Acid Reflux in Babies

We recently found out that our lil guy has acid reflux. He doesn't have it too bad, which is good, but because it is a mild case it was kind of scary for us at the beginning. You see, most babies that have acid reflux spit up all the time. Our lil guy never spit up, instead he would just gag and choke a lot. It was never so bad that he couldn't breathe, but it sure was scary when he would start gagging over and over again. Aside from the gagging and choking he had other symptoms that are common with acid reflux: frequent sneezing, frequent coughing, frequent hiccups, a stuffy nose, etc. The pediatrician gave us some medicine to give him and it has been such a big difference. All the symptoms went away immediately and he is now so much more content after eating. He is now almost 6 weeks old and is 10 lbs 10 oz. He has started to react to lights and sounds a ton and every now and then gives us an occasional smile that melts our hearts!!

3 week old baby boy

We have just barely gotten through the three week mark and already we feel like our little guy is changing so fast. He was 7 lbs 1 oz at birth and now he is 9 lbs 6 ozs, so you can see that his favorite thing to do is eat (he gets that from me, unfortunately!). As paranoid first parents, we have been in to see the pediatrician three times already. First, we went in to have his belly button looked at because it hadn't fallen off yet and was bleeding a little bit. Second, we took him in for his routine 2 week appt. The third appointment was to check his left eye because it was getting "goopey" all the time. The ped said that it looks like he may have a blocked tear duct, but that it is pretty common and will most likely clear up on its own. Other than that, things have been going pretty smooth, we love being parents.

Sweet baby boy!

Well the little guy is 10 days old and what a joy he is in our lives!! We can't get over the fact that we could spend all day long just staring at him. The first few days home from the hospital we hardly slept at all. Every time he would make a little noise we would check to see that he was ok, every time he wouldn't make noise for a few mins we would check to see if he was ok. Now, we have started to get more sleep and we have started to decipher which noises mean he needs us and which ones are just nothing. He has been such a good baby so far and doesn't cry much unless he is hungry or having his clothes or diaper changed. He is a good little eater and is already starting to fill out a little more. Well,I gotta run...apparently it is my turn to change his diaper!!

Our little guy is here!!!

Yesterday at 10:25 PM our lil' guy arrived! It was the most amazing and emotional experience of my life. My wife woke me up at 6 AM yesterday because she thought her water broke, but she wasn't sure. Since she wasn't sure she decided to wait until she could talk to a nurse before we went in. She ended up falling back asleep and didn't wake up until 11:00 AM. She called the nurse and the nurse said we needed to get down to the hospital and see if her water broke. We arrived at the hospital at 1:30 PM and found out that her water did break and we would be having the baby that day! We were very excited, but very nervous too. They started my wife on a pitocin drop to induce the labor. For the first few hours she wasn't progressing much, but then she went from 3 cm to 8 cm in about 1 1/2 hours. Soon she was 10 cm and she pushed only for about fifteen minutes and our sweet baby boy was finally here. He weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. We have only slept for about 1-2 hours in the past 24 hours...so needless to say we are both drained. We are still at the hospital until tomorrow and then we will get to bring the lil guy home. What a thrill ride this trying to conceive, pregnancy, and birth have been. I look forward to continuing to blog about the joys and trials of fatherhood!!!

Dilated to 1 and 1/2 and 60% Effaced

A few years ago if you would have said the words "dilated to a 1 and 1/2 and 60% effaced", I would have thought you were speaking some NASA rocket science language. Now after nearly 9 months of pregnancy and all the books and classes, I am officially fluent in pregnant lingo. So as of last weeks appointment, my wife has started to dilate and was at 1 and 1/2 and 60% effaced. Tomorrow we go in again to see if things have progressed at all, or if they are just kind of staying that way. Our due date is officially April 2nd, but my wife has been having some serious conversations with the little guy in her belly and she thinks he shouldn't wait that long. She told me the two of them have agreed on sometime next week. I am really just the third party in all of this, so I have no say on how it all goes down, but I am interested to see if they are right about next week!!! I can say, however, that I am hoping the wife's water breaks when we are out somewhere, kind of like you see in the movies. Maybe at the grocery store or when we are out to eat. I know this is highly unlikely, but wouldn't it be cool??

