Prunes, overboard

So, after several days of mixing in dates and prunes into G's diet with only slight improvement, I decided to step things up and get serious about this constipation thing. Thursday (sorry, it happened to fall on Thanksgiving) I did an all-prune diet for G. 3 meals. Ok, there was a tiny bit of pear mixed in, but pretty much just prunes. Not even dates added. Just before dinner, after 2 prune feedings, G had a large poop, still mostly firm, but quite large, we'll call it a big lump, rather than the little rocks she had been passing for several days. We were both quite excited and happy about it. After her dinner, her 3rd prune feeding, all the cousins were sitting around hanging out, and I happened to check G's diaper... more "stuff", this time very smooshy, regular looking, yay! G's constipation bout was finally over!

We got home too late to give her a bath, so G just nursed and went to bed (a little more poop). We talked about how happy we were that G was "regular" again. The next morning, after she woke up from her early morning nursing, G pooped again, let's call it an explosion. After cleaning her up, we decided to do a baking soda soak again (we had been doing this earlier for her back end issues) just to clean things up. We decided that we would not give her any more prunes. We checked her diaper just before putting her down for her nap, to find more poop. 

After she woke up, we fed her lunch, which she hated, fussing the whole time. After both of us attempting to feed her, we finally gave up and went outside to look around our neighborhood (actually we were checking out the leaves that we had raked, we took turns whoever wasn't feeding G was raking leaves outside). While outside, I noticed something on her pants that suspiciously didn't look like her lunch... yuck, more leaky poop. This was the 6th consecutive diaper change with poop. Maybe the prunes worked too well.

Her dinner time diaper change was the first one the whole day that didn't have poop in it. 

But this morning there was plenty again. And again after her morning nap. Sigh. Will it ever end?

Here's our Thanksgiving spread. G only had prunes, but the rest of us had a feast!

Thanksgiving family portrait:

It's so difficult these days to get a good picture of G, as she's always moving and on the go. The second I sat her down, she was trying to crawl away. It was a race to sit her down and move out of the way fast enough for E to take a picture before she crawled or rolled away. We had to repeat this several times, this was the best we could do.

9 months!

G has entered her 4th Quarter.

At her peds appointment yesterday afternoon, she weighed in at 14 lbs, and measured 26 inches. I think the length might be a bit short, b/c G didn't want to stay laying down for the nurse to mark the paper. Anyways, she is in the half percentile for weight, and 9th percentile for height. She has gained some weight since her visit before our vacation. The doctor is not concerned yet, but wants us to continue trying to boost her solids intake and see how things are at her next (12 month) appointment, where hopefully she will be back on the growth chart. She didn't have any shots, but had a blood draw to check iron levels, results came back fine. I guess this is particularly an issue for breastfed infants, as formula is iron-fortified. G has been eating a lot of spinach b/c it helps with her constipation.

G is still constipated, but doing better. I'm upping her prune intake and have been laying off the grains. We have recently added proteins to her diet (yogurt, egg yolk, tofu) as well.

She's still a good sleeper, but no longer doing the 12+ hours at night. These days it's 9-11 hours, which is still good, but we miss the 12+ hour nights/mornings. Luckily, when she first wakes up, all she does is nurse and then goes back to bed for a few hours. G is still taking 2 naps during the day as well (not including the early morning one).

One of the things the doctor asked us was whether G could do the "pincher grasp" which means picking something up with your index finger and your thumb (a fine motor skill). I didn't think so because I've never really seen her do that, though most of her toys are bigger and she's not doing finger foods yet. When we got home, I decided to try it out and showed her a button (that fell off her pants and has been sitting in my bathroom for a while). She looked at it and promptly stretched out her hand and picked it up with her index finger and thumb. Quite impressive! I guess that means we need to start giving her little foods to pick up.

Another thing we discovered at the doctor's: G has a second tooth coming in, right next to the first one. So now she has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom.

