Posts Tagged ‘weight’

You’ve really blossomed so much this past month, Rhino! You have such an amazing personality and are really letting it show. This month you had your first giggles, which are the most beautiful sound ever! At first you would only giggle for Daddy, but just yesterday, as I was singing to you, you did for me too! (You must have been laughing at my silly singing voice!)

Another big surprise this month is your first two teeth! You’ve been a little grumpier lately, and very drooly, so we knew we’d see a tooth soon. Last Sunday two cute little bottom teeth popped up. You are now gnawing on anything and everything and we need to start cleaning those pearly whites! I grew my first tooth at 4 months, so I guess you take after me in the dental department!

You’ve made some new friends this month, mostly through the church nursery. All the ladies that work there adore you and you are usually very friendly with them. There are a couple other babies there that you will look at and babble too, but you’re more talkative with the older toddlers. We have also been going to an infant play group where you like to watch the other, older babies crawling around and playing. You’re starting to play more, also. When we dangle a toy, you often reach for it or grab it. You’ll hold things in both your hands and almost always bring them up to your mouth or shake them!

And of course, you’re still growing! Yesterday we received all our household goods, finally, including the rest of your clothes. There are outfits that arrived that were so huge on you before we left California, but now they are entirely too small! There are so many things that you didn’t even get to wear! At your check-up today you weighed 18 lb 11 oz and are 27.3 inches tall. That puts you above the 95th percentile for both. You are such a chunky little boy right now and the doctor says you have quite a pair of shoulders on you!

You are also a lot more vocal. Each month you’re adding new sounds to your vocabulary. This month we’ve heard more “b”s and “k”s. You also shriek a whole lot, both in joy and when you’re upset. You’ve realized you have feet, too! When you aren’t holding something up to your mouth (lately a clean, flat cloth diaper has been your favorite chew toy!), you are holding on to your feet and toes. When you’re sitting upright, you will hold your toes and stare at them. You get a kick out of making diaper changes more difficult for me by holding your legs up to your chest and holding onto your feet, too! Grandma says that Daddy discovered his feet when he was 5 months, so we think you’re a little ahead of the game there!

You’ve explored Japan a little bit more this month, too. We all go out to restaurants around the town and try new foods. We’ve been hiking a couple times and you seem to really enjoy looking around at all the trees and leaves and water. We are doing more shopping in Japanese stores, so you’ve seen all sorts of neat Japanese things! We have plans to have an exciting summer where you can get out and see even more of this beautiful country!

I love every day that we spend together and you truly are so special to me! We have a great time together, even when you’re crabby and even when I’m crabby, and I am really enjoying watching you grow. I love you so much, Rhino!

Hugs ‘n’ Kisses!
Mommy

Hello again, sweet Rhino!

You’re all ready three months old now! You are now nearly 25 inches tall and weigh 16lb 11 oz. It has been quite a busy month for you, too! We had a big move to Japan a few weeks ago. You did great on the trip and were really pleasant to fly with. You’ve settled into Japan and your new home quite well. Everywhere we go people love you because, well, you’re a cute baby! But every new person you meet gets showered in your huge, adorable smiles, from the airport security screeners and customs officers to Daddy’s coworkers and stranger in the commissary. You are so friendly and curious about everything we’ve seen (well, sometimes you sleep through interesting things!)

You’ve developed such a great personality. You’re so chatty and smiley and you’ve even giggled once! (Daddy was playing with you and you were having a great time on Mother’s Day. I heard your giggle from the kitchen, but I wasn’t there to see it!) You can be really goofy sometimes …

… and also so, so sweet.

You’ve been spending a lot of time looking at your toys and even swatting at them. You’re getting so much better with your hands and are so much more responsive now. You love to suck on your fingers (and try to fit your entire hand in your mouth!), your rattle, and will always bring blankets to your mouth as well. When you’re lying on your tummy, you’ll prop yourself up on your elbows and look up with your whole chest off the floor now! You don’t complain as much about “tummy time” anymore and will enjoy playing with me and looking at your toys. Earlier today you even rolled for the first time! I understand you’re not yet very graceful, and your roll is mostly just you losing your balance, but I am very proud of you! I even got your first rolls on video:

Rolling Rhino from Melissa on Vimeo.

