Three Weeks Old

He’s three weeks old and already he’s changing so much. His cheeks have filled out and become chubby and round. The hair on his head is darker and I swear it’s growing already. I’ve watched as the clothes he had that were too big are now fitting better as he’s gained over a pound and grown 2 inches in a short time.

And we are learning likes and dislikes with each other. He likes having his back thumped like he’s getting burped while over your shoulder. He falls asleep like that. We’ve learned what he sounds like when he’s waking up versus just squeaking in his sleep. And he’s found out he likes to swing in his swing. And we already knew that to get you to sleep you had to be in a bouncie.

We’ve had our first health crisis and you’ve helped me figure out what I want to do about some people in my life. The cats like the new family member and he seems to enjoy watching them when he can see them.

I’m amazed at how strong his neck is already and the nurses and doctors have all been amazed at how strong his legs and arms are when they try and straighten them out. And daddy is extremely proud of how much he eats, almost 4 oz!, and at how many times a day he poops or pees.

I’m starting to see the new born melt away some and be replaced by baby and even though I’m tired and sometimes I want to cry when I pull myself out of bed when he cries I wouldn’t rush through these days for all the sleep in the world.

What pissed me off

We are home with a clean bill of health. Apparently it’s not uncommon for babies his age to run a fever then have it break with no reason to be found. His little hand is still swollen because of the tape that held his IV but he doesn’t care now that he discovered he can suck that hand again. He’s been rubbing it on his mouth in his sleep for an hour now.

The happy part out of the way I want to vent a little about the first two doctors we dealt with.

In the ER the doctor we had came in the room and asked some questions then told out that with his age, less than 56 days, and the fever being over 100.4 they would do a full blood work up then a Lumbar Puncture (spinal tap) and he’d be admitted for 48 hours on IV antibiotics while the tests were being done. There was no discussion period. I felt trapped and when I pushed for solid answers about the treatment the answer I got was it was protocol. There was no explanation nor was there much sympathy to two scared first time parents.

When I voiced that I was not comfortable with the LP because it left him open to infection the doctor just shrugged and stated they did it under sterile circumstances and said nothing else. As if I didn’t know that they wouldn’t do it with a rusty spike in the parking lot. Nor did they tell us the risks of the procedure.

When I also stated I wasn’t happy to have him given antibiotics with no concrete proof because I feel they are given too freely and I feel it’s best to avoid them unless they are 100% needed I was again given the protocol explanation. Nothing at all was given to back up the protocol except that they’ve found this is needed over years of treating children and that this was standard in the US.

We were given the option of AMA but I felt if we did that the hospital might have a social worker follow up. So I went along with it because I felt there was no real choice.

The doctor on the floor also gave the same song and dance then an hour after he was admitted his nurses showed up with a third antibiotic and monitor. When I pushed to know what it was for after again stating I wasn’t happy with the meds in the first place the nurses couldn’t give me more information though they did offer to not start the meds until I could speak with the doctor. Well given the doctor hadn’t talked to me at all about the meds before they were ordered I wasn’t confident speaking with her would do anything at all to alive my concerns.

What they could tell me was that one of his LP stains came back and indicated there might be a bacterial infection. The nurses rushed to assure us that this was almost for sure because of the skin puncture messing with the results but that the doctor wanted the third med until they could be sure.

By now I was pissed. Of course I was scared of my son and I did have a few good cries looking at his little arm immobilized and how tiny he looked in the bed. But I was pissed because I didn’t know what was going on with my son and I didn’t feel like there was any partnership, the buzz word hospitals like to use now, with his care. I was pissed because I didn’t feel like Jason or I had any say in what was happening with our son.

That changed the following morning when his doctor came in to talk to us. Because our regular doctor has no privileges at Children’s we were given a staff attending. He was wonderful. He explained why the three meds and what they were being give for unlike the other two docs. He told me about the studies that lead to this protocol and then went on to say 2 or 3 babies a week were admitted just like Kyle and that under 10% had any problem but then he gave a good run down of the why they treat it so serious. I finally felt like there were answers to what was being done and why we were there.

Most of all I felt like he too us serious and took my questions serious. I felt much, much better about subjecting Kyle to what had been done to him when he left. Even more because he made sure he called our doctor to let her know what was going on instead of trusting it to dictation. In the end I it changed my opnion of Children’s and how they worked with parents.

Part two

The doctor came in to talk to us about half an hour ago.