36 Weeks and Counting

So we have officially hit the 36 week mark, which means that our little guy could come anytime within the next four weeks!! My wife is in hardcore "nesting" mode and wants to clean every room in the house, reorganize closets, etc. I can't say that I am feeling the whole nesting thing as much, but I am doing my best to finish the list of projects the wife gives me.

Everyone keeps asking me if I am ready to have the baby. I think it is one of those things that you can be as ready as you can, but it is still going to knock you off your feet when it actually happens. Over the past few weeks, so much of my focus and attention has gone into the labor and delivery. Just recently I thought to myself, "Holy crap, after the delivery we are actually going to have this baby to take care of!!" I can't even tell you how many different thoughts and emotions are going through my head. All I can say is that I can't wait to meet this precious little guy!!

Baby Room Pics (So far)

Well I finally have some pics of the baby room. We are still waiting on our glider chair and bedding, but here is what has been done so far. We absolutely love our baby furniture and can't wait to decorate more with pictures, books, etc. The crib is beautiful, but was quite the pain to assemble, but I am sure that is the case with most cribs.

As for other things going on right now. My wife had her first baby shower. I can't tell you how great it is to get such nice gifts from family and friends!! We also finished our the last of our 6 labor and delivery classes. So we are now prepared and ready for this little guy to get here. This wednesday is the 33 week mark for us, so just 7 more weeks or possibly less!!! We can't wait!!!

Baby Room

Today I painted the baby room. I feel like we are finishing the room in plenty of time, but we have talked to a lot of other couples that are about the same due date as us and it seems like everyone else has already finished their rooms. We decided to paint the room a creamy yellow color and paint the base boards and crown moulding a pastel blue (I will post pics when it is finished). With all the work I have been doing on the baby room, I decided to buy myself a Nintendo Wii. I knew it would be fun for me, but I had no idea how much my wife would like it. Every night we play tennis or baseball against each other...and it is sad to say that we are sore due to all our Wii playing.

We also started our labor and delivery classes last week. I feel as though I have read all there is to know about pregnancy and delivery, but the class definitely had information that I hadn't read or thought about. We have 5 more classes and I am looking forward to all of them!

Sexy Pregnant Woman!

So the results are in, and the wife does not have gestational diabetes. We were very happy to hear the good news. So we basically got to spend our day off at the hospital for nothing and we will probably have to pay for the tests because our insurance sucks, but better safe than sorry.

We have hit the 28 week mark and things are good. Aside from the gestational diabetes scare, the wife is feeling the best she has felt all pregnancy. Most people claim that the nausea and morning sickness goes away at 13 to 16 weeks, but it was more like 21 weeks for us. So now the only thing that is happening is the wife is starting to get bigger (I mean that in a cute way, not in a big and fat way). So she is having a little bit of a hard time getting in and out of beds, chairs, cars, etc. She also can't really see her feet or bend down to tie her shoes very well. She is having a hard time comprehending how things will be when she gets even bigger...she thinks she will just be this big blob that can't do anything. I, however, think she looks really cute. There is something about a pregnant woman that is just sexy!!

Gestational Diabetes Test

I am writing this blog from the waiting room at the hospital lab because I have four hours to kill. At our 27 week appointment my wife had her glucose test done and the number came in a little high. We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 this morning and the wife had her blood drawn after fasting since midnight. We had 45 mins that we could leave and then when we came back we would have to stay for four hours. We hurried home and grabbed the laptop, some movies, and some magazines and then headed back to the hospital. At 10:40 the wife drank the sugar drink given to her by the lab tech so they know exactly how much sugars are in her body. Right now it is almost 11:40 and she will have her blood drawn, and then it will be drawn again at 12:40 and 1:40. For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you know that the wife HATES having her blood drawn. So this is basically the worst day of her life. I have to admit though, she is being a real trooper and is becoming a pro at having her blood drawn. As for me, I am just tagging along for morale support and I am just happy that the hospital has wireless internet. Only a few more hours to go!!!