Things I Couldn't Live Without {while traveling}

I still can't believe how easy it was to travel with Elliot. It seems like other moms are always telling me horror stories about traveling with babies. My own mom is even guilty of this- I flew for the first time when I was six weeks old, and apparently I screamed the whole flight. Luckily, Elliot did not take after his mama this time- it was a piece of cake! He did SO much better than I thought he would. He was happily sleeping or checking out the airplane {and babbling to our neighbor} the whole time.

Products I couldn't live without while traveling with an infant:


Green Sprouts formula dispenser- unlike a lot of the others, this has sections for four bottles instead of three. The lid fits tightly so I didn't have to worry about it spilling in my diaper bag- so tightly, in fact, that I had trouble removing it later to refill it! An added bonus- Green Sprouts is an eco-friendly company, and we all know how I love that ;)


GroVia Biosoakers- I didn't want to use disposables during the trip because I didn't want Elliot exposed to all the chemicals, but I didn't want to lug around four days worth of dirty diapers, either... So I decided to use disposable inserts inside the covers that we already had. I chose these because they were chemical free, biodegradable, and flushable. They worked great for us! They did leak more than our cloth... but to be fair, I wasn't changing him as often as I usually do.


Infant Advil {white grape flavor}- I gave this to Elliot an hour before the plane ride and he did great. I love that it was dye-free because, let's face it, some ALWAYS dribbles out, and Elliot liked the white grape flavor a LOT better than the cherry Little Tummies tylenol I'd given him in the past.


Lamaze Freddy the Firefly- Once Elliot grew bored with his new surroundings, it was easy to distract him with this toy- and it clipped right onto my diaper bag, which saved room inside for other neccessities!


BooginHead Pacifier Grip- Because Elliot seems to like spitting out his pacifier every 2 seconds, and airport floors are DIRTY. This saved me from constantly washing his pacifier. These are the only ones I could find that work with Gumdrop & Soothie pacifiers. I picked up a random pacifier clip at WalMart but it only worked with pacifiers that had a handle. These come in really cute colors, too!


Evenflo Aura Select travel system- Since we live in northern Michigan and are still buried in snow, this trip was the first time I was able to test out my travel system. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! For the price {$200}, this thing worked GREAT. Easy to set up and collapse through security, really smooth to push through the airport, and it has really nice, bouncy shocks which came in handly while pushing him along the road at the St. Patrick's Day race. I gate checked it so that I could use it to push him in the airport, have his carseat for in the car, AND so I could watch them put it on the plane- they've done studies on how roughly checked carseats are handled in airports, and most of them aren't even safe for use afterwards!


My iPad- Airplanes and cars tend to put my son to sleep. So this gave me something to do while he was snoozing- I read a book, showed the person sitting next to me pictures of Elliot when he was in the NICU, played a few games, and even read some children's books to Elliot once he woke up. There are also some pretty nifty ABC/counting kids apps out there that Elliot finds mesmerizing.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
No cute festive pictures of Elliot yet- tomorrow we're flying out to Massachusetts for Saint Patrick's Day weekend, so I'm saving all of his cute outfits. :) We're Irish, so this holiday is a big deal in our family!
I'm REALLY excited- Elliot will be meeting most of his cousins, great-uncles and great-aunts, as well as his great grandma, great grandpa, and great-great grandma! I can't wait. Then of course there's the annual St. Patrick's Day 5k road race and the parade, too! Fun stuff.
Any tips for traveling/flying with an infant?
I have his travel system ready {which I will gate check} for toting him around the airport, and I'm also going prepared with a formula dispenser, infant tylenol, mylicon drops, plenty of pacifiers, distracting toys, his soothe & glow seahorse, and about 100 other things stuffed into my diaper bag. We'll be using chemical-free, flushable, biodegradable liners inside of our WeeHuggers and Flips covers during the trip for convenience. I just refuse to put regular sposies on him! :)
Wish us luck!
I'll be sure to post throughout the weekend via my iPad, which, by the way, I am LOVING so far!

Look who's talking!

Elliot has been a talking machine lately. Well... babytalk, that is. :)

no more breastmilk?!

