Roman One Month Update

Wow one month- can't believe it! Some parts of some days it's like sheesh hurry up and get bigger so we can play or smile or sit up or slow down on eating but mostly it's flown by. I still remember his birthday like it happened yesterday. I remember the first couple HORRIBLE days home perfectly. I don't know if it's because I wrote it all down and that helped but it's amazing.

So what's Roman up to now? Well for starters he's a lil porker! He now weighs 9lbs and is 23in long! Holy schmo! At two weeks old we started on bottles instead of breast (and I just pump so he's still "breast fed")and after just a couple of days he was eating 3oz. This past weekend he was acting so hungry after 3oz that I bumped him up to 4oz and he did fine on that for a few days but then stopped eating more than 3 so I bumped him back down. Now some feedings that's fine but some he acts hungry still- who knows?! Wish I did lol.

We added formula yesterday (Similac Advance) and the first feeding was so funny- wish I had taken a pic! He gave me this look with a wrinkled forehead, raised eyebrows, huge eyes and a quivery chin while he looked at me with a "Mommy what are you DOING to me??" but after a couple of small sips with faces in between he finally sucked it down. My baby is NOT picky- he'll eat anything, any temp, from any bottle! Hope he stays that way :-) Anywho he had one bottle yesterday AM and one last night and both did great. This AM he had another and again no problems.

Roman also has had a bit of a spit up problem. I thought we weren't burping him well but that wasn't it. Thought we were overfeeding him but defintely not it. A friend suggested it could be the bottle and then I started thinking that may be it. He uses two bottles- avent and playtex ventaire- and with the avent he coughs/chokes much more and drinks it waaaay faster than the playtex. I hadn't noticed a pattern with the spit up so we decided to take away the avent (since he chokes more with it) and see. However I only had 3 ventaire bottles and didnt want to be washing constantly so I went to buy more. But thinking about it I was worried that when he gets bigger and starts to hold his own bottle that he might hold it wrong and wouldn't be able to get the milk out so I started reading all the packages of bottles at our PX. Almost every bottle said it worked against spit up but Avent surprisingly! Anyways I bought a three pack of Dr. Brown's since soo many people and hospitals recommend it for gas and spit up. That was another funny moment giving him such a teeny nipple when he's been using the wide ones all along but again he had no problem with it. Two days with no Avent bottles and no spit up! Thank goodness- I was hoping it was a bottle problem and not that he was allergic to something in my milk!

Roman is SO strong now! He can hold his head up for a while which is amazing. He loves to look around and if you have him on your chest- standing or sitting- he pops that head up and looks all around. Now he's even smiling when he sees things! He is also doing it during Tummy Time (which I credit doing tummy time since day 1 to him being so strong!) Hopefully he gets his Daddy's athleticism and not Mommy's lack of!

Not all things are swell of course. Roman is definitely one of the "75% of babies who is fussy from 5-8pm." Stinks because it's right when Matt gets home and Mama wants a break but Roman cries more with Matt (I say it's because he can sense that matt is stressed out and can't stay calm when baby is crying but Matt says he's a Mama's boy.) I just grit my teeth and cuddle him but even when he's dozing and with a paci in his mouth he still whimpers in my arms. Yesterday though he slept through that time thankfully since Matt worked late!

We recently celebrated Roman's One Month Birthday (4 days ago to be exact)! To celebrate I made him a banana and chocolate bread "cake" complete with a 1 candle (which was actually a 4 candle we cut to be a 1 since the PX was out). I know it's silly and corny but Matt and I love celebrating the small stuff. I think it's part of being in the military that you learn to enjoy what you can when you can because you never know when Daddy is going to be sent away (and dare to say when he may not come back). I also have this irrational fear that something is going to happen to me and it'll just be Roman and Matt. Or even worse something will happen to Roman. Anyways whatever happens we have made wonderful memories and we have "proof" left behind for whomever!

We were hoping to get Roman's newborn pictures taken this month (late as usual I know) and we met a photographer on our marriage retreat however she is having lighting equipment issues and was going to call me when she resolved them (she was hoping it'd be a day or two) but no call yet :-( Tonight we're going to just do some nakey ones ourself. I hate that he's grown so much though (well no I don't but I hate that we didn't take pix when he was teeny - he's like a giant to us now!)

