August Adventures

So my updating has been lacking (obviously) so I'm going to sit down right now and get it all out. August was a fun month for Josie! She got to spend a lot of time with Aunt Sarah and her grandparents, because I started a job at F.X. Browne, Inc. doing water quality sampling and flow measurements for Solebury Township during rain storms (not that you asked about that)...

So Josie spent lots of time with Aunt Sarah and even Aunt Kristine before they both went back to school. Obviously this involved fun pictures in front of the mirror and hanging out in Sarah's room. They took walks and played on the swingset and even watched TV! 

Josie also got to meet Jay, Suzanne, Mia, and Ollie when they came for a short visit. We all had lots of fun when they came, and Josie loved all the attention! 

Josie's feet were much smaller than Ollie's! 

 Reading with friends is lots of fun! 

Josie really likes games that involve being upside-down!

Josie also got to experience a few other fun things in August. Mommy, Daddy, and Josie went to the Grange Fair, where Josie had her first cow experience! She got to pet a calf, and then it LICKED her! It's tongue was long and slimey, and Josie got VERY upset when she got licked! We missed the pictures of her being licked by a few seconds, but we did get pictures of the now infamous moo! 

After being licked, Josie didn't want to hang around the animals too much anymore, so instead, she watched the tractor parade with Daddy and even got to sit in a huge tractor! 

The tractor wasn't the only vehicle that Josie got to drive this month! Josie got to drive Pop-pop Zubler's GTO, even before Mommy and Daddy got to! She couldn't reach the pedals, so she didn't get to drive TOO far...

Josie got to play in the grass for the first time when she went with Daddy and Mommy to Tamanend Park. She loved being able to play on her own (even though she couldn't quite sit up by herself yet)! 

 Josie spent lots of quality time with Daddy! She LOVES her Daddy very much, and Daddy loves playing with his baby girl!

Josie's been rolling across the floors like a pro!

Even Maggie got a little love in! After playing with Josie's toys by grabbing the hippo on her mouth and shaking it for Josie, she decided that Josie would be the perfect pillow! <3 

The last week of August was pretty crazy! Josie experienced her first earthquake on the 23rd, when her and Mommy were awakened from a nice afternoon nap together in Mommy and Daddy's bed when the entire house started shaking! It was pretty neat, and Josie wasn't scared at all! That same week, Hurricane Irene hit New Jersey and Philadelphia, and lots of wind and flooding happened, and again with the next storm only a few days later! There were even tornado warnings! But despite the crazy weather at the end, Josie had a great 6th month of life! 

First Fourth

Josie turned 4 months on the Fourth of July! She had a good day, and even got to see fireworks for the first time!

                                

  Later in the month, we stayed at the campground in New Jersey for a night. Josie went swimming for the first time and LOVED it! She had SO much fun in the water, and even got to play in the sprinklers and fountains in the kiddie pool!

Since it was so hot out throughout most of July, we spent a lot of time in the air conditioning keeping cool. This meant lots of time for fun pictures, and lots of cute outfits! 

At her 4 month appointment, Josie weighed 13.5 pounds! Breastfeeding has been going well!

Long time, no update!

So it's now NOVEMBER!!!! and I haven't given you an update on Josie in a REALLY long time. sorry for that. Instead of trying to cram 5 months worth of stuff into one post, I'm going to add posts one at a time for each month so you can see what we've been up to!

JUNE:

Josie and mommy made daddy's first Father's Day gift. We did some pictures with letters that spelled "DAD" and put them in a frame. Josie had a lot of fun making her present to daddy. Here are some pics from our photoshoot:

Josie did really well with breastfeeding, and gained weight really well too! 

A Week of Breastfeeding

Josie has been going strong with breastfeeding for almost a week now. She's had NO issues with latching at all, and I am so incredibly happy that she decided to breastfeed without a shield or any other device. So far, her latch has been good and not too painful (unless she pulls away from me without letting go or bites, OUCH!). I'm a little concerned about her weight, since I'm not entirely sure how much she is getting from me. Today was my first day not pumping in the morning or during the day, since I was down to 3 pumps per day and feeding her on demand during the day. I wanted to see how she would do if I only concentrated on feeding her and not pumping. She did really well, and wasn't cranky or seeming hungry at all today, which I hope means that she was eating well! We did give her a bottle before bed, but it was only 2.5 ounces and it was only because she was fussy at the breast and I wanted her to go to bed with a good full stomach so she would sleep better. She is typically a sleeping fiend, and will often sleep for 12 hours straight (and she goes to sleep on her own in her cradle)! I usually pump while she's asleep, and think I will continue to do so since she sleeps SO long (not that I'm complaining)...