It has been such a busy month for our family, but a very exciting one. Everyone says that babies grow so quickly, but I’m really getting to understand that now! When I think back to last month or especially when you first came home, I’m amazed at how different you are! Daddy and I love every day that we spend with you and you definitely bring us so much joy. We both love you so much, and are looking forward to another wonderful month!

Love,
Mommy

Rhino had his two month well baby appointment with the base pediatrician today. They took his length (24.4 in; 92nd percentile) and weight (14lb 15oz; 95th percentile). He has a very mild case of cradle cap, but it’s nothing to worry about and we don’t need to do anything for it. The doctor also talked to us about vitamin D supplementation, which apparently is recommended for babies over two months who are exclusively breastfed. Babies, usually with darker skin, are at a risk of rickets because they don’t get enough vitamin D in the first year. He said if Rhino got about ten minutes of sunlight each day, that would be more than enough to make up for the deficiency. We took home some multivitamin drops in case we want to use them, but for now we’re thinking we’ll just stick with sunlight and not worry about it. The doc says that shouldn’t be a problem for Rhino.

We also started his vaccinations today. I’ve been doing a lot of research over the past few months about vaccines and their controversies surrounding them. It’s a tough choice — whether to vaccinate and risk the side effects, or to opt-out and risk the disease. I got a great book by Dr. Bob Sears where he provided a lot of information about each of the twelve vaccines, their associated diseases, risks, etc. The book was helpful, but it still doesn’t make some of these choices easy. He provided a vaccination schedule as an alternate to the AAP’s recommended schedule. These are the reasons he gave for the alternative schedule:

The main difference in my suggested alternative vaccine schedule is it spreads the infant vaccines out over the first few years of life, instead of bunching them all up in the first 18 months. It gives fewer vaccines at a time, gives the most important vaccines first, and slightly delays the less important vaccines. But ultimately the end result is the same – a fully vaccinated child. What are the benefits of my alternative schedule compared to the standard one?

• By only giving two vaccines at a time (instead of as many as 6), I decrease the chance of chemical overload from grouping so many vaccines chemicals all together at once. This allows a baby’s body to better detoxify the chemicals one or two at a time.

• I give only 1 aluminum-containing vaccine at a time (instead of the recommended 4). Overloading on this metal can be particularly toxic to the brain.
• I give only one live-virus vaccine component at a time to allow the body’s immune system to better handle the live viruses in these vaccines.
• Giving fewer shots at a time may decrease the side effects, in my experience.
• Giving fewer shots at a time also makes it easier to figure out which vaccine a child is reacting to if a severe reaction occurs.

That sounded reasonable to me. With us traveling internationally, I was too concerned about some of the diseases and didn’t want to opt-out. (Maybe, had we been staying state-side, I could have seen not giving Rhino a few of them.) I like the idea of the alternative schedule, and he will eventually be fully vaccinated if we choose to stay on the schedule. The doctor and I talked about this for a little while and I was pleased not to have been met with resistance. With the experiences I’ve had with the last few doctors, I was a little nervous that the doctor wouldn’t want to discuss it. I wish all doctors were like this pediatrician! So that all worked out just fine. I gave Rhino his rotavirus vaccine orally and the technician injected him with the DTaP vaccine. I had heard a few times of mothers nursing their babies while they were injected and that it helps keep the baby calm or sometimes they don’t stir at all. I asked the technicians about that and they seemed kind of shocked and said they can’t accommodate that for their own safety. Rhino did just fine stretched out on the table, though. He let out one shriek and then was fine when I picked him up. And he got a cute yellow crayon band-aid on his thigh! As for the DTaP vaccine, Dr. Bob recommends either the Daptacel or Tripedia, not the Infanrix. This is mostly for the high level of aluminum in the Infanrix brand. Well, that was the only one that the clinic had, so we went ahead and chose to do it anyway. When Rhino is 3 months, we’ll be getting him the Pc and the HiB immunizations.

Mama (“Grammy”) came to visit on Friday night and left this morning. It was so nice to have her around and to meet Rhino. It was really great to have her help out with Rhino and take care of some cleaning and cooking. She brought some adorable outfits, a few of which Ron picked out (including the very cute firetruck/police car PJs below) and one from one of her real estate clients. We had Wayne and Rena over for a lasagna dinner one night. On Tuesday Rhino had his second pediatrician visit, so we took him down to Santa Barbara. He is up to 9 lb 3 oz and is in excellent health. We cruised up and down State Street in his snazzy stroller and stopped for a nice lunch. He’s been doing really well in car trips, but he got a little fussy with hunger at the end of our trip. It will be a while before I see Mama again, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with her before we leave.

