A weekend outdoors

We went to my department's picnic this weekend. The picnic was at Independence Lake County Park. There was a lot of kids and everyone had a good time. It was a bit windy and it was too cool to swim or play in the splash play area, but at least the rain went away. Lucy threw up on one of my coworkers. (Sorry Christine!)

We also walked to the library today. Lucy has been to the library before, but it was our first time walking there.

Lucy is still working on holding up her head and remains a bit of a bobble head. She has smiled and is definitely more interactive with us. We have an appointment with Peds Endocrinology tomorrow and we will see what they have to say about her renin and aldosterone levels being normal now.

I will be heading back to work in September. Lucy will be attending daycare at the University of Michigan Health System Child Care Center. I will start by working 3 days a week for a few weeks, and then I will have to go back to my 40 hour schedule.

Starting the Week with a Bang

Lucy had a very full Monday. We started out getting her blood drawn for labs. It only took one poke!!

Next Lucy had a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram). This procedure is used to see if a patient has urinary reflux. Turns out that Lucy does have urinary reflux bilaterally. When the kidneys make urine, it is supposed to flow into the bladder and stay there until urination. However, with urinary reflux, the urine goes back up the ureters from the bladder into the kidneys. This can cause urinary tract infections and other problems. Fortunately, most infants grow out of this problem, but until then, Lucy will have to take antibiotics daily. We will have a kidney ultrasound every 6 months, and we will repeat the VCUG in 1.5 years. As it seems with all of Lucy's medical problems, not the worst thing ever, but still another thing to add to her list.

Our nephrology appointment went well. The lab results showed that Lucy's potassium remains at a good level (5.3mmol/L). This means that we will just continue on with her sodium supplements and kayexalate milk and high fluid requirement. We will have more blood work done in 2 weeks and another nephrology appointment in 2 months.

Lucy continues to do slightly better with breastfeeding. We are going to keep plugging away. She is growing very well. Her weight is 10lb 2oz and she is just shy of 21 inches long. She's actually starting to grow out of some clothes!

Meeting More Family

Lucy met her Aunt Molly and soon to be Uncle Kelly this weekend. Molly is Kris's sister, and she and her fiance drove up from Illinois to meet Lucy. It was a quick visit - They were only here for a couple hours on Saturday afternoon, but Molly just graduated with her bachelor's degree and starts a new job on Monday. (Good luck Molly!) They are also in the middle of planning their October wedding and moving into a new apartment.

Aunt Molly and Uncle Kelly came at a good time. Lucy was awake and very interested in meeting new family members. She also enjoyed hearing Kelly say that the pictures did not do her cuteness justice. We all went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, and Lucy slept through the entire meal.

Today Kris, Lucy, and I went to The Little Seedling. This is the store where I bought my Moby wrap for carrying Lucy. The store had a "Baby Wear" class where we learned other ways to use the Moby wrap. It was a good class but Lucy didn't last the entire time. I think she was tired, hungry, and overwhelmed by all the people.

Lucy has also become a night owl. She sleeps from 11PM or Midnight until 2-4AM. From then on she thinks it is party time. It has taken over three hours to get her back to sleep the last couple nights. Hopefully this is a short-lived routine.

More daycares to visit this week and more mommy groups to hang out with. Hope everyone has a good week.

Sleep Deprived = Easily Amused

We bought Lucy one of those aquariums for her crib. It has 4 different songs, 3 different nature sounds, and has lights and bubbles and fish that move around. However, as Lucy is just now starting to look at things and watch them, Kris and I are getting more entertainment out of the aquarium than she is. Late at night, as I am feeding her, I find the soothing sounds putting me to sleep while she remains wide wake. This version also came with a remote so that you can turn it on from across the room and not have to go over to the crib where the baby may see you. Turns out that the VCR remote also can turn the aquarium off and on - the aquarium is not haunted, broken, and I'm not crazy (all initial thoughts when it was mysteriously turning off and on). Finally, the soothing sounds can be relaxing when I need to take a break. I really, really needed a nap yesterday, but Lucy was not cooperating. I finally got her to sleep but she was laying in the pack 'n play in the living room with the aquarium and I didn't want to move her to the bassinet in the bedroom where I wanted to lay down. So I set up our new baby monitor next to her, and as I fell asleep I listened to the aquarium through the monitor. Overall, a great purchase.