I hate that my blog doesn't have pictures and videos but it takes SO long to upload them on here! Anywho see everything on my facebook! :-)

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Golden Birthday

So I am 23 on the 23rd and I spent the day alone with my baby. Matt left for duty at 6am today and won't be home until 6am tomorrow. I was so bummed when I put duty together with my birthday (I forgot today was my birthday until Matt said something yesterday then gave me my present). Just another bummy thing about living in Germany- no family or friends for your birthday.

EXCEPT I did have family and friends. I had my Germany family- the Barretos who made me a brownie cake and spent time with me today- who are the best friends to have over here! I also had another important family member with me- my Romeo :-) SO even though today was rainy and gloomy and lonely at times it was the best it could be thanks to my wonderful husband (who gave me two sets of comfy pretty jammies and a new robe) and son and my wonderful friends/family the Barretos!

PS Roman gave Mommy presents too! He gave me spit up on my leg, pee in my hands, and poo in my lap! He's a cool kid. :-)

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My baby the Exorcist!

So Roman's latest trick is the projectile vomit. We've only had one or two tiny spit ups since he was born but starting last night he has began spewing! He covered himself in spit up while at our friend's house and had to be changed. Then Roman did the miraculous thing and slept most of the night! He went down at 11 and didn't get up again until 230 and then went down by 3 and slept til 730! Wonderful! :-) However at his 730 feeding he projectiled across my bed covering everything but himself. My arm, my pants, and my bed. Then when he was laying on my pillow while I pumped he spit up again covering my OTHER arm and my pillow. Oh and the best part? I washed the bedding just last night. Joy... Then we all snuggled in bed (we coverd the spit up parts in receiving blankets) until 1030 when it was time to eat again. Daddy's turn to feed and Roman didn't want Daddy to miss out on anything so he projectiled covering Daddy's arm, leg, and his side of the bed! Way to go kid.

Yesterday the baby was so much more alert and I loved it! between his 11am and 2pm feeding he stayed awake the whole time! Then after his 2pm feeding I laid him down in his crib and he napped until his 5pm feeding- bliss! So far our schedule is pretty on track for another great night of sleep so wish us luck :-)

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Our life with Roman so far...

Ok so my last post was depressing- I was bawling my eyes out while writing. Turns out I was not only exhausted but also sick. I started having the major chills after writing that and I had a 101 fever! I took tylenol and cried to Jen (Matt was out) about crying and my breast pain and the exhaustion. She wanted to take the baby for the night but I wasn't ready for that yet. Plus we hadn't done a bottle yet so wanted to have that settled before anything. Matt gave Roman his first bottle and he took 45mins to drink it (2oz)!!! I rechecked my temp and it had gone up to 102. Bah! I just sat in the chair in a daze and Matt had Roman. I didn't breast feed or pump just sat there. Rechecked temp (2hrs after first time and tylenol) and it was 103! Decided to go to the hospital so Roman went to Aunt Jen's. Dr at hospital checked my breast and my incision and neither was infected so she sent me home with fever meds. That night was MISERABLE! I kept having chills/sweats alternating. Matt tried to deal with baby all night but towards the end I just held him while I slept. I did sleep better though which helped the next morning. The next day I still had a 103 fever so I headed to our clinic on post where she referred me to go back to my OB at the hospital. My OB did an inner and outer ultrasound to check my uterus (the Dr at the clinic was worried I was still bleeding too much- especially clots) and a pelvic exam. My uterus isn't shrinking as fast as she'd like to see since it's larger and heart shaped and there's lots of blood clots inside so she gave me meds for that. She also checked my breast which she said was firmer than the right so she thinks it was or is starting to get infected. She sent me to the lactation consultant who had me pump so she could test the milk in that breast plus she wanted to see if I was making too much milk (I'm not). So bottom line they didn't know for sure why I had a fever but by Sunday (this was Friday) I was fever free. Today (Tuesday) I've been fever free for 24hrs! After the hospital on Friday we relaxed at home and I still fought with the fever/chills/sweats all day and napped while Matt was on baby duty alllll day long. Saturday I still had a low fever of 100-101 so we spent another day of just relaxing. That night someone was supposed to bring us dinner but didn't so we got Popeyes- BIG mistake. When Roman woke up for his 245 feeding I had to run to the bathroom while Matt made the bottle. Then HE had to run to the bathroom. Half way through the bottle I had to run back to the other bathroom and Roman just had to cry- HORRIBLE. After that agony and feeing him I still had to pump then he didn't want to sleep- NOT fun. We still made it up in the morning and got to church though. The new chaplain introduced Roman to everyone but Roman didn't care- he spent half the service kicked back on my legs and the other half snuggled on Jen's chest. After church Mommy and baby napped before our best friends came over for some bbq and movies and just good time. Roman of course stayed on his Aunt Jen the whole time but that left me free to play with my favorite toddler! We took out Roman's new toys we bought like his learning kitchen set and blocks and had a ball. That night was better sleep wise but for some reason I was even more tired so we spent the morning in bed watching movies on tv and dozing and then that afternoon we deep cleaned the house before Matt went back to work. Makes it easier for me to just stay on top of. Thank goodness I have a husband who doesn't mind helping me clean!