Standing

Yesterday G slept 14.5 hours overnight. Crazy, I know! How does she do it? Well, apparently she does it be eating her hair in the middle of the night. I've noticed hair in her diaper a few times and wondered about it but just thought that her loose hair somehow wiggled its way down into her diaper since it's often on her clothes. Then, after talking to another friend whose baby did the same thing, I figured out that she's eating it. That explains why I only see it in her poop. I know for a fact that G loves pulling on her hair. If I didn't hold her hand down while nursing, she would be pulling on it (the second I let go of her hand it springs up towards her head and grabs a little fistful and I have to pry her fingers open and say, "Don't pull your hair!"). It doesn't seem to hurt her. She also will pull my hair and E's hair if she's given the chance to. So, anyways, it doesn't seem to hurt her, so if she wants to eat her hair in the middle of the night, I can't really stop it. Funny baby!

I caught her sucking her thumb the other day when I peeked in on her sleeping, so cute!

So what's with the grabbing? G's hand dexterity has grown to open and close her fists in a pumping motion, grabbing and holding on to anything she can get her little hands on (and her hair seems like such an easy one because it's always available, it doesn't roll away after she lets go, has access even in her crib, etc.), and waving her fingers in a flicking motion (for spinning a toy on her jumper).

G's new favorite thing to do is standing. She has loved jumping and standing with us holding her. But just recently we figured out that she can actually support her own weight now. All we have to do now is hold her hands for balance. She loves it!

Coming soon... toe grabbing pics!

The price we pay

G slept 9.5 hours last night!

When E picked her up, he noticed her clothes were a little wet and commented that maybe she spit up. Later on, he noticed that the bed was also wet where her head was. After futher investigation, we had to pull off all 5 layers of her bed (two crib sheets and 3 burp cloths) to wash this morning, which means that she's now back to sleeping in her bassinet. I don't know what we will do in this situation once she outgrows the bassinet, let her sleep on our bed? I don't really like that thought because I don't want her spitting up on our bed either, but maybe that's the only alternative. Unless I open up her portable tent and let her sleep there.

Anyways, to finish the story of G's busy morning, while I was still nursing her, she pooped. As I was changing her diaper, she apparently hadn't finished pooping and more started coming out. We thought she was done and pulled away the old diaper, but the poop kept flowing. I think it was one of the first times we had actually seen it coming out (luckily it wasn't shooting out, and didn't get anywhere outside the diapers). One feeding, 3 diapers, I don't know how many wipes.

She spit up again after I finished nursing her, but just a normal amount. And only a little on me (most of it I caught in her burp cloth, unlike last night where she spit up right down my shirt).

I told E that G missed us because she slept so long, so she wanted to give us a lot to do this morning.

Now I'm waiting for my bass to arrive...

Multi-tasking

Today G had her biggest playdate yet, with 6 other kids/babies (not counting two in utero)! I got together with 4 other moms, it was so good to get out, talk, eat, and see the other kids playing. G slept for the first 45 minutes, then sat on Mommy's lap while she ate, then we moved to the sofa to feed G, then back to the table because G was too distracted to eat by the other kids and noise so S got to finish her lunch. By the end of lunch G started to complain and attempted to eat some more despite still being distracted, then, as the kids went back to playing and also started leaving, G finally fell asleep in S's arms. She woke up briefly while being put into her carseat but slept the rest of the way home, even while S made a quick stop.

So, what was the quick stop and why is this post entitled multi-tasking? I went to pick up a rat to feed the snake (yes, finally!). In the time it took to for the snake to eat, I changed G's diaper, fed G on both sides, put her down for a nap, uploaded pics from one of our cameras, ate some fruit, filled up the chip bowl, and blogged. Yes, he's a slow eater. Yes, I washed my hands countless times in between.

