and taken a car ride) so he was good.

It was a quick, maybe five minute, procedure—and he loved lying over the towel on his belly. The tech took the pics to the radiologist and was back within two minutes saying everything looked good. :>>

The funny thing? Apparently babies get noticed, even in hospitals. Everywhere we went, people had to stop and look, ask how old, tell us how cute he was…

Oh, and we also got our first pacifier. The tech asked us if we had one and we said no, so she gave us a Soothie, saying it was highly recommended.

Spinal Ultrasound

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The pediatrician wants to check out Owen’s dimple, so we have an ultrasound appointment at the hospital tomorrow. Even though she is sure it’s nothing to worry about and just wants to get it checked out…I am freaked out.

What is a spine ultrasound?
A spine ultrasound is used to take pictures of the spinal cord in a baby who is usually 3 or 4 months old or less. A baby is usually referred for a spinal ultrasound because of a dimple, hair patch, or discoloration of the skin above the anus. The study is done to look for an abnormality of the spinal cord.

What will happen during the procedure?
The baby will lie on his or her stomach on an examining table. Sometimes a towel will be placed underneath the baby’s chest to elevate it. The technologist or doctor will place warm gel (a lotion) on a transducer (similar to a microphone), and place this on the baby’s back to take pictures. The test takes about 15 to 30 minutes. The radiologist will see if the spinal cord looks normal and if it is in the normal position.