Two blogs become one

I'm consolidating the baby blog with the family blog and all future posts will be in one place - http://teamdejean.blogspot.com
Thanks!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We made our first trip to the pumpkin patch as a family in early October. Just across the river in Illinois is Eckert's Farm in Milstadt. Lillie had fun watching pig races and the pumpkin cannon! We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked our family of pumpkins. We ended our day with a trip through the general store where we enjoyed apple cider and pumpkin butter!

On the tractor (Lillie sleeping...)

In front of the old truck (she woke up for a second...)

Sitting behind the old truck (back asleep again)

At home with our pumpkins!

And other miscellaneous pictures - her 10 week photo


Getting better at tummy time. The only way she likes it is if I prop her up on a boppy.

And here is a really cute video from a week ago when she discovered her lips and how to suck on them!

Good News and Bad News

First, the bad news - After another round of blood work, we have been told that we have to switch Lillie to 100% soy formula.  The galactose is building up much faster in her system than what the doctors can understand.  She'll have more blood work done on November 6th to see how the soy is affecting the numbers.  They like to see the galactose-1 phosphate level (what they are testing for) stay under 1 and she is up to 9.6, up from 5 a few weeks ago.  These numbers don't mean a lot to me, but if the healthy range is 0 to 1 and she's at a 9.6, it sounds like we need to be doing something differently, hence the change to all soy.  I have decided to continue pumping in the off chance that she will be able to bf again.  In the mean time, I'll be donating the milk to local collection efforts here since it accumulates really quickly when your baby isn't drinking it!

And onto the good news - Lillie is sleeping through the night!  It started about 10 nights ago.  She had been stuck on a 6 hour stretch (which, by the way, I do NOT consider sleeping through the night since I need a full 8 hours myself!) for a few weeks when all of a sudden she started sleeping 8 hours, then 9 hours, then 10 hours, and now she averages between 11 and 12 hours at a stretch.  She goes to bed around 7:30 pm and wakes about the same time the next morning!

More pictures coming soon!

Another update on the Galactosemia

I don't know if I ever posted the results from all the blood work that we had done on Lillie regarding her Galactosemia. She is what they call a "dg" - she has the Duarte variant of Galactosemia, allowing her some ability to break down milk sugar. We were given the clear to nurse again at 3 weeks old. So for the past month, she's been eating at Moms.

Another round of blood work on September 17th revealed that nursing exclusively is proving too much for her to handle. The treatment: alternate soy formula with nursing and have blood work done every month to monitor how she is handling this. We also have an appointment with the genetics doctor on staff at Children's Hospital on November 6th to discuss how Lillie will be followed through her first year.

In all other respects, Lillie is perfectly healthy. What a blessing that they now screen for this and we have a treatment plan.

2 Months!

Lillie turned 2 today - 2 months old that is! She is really starting to develop a little personality and is becoming a much happier baby as the weeks go by. She is more alert and spends more time interacting with us. Her favorite songs (so far) are "itsy bitsy spider" and "If you're happy and you know it".

She had her two month check up today and she weights 11 lbs 2 oz. Babies will gain up to an ounce per day in the early months of life. She managed to gain 42 ounces in 30 days! The nurse that weighed her said "she must be a formula baby!" and was surprised to find that that we nurse exclusively! I will occasionally pump to get her used to a bottle (so that others can feed her) and she is taking 5 ounces pretty consistently. This is a lot for a baby her age so I guess it's no surprise that she is gaining weight faster than average. Her weight puts her in the 60% percentile (up from the 26th at her one month check up!). She grew one inch (which is pretty average) and is now measuring 23 1/4" long. Her length and head measurements are tracking pretty close to each other (in the 85th percentile).

Some pictures from the past 10 days or so...

Come on mom, can we get this over with?!
Something caught her eye on the tv while her and Harvey were hanging out together!
One of her latest skills to develop is her ability to hold on to something for extended periods of time. She had these rings in her hands for over 5 minutes while she flung them around.
and she played with her new friend for a few minutes...
Finally, a picture from today, on her 2 month birthday!

Lillie Pics

Some new pictures of Lillie...


Her new thing: smiles! She gave us one here and there starting right around six weeks. Now she gives them all the time!

Notice this one was right after a bath!

Just hanging out...

On her tummy - don't you just love the size of her head!!!

Climbing up mom's shirt...
Here are some of my favorite pictures of Lillie and I together

She loves her Moby Wrap (and mom loves it too since she takes naps in it!)

