Sorry it's been a while, but now we are through a wonderful Christmas season. We had been working on breastfeeding with Erik. Now I had been to the classes, read the books, researched blogs and tips, and talked to mom after mom about what to expect. After going to a class with Erik for a month, the nurse suggested I talk to my pediatrician because there may be something else going on, as to why things weren't coming together. So at our next appointment we talked to him and he suggested seeing a a specialist to see if his mouth was perhaps shaped weird. We were on the road to see a specialist, when we had a bit of a disruption...
It was one of those midnight diaper changes, and I was cleaning Erik up, when I felt a hard lump just below his tummy. I had Sean come take a look and the first thing he said was I think he has a hernia! We called our ped first thing the next morning. We got Erik in right away and sure enough, he had a hernia. Part of Erik's issue we thought, was he would grunt and push so hard when he would have bowel movements he must have pushed it down. We had an appointment with the specialist within a few days and the surgeon confirmed it was a hernia, but he couldn't get us in for another 3 weeks for surgery. He gave us the warning signs of when to take him to the ER and what to do in the mean time. Well, in the mean time we were still working on breastfeeding/formula feeding.
Nothing seemed to work or help with his symptoms when he ate. He would choke and gag, get congested, his skin felt like sandpaper, his bottom had open sores, and he wasn't gaining weight fast enough. At Erik's 6 week check up our original ped was out on leave for a medical issue, so they reassigned us to a different Doc. I wasn't able to go so Sean took him. Sean called me after the appointment and said we had to switch doctors. She had answers and she didn't settle for just letting him get through it. She gave us a special formula. Within a week his symptoms were disipating. What an answer to prayer! I dealt with giving up my desire to breastfeed and it was the first major lesson in reminding myself, "It's not about me" (this topic could be an entire blog of its own).
We did take Erik to the ER for his hernia while we waited for his surgery date, which in turn allowed us to move the surgery date up (because the doc realized it needed to happen sooner than later). We were so glad to get this done. However, it wasn't so simple. When the surgeon came in right before going in to the OR, Sean asked if he would just peak at the right side to make sure it wasn't herniated too. Within 5 minutes, he comes back and says, yep it's herniated too. OF COURSE!
I know the title says "The first big hurdle" indicating only one, but they happened simultaneously. Maybe they weren't the hurdle...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
A Rough Start
This is where the real journey begins...
Having only seen Erik's face after the c-section, I had no idea what to think when they brought him to our hospital room. He was red, black and blue from head to toe. This couldn't be normal, I thought. The pediatrician on duty, who did the first evaluation on Erik had a grocery list of issues. He was bruised from the birth, he was jaundice, he has a sacral dimple, he was small, he has 4 birthmarks on his head, he has a hooded penis (don't ask - it ended up not being the case). But when I saw him for the first time, I didn't see one thing on her list. Call it looking through rose colored glasses, seeing him as God sees him, or seeing him for who he really was, I don't know, but he was PERFECT!
From day one Erik had personality. When it came to feeding, he would not open his mouth. He would pinch his lips together and clench his jaw. He was not going to eat for anything or anyone. All he really wanted, was to be left alone. He wanted to sleep. I can remember the nurses using a medicine cup to feed him only 5ml. Just trying to get food into him.
As Erik and I started the learning process of breastfeeding it was not easy, to say the least. We went to the lactation class, I spoke with nurses, I tried everything. Because his weight was an issue, it was big deal for him to gain weight, so to not get this breastfeeding thing was more than a frustration.
We will return to this subject soon, but to keep things in chronological order, I'm going to change directions...
When Erik was just over a month old, I was changing his diaper in the middle of the night and notice a hard lump in his groin area. I had Sean take a look at it and his first thought was a hernia, but neither of us were sure. First thing, the next morning, we were at the Dr's office. Sure enough, Erik had a hernia on the right side. We were sent to a specialist and was scheduled for surgery 3 weeks later. Well, Erik had some difficulty with the hernia and the surgery just couldn't wait the entire 3 weeks. So, the day Erik was 2 months old, he had surgery for his hernia.
When the surgeon came in to have one last chat before surgery, Sean asked if he would just peek at the left side to make sure it wasn't herniated as well. Within 5 mins, the surgeon was back in our room. Sure enough, Erik had double hernias... good grief poor little boy! But he made it through and kept on keepin on...
Now back to brestfeeding...
When Erik was 2 months old, we went to his 2 month check up. Our original peridatrician was out on medical leave. So, we saw a pediatrician who was covering his patient load. Her name is Dr. Bong. Sean took Erik, by himself, for this appointment. As soon as they were done Sean called to tell me he thinks we should switch pediatrictians. For the first time, she gave us a possible reason for so many of his odd issues he was having. He would gag and choke when he ate, his bottom had open blisters, his skin felt like sand paper and he wasn't able to latch with breadfeeding. She took one look at him and said, "I think he might have a milk protein issue". Of course I did my own research to learn as much as I could and sure enough, most of the symptoms listed were what Erik was dealing with. Now, we use a prescription formula. It's an amino acid based formula, so he can digest the protein found in milk.