So what's new in the world of Josie, you may ask? Not too much. Daddy FINALLY got to see her rollover from her belly to her back last night, and he sounded very happy to see it! She also saw her first whole movie the other day (Fox and the Hound), and she actually watched most of it! TV is not something I normally encourage, but we were having a "nurse-in" day, where we laid around and I nursed her as much and as long as she wanted to help encourage her and to help build my supply back up. It was a good day that provided lots of cuddles for us!

Josie's been spending some time with Aunts Kristine and Sarah, usually so mommy can get some stuff done during the day (and since Kristine will leave for school in the fall and Sarah will be gone for the summer). She's really starting to notice who people are, and was even excited to spend a couple of hours with Grandma Schick last Friday while mommy did some chores! She notices pets, and really enjoys watching the dogs run around the back yard!

Josie also sang the other day! She "talked" to me, then started singing! I sang back at her, and she did it back to me! She's becoming quite the little character!

My little wee one is growing up so fast! I can't believe that she is already 3.5 months old! 

A much overdue update!

Clearly, I'm not keeping up with this blog as much as I would like to. Josie is now 3 months and 4 days old, or 13 weeks, 5 days old. Either way, she's sure a lot older than it feels! She's blossoming into a beautiful little girl more and more each day, and each day I'm reminded of how much I love her and how much of a wonderful blessing she truly is in our lives. After all, who couldn't love this face?

Josie's weight has been very good, she's finally getting some meat on her! I'm so happy about that, since the guilt I've felt about her not eating enough was immense. She's still on the smaller side when compared to her peers, but she's at least growing steadily now! At her last weigh in a week and a half ago, she was 11 pounds, 6 ounces!

Since my last post, Josie has reached a few milestones, some of which we weren't even expecting! Josie can smile, laugh, roll from belly to back, and is working on copying things and controlling her hands. She has copied some faces that I made when I snorted like a pig, and makes a "haa haa haa" sound with deep breaths. Her first time rolling over, we all missed it. I set her down on her belly on her play mat, and turned to flip the light switch on, and when I turned back around she was on her back, much to my surprise! Josie also found her feet for the first time the other day, when Grandma Schick bought her a Bumbo seat!

Other than some awesome milestones, our last few weeks have been rather mellow. Josie got to meet her Great-aunt Kass! Josie was actually content and happy, and Kass loved getting to meet her new Great-niece and holding her!

Josie also got to use her bounce and spin froggy for the first time, and she LOVES it! She has learned how to play music by spinning the frog's eyes (even mommy couldn't figure that out!)!

Josie has also been brushing up on her reading! She's loving her Dr. Suess book that we got from Maryl!

Being the educated and experienced little person Josie is, she even attended her first wedding! Josie went to her uncle Matt and aunt Mary's wedding April 30, and even had an adorable dress to match the bridesmaids! 

And just because I'm sure you all want to see more pictures:

On the greener side of things, Josie is FINALLY getting breastfeeding down. After her hospital stay, I pretty much started exclusively pumping, and occasionally feeding her with a nipple shield. I was exhausted, since my supply had dropped so much and I had to supplement and pump frequently to ensure she got enough and my supply would increase. I made an appointment with the Breastfeeding Resource Center to see a lactation consultant about getting Josie to latch without the shield, since I really was hoping to wean her from the shield and be able to stop pumping. I know breastmilk is best for my baby, and that was what I intended to give her! As it turns out, Josie has what is known as a bubble palate (a high indentation in her front part of the palate), which makes it difficult for her to properly suck. The lactation consultants helped me get Josie to latch, and she got 2.5 ounces from me without the shield, much more than the less than 1 ounce she was getting with it!

I struggled with trying to get Josie to latch on my own, and really gave up. I decided that spending all my time frustrated, feeling rejected, and attached to a pump was not good for either of us. I began dropping pumps, and was down to only 3 or 4 a day. As it turns out, Josie had other plans, as yesterday she latched right on and hasn't stopped since! It hurts, I'm not going to lie, but I am SO incredibly happy that Josie has decided to nurse on her own! Now I just have to get my supply back up, which shouldn't be too hard as much as she wants to eat! I'm so happy I persevered, and the end of the hellish days is finally in sight! WAY TO GO JOSIE! 