Lucy's potassium level on Wednesday was 5.4. We are very pleased and will not have to do blood work again until Aug 24 when she sees the doctors again. We continue to give her the sodium supplements and remove the potassium from the breast milk with the kayexalate.

I have to give a big thank you to the librarian at the Traverwood branch of the Ann Arbor library. I had accrued some late fees from books that didn't get returned on time when Lucy was born. I went to the library yesterday to pay my fees, and because I didn't want to be judged as a bad library patron, I casually explained why the books didn't get returned in time. The kind librarian waived the fees for me. Unexpected but greatly appreciated. Another reason why libraries are my favorite places in the world.

I've started to look at day cares for Lucy. I know that eventually I will need to go back to work, and someone will need to watch Lucy. I went to see one (Child Time) this week and I have appointments at the University of Michigan's day care and Gretchen's House next Monday. I wasn't sure if they would willing to give Lucy her feeds through the NG tube, but it doesn't seem to be an issue. They all say I just need to teach the day care teacher how to use the NG tube.

Lucy and I took my car in to be be looked at earlier this week. (It was making a noise when I turned left.) Because it was so warm outside, I knew both Lucy and I would be uncomfortable with her in the Moby wrap, so I decided to put her in the stroller. We walked around Arborland shopping center to purchase a couple things. Lucy didn't do so well in the stroller (or maybe it was the heat). She was fuzzy a good portion of the time and while I know that other people know that babies cry, I still feel bad when in a public place with a crying Lucy.

Good Day (It's Amazing What Sleep Can Do)

You know the sleep that is so deep that when you wake up you don't know where you are, what time it is, or even what day it is? That is the kind of nap I got yesterday. Lucy cooperated and we both took a 2 hour nap. I slept through phone calls, my alarm clock, and when I woke up at 2PM, it felt like it was 8AM after a full night's sleep. Lucy also took her feeds smoothly overnight, so I got >1 hour of sleep between each feed. While I am still tired, I didn't feel like I was going to fall asleep in the shower today. (That almost happened yesterday!)

Main Dish Kitchen is one of those places that you can make your meals ahead of time, freeze them, and then thaw and cook them as you need. I also like Dream Dinners, but Main Dish will prepare the meals for you which is what I wanted. I went over yesterday and picked up 10 different meals. The first one that we ate last night was good, and it was a nice change from the frozen chicken nuggets and tater tots.

Early On is a program that "assists families with infants and toddlers, from birth until they turn 36 months or 3 years of age, who may be experiencing delays in their development or if they have a diagnosed disability". Because Lucy was premature, she would qualify for any services she may need that they can offer. With Lucy still struggling to eat (especially breastfeed), I submitted a request for an evaluation. The intake coordinator and a physical therapist came by to evaluate Lucy today. She was wide awake and did really well. They were impressed with what she can do and said her feeding issues will probably just resolve with more time and practice.

Lucy went to the ENT doctor today and had her frenulum snipped. It was a very, very quick procedure. The doctor took two cotton swabs with lidocaine and put them on either side of the frenulum to numb it. We then gave her some sucrose. The doctor used a metal piece (kind of the opposite of a tongue depressor) to hold the tongue up and then he simply used a small scissor to snip the tissue. It bled a little and we gave Lucy some more sucrose, but she quickly recovered. We've only had a couple feedings since then, so it's too soon to notice a difference, but I do see that her tongue can come further out of her mouth.

She and I then went by my work to see my coworkers and then to our New Mom's Club. I enjoy going to the different community groups. I learn so much and it's nice to see other moms going through the same thing as Lucy and I. Tomorrow is a La Leche meeting and on Friday I plan to go to the Breastfeeding Cafe again.

Because Lucy's potassium was 5.6 on Monday, we increased the amount of potassium-removed (via Kayexalate) milk. We will wait until next Wednesday to get more blood drawn. If her potassium is still 5.6 or lower, we will then wait until her next clinic visit (August 24) for more labs.