Today is a sad day.
I think I have finally come to the realization that things don't always go as planned. Sometimes, you have to do what's best for your child, even if it isn't what you originally wanted. It's no secret how badly I wanted to breastfeed my son. After all, I spent the last eight weeks pumping every two hours, taking a myriad of pills, herbs, and teas to increase my supply, trying to coax Elliot to nurse with breast shields and syringes, and, finally, bottle feeding him my pumped breastmilk.
Up until a few days ago, Elliot wasn't pooping. At all. He was going five day stretches without a single bowel movement before we finally resorted to using suppositories. During that time, he was receiving a combination of breastmilk and formula in his bottles, and spending most of the day screaming because his belly hurt.
A few nights ago, I accidentally spilled a ton of my milk and therefore had to make up a few formula-only bottles. That night, he screamed and refused to take half of his bottles... until I succumbed and offered him a formula-only bottle, which he immediately gulped down. The next morning, after four formula-only bottles, he pooped on his own for the first time in two weeks!
Wondering if it was just a coincidence, I withheld the breastmilk the last two days and gave him only formula... and sure enough, he pooped yesterday morning and again this morning. He's also been noticeably less cranky.
I called his doctor and he recommended not giving him any more breastmilk for now to see if he continues to do well without it. Elliot is on a special formula for sensitive tummies that contains partially broken down proteins, which is probably why he's having an easier time digesting the formula than my milk.
So, to put it simply, I'm sad. I feel like the odds were against us from the start, but I still really wanted to breastfeed. I know I can try again {and will most likely succeed} with the next baby but... still.
So for now, I'm just doing what seems to be best for my son. If that means giving him formula, so be it, but I'm certainly not happy about it!

The beginning of our cloth adventure

I've been planning to cloth diaper since before I was even pregnant. After all, it's better for the environment, the baby, our budget... what's not to love?
Well today is our first day cloth diapering. Elliot decided to POOP in his very first cloth diaper only minutes after I put it on him! I was nervous about how I'd deal with the poopy dipes but I'm proud to say that it was really no big deal.
He seems very comfortable and happy... and his diapers are SO ADORABLE!

We're alive. Sleepy and cranky, but... alive! :)

Let me start off by saying that I couldn't be happier to have my son home. I'll take waking up to him screaming over sleeping peacefully at home while he was stuck in the NICU any day. Since bringing him home, I've finally been able to do all of the things I've missed out on since he was born: walk around the house with him, show him off at the grocery store, bathe him, dress him in real outfits, sleep in the same bed, etc. I feel like a real mother, and it's wonderful.
However, as you read in the title, Elliot and I have both been pretty tired and cranky lately. Why is that? Well, the moment he left the hospital, he simultaneously stopped pooping on his own and stopped sleeping longer than an hour at time. My poor little guy spends about 90% of his time trying to poop, and when his efforts are futile, he screams. And screams. And SCREAMS.

There are a few tricks I've learned that help:
- bathtime and storytime before bed
- dark Karo Syrup in his bottles
- laying him on his tummy {even though I'm well aware that babies SHOULD sleep on their backs. Most of his nurses told us that most babies with belly problems will only tolerate laying on their stomachs. He did this for hours on end in the hospital and turned out just fine- I'm sure he'll be okay at home, too.}
- any movement- walking, bouncing, rocking, swaying...
- CUDDLING. If he had it his way, he would only sleep while being held. Of course, since I also have to take care of myself, this is pretty much impossible. He does, however, sleep in my bed every night. Although he has no problem sleeping in his swing, bouncer, or anywhere else, really, during the day... he does NOT like to sleep alone at night. And he makes this very clear by screaming the moment I try to put him down. So, for now, he sleeps with me. I'm not sure how long we'll keep doing this, but at this point, if it gives me even ten more minutes to sleep, I'm all for it.

My husband also left on Saturday.
It was incredibly hard to say goodbye and it has been much harder to do this on my own than I thought it would be. I miss him every day and hate thinking about how much he will miss over the next five months. Elliot is growing and changing in so many ways already, and he doesn't get to witness any of it. Having him home for fifty-five days after Elliot's birth was perfect. I'm thankful for that. He is an amazing man, husband, father, and soldier. I can't wait for him to come home!

Now for what you were really looking forward to: pictures. :)
Things Elliot Loves:

Car rides.


Bathtime.


Being wrapped up in a fuzzy towel.


