Songbird Pics- G @ 2 years, Keegan @ one month

Click here to view these pictures larger

Pumpkin Farm

happy on the hay ride

watching the family carve pumpkins

We took advantage of a beautiful fall day and too\k a trip to the pumpkin farm. Grayson had a blast running, playing and looking.  Keegan had a great nap in his moby with mommy.  Keegan's favorite part seemed to be watching Daddy, Mimi and Grayson carve their pumpkins when we got home.    Maybe next year Keegan will be able to be a more active partcipant...

Songbird Photography Sneak peek

Keegan's newborn and Grayson's two year pictures by Songbird Photography

One Month Dr Appointment

We saw Dr Jen today for our one month checkup.  All seems to be improving. Keegan's belly is less upset- and though he still is having some trouble with gas, spit up and choking because of my excess milk supply things are much better than they were two weeks ago as he is not suffering pain or having any bloody poops. Dr Jen assures me that if I just keep doing what I am doing most of this should resolve by 6- 8 weeks- which in theory means we are halfway there and since this last month has FLOWN by I think we can make it.
Keegan weighs 12 pounds, 6.5 oz so while he is still gaining rapidly- his weight gain has actually slowed slightly which is a good thing. His physical exam went well and we got some advice about bottle feeding since I start part time work in just two short weeks.  Assuming all continues to go well Keegan's next appointment is at two months- I hope things keep just improving and we don't have to go anywhere before then :)

One Month Old

Hey everyone my little brother is 1 month old!

One month old and weighing in at 12 pounds 6.5 oz Keegan is growing and thriving! He is possibly going through a growth spurt as there has been a lot of nursing lately- but he is doing a good job of sleeping in between so I am not going to complain.  Some nights he sleeps about 2-3 hours at a time, but others he will sleep up to five hours in his sleep and play rock bed thing. He still hates the swing and hates his crib, but likes hanging out on his changing table and LOVES staring his brother in the eyes.  This first month has flown by- it scares me a bit that before I know it my boys might be all grown up.

Brotherly Love

Grayson so very much loves his brother. He loves to hold him and help him. He loves to wipe his face with the burp cloth, wash him in the tub, hold his head while he is nursing, sit with him on the couch, talk to him in his crib, play with him during tummy time.... honestly he is just the most lovely boy and kindest big brother. There are certainly moments of jealously, certainly moments of frustration at having to wait but honestly Grayson is so kind and caring and concerned about Keegan- it warms my heart and I feel so blessed.

I Just Can't Win

With Grayson I thought I had suffered every bit of breastfeeding drama possible- low supply, cracked nipples, breast trauma, mastitis, crying and hungry baby, dairy sensitivity, and more..... I really thought we had gone through it all and survived- G is still nursing at 24 months and I thought we had figured it out.
Then Keegan was born and it all seemed to be going so very well- he latched well, was gaining weight, nursing frequently but then sleeping nice long stretches. At least for two weeks and two days- and then it all changed...
Then our sweet sleepy baby was replaced with a fiery, cranky, gassy baby with nasty green poop with little bits of blood in it... and then mommy cried- and then we went to our new pediatrician and then there was an answer!
Turns out I have too much milk- REALLY?!?! too much milk- who would EVER have thought that was possible. But because I have too much milk Keegan is really only getting the sugary foremilk and not the fatty hindmilk- so his tummy is upset from too much sugar, he always feels hungry, is gassy, has icky poop and in general feels crappy all because I have too much milk (I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around this.)
The plan is now to feed Keegan only from one side for a three to four hour stretch and try to get him to get all the milk out, use breast compressions to get the nice fatty stuff out of the deep part of the breast and pump the opposite side if I need to in order to try to avoid clogged ducts and mastitis. Hopefully this will get more fat in Keegan's diet meaning his belly will be less upset and he might actually sleep again someday which means I might sleep again someday :)
Hopefully the solution really is this simple, that all I have to do is switch breasts less frequently and within a few weeks my body will regulate so that we can go back to some sort of normal.
Wish us luck- darn boobs just can't seem to get this deal right.

Two week Dr Appointment

Keegan had his two week check up today. Dr Jen Thomas is our new pediatrician and so this was our first appointment with her as a family- and it went really well.
Keegan's physical exam was unremarkable- nothing of note as all is well :) He weighed in at exactly 11 pounds (!!!) far surpassing the goal of regaining his birthweight by two weeks of age.
Dr Jen helped us a bit with our latch too- on the left side right at the beginning of nursing I feel a bit of pain that lasts only about 5 seconds but it really hurts. Dr Jen showed us a few different ways to adjust Keegan's head and body position to try to decrease the odds of a bad latch or pain for me that could impact our nursing relationship.
Dr Jen also advised us to avoid giving Keegan anything other than breastmilk at this point (and for the next six months) - no gripe water, no vitamins (apparently if I take 4000-6000 IUs of Vitamin D a day enough of that will pass to him that he doesn't need supplementation himself), nothing.  Mom and Ryan had already dosed him with gripe water once and I have given him about 4 doses of Vitamin D- so we can't go back and undo those doses but we can avoid giving him anything else for the next 5.5 months.
His next appointment with Dr Jen is in two weeks, and then a month after that.

Words to Try to Live By

Two weeks old

Keegan is two weeks old already and precious as can be.  He sleeps for up to five hours some nights as long as we wake him up every two hours all day long for him to nurse.  He likes going for walks and being outside - and we have been blessed with AMAZING weather in the low to mid 70s and sunny every day since we have been home from the hospital so we have been outside almost every day.  He eats a lot! nurses a ton! but in general has thusfar been a very chill and cool baby.  He is healthy, seems happy and we are feeling super lucky these days all around.

One Week Old

Keegan is already one week old.  His scratches on his face are healing rapidly, his bruising from birth is fading, his yellow cast is nearly gone and he is looking fabulous!
He is fabulous as well- he is eating really well, nursing seems to pretty much be second nature to him, and once he has a full belly sometimes he will sleep for almost 3 hours.  He likes to be awake and look around at his brother and the lights for up to 30 minutes at a time and then nurse and sleep and snuggle.  He even sleeps on his own on occassion in the Rock n Play - though he much prefers to snuggle in bed with momma.
Mimi has been here most of the week to entertain Grayson while the family gets used to our newest member- and it has been super helpful.  When Grayson gets up from his nap he and Mimi have been going for a walk or heading outside to play while Mommy and Keegan nap. Then we all reconvene for dinner and the evening time.
Grayson is being a wonderful big brother so far- he loves his baby, asks for his baby when he wakes up in the morning or after nap, helps his baby get momma milk by 'holding' the milk for Keegan and patting his face with the burp cloth, he pets Keegan's head while his diaper is changed, sits next to us on the couch while Keegan is nursing and brings his blue baby (toy) to get milk on the other side.  Grayson has been doing a good job of being patient so far and of sharing his momma- though I am trying to make a big effort to make special time for him each day.  Grayson is more worried about Keegan being happy and getting milk and snuggles than he is about himself- what a lovely and kind big brother! Hopefully we can manage to make special time for both boys and they keep getting along as well as they are so far.

No more heel sticks

Keegan's bilirubin level when we left the hospital was 9.1, on Thursday it was 15.3, by Friday it was up to 16.2....which meant that Saturday we had to take poor sweet boy to Children's Hospital for yet another heel stick to measure the bilirubin level again.  I really struggled with taking him, but