Speaking of ECing, we haven't since that first time a few days ago (ok, I tried once, but G was uncooperative and nothing came out), but I should have today. While I was on the computer and she was sitting on my lap, I heard the dreaded squirt. I should have just taken off her diaper and put her over the toilet, but I thought it was too late since I already heard the squirt. So I took her to her changing table and started to undo her diaper. Then I paused, and just in time, because I heard a second squirt. I held her diaper closed and waited. After the fourth squirt I decided to just close her diaper back rather than holding it closed. After the SEVENTH squirt (she was still trying to push stuff out too!) I finally ventured to open her diaper. WHOA!!! There was a yellow lake in her diaper! As I was trying to figure out how to contain the mess (I didn't, it spilled to the diaper below and onto the changing pad) her hands were waving around and I was so afraid her fingers would get into it (I don't think they did but I wiped them anyways, just in case). It was only because I had already opened up her clothes that it didn't get on them too. With each squirt I kept thinking, "I should have put her over the toilet, darn!"

Her giant poop must have tired her out, she's fell asleep again.

BTW, we finally got a scale. G is 11.5 lbs and is about 23 inches tall now.

And best of all, G GOES MOBILE! She can pretty reliably roll from her tummy to her back, even with her arms at her sides (though that takes a little more effort). E has to do something to the videos before we can post.

Output

So G hadn't pooped in two days. We were not terribly worried, as we've been told by her doctors and books that breastmilk is easier to digest, so sometimes babies can go for several days or even up to a week without pooping.

Well, what goes in must inevitably come out... and last night it finally did. E was changing her before we put her down for the night. We usually change her diaper in the middle of her feeding, it helps to wake her up so she'll eat more. From the other room, I heard E. Usually, it means she spits up. When I came by to investigate, I saw the aftermath. It took 3 diapers and two burp cloths and her onsie to contain her explosion. I was told that there were at least three waves. Needless to say, we did another load of laundry that night.

Yes, it was the second load of laundry, as the first one contained the massive waterfall spit up from the afternoon. It was so big, it got all over both layers she was wearing, both legs of my pants, the sofa (luckily it's leather so it wipes off nicely), the floor (hardwood so it's easy to wipe up), and S's new glider chair (good thing S had the foresight to cover the chair with several of G's burp cloths). We're trying to figure out if her big spit ups are related to what S eats. S had lunch at Costco, eating samples of everything, so maybe it was from the spicy sausage. We have been suspecting garlic, though dairy is another possibility that we know others have had trouble with.

Busy Mother's Day Weekend

G is 11 weeks today! Wow, it seems so amazing how time flies. I still love to look back on all our photos of her, how much she has grown and changed since her birth. We have been suspecting that her hair is starting to fall out, I've been so afraid of that because I love her hair so much, it's so thick and soft, and I love how it curls when it's wet. Plus, it hides her cradle cap (which is pretty much gone by now). I started to notice little hairs in her bed last week, and throughout the week, I've been keeping an eye on the sheet we have on her bed to catch her spit up which has been collecting hair every time she goes down for her nap.

This weekend was also G's first long car ride (long defined in the Bay Area as over an hour), as we drove to Sacto for a family get-together for Mother's Day on Saturday. She did extremely well, considering she was out and about for over 13 hours! G started the day with S at church for a worship team meeting at 9:30am. Then E met up and we started our drive up to Sacto at 2pm, arriving at 4pm. She slept really well the whole day (pretty much 4 hours between feedings, which she usually only does one time in a day). Her eating wasn't so good because she was "Little Miss Distracted" and was continually trying to look around to see who was talking and what was going on. On our drive home, we discussed whether to be worried that she wasn't eating enough and whether the "on demand" feeding method we do should mean that sometimes we need to wake her if she sleeps "too long" during the daytime. S even called a bunch of her friends trying to find out whether we should be worried she wasn't eating enough.

