Andrew's Health update: Dismissed!

 Grandma came to visit when Andrew was born. When it was time for her to leave, I remember wanting to pull at her ankle and beg her to stay.  Having her around was keeping us all sane.  Andrew was already starting to have colic and putting him down for the night could take hours, only to have to start it again when he woke up to eat the next time.

Being our third child we knew a couple of things about babies and had some expectations about what to expect.  But He rewrote our parenting book.  Every evening for months it was a lottery if he would go to bed easily or if it would take hours.  The pediatrician dismissed it as colic.  But we had other suspicions not that we knew exactly but this couldn't be normal.  

Finally at 6 months old we switched pediatricians and started seeing a GI specialist.  at 11 months it was time to do some real investigating and Andrew was sedated for some exploratory scopes to look at his digestive track and see where the problem lie.  We got the results back the week of thanksgiving.  We had something to be thankful for this year.  The tests came back with no visible concerns but the lab work showed 2 different issues.  He was allergic to cows milk and soy, AND his pancreas was not producing some of the enymes needed to digest the food he was receiving.  Changing his formula yet again, and adding some enzyme replacement medicine solved the issues.  

The only remaining issue was for him to catch up on his weight now that he could actually use the food his body was taking in.  We were also told it would not be unreasonable for him to outgrow these issues.  

Today we saw his GI doctor and received the news we were waiting on.  Lab work that was completed late last year confirms that both the enzymes and allergies are no longer affecting Andrew.  We can wean him to cow's milk to drink and feed him a worry-free diet.  

Andrew will be 2 later this month and we are more than excited to give him his very own birthday cake to smash and eat to his heart's content.  His speech skills are behind but the great team helping him catch up isn't worried.  He has been too busy using his Cute super powers to charm everyone he meets.  

Emerging from the Chaos

This space has been quiet for too long.  Life has been overwhelming for too long.  That last baby threw our family in to chaos for much longer than we expected.  We have learned some new medical jargon and added things to our life along the way. We have found our new normals and dare I say we have survived!

Our baby is not a baby any longer.  He is has been walking for months now.  He gave up the highchair this month at the same time big brother gave up diapers.  Now he sits at the table with everyone else and demands to eat exactly what everyone else is eating.  His food allergies can make this a challenge sometimes.  At his 18 month well check up we got some exciting news we have been waiting to hear for a year.  Andrew finally made a positive jump on the weight charts and he is finally back on the charts.  Thanks to special formula, enzyme replacements, a milk and soy free diet.  This mama's tears where not in vain.  Our boy is growing strong at 22 lbs (19 months)

We had spaghetti this week and there would be no denying Andrew what was on everyone else's plate so he was stripped down to his diaper, and dug in.  He ate a plate full.  And of course a bath was waiting for him afterwards.  

Coming up in the next week, Kindergarden, birthday party, soccer, and a new family schedule.  

Andrew: 3 months

When I was pregnant I was continually told that 3rd kids tend to be the wild card, not to expect them to be like either of your other children.  I wasn't sure what to think.  Andrew has proven this to be true.  He is our first high-needs baby.  He must be held a specific way to calm down.  He hated the traditional swing we had bought for him, but we discovered he loved the Cradle swing the church had, so we went shopping again and he is happy.  He will fuss if his diaper is wet, and let us know he needs a change.  He has also had some issues with being regular so that has caused some new experiences for the family.  He seems to have some reflux so he disliked laying on his back to sleep so again we went shopping and got a "Rock and Play" Cradle for him, it keeps him at a comfortable angle and rocks gently as well.  It even seems he is picky about what mommy eats, which mommy isn't so sure she likes.

At least he is starting to coo and roll over so he reacts more to all of us.  Making the hard times easier to handle and keep us looking at the big picture that he won't be this little forever.

Andrew's happy place!

Andrew's birth story, a home birth

 I like to say we have gotten progressively hippy in our childbirth choices.  Lydia at the hospital with all the drugs, Caleb at a birth center with a midwife and no drugs.  And now for Andrew we were choosing to have the midwife come to us and we were planning on having him at home.  I am thankful for the broad childbirth legislation in Florida that we had the option of a home birth.

I was constantly told my midwife and others that the 3^rd pregnancy is a wild card and not to expect it to be like your first or second, and Andrew proved that to be a true statement throughout.

At first we thought we were going to have a girl because I had mild morning sickness much like with Lydia. And really I never felt 100% throughout the pregnancy. By 20 weeks I was already having round ligament pain in my abs from carrying the baby and it last for the whole second half of the pregnancy. This alone made me rather uncomfortable.

At 35 weeks I had a new experience that I didn't have with the others, Preterm Labor. The midwife suggested we go to the hospital and get checked out because I was having time-able contractions that weren't going away. After calling a friend to come sleep with the kids, because of course this kind of thing only happens in the middle of the night, we went to the hospital to wait for 3 hours to get checked out to be hold I had no progress and they were sending me home, how disappointing, but good that baby was still baking.

Audrey weighing Andrew

The midwife suggested I go to the Chiropractor and have a procedure called the Webster method done to try and turn the baby and hopefully make some thing happen or stop it. The chiropractor visit stopped the contractions after 24 hours of no-progress labor. And the midwife put me on bed-rest for the next 3 weeks to help us keep our plan of a home birth. The hospital would deliver no problem at 35 weeks but it wasn't safe at home. Those 3 weeks included the Christmas holiday which we had family coming to visit. It was great to have them around and their help but I missed not being up and around and watched everything from the couch.

I continued to show no progress when I was examined and the baby was in position head down but his face looking up, “sunny-side up” This would lead to a painful and hard delivery if he stayed this way. I finally gave up any hope of him coming early and being the 3^rd child he was going to do things differently, his way. 

 On January 19 at about 5 in the morning my water broke. Thankfully it didn't make a mess in our bed. Today we are having a baby. We took our time getting up and made arrangements for the kids to go to a friend's house for the day. And they went out the door before 8, little did they know what was happening while they were gone. The midwife arrived at our home around 10 and began setting up. They blew up the birth-tub (swimming pool) and began setting out different things so they would know where they were. 2 midwifery students also came to assist. The more senior student, Audrey, was actually helping me and the midwife, Maggie was overseeing her. So we had a little party while we waited for Andrew to arrive.

The party "guests"

just born

As things got more intense I moved from my bed and walking around to being in the birth tub. The water helps relieve some of the pain and is soothing. The midwives kept commenting on how calm I was and chilled out. I was laughing and joking with them until it was time to push. I pushed for 20 minutes which was spent mostly trying not to push so I could ease him out and not tear the perineum, like had happened in the past. And around 1pm Andrew James joined us.

He had to be different of course so he didn't cry for the first 2 days. He purred like a cat constantly even when he was sleeping so it made it hard for us parents to know if he was awake. He was a champ for nursing and had no problems getting started. The purring was very funny. The midwives cleaned us up and did their paper work before cleaning up the space and leaving us to rest. Bob and Me and baby Andrew.

Our friends brought the big kids home at bed time, bathed and in new/borrowed pajamas. Lydia had gotten her finger nails painted for the first time and even had her hair braided. Caleb was just glad to be home. They were both happy to meet their little brother before going off to bed themselves. The neighbors told us later that they thought maybe he was being born that saturday because of the extra 3 cars in our driveway and no other signs of activity outside, when we usually park our 1 car in the garage.

Thank you to Tree of Life Birth Center in Sanford Florida for an amazing experience