Mother of the Year

So yet again it's been awhile since I've written for Josie. She is now 6 weeks 6 days old and is the cutest baby in the world. She's doing great with holding her head up, is wide-eyed and alert all the time, and has been sleeping through the night ::fingers crossed:: We did have a minor setback last week when she ended up in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). I've felt pretty crappy since then, since I feel like it's my fault for starving my baby! I wish I could go back in time and take away all her pain and discomfort so she could have avoided this entire situation!

I was getting concerned about Josie's growth since she still seemed to be the same size as she was when we brought her home from the hospital. She was very skinny and lost most of the fat on her body. I had been concerned about her spitting up mucus and having mucus in her stools since she was born, and both my midwife and my pediatrician suggested to cut milk out of my diet in case she had a milk protein allergy. I cut milk out almost 3 weeks ago, and noticed a change in Josie after about a week. Her stools didn't really look better, but she seemed much happier and less in pain than she had before. I took her to my midwife with me last Wednesday for my 6 week appointment, and had her weighed. She was only 7 pounds 3 ounces, down from her birth weight of 8 pound 1 ounce at 5 weeks. My heart sank when I heard the news. Barbara (my midwife) said that she normally wouldn't suggest supplementing with formula, but in this case she would since Josie was so skinny. Then she saw Josie spit up mucus and told me to take her to CHOP, and she had a serious concern in her voice.

I called George at work and told him to come home so we could head down. We waited a bit to avoid traffic, but still made it down there that evening. She was admitted after sitting in emergency having tests run for a few hours.

4 days in the hospital and many blood tests, stool tests, and an EKG yielded little information. Her blood tests kept coming back different. Her first tests revealed extremely high potassium levels (a sign of kidney failure (I was a wreck)), but repeat showed lower levels, and one of the doctors told me that the lab gave everyone high potassium levels that night, must have been some errors. She had some blood in her stools (and still does) and they were tested to make sure that she is absorbing fats, sugars, and carbs correctly. All of those tests (except the one we have yet to hear about) came back negative. I suggested that she had a milk protein intolerance and wondered if that could have been bothering her. The doctors strongly argued that she didn't and I didn't know what I was talking about (basically).

The most helpful people at CHOP were the speech pathologists and lactation consultants. Meetings with them told us that Josie has an extremely weak suck, and before and after feeding weights showed that Josie was only getting less than 30ml of milk from me, less than an ounce! I began a pumping regimen, and also decided to use a supplemental nursing system (SNS) to keep Josie on the breast. I have a weak milk supply (probably because Josie sucks at sucking). Because I couldn't stand the thought of Josie being starving, I decided that we needed to supplement with formula. I wanted to use a soy based formula to avoid milk protein issues, but the doctors argued with me for a long time about it. I finally gave in (and never should have), and began giving Josie Gerber Good Start. She did really well on it and became a whole different baby (the same baby I met after giving birth, not the crazy cranky baby of the last 6 weeks). She gained an average of 75 grams a day the first 3 days we were in the hospital, and she surprised everyone with her alertness and calmness. She had some issues with nasal mucus and throwing up that formula, so we switched her to Earth's Best, an organic formula, after we came home. Since she didn't have too many issues with the Gerber, we got a milk based Earth's Best. Since then, however, Josie has had blood in her stools, and we saw our pediatrician who wants us to use Nutramigen. We have yet to start it, since she seemed to be doing well on the Earth's best otherwise, but I will tomorrow. We go back in a week for another weight check and in 2 weeks with a stool sample, and if there's blood in her stool we will see a GI doctor (something we didn't see at CHOP).

Overall, our experience at CHOP was a waste of time other than the fact that we found out Josie has a sucking problem, and I got a free Medela breast pump. Most of the babies in the unit were  much sicker than Josie, but it still sucked that we were there. I cried like a baby having to see her like this:

even though she took it all in stride and was comfortably asleep most of the time we were there:

Josie also had her first bottle EVER while at CHOP, and daddy got to give it to her!

She took it really well!

Well, that's the end (I hope!) of our weight loss adventure. At our pediatrician two days ago, Josie was a whopping 8 pounds, 8 ounces (though her diaper probably added 3 or so ounces). That's still a huge gain from her 7 pounds 4 ounces less than a week before!