First off he explained better the protocol for keeping him and the why’s of the third antibiotic. I’m feeling much better about it now. He also let us know that so far all his cultures are coming back negative and that he fully expects that Kyle is just fine.

According to him he’ll discharge us as soon as the 48 hour mark hits no matter the time so we’ll be leaving tomorrow night.

On the plus side Kyle been sleeping well in his hospital crib so both Jason and I are excited about that.

Oh and they are impressed with his peeing power

This will be a scary weekend

This isn’t one of those gushing mommy bragging notes. Thursday Jason and I began to deal with the first health crisis of Kyle’s life. Around 7 am Kyle woke up and began fussing. Now every baby fusses but this was very un Kyle like behavior. He would wake out of a sleep, or half wake, after 30 to 40 minutes of sleeping to cry. Not the quiet I’m not happy cry but a loud squall that would quiet if he was giggled or rocked after a few moments.

Around 10am I changed his diaper and noticed that he felt hot so I took at temperature with an ear thermometer. It was 101.4. I was a little concerned but he was wrapped in a good deal of blankets and had warm jammies on. So I swapped his clothes for a larger onsie *Nightmare before Christmas natch* and put him in just one blanket. He seemed to settle a little so Jason took over so I could run to the grocery store.

Around 3 pm he still felt warm and my mom told me I should call his doctor. She wasn’t in the office but a nurse told me to check his temp again using the rectal thermometer. Jason looked like he might cry over the idea of something going up Kyle’s butt but it’s what we had to do. It was 100.8.

The nurse told us to go to the ER, and told us she’d like us to go to Children’s over Waukesha Memorial.

We were taken in quickly and within moments of meeting the doctor we were informed that with babies under 56 days old they did blood tests, which I had expected, and a spinal tap. That warned me that something more was going on, or could be. He also told us that until all his cultures came back they would admit Kyle to the hospital, this would be 48 hours.

I was not happy. His temp was normal at their exam and I did not want my son subjected to unnecessary procedures, ie; the spinal tap. I also did not want him on antibiotics, the reason for the admittance, unless there was something that indicated that there was reason. But the doctor was instant that this is how it’s handled and while we could have taken him home AMA, I did not want to risk his health or a CPS visit.

So here we are in Children’s. Thankfully this is one of the best hospitals for little ones in the US and the best in the midwest.

His blood tests so far look normal, his cell count in his spinal tap as well. So far there is nothing to indicate that he has an infection. However an early stain of his spinal fluid indicated a bacterial issue. The nurses assured us that could very well be because his skin infected the sample they stained and that this was only a first run test.

Sadly he’s on three antibiotics, all administered via IV as well as a monitor to check his pulse and his blood ox. His poor little arm is immobilized and it’s the one he likes to suck. It’s hard to hold him with his tubes and wires. Also we’ve not gotten him to sleep at all in his crib and the hospital won’t allow co-sleeping, not that we’d want to with his IV, and they really don’t want to have him sleep in a bouncie.

Right now it’s a waiting game. Hopefully once all his tests come back clear on Saturday they’ll do a late (after release so we can take him home. Otherwise we have to wait until Sunday morning.

I do have to say I’m not happy with the idea he’s on all these antibiotics when other than a fever 13 or more hours ago nor am I happy that they are running such invasive tests on him. Also I feel as if the doctors aren’t really hearing what I’m saying and just following the CYA procedures.

On the bright side, at the end of this if he actually sleeps in his crib well then I suppose all was not lost.

Swing time

He seems to like his swing. He naps well in it and doesn’t fuss as much when he wakes up so I’ll be using that more now.

We have a new nick name for him, Piglet. He’s gained half and ounce and grown 2 inches since he was born. We’re both proud of him now that he’s developing a double chin and chubby arms. Sooner or later he’ll be taller than his mommy. Well sooner given my short height.

Marble hates it when he cries. She looks over at me like with a look on her face as if she’s trying to get me to fix him. Then it could be she just doesn’t like the noise.

A bulit in excuse

I have a built in excuse as to why I can’t do something I don’t want to do anyway or why my house isn’t clean. His name is Kyle. “Oh I’m so sorry I can’t come to your wine tasting and French movie showing but the baby is fussy.” “Please excuse the dishes in the sink, the baby had a bad day.” “Oh I’m sorry I’m still in my jammies but the baby was awake all afternoon.” It’s a little too easy to get used to being a slob.

The impossiable

My son has done the impossible.