Andrea‘s daughter was born early on the 21st! Amelia Simone weighed in at 7 lb 12 oz. Mother and daughter are both healthy and doing just fine! Congratulations, Andrea!!

Rhino is a week old. He had his first pediatrician visit yesterday and he has gained back his birth weight. On the 16th, when he was discharged from the hospital, he was at 8 lb even, now he’s back up to 8 lb 10 oz. He still has a tinge of jaundice, but it’s nothing serious and there’s nothing we should do about it. He has also grown to 21-1/2 inches.

We’ve been doing just fine on our own. We’re about to have our families out to visit for a few weeks. Matt has had ten days of paternity leave from work and goes back on crew Saturday night. It has been nice to have him home to help out in the middle of the night, with taking care of things around the house, and doing diaper changes. We are doing just fine with sleep and get naps during the day when Rhino naps. Everything is going wonderfully and it has been so great getting to know our son!

Rhino, Asleep on Boppy

Mommy and Baby, Matching Pajamas

Matt with Rhino

Rhino on Tummy on Soft Blanket

We saw the doctor again today. My blood pressure is a bit higher than last time and my weight only went up 2 pounds (even over the holidays!) I’m 34 weeks and 6 days, so the nurse set up for me to get the strep B test. Doc said no, we’ll do that next time, because I have to be 35 weeks for it. I was measured again, and everything is on-target or slightly on the large side. I’m hoping Baby isn’t too big! Now every time I go for a checkup we’re doing uncomfortable pelvic exams. Doc isn’t very gentle, but Matt always looks on the bright side of things and mentions that this is the perfect time to practice the relaxation we’ve been working on for contractions! The appointment lasted a little longer than the last one and didn’t feel like a waste of time. We go in another 2 weeks, on the 17th, then will be starting weekly appointments!

So today we had our second baby appointment in Santa Barbara. The first time I was a little disappointed and frustrated. This time really wasn’t any better. I had my blood pressure taken (95/50), was weighed (so I’ve gained 33 pounds now …), the doc measured fundal height (I guess it’s normal — he didn’t really talk to me about it), and scheduled another visit in 3 weeks! He never mentioned my glucose test from last month, so I asked how it went. I passed, but he’d cut me off mid-sentence and seemed really rude or bothered that I dared to even ask. Ohwell. The whole visit took less than five minutes and Matt was wondering if it was even worth the hour drive! I’m not going to get too upset about it anymore. Everything seems healthy and I do a lot of my own research so I’m not in the dark.

We stopped over at the birth center at which I’ll be delivering to arrange for a tour. They do tours every first Wednesday, during our Bradley Method classes, so that just doesn’t work out. Apparently they don’t really schedule tours other than at that time, so they asked us to come back in 15 minutes and they can squeeze us in! We checked out other parts of the hospital and walked around the outside twice, then popped back in. We spent some more time in the waiting room where I could look through a scrapbook of photos and thank-you notes and Matt could play with the kids toys!

All the nurses were super nice (we talked mostly with Mikah) and the whole tour made me feel so much better than the doctor has been making me feel. It’s one of 17 UNICEF-rated “Baby Friendly” birth centers in the nation (61 hospitals + birth centers). This means they’re really breastfeeding friendly, which is really important to us. They encourage rooming-in (baby and husband for the entire time I’m there!), immediate bonding and breastfeeding, have lactation consultants on duty, and seem generally extremely helpful and have just the philosophy I was looking for. Mikah explained to me that my doctor was pretty much there “just to catch” and that they would make sure I get what I want and don’t get what I don’t and will be there for me more of the time. That makes me feel so much better about my doctor and I not quite seeing eye-to-eye. The facility itself is really comfortable and small. It doesn’t feel very “hospital-y”. Mothers don’t share rooms, but have their own room with a separate bed for hubby. That will be really nice too, since we are an hour from home. Wayne and Rena said they would be really happy to drive us down there when the time comes. We’ll have to work out plans for that, but I think that would be nice. That way Matt can just hang out with me for the drive, and their car is much more comfortable than the one we’re borrowing! And it would be nice having people around, too. Jen will get a call right away so she can drive up, too. I wish our parents could be around for it, but this will be nice too. And it’s not that far off! I can’t wait!