Today was my first day alone with Roman but not really. I had to get up and get both of us ready (including a shower for this stinky mommy) plus eat breakfast and such by 11pm. Roman went to the Dr for his well baby check up so Matt came home to pick us up (I'm still not supposed to carry the carseat and while I could have went alone it's nice to "milk" it with the army and have Matt along). We have a very healthy baby who weighs 7.72lbs and is now 22in long! We aren't sure the guy measuring did it very accurately but still he's growing!! The Dr also said she's liberal when it comes to frenulectomies (cutting the tongue tied thing) but she said he doesn't need it. She also hinted that I should start back up on the breast feeding rather than pumping but it's not her breasts so who cares what she says! Matt likes the bottles- I like the bottles and Roman doesn't care. Seriously! Nipple confusion? Ha! This kid likes two different binkies (MaM and Nuk) and has had 3 different bottles all with no problem. As for his milk he doesn't care if it's nice and frosty or warm and toasty just stick it in his mouth already! LOVE it!! Who wants a picky baby? Not moi! Anywho we spent the rest of the afternoon napping, feeding, pumping, and cuddling. He's been sleeping allllll day (But was up all morning) so I hope this isn't bad for tonight.

So what else is new with Roman? Well he smiles alot more now- and no it's not gas. I don't care what you say. He passes gas 24/7 no problems and without smiling. He responds to noise such as when we call his name from one ear or the other he turns his head to you. He's tracking with his eyes (he followed Matt it was too cute). He likes his swing but only in short spurts at a time. Still doesn't like bouncy too much (or the vibrations on his crib- so much for wasting money on that! Maybe when he's bigger...) He naps in his own crib with the curtains open, light on, and CD player going (trying to keep daytime different than nightime). The boy has explosive diapers constantly. Every time he eats he poops and last two days he's doing extras in between feedings as well! Can't wait for that to slow down... He's peed on me many times (I always catch it with my hand or a wipe but still annoying). As we speak he's on the floor on his tummy time mat passed out but still farting. Definitely our kid.

What's to come? Well Matt is so ready for him not to be in our room anymore. I'm half and half. Half of me loves having him right by me and the other half agrees and says we'd sleep better if he was in his own room and able to fuss himself to sleep. Right now I don't like for him to fuss too much since Matt has to get up and go to work. Plus I'm so tempted to put him in our bed every night just so he doesn't fuss and I get more sleep...I asked my PWOC president and wife of our chaplain who I love and trust and she has never had either of her boys in her room. She said from Day 1 they slept in their own cribs and they had a monitor but after 4 days of hearing all his little noises they turned it off. She said they just prayed over him every night that God would keep him safe in his sleep. I can do that- I already do in our own room! Plus my monitor can be muted but I can still see him...we shall see we shall see...never thought I'd be this way as a Mom! But that's a whole other post...

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Happy 2 weeks Roman!

My precious baby is now 2 weeks old. People ask if it's flying by...in the sense that I'm so tired I forget what day it is! I'm trying so so hard to enjoy and treasure this time but between his not sleeping at night and the pains of BF it's hard. My emotions had calmed down because we were doing better with BF (especially after having a lactation consultant come over) and the nights were bearable but last two days he hasn't been latching on- it's taking 10-30minutes each time! That's really hard at 2am especially when he's screaming and I'm exhausted. Then when he does latch on it hurts SO bad because he can't get that bottom lip out the way he's supposed to (Dr said he's slightly tongue tied)but it takes so long I let him hurt me just so he can eat and we can both sleep. Now my stomach literally aches every time I think about feeding him and suddenly my precious angel looks like a pirahna and I don't want him near my breasts. Then I feel so guilty and like the worst Mama. I hate this!

Last night I also started having shooting pains in my left breast and now all day it's been killing me (like the whole inner area is bruised) and so another lactation consultant said it's probably clogged. Great. Now it hurts to even hold my baby. What part of breast feeding is easy, convenient, or natural?!