Let me preface this by giving some background. Jason is a boy who’s enamored with boy things. Bathroom things among them. He enjoys bragging about his poop. How regular he is and how good a nice poop makes him feel.

His son is his son. Today Jason was holding him and smiling and being all cute and daddy like then suddenly shouts “OH GOD!” It seems the child was taking a poop. And boy how did he. He went to town with a face all screwed up and his eyes pulled in tight. He went for a good 5 minutes.

Then Jason went to change him. I’ve never heard my husband yell that loud in my life. But it appears Kyle had filled his diaper with poop so foul that even Jason, who isn’t the least bit bothered by poop, was shocked and amazed.

The boy can poop. And burp. I see some fun times come adolescence.

The kitchen

I forgot to tell you all that on Sunday night I actually managed to cook dinner. Ok so Jason was taking care of Kyle when it happened but there was actually a modicum of a new routine coming out again. Right now I dearly crave some sort of none baby activity. Oh not that I don’t enjoy taking care of my son because I do but I realize that it’s been more than a week and frankly we can’t keep running around doing nothing more than ordering dinner and bouncing a baby.

Tonight I plan on making a meal I’ve not had in ages. It’s one from my child hood that I remember not only fondly but by drooling. It’s a simple meal, one beef tenderloin marinated in egg, milk and garlic then dredged in flour with salt and pepper then Italian bread crumbs and then fried in some oil. But I remember it fondly because it was a special meal for us growing up. When money is tight hamburger is your main stay and so when we had a little extra or we had a special day, like a birthday, mom or dad would fry that up. We’d eat like cave men, meat only nothing else just fried meat. And it was good. I do plan on making some fries and green beans to go with our meal tonight but the memories of grabbing a piece of hot fried beef from a pan then cutting into it with no table manners at all lives strong in me.

My son is currently sleeping again after being awake for about 40 minutes and not needing any fussing. He was awake and wasn’t hungry or fussing for a new diaper so we sang some Skynard, Simple Man and the Itsy Bitsy Spider then he drifted off to sleep again.

Besides not keeping a silent house, the second most given advice and advice I’d already known and had implemented in my hospital room, I will expose Kyle to music as much as I can. My parents were always having something on. And it was all different. Country, Blue Grass, Jazz, Rock, Top 40, Big Band. I grew up loving it all and that’s a gift I want to give my son too.

Most given advice

So far the most given advice I’ve gotten is sleep when he sleeps. Well meaning I’m sure but that’s a lot harder to do than one would think.

During the night it’s easy. You want to sleep at night. Of course the baby wants to check out the stars. The day time offers a different set of problems. Things need to be done during the day. Laundry, he’s peed/pooped through many an outfit and blanket, your laundry too because again, the pee/poop thing. You also need to shower, eat and go to the bathroom yourself. Then there are the visitors. People want to come over and visit the baby, see the cute tiny new being. But when people are here you can’t nap either. And they have a habit of staying long enough that the baby gets his nap then they flee as he wakes. You then go through the routine of a change and a bottle and hope he settles so you can maybe catch a cat nap. But by then you’re hungry so you make a pizza and eat it then he wakes as you toss the last crust in the trash.

So sleeping while he sleeps is problematic at best, impossible at worst.

Speaking of laundry mine is currently in the washer. My breasts are leaking so I need to change my bra’s fairly often. Also I made the mistake of taking my bra off while brushing my teeth. I’m standing there over the sink and there is this dripping on my foot. I look and I’m not drooling all over nor is the water on the floor yet I feel this dripping. Yeah, breast milk all over. So there was a pair of PJ’s that ended up in the laundry basket totally separate from one of Kyle’s accidents.

The fist

When you are preparing for a new baby you get these little mittens. Tiny little things made to keep their sharp nails from cutting their skin as they toss their arms and hands around. These things never stay on. To me their worse than baby socks. At least those can get wrapped up tight so the only come some of the way off not all the way off. Those gloves though get knocked around and end up in a cats mouth.

Not only do the gloves come off they piss Kyle off. He’s a sucker and he loves his fist. If he can’t suck on his fist he gets mad then gives me a look like he’s going to gum my eyes out then screams. So the mittens are off.

This means I’ll have to be careful about keeping his nails blunt. I think the best advice I’ve gotten so far is don’t try and cut the suckers. Use an emery board and file ‘em down. In fact I think trying to cut a babies nails is about the most stupid thing I’ve heard of. I mean you have to keep them short but cutting them? Did the person who came up with that idea ever look at a babies hand?