1 Month!

We had our 1 month doctor's appointment and she's weighs in at 8 lbs, 8 oz. We seem to have a thing with the number 8! This puts her in the 29th percentile. She's grown 2 inches and now stands at 22 1/4 inches, putting her in the 89th percentile. I'm so glad to see that she is gaining weight and growing just like she should! We're still using newborn diapers and wearing newborn size clothes, but I can see her starting to fill them out more and more and I think within 2 weeks, we'll be transitioning to the next size up.

Lillie enjoying her tummy time!



Celebrating her 1 month birthday in her onesie!

Dear Miracle Blanket

My baby slept from 9pm to 9am (and she is still sleeping!) last night, only waking up to feed once at 4:30am. I was able to beat her up and eat breakfast, shower, and get dressed, all in peace in quiet.

Thank you!!!
(for those who haven't had to deal with a baby who just can't get it together enough to fall asleep, the miracle blanket is a swaddling blanket that is next to impossible to get out of. Lillie just kept overstimulating herself all day yesterday because her arms and legs still scare her. By wrapping her up, she can actually relax and fall asleep.)

Lillie's first bath and other updates!

In the past week, I broke down and introduced the pacifier! Babies use sucking to soothe themselves and there are times when nothing else will work. I've been able to put her down at night without her pacifier because my fear is that she would develop the habit of needing it at night and then waking every 10 minutes when it falls out of her mouth.

Isn't this picture a riot! The pacifer takes up half of her face and it's supposedly a newborn size pacifier. Apparently, there are bigger ones out there for when they get older!


I also got brave and took Lillie for a walk in the sling I bought while I was pregnant. Check out her little foot hanging out!

Lillie's belly button finally fell off on day 21 and we were able to give her a real bath! Here's a few shots from this traumatizing event!

Her reaction right as she was going into the water -

Dad and Lillie relaxing after the whole ordeal.
Good night everyone!

Galactosemia Update

We received some good news today.  Lillie does not have full blown (classic) Galactosemia but rather a variant of it called Duarte's version.  It means that she has some capacity to break down milk sugars.  We will receive a second set of test results either on Friday or Monday that will better tell us how to proceed with feedings, but for the time being, I am allowed to alternate nursing sessions with soy formula.  

From what the doctor told me, she may be able to switch back to nursing full time depending on what we find out from the second set of tests.  She would just be monitored to make sure the milk sugar isn't building up in her system.  

So, for the past week, I had been pumping to maintain my supply and I'm relieved to find out that all that stored milk will go to good use!  All I can say is that it's a good thing that we have a chest freezer!

Accidental Smiles and Thumb Sucking

Lillie, Roger, and I survived our first week home from the hospital...barely! Having a baby changes everything is the understatement of the year. Until she gets on some sort of schedule, our lives revolve around her needs, end of story. Other mothers out there would probably ask, "didn't you know this before having a baby?!" and of course I knew it, but to live it day by day with severe sleep deprivation is another story!

So onto week one developments - Lillie found her thumb for the first time! From day 1, she normally puts her whole hand in her mouth and sucks on fingers when she's hungry (it's a great warning sign before she lets out a big cry!) but on day 7, she found her thumb and soothed herself while I got settled to feed her.

Lillie also gives us smiles from time to time. While not intentional at all (she only does them as she's drifting off to sleep after a feeding!), they are still very sweet and make my heart melt!

On to serious developments, we received some slightly unsettling news about Lillie's heel prick results from the hospital. She had an abnormal test result for something called Galactosemia. It has to do with the body's inability to break down sugars found in milk. We were advised to switch her to a soy formula right away and to bring her into Children's Hospital for additional bloodwork. Having to hold my baby while someone drew a vial of blood from her arm was very difficult! I was on the verge of tears the entire time. We will find out this week whether she has the disorder or is just a carrier of the disorder. I don't know much about genetics, but I do know that it is a recessive disorder so it would take both Roger and I being carriers for her to be more than just a carrier. The majority of cases are carrier cases (meaning that one parent is a carrier and passed it onto the child). If she is just a carrier, we can go back to nursing and she won't have milk allergies for the rest of her life.

Finally, we had our one week check up with the pediatrician on Friday and Lillie is already back up to her birth weight and then some! She was born 6lbs, 12oz, left the hospital at 6lbs, 6oz and was 6lbs, 15oz at her one week check up! Go Lillie! Now that she has surpassed her birth weight, we can feed her on demand (versus having to wake her up to feed) and she doesn't have to wear a little hat all the time (which was just about impossible to keep on her head!).