Dr. Bong was also noticing his left eye was not focusing straight, so she sent us to an eye specialist when Erik was 4 months old. From the first appointment at the eye dr. we have been patching his eyes on a weekly schedule. More to share on that soon...
Dr. Bong also sent us to a neurologist when Erik was 5 months old. She was noticing that Erik did not have the proper head control for his age. Since we've seen the neurologist we've been taking him once a week to physical therapy.
This isn't even everything...
The next hurdle we had to jump was Erik's special circumcision. To our luck, our pediatricians husband happen to be a urologist. Basically, Erik needed to have a customized circumcision. When he was born they told us we would have to go to Denver, so it was a pleasant surprise that we could have it done here in the Springs. Once again, Erik did great. No issues with the general anethesia.
He is our little trooper!
Having only seen Erik's face after the c-section, I had no idea what to think when they brought him to our hospital room. He was red, black and blue from head to toe. This couldn't be normal, I thought. The pediatrician on duty, who did the first evaluation on Erik had a grocery list of issues. He was bruised from the birth, he was jaundice, he has a sacral dimple, he was small, he has 4 birthmarks on his head, he has a hooded penis (don't ask - it ended up not being the case). But when I saw him for the first time, I didn't see one thing on her list. Call it looking through rose colored glasses, seeing him as God sees him, or seeing him for who he really was, I don't know, but he was PERFECT!
From day one Erik had personality. When it came to feeding, he would not open his mouth. He would pinch his lips together and clench his jaw. He was not going to eat for anything or anyone. All he really wanted, was to be left alone. He wanted to sleep. I can remember the nurses using a medicine cup to feed him only 5ml. Just trying to get food into him.
As Erik and I started the learning process of breastfeeding it was not easy, to say the least. We went to the lactation class, I spoke with nurses, I tried everything. Because his weight was an issue, it was big deal for him to gain weight, so to not get this breastfeeding thing was more than a frustration.
We will return to this subject soon, but to keep things in chronological order, I'm going to change directions...
When Erik was just over a month old, I was changing his diaper in the middle of the night and notice a hard lump in his groin area. I had Sean take a look at it and his first thought was a hernia, but neither of us were sure. First thing, the next morning, we were at the Dr's office. Sure enough, Erik had a hernia on the right side. We were sent to a specialist and was scheduled for surgery 3 weeks later. Well, Erik had some difficulty with the hernia and the surgery just couldn't wait the entire 3 weeks. So, the day Erik was 2 months old, he had surgery for his hernia.
When the surgeon came in to have one last chat before surgery, Sean asked if he would just peek at the left side to make sure it wasn't herniated as well. Within 5 mins, the surgeon was back in our room. Sure enough, Erik had double hernias... good grief poor little boy! But he made it through and kept on keepin on...
Now back to brestfeeding...
When Erik was 2 months old, we went to his 2 month check up. Our original peridatrician was out on medical leave. So, we saw a pediatrician who was covering his patient load. Her name is Dr. Bong. Sean took Erik, by himself, for this appointment. As soon as they were done Sean called to tell me he thinks we should switch pediatrictians. For the first time, she gave us a possible reason for so many of his odd issues he was having. He would gag and choke when he ate, his bottom had open blisters, his skin felt like sand paper and he wasn't able to latch with breadfeeding. She took one look at him and said, "I think he might have a milk protein issue". Of course I did my own research to learn as much as I could and sure enough, most of the symptoms listed were what Erik was dealing with. Now, we use a prescription formula. It's an amino acid based formula, so he can digest the protein found in milk.
Dr. Bong was also noticing his left eye was not focusing straight, so she sent us to an eye specialist when Erik was 4 months old. From the first appointment at the eye dr. we have been patching his eyes on a weekly schedule. More to share on that soon...
Dr. Bong also sent us to a neurologist when Erik was 5 months old. She was noticing that Erik did not have the proper head control for his age. Since we've seen the neurologist we've been taking him once a week to physical therapy.
This isn't even everything...
The next hurdle we had to jump was Erik's special circumcision. To our luck, our pediatricians husband happen to be a urologist. Basically, Erik needed to have a customized circumcision. When he was born they told us we would have to go to Denver, so it was a pleasant surprise that we could have it done here in the Springs. Once again, Erik did great. No issues with the general anethesia.
He is our little trooper!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Fast Forward
I can remember the moment we found out I was pregnant. It was a surprise, but we had already accepted the possibilty that it could happen. We were excited, stressed, scared, nervous, and at peace. All at the same time.
We met the dr., took the birthing classes, prepared the best we could. Two moments stuck out to me the most through this season.
1) I remember asking the dr., about half way through the pregnancy, "How will we know if there is something wrong?" His response, "You will ask yourself that for the rest of your life." He is so right! At that point, I felt like a mom for the first time.
2) In our birthing classes, we were given 3x5 cards with words written on them (music, relaxation, pain control, breathing, lighting, healthy baby, c-section, etc). Our project was to put in order of what the priorities would be during our delivery. Of course we, as well as every one else in the class, put healthy baby as their first priority. What we had learned in a previous class was we can plan and organize all we want but the majority of births will not go as planned. I'm so glad I kept that in mind...