Sleeping {okay, not really, but this one was cute.}


Staring at lights and/or out the window.


His pacifier.


Snuggling with mommy. ♥

We're Home! {kind of}

After six weeks in the NICU, Elliot was discharged today. We're staying at the Ronald McDonald House for one more night and heading back up north tomorrow.
I don't want to jinx anything, but Elliot has been SO great since we brought him home. No crying or fussing. All he cares about is eating, sleeping, and cuddling. He's such a good baby.

Some things you have to do to come home:


Take your first REAL bath- he loved this! Since he always screamed through his sponge baths, I braced myself for the worst as I stripped him down for his bath. But as we lowered him into the warm water, his eyes got huge and he sat quietly the whole time while we soaped him up.


Get dried off


Bundle up


Pass the carseat test- He slept through the whole thing- all 90 minutes of it.

Breastfeeding = the hardest thing I've ever {tried} to do.

I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but breastfeeding is hard. If that sounded sarcastic, it was. Because the minute you say you want to breastfeed, every other mother in the world has something to say about it and of course, they always end with: "... but it's REALLY hard."
They weren't kidding! Sure, I knew it would be tough. I knew it would hurt. I knew that so many other mothers have tried and failed at breastfeeding. But none of that mattered to me, I just assumed I could do it. After all, I was am determined. I figured, as long as I didn't give up, I could do it.
WELL. I'm sure breastfeeding a regular, healthy, full-term newborn is hard enough. But I can't even put into words how hard it is to convince a baby with a sore, swollen belly, a recessed chin, acid reflux, and an almost-permanently arched back to hold still {and stop using his mom's boobs as a personal punching bag} long enough to latch on. Add the fact that he didn't even EAT for the first three weeks of his life, then went straight to the bottle, and you have a recipe for disaster.
The last few days were horrible, to say the least. Yesterday, lactation consultants, occupational therapists, and nurses were all trying to help Elliot latch on. We tried different positions, nipple shields, syringes, soothing, wrangling... the works. He WOULD. NOT. LATCH. I was ready to give up.
Sharon, our lactation consultant, even admitted that some babies just can't do it... and that Elliot could be one of those babies. "Exclusive pumping is still an option," she pointed out. Except for the fact that I'm not even making enough milk right now to feed him. I left the hospital yesterday thinking that my dreams were dashed and I was going to be feeding my son formula. I felt like a failure.
Today, when we got to the NICU, Elliot was starving. You could hear him screaming from down the hall. While his bottle was warming, we gave him a bath, put a fresh diaper and onesie on him, swaddled him up, did a few relaxation exercises with him that I learned yesterday from the occupational therapist, and... he was CALM. So my husband looked at me, with the bottle in his hand, and said, "Do you want to try to breastfeed him?" I looked down at Elliot skeptically and shrugged. Sure, why not. It couldn't hurt, right? I was preparing myself for the kicking, screaming banshee that my son turns into whenever we even ATTEMPT to get him close to the boob.
Magically, after only one or two tries, and the help of a nipple shield, he LATCHED RIGHT ON! He actually nursed happily for twenty-five minutes before falling asleep. You should've seen me- I was beaming ear-to-ear and kept saying to my husband, "Look at him! LOOK! He's sucking! And swallowing! And BREATHING!" I just couldn't believe it.
The feeding went so well, in fact, that we decided to give it at try again at his next feeding. And wouldn't you know it?! He latched right on and nursed until he fell asleep again! Sure, he might have been drooling a lot and I might have had milk soaking my bra and dripping down my belly, and my back might've felt like it was going to snap in half since I couldn't figure out how to recline my chair, but I was the HAPPIEST MAMA IN THE WORLD.
So there you have it. Apparently, I'm not a failure and there IS still hope. Who knows, today could've been a fluke and he could have a horrible day again tomorrow but... today, Elliot proved that he CAN latch on. It's just a matter of whether or not he WANTS to.
Seriously, though, don't let anyone tell you anything different: BREASTFEEDING IS HARD!!

Thanks to YOU, we are now on the FIRST PAGE!!!!!!!!! WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And I also have an assortment of awards to accept. I shall be doing that shortly... probably cheating and putting them all in one post :)

ONE MONTH!!?