Our Birth Story

On Wednesday, August 6th, I had been to see my doctor for my weekly appointment and was told that I was still at 6 cm dilated. An induction was briefly mentioned, but no decision was made at the appointment as Roger and I wanted to discuss our options. We came home and eventually decided to hold off on an induction and give this baby more time to come on it's own.

I woke on Thursday August 7th and started about my normal routine. It happened to be my birthday that day, but obviously my thoughts were more on the baby and not on the fact that I was turning 29 that day! Around 9 pm, I noticed that my water had broken. It wasn't the big gush that you might expect, but rather a slow leak. I called my doctor at 10 pm and we headed to the hospital, arriving just after noon. Our doula, Julie, met us there within a half hour.

When your water breaks and you're in a hospital environment, you're sort of on the clock as far as how long they will let you go without intervening. Julie helped me try to get into an active labor pattern with her "bag of goodies". For 9 hours, we tried walking the halls, aromatherapy, drinking herbal drinks to help strengthen the uterus, position changes, etc. At 9 pm, the nurse on staff with me said that my doctor had called to suggest that we start pitocin since I was still 6 to maybe 7 cm dilated.

We asked for a few more hours. We were told that we had until midnight to try and get labor started on it's own. As the minutes passed by, it was obvious that my body was having trouble getting to the next phase of labor. Around 11:30 pm, Roger and I were siting next to each other on the sofa in the delivery room talking and coming to terms with the situation when we both heard and felt a pop in my pelvis. Immediately after the pop, I had a very intense contraction and the process of transition labor had begun! The best we can guess, it appears that up until the pop, the baby was in a position not suitable for delivery. In weeks past, my body had dilated on it's own until the point of transition and stopped because of the baby's position.

An hour and several position changes later, I was dilated to 10 cm. It happened so quickly that we were actually waiting on my doctor to get to the hospital so that we could begin the pushing phase of labor. For 30 additional minutes, I "practiced" pushed with the contractions, but I wasn't bearing down like you normally associate with pushing.

Dr. Shelton arrived around 1:15 am and the pushing process began. At this point, my contractions were lasting about 1 minute and were 2 minutes apart and I was pushing on my left side. In between contractions, my body was shaking uncontrolably so Roger would place pressure on my right hip and shoulder and Julie was applying pressure on my right knee. As the contraction began, the shaking would cease and Roger helped hold my right leg up and my chin to my chest.

The nurse brought in a mirror for the last 20 minutes of pushing and that really helped me connect with the pushing. Seeing the progress with each push was motivation that I could get through it! I remember asking Julie how many more pushes until the baby was out and she responded by asking me "how many more do you want it to be?". I knew no one had any answers for me, but I was so desperate to deliver our baby!

Julie and Roger were both amazing during the labor and delivery. Julie helped give us the peace of mind that at least one of us had been through this before. She was calm the entire time which helped give me confidence that I could actually do this! I never felt like the situation was out of control and that's entirely due to Julie. So many times during labor I was thankful she was there and couldn't have imagined trying to have our child without her.

My husband always joked about having his place in the delivery room - right up by my shoulder! When it came down to it, he was right in the thick of things helping me through every contraction. He was my biggest advocate and supporter, praising me with every push and motivating me with his words. We both saw sides of each other during that process that we had never seen before. For him, he saw the extreme strength - both physically and emotionally - necessary for bringing a child into the world and for me, I saw Roger's unwavering love and support in a stressful situation.

On August 8th at 2:23 am, our baby made it's outside appearance! Our baby was face down during delivery and my doctor made sure she had our attention before flipping the baby over to reveal whether our baby was a he or a she. To our surprise and delight, we had been blessed with a baby girl.

Lillie Lynn DeJean was 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long at delivery (thank you Lillie for not being any bigger!). She has her daddy's eyes and mouth and a small amount of blonde hair like Roger and I both had at delivery.

Lillie represents a whole new kind of love like I have never experienced before. Granted, she also represents a whole new kind of responsibility! We're both learning about the other and her little coos and sighs are completely worth the dirty diapers and occasional crying fits!

Welcome Miss Lillie! For nine months, I've been amazed by the miracle of your development and curious to find out who you were. We are so blessed to have finally met you and are honored that you have chosen us to be your parents.

August 13, 2008?

Is this a more realistic due date?