So, when she woke up fussy and probably hungry, and we were still an hour away from home, we decided to pull over to feed her rather than trying to rush home. As S was feeding her, she wondered also if we needed to change her as well, as she kind of smelled something. As S was passing G up to the front of the car for E to change her, he noticed that the entire backside of G's outfit was a wet yellowish color. At the same time, S noticed that her WHITE pants had a nice big wet yellowish spot as well. We were very well prepared for G, having brought two complete spare outfits, 4 bibs, and 5-6 spit up cloths. We were not, however, prepared for bringing a change of clothes for S. It seemed that even the car seat was not spared from G's blowout. So, we changed her, found a bag to contain her mess, and proceeded home. Note to self: make sure to keep plastic bags in her diaper bags. The minute we got home, S went straight for the shower and left E to deal with G.

And deal, he did. Quite well, I might add. This was E's first time giving G her bath totally unsupervised. Here she is totally enjoying her bath, busy watching the other baby in the mirror getting a bath too! E also took apart the fabric from the car seat, as well as gathered up all the other poopy clothes (including S's) and put them in the wash (with that much poop, sanitary cycle! No, it's not energy efficient, at over 200F and 2 hrs long, but it kills bacteria. Towels and sheets also get washed on that cycle because it kills dust mites as well.).

Whew, and that was just Saturday. We made it to church on time Sunday for S's debut return to the worship team after her 11 week "maternity leave". Making it on time was a feat in and of itself, especially because we only had 30 minutes to get all three of us ready! At her 5:20am feeding, I noticed a balloon floating near the bed. It wasn't until 9:00am (the best present she could possibly give her mommy, SLEEP!) that I noticed that the balloon was tied to a big green box. S was super happy with the Mother's Day present that G picked out (with Daddy's help). The last pic was taken in our backyard, what nice rose bushes we have!

Then, Sunday night we all went out for dinner to S's favorite restaurant and then picked up our friend at the airport. While at the restaurant, G slept really nicely and only woke up towards the end. She had a big spit up, that seemed to only have gotten on her bib and her spit up cloth, mostly missing her clothes, but also on the side of her car seat. It wasn't until we left the restaurant and started putting her in the car that E noticed the car seat was "dripping". Yes, the spit up was dripping out the bottom of her car seat. Lovely. After the airport, we took apart the car seat (for the second time this weekend) to wipe up what we could in the cracks and spaces of the plastic frame and let the foam air dry. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that her car seat made it this far. I suppose later on we can look forward to cheerios and other crumbs and juice box stains in her car seat.

Anatomy of a Blowout

G's bad hair day...


So G's latest thing is to have these tiny poops that are just like single little dots all day in order to give her parents one of these surprises. While S was giving G her morning breakfast, G was grunting and clenched her body and let out a big squishy noise. This is the middle layer:

This is the bottom layer:

In case you needed more details:


So after E cleaned her up and carefully peeled off her layers, we gave her a bath, S finished giving her breakfast, and E went to start her laundry. Now she is sleeping peacefully.

7 weeks!

G is 7 weeks old today, wow, how time really flies! This past weekend we took her on her first trip. We figured she should be pretty flexible considering how she's lived in four places since she's been born. So, this past weekend was our church's annual All-Church Retreat. She was the youngest baby there by about 4 weeks. She did really well, considering that her accomplishment for this past week was hitting the seven hour mark, which she continued over the weekend, 7 hours the first nite, and 6 hours the second.

Other firsts: using her cool green stroller and baby tote to sleep & wheel around in, leaving her in the nursery at the retreat, using a baby monitor (at a friend's house for a post-retreat BBQ), and pooping on Mommy's shirt & pants (while Mommy & Daddy were trying to swing dance at the BBQ with G in Mommy's arm).

After the retreat, S got to meet up with one of her BabyCenter cyberfriends. Ever since her miscarriage, S has kept in touch with a group of about 15 women who miscarried around the same time. One lives in Santa Cruz, so it was really exciting for S to be able to meet up with one of her friends who she's shared so much with over the past year. As a side note, most of the women are currently pregnant or have already delivered! God really is amazing how he works, His ways are truly a mystery beyond our comprehension.