Our original due date was December 15th, we were happy with that. Not too close to Christmas was nice; however when the dr evaluated the measurements of our little tyke, he said it looks more like December 27th!
So, here we go...
I can distinctly remember, the moment. I woke up and went to the bathroom. Half asleep as I always am in the middle of the night for however many times I wenr to the bathroom. But this time it was different... Needless to say, we were on our way to the hospital. The first thought that things weren't quite right didn't dawn on me until we were half way to the hospital and I was realizing these contractions were really close together in a very short period of time. I thought I had hours before they were going to be like this. We finally get to the hospital, get settled in, going back to the thought of feeling ok, we have time, stay calm, we have a long night.
Not so much...
The admitting nurse, feels my stomach and does her test (to make sure I'm really going to have a baby). She gets this strange look on her face, and asks, "Are you sure the baby is head down?". My oh so confident answer, "oh yea, the dr just last week said we are ready to go". She said, "ok well, let's get an ultrasound, just to see where the baby is headed". That's when everything changed...
We went from having a long night to we need to get this little baby out, now. His head was up by my ribs and my water had broke over an hour ago.. this was not a good situation.
Going back to the two things I remembered most throught the pregnancy season...
All came flooding back!
Erik Boaz Livermore was born December 16, 2009 weighing a whopping 5 lbs 14 oz 19 inches long!
We met the dr., took the birthing classes, prepared the best we could. Two moments stuck out to me the most through this season.
1) I remember asking the dr., about half way through the pregnancy, "How will we know if there is something wrong?" His response, "You will ask yourself that for the rest of your life." He is so right! At that point, I felt like a mom for the first time.
2) In our birthing classes, we were given 3x5 cards with words written on them (music, relaxation, pain control, breathing, lighting, healthy baby, c-section, etc). Our project was to put in order of what the priorities would be during our delivery. Of course we, as well as every one else in the class, put healthy baby as their first priority. What we had learned in a previous class was we can plan and organize all we want but the majority of births will not go as planned. I'm so glad I kept that in mind...
Our original due date was December 15th, we were happy with that. Not too close to Christmas was nice; however when the dr evaluated the measurements of our little tyke, he said it looks more like December 27th!
So, here we go...
I can distinctly remember, the moment. I woke up and went to the bathroom. Half asleep as I always am in the middle of the night for however many times I wenr to the bathroom. But this time it was different... Needless to say, we were on our way to the hospital. The first thought that things weren't quite right didn't dawn on me until we were half way to the hospital and I was realizing these contractions were really close together in a very short period of time. I thought I had hours before they were going to be like this. We finally get to the hospital, get settled in, going back to the thought of feeling ok, we have time, stay calm, we have a long night.
Not so much...
The admitting nurse, feels my stomach and does her test (to make sure I'm really going to have a baby). She gets this strange look on her face, and asks, "Are you sure the baby is head down?". My oh so confident answer, "oh yea, the dr just last week said we are ready to go". She said, "ok well, let's get an ultrasound, just to see where the baby is headed". That's when everything changed...
We went from having a long night to we need to get this little baby out, now. His head was up by my ribs and my water had broke over an hour ago.. this was not a good situation.
Going back to the two things I remembered most throught the pregnancy season...
All came flooding back!
Erik Boaz Livermore was born December 16, 2009 weighing a whopping 5 lbs 14 oz 19 inches long!
Friday, September 24, 2010
This wedding is brought you by "MySpace"
7.18.08
The big day...
Opening line from our pastor? You guessed it ~ This wedding is brought you by "MySpace"
It really was the perfect day. Our family and closest friends. Something Sean and I will cherish. Below is one of my favorite pictures. It captures the beauty of what we wanted to share with those there with us as well as those who couldn't make it.
The big day...
Opening line from our pastor? You guessed it ~ This wedding is brought you by "MySpace"
It really was the perfect day. Our family and closest friends. Something Sean and I will cherish. Below is one of my favorite pictures. It captures the beauty of what we wanted to share with those there with us as well as those who couldn't make it.
Only God knew...
When Sean and I first started emailing, we would ask each other tons of questions. Both of us could remember it taking hours to write back to the other and answer all of the questions. In one particular email, he disclosed he played the guitar. My heart melted. I can still remember thinking I've always wanted to be married to someone who plays the guitar. Now, I realize this may seem like a silly thing; nevertheless he was playing right to my heart <pardon the pun>. I can remember dating people before Sean and secretly wishing, "if only they played the guitar". Funny how God will answer even what would seem to be the piddliest "dream". He must have known what it would take to get my attention.
I found it interesting, that all the little things I had dreamt of from the time I was a little girl, I was seeing them in Sean. With everything Sean knew about me and vice versa, it was obvious, Only God Knew what it would take to bring us together.
So glad we followed our hearts
I found it interesting, that all the little things I had dreamt of from the time I was a little girl, I was seeing them in Sean. With everything Sean knew about me and vice versa, it was obvious, Only God Knew what it would take to bring us together.
So glad we followed our hearts
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