In 1990, researchers re-examined this issue for modern American women. Results indicated that, for first-time Caucasian moms, an average pregnancy lasts 274 days from conception (approximately 288 days from the last menstrual period).

The old "40 week" rule of thumb is calculated as 266 days from conception (or 280 days from the last menstrual period).

39 Week Doctor's Appointment

No surprise based on past performance, but I'm 6cm dilated and still walking around! This baby has a mind of it's own and it's probably only an indication of things to come!

Some questions I've received:
Is this normal?
No, this is not normal, especially for a first pregnancy.

Is my doctor concerned?
No, my doctor is not concerned, but only because I was hooked up to continuous monitoring for over an hour this week and the baby's movement and heart rate are perfectly normal. The baby is under no stress. As long as the baby doesn't show any signs of stress, my doctor is ok with not intervening.

What precautions do I need to take when trying to determine when active labor actually begins?
Rather than applying the 5-1-1 rule (contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting one minute long, and occuring for one hour), my doctor wants me to call and come into the hospital when contractions are 10 to 15 minutes apart and the last one was stronger than the one before it.

I cannot explain how or why I've made it to 6cm without any significant pain. I can certainly feel contractions, but it's a tightening feeling with a side of menstrual cramps. It's nothing like you see on television where the women are screaming and panting.

My doctor is confident that this baby is coming soon - as in before my next appointment which is Wednesday August 6th. Let's hope she's right!

Foundations of a Nursery

We'll be using a pack n play in our master bedroom for the first 4 to 6 weeks that baby is home. We've decided to leave the nursery set up as a spare bedroom during that time for visitors. It will also come in handy for when Roger has to get up to catch a 6am flight and he needs to get some actual sleep the night before! So here are the beginnings of our nursery.

The paint color (Jalapeno Jelly) and curtain panels (Joann's Fabric):
The coordinating bedskirt I made using the same fabrics in the curtains:
We're not using a bumper so I thought our crib would loook awfully plain with just a bedskirt and crib sheet so I made these fabric teething rails for when baby gets older and can pull itself up. For the time being, they'll serve no actual purpose other than looking pretty!
Our dresser/changing table from Walmart's Canopy line, the fabric covered lampshade that I made that coordinates with the teething rails, and the wall of wainscoting that will house canvas prints and/or wooden letters that spell out the baby's name once we deliver.
Hats, booties, and burp clothes. The turquoise storage bins came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
The drawer full of changing table supplies!
And just for fun, here's a picture from a month or so ago when we were painting the nursery. Barefoot, pregnant, and on a ladder...classy!

No baby yet

No baby as of today! I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and we'll see what she says! I've been having daily contractions that don't seem to get closer together or more intense. I always wondered what contractions would feel like and after two weeks of having them every day, I think I've got it figured out!

38 Week Doctor's Appointment

5 cm, 100% effaced, enough said...

I'm trying to be patient about waiting for you...

Dear Baby

I really don't mind carrying you around for a few more weeks as I could use the time to tie up a few loose ends around the house, but could you please back off of my sciatic nerve (pretty please)? I'd love to be able to walk around without shooting pains down the left side of my lower back and leg. Other than that, you have been the perfect guest! Can't wait to meet you!
Love,
Mom

37 Week Doctor's Appointment

More progress - 3 to 4cm dilated and 75% effaced

The craziest thing was that she said the baby is so low that it's head is kind of crowning through the cervix and she could feel through the fluid and felt what she thought was either clumps of hair or a wrinkly scalp!

Because the last time we saw our baby was about 4 months ago when we had the 20 week ultrasound, it was really cool to hear her say that she could feel it! Our doctor doesn't do an ultrasound after 20 weeks unless something comes up in a test or physical exam that would cause concenrn so her being able to feel the top of the baby's head made the whole thing feel a bit more real! You'd think the constant kicking and my bulging stomach would do the trick!

I'm down 2 pounds for a total weight gain of 21 pounds and I'm still measuring 33cm.

Stop the shopping madness!!!

Realizing that I only have a few weeks left (or maybe less), I went on a baby related shopping spree. Back in early June, I ordered my diaper bag, baby carrier, and mattress. The diaper bag was out of stock for the longest time, so I finally received my order last week.




Today, I ordered this refurbished (with factory warranty) video monitor and saved $70 off the original price. With that $70 that I saved, I ordered a beautiful leather post bound baby memory book.

It's Christmas in July over here at the DeJean house!