Elliot is one month old today.
I can't believe it. Sometimes, I still wake up in the middle of the night in a panic because I don't feel him kicking. Every detail and moment is still crystal clear. It was the happiest day of my life. I will never forget hearing him cry for the first time, just before the doctor plopped him on my lap. I remember looking at him in awe and being afraid to touch him. A few hours later, when they wheeled me down to the NICU, he grasped my finger with his tiny hand and I was instantly in love. I still remember feeling heartbroken when they made me leave- I bawled all the way back to my room. In fact, I still feel that heaviness every time we leave the NICU for the day.
It feels like just yesterday we were still getting lost in the hospital and forgetting all of the NICU policies. And now, here we are. We know all the nurses by name. We can maneuver all of his cords and wires with ease. We know what all of the different alarms mean. We can gavage him all by ourselves. We're NICU pros.
Elliot is perfect. Every time I look at him, I can't believe we created something so beautiful. He is my cuddle bug, my little piggy, my little man, my everything. I love this little boy so incredibly much... and he's already a WHOLE MONTH old! It's hard to believe AND handle... I'm not ready for him to grow up.
Happy One Month, Elliot Reid. Mommy loves you so much! ♥


My nurse styled my hair for my birthday! :)




It's my party, I'll sleep if I want to...

Day Twenty-four.

A lot happened today but I'll start with the very best, most exciting news: I was able to breastfeed Elliot for the first time! I was pretty nervous because I wasn't sure if he'd be able to latch correctly, especially since he has so much trouble with the bottle. But I'm proud to say that he took to the boob like a real pro! He started rooting immediately and was nursing in no time. It was the most amazing feeling.
I had just pumped right before nursing him though, so he still had to take a bottle afterwards. He just doesn't get it. He lets all the milk drool out of his mouth. And I wish I could tell you how long it takes him to finish 11 cc's of milk {which is really only a couple mouthfuls}. I won't complain though- I'd rather him prefer the breast to the bottle any day!
AND breastfeeding him seems to have helped my supply- I've been able to pump 1.5 ounces consistently. That might not sound like much but I've only been getting .75ish ounces for over a week now, so I was THRILLED.
They said I can put him to breast anytime we're there for his feedings {which are every 3 hours}, so I'm pretty excited to see how things progress and how this affects my supply.
I'm in such a good mood that it doesn't even bother me that much that the other {younger} gastroschisis baby in our nursery, Zackery, went home today. I'm happy for his family. Of course, I'd rather have Elliot home, too... but at least someone gets to enjoy being home as a family.

Day Twenty-three.

Elliot started feeds today!
He is starting off on 10cc's of my pumped breastmilk every three hours. Surprisingly, he had very little interest in the bottle and we practically had to force it into his mouth. Then, he was very overwhelmed and didn't understand the concept of coordinating sucking, swallowing, and breathing. He ended up spitting most of the milk back out. That's okay, though. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it eventually!




Falling asleep with the bottle in his mouth.


No more mom... no more!


Learning to eat is hard work!

Day Twenty-two.

Elliot now weighs 7 lbs 5 oz!
I can't believe it! He's gaining weight at an incredible rate, especially considering the fact that he hasn't had even a DROP of milk his entire life. I'm thinking he's going to be a chunker once he actually starts eating.
He pooped again today. Hopefully, his repogle tube will be removed soon.
In case you've been wondering where all of his hats are, well... apparently Aaron and I create babies with TINY heads. Only a couple of his hats even come close to fitting him... and the rest are just GIGANTIC and fall right off.


One of the (three?) hats that fit Elliot. :) Adorable, huh?!

It's hard to believe how high we are on the list now, especially since we started off in the 500's. We are now holding steady at #27, only two spots away from the first page! Wow! We have new readers every day, and each new reader equals more prayers for Elliot and another person who knows about gastroschisis. I couldn't be happier!

Day Twenty-one: POOP!