Other than those pains and the sleeplessness he is an amazing baby. During the day he does his awake time and is so alert I love it! He does leg work outs with Dad (who can't stop kissing him) and I read to him constantly. He is so focused on the books already! He also loves going for drives and sleeps non stop in his carseat.

Currently Daddy is upstairs for his turn at calming the baby down. I laid him down for a nap at 4pm and he was happy to just lay there with his mobile for about 30 mins then he started wailing. After 10 mins of it I went up there and put in his paci and patted him and he calmed down but as soon as I leave it starts back up again. Another ten mins later I repeated. Same results. Ten mins later Daddy went up there and is trying the same thing. He "sleeps" for a few mins then just starts whimpering then works his way into a full tizzy. Baby Wise is a croc- doesn't take just 30 mins of crying for my little guy! And the most frustrating part is as soon as he gets to sleep it's going to be time to wake him up to feed him. :-( The vicious cycle...

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My beautiful baby is ONE WEEK!

Day 8 (ROMAN IS ONE WEEK!)

Another VERY VERY hard night. So bad Mommy had to just hand you to Daddy while she went to your nursery and rocked herself while she called Nana. She cried to Nana and Nana talked her down and prayed with her. I gave in and just held you in bed and tried my best to sleep (you slept awesome) for three hours. That helped me feel slightly rested but then you still wouldn’t sleep after the feeding for another almost two hours til your next feeding! Finally at 8am Daddy (who had slept while I was holding/feeding you) took you downstairs and rocked you and let you sleep in your swing for an hour and a half. Then when you woke up he rocked you again and watched Cars with you. Mommy slept wonderfully but RIGHT at your next feeding time I woke up.

After feeding you I laid you in your crib and let you watch your mobile. You only fussed some but it took you about 30 minutes to fall asleep then you slept for almost two hours! I want to put you in the crib tonight but our video monitor doesn’t work and I’m so terrified you’ll choke or stop breathing and I wouldn’t know it. Definitely investing in lots of high tech stuff now! I never thought I'd be like that with my own baby. Same with letting you "cry it out"- I've never had a problem with other babies crying it out but hearing you breaks my heart and makes me feel this guilt like I never knew exsisted.

Met with lactation consultant- Heidi Smith- who was wonderful. She helped show Mommy a better way to get you latch on so you didn’t hurt me as much and so you would swallow more. We are still practicing but we’ll get the hang of it! After she left Daddy went to change you upstairs and once again I heard more yells from him. I ran up the stairs and you had peed in your own face!!! He was so scared that you were blinded but we just wiped you down with wipes and got you changed up and you were happy as could be.

Went on another shopping trip today to look for a video monitor. No luck. We will find one ASAP though…in the meantime I was given lots of advice that we are going to try tonight. As I type you are laying on the couch sleeping so I’m hoping you’ll be slightly better tonight (a 2 hr stretch is all I’m asking for). It’s very hard to watch or listen to you cry and it makes me cry over and over but just looking at you makes me feel so amazing. You are so beautiful in every way. I love you more than I ever thought possible. We will get through this!

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Roman is 6 Days old!

Nursed 950-1005/1015-1030. Even after the awful night Mommy’s heart still swelled when she saw you awake and alert in the morning. I love you so much! After you finished nursing Daddy brought up some cereal for himself and coffee for Mommy and we all laid in bed and snuggled. We had you in your boppy and we just watched you watching us. I still say you’re better than ANY tv show or movie! Then we took you into your nursery for play time. First you laid on your back and watched your mobile then we switched you to your tummy to get a work out. Daddy talked to you and took pictures and told you to work on your push ups. After you had enough (over an hour and a half of awake time!) you snuggled on Mommy’s chest pretty much the entire afternoon. We did put you in your swing for the first time and you loved it. It knocked you out pretty fast. After dinner and your 7pm feeding Daddy gave you your first sponge bath. Mommy was in living room and all she heard was Daddy yelling “AH! AH! KEELEY! AH!” and when I ran in there you were peeing everywhere- shooting up like a yellow fountain! Daddy was backed as far away from you scared as could be!!  Mommy realized it would have probably been best if she did first bath to show Daddy how but oh well. I showed him how to wash you quickly and keep the water warm and thankfully you didn’t pee again. Afterwards Daddy took you upstairs to lotion you up and dress you then he laid you in your crib for another round of tummy time.

Later on we came back downstairs and you played in your bouncy with Daddy again and cuddled on him (since Mommy “hogged” you all afternoon). A beautiful day and it’s all because you’re in our life!

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