Monday, December 12, 2011

Quick Catch Up- and sick babies :(

Home alone with the babies...and I need to get used to this new norm.  It's been SOO nice to have B home most days and/or help from my mom, B's family, my Dad...anyone we could get over here.  I've done plenty of feedings by myself (not nearly as many as I've done with B though- he's the BEST), but it's still difficult.  I just hate when one wakes up and starts crying while I'm still feeding the other.

But today is a little worse than usual because we've got some poor little sick babies on our hands.  I'm taking them both to the doctor again this afternoon at 4:00.  Caleb still hasn't gotten over whatever it is that he has and it was a really rough morning trying to get him to eat when he can't breathe.  He just keeps pulling away from the bottle to spit milk out so he can breathe out of his mouth.  And he's not so great at breathing out of his mouth yet (he's only 7 weeks!)...so he snorts and growls and struggles the whole time.  I feel awful for him.  I suction him, I saline him...I don't know what else to do over here.  My mom ended up having a sinus infection and got antibiotics which cleared it up right away- so I'm gonna bring that up today and see if maybe this is more than a virus.

And then poor little baby Gracie.  She started having really runny/watery stools a couple of days ago, and I hoped it was just something I ate.  But she's still having them and she's throwing up more now (not spit up, projectile vomiting).  So I'm taking her in as well to make sure that it's not anything serious and check to see if she's dehydrated because she's sleeping through a lot of feedings and pulling away from the bottle really early (after about an ounce usually...we can get her to take more, but it takes a whole lot of coaxing). 

Any thoughts on what might be going on in our house right now?  I just want them to be better!!! When they are distracted and feeling a little ok, they both give me smiles ... I just want them to be feeling that way all the time. 

Here's a couple more pics I just took of my sleeping beauties.  PS- Caleb is a friggin BEAST! He's huge now!  He makes Gracie look so small...He eats about 35 ounces in 24 hours, and that's with me sometimes cutting him off when he's acting like he's still a bit hungry.  I just  don't want him to get sick and throw up cuz he overeats.  Should I just keep feeding him even if he's already downed 6 or 7 ounces in one sitting?  Seems like a bit much for a 7 week old.  Thoughts?



Gracie Mae, dreaming a happy dream

Caleb's chubby cheeks!

Had to cover her hands, she started clawing at her face...

Love his froggy pajamas

And of course, bath time!

Caleb- mommy's little monkey






3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness!! How adorable!

    Hope that everyone is feeling better soon!

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  2. Ok, I shall try and catch up and not miss anything!

    First off, how cute are your two? Swoon indeed!! Aren't the smiles the best? Oscar is trying his hardest to giggle right now and it is adorable.

    Sorry to hear they are sick. Hope the doctor was helpful? Can't advise much, Oscar is still congested and wakes himself up because he can't breathe and needs to be sucked and squirted with saline drops, poor darling. He's been like it since birth and the doctors just keep saying he'll grow out of it. So I guess it could be "one of those things", but with Caleb wheezing I would really push for a more helpful answer if you can! Isn't it heartbreaking when they struggle like that?

    Oh, one thing we do find helps a bit is a humidifier in our room at night but that is because our house is quite dry, so I don't know if that would help you.

    Sorry the counselling was so pointless :( But good to know you have ruled out PND. Mummy guilt is a MASSIVE deal. I've worked with tons of babies and yet I find I feel guilty whenever Oscar so much as squeaks whereas with the babies I looked after before I was much better at waiting to see if it was going to turn into proper cries or just a complaint because they were bored or something. Guess that's good old Mother Nature at work, hey?

    As for the feeds, you're using breastmilk, right? I'm having to switch over to formula because of terrible issues with oversupply but Oscar takes a good 6 oz every time of the hungry baby milk (so he would take much more of the normal first milk) and he is 12 weeks and has been doing this for a good couple of weeks. He is just a BIG boy (as big as my friend's 6 month old. Not fat, just large build!) so he has a good appetite. He knows when he has had enough and will start playing with the bottle instead of sucking and refuse any more milk. Babies generally know when they have had enough and it is quite rare for them to overfeed on breastmilk anyway. I think you're fine just letting him take what he wants. The only time you need to reassess it is if a baby starts to gain so much weight they go up through the percentiles rapidly. I have worked in nurseries and I saw an overfed baby and I can tell you that Caleb looks perfectly fine and like he is thriving, no need to worry he is overfeeding xx

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  3. Just realised you said Caleb WASN'T wheezing... sorry, my bad! xx

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