Elliot had a rough morning. He was in so much pain! Aaron got really irritated and finally asked the nurse if he could be put back on Tylenol. We just don't see why he should have to suffer for no reason. He can't even sleep peacefully because he gets pains every couple minutes and his heart rate goes into the 220's as he scrunches up and screams in pain. Even when he's relaxed, his heart rate is still much higher than normal and he breathes very heavy. It's extremely hard to see your child in pain... especially when you can't do anything to soothe him.
ELLIOT POOPED TODAY! He was just about to get his daily suppository, and the nurse opened the diaper and said, "Oh! We don't need it! He POOPED!" I never thought I'd be so happy to see poop in my life. :)
It must've been a big relief for him, because it was the first time we got to spend time with a wide awake, CONTENT baby boy in awhile. We spent a whole forty-five minutes holding a wide-eyed, alert baby who did not cry or scrunch up in pain... not even once. That's gotta be some kind of record for us!




Taking his temperature, two minutes before he pooped!

Day Twenty.

Elliot threw up {dark green vomit} twice today.
This isn't a very good sign.

Day Nineteen.

We met with Elliot's doctor today. Elliot is now getting daily suppositories in an attempt to stimulate his bowel and get him to have regular bowel movements. If it doesn't work, we're going to have to look into the possibility of doing some imaging to make sure everything is okay internally.
Once he starts going to the bathroom regularly, we will start feeding- and he said to be prepared for feeding problems, since most gastroschisis babies have digestion issues. As of right now, he has no idea what kind of timeframe we're looking at for his NICU stay- it could be only a few more weeks, could be months.
Elliot's repogle has been leaking up a storm, so they decided to go through his nose instead of his throat. He seems a little happier this way! Hopefully we'll be able to get rid of the tube altogether soon. Having it in his nose makes him snort in the cutest way, though.


Zonked in his bouncy seat today, with his new nasal repogle.


And because I forgot to post it yesterday... Mommy & Elliot snuggling. :)



We're #27 now :) !!

Day Eighteen.

When we got to the NICU today, the first thing we noticed was that Elliot's repogle had leaked green gunk all over his bed. We got the sheets all changed and I scooped him up to hold him. After about a minute of rocking, he puked up green bile and it got all over his face, outfit, and blanket. This is the very reason we haven't been able to start feeds yet- everything is coming out the wrong way!
Once we got him into a fresh onesie and the nurse reinserted his repogle, he was one happy little guy and was wide awake and content for awhile {while we were holding him} before he fell back asleep.
Thanks for all the advice and tips with the pumping. I talked to my nurse about it today and she suggested pumping more often. Supply and demand. Now, to be honest, that was the one thing I was REALLY hoping she wouldn't say- because as it is, I'm already pumping every two hours with just one six hour break at night. Wellll... I guess I can kiss that goodbye! You might as well call me the Milk Machine... that's what I feel like! It's definitely for a good cause... but I can't wait for Elliot to start breastfeeding.


Elliot likes not having his repogle tube in! {This was right before they reinserted it}


Good as new with a new onesie and repogle.


Baby burrito!




Being a baby is hard work.

Day Seventeen.

Two steps forward, one step back.
I think Elliot likes to keep us guessing. Since he pooped and there wasn't hardly anything coming out of his repogle yesterday, they were hoping to take out the repogle tube today and start feedings. HOWEVER, Elliot hasn't pooped since and there is now a ton of green being sucked out of the repogle again. So we're back to waiting.
The other gastroschisis baby in our nursery who is younger and smaller than Elliot (and who had surgery on the same day he did) is already bottle feeding and doesn't have his repogle anymore. I know every baby is different and we shouldn't let it discourage us, but... it's frustrating. I'm glad Zackery is doing well but I wish Elliot would catch up to him!
To top it off, my milk supply has gone down from 2-2.5 ouces per pumping to only one ounce. Almost all of that comes from the right side because the left side is hardly producing anything anymore. I don't know what's going on but I'm definitely going to talk to the lactation consultant tomorrow.

Days fifteen & sixteen: Gammy visits.

My mom came down yesterday, stayed the night, and left again today. She got to spend some time with a very cranky Elliot yesterday. His tummy was hurting him really badly and nothing we did helped. He spent most of the time we were there screaming.
But today was a different story. They turned off the suction on his repogle tube and with the help of a suppository, Elliot POOPED! I've never been so happy to see poop in my life! His nurse said that hopefully he'll poop again today and then maybe we can start feeds tomorrow! Elliot was very content today... he really enjoyed his bouncy seat and being snuggled by Gammy, Aaron, and I.


Elliot looking TINY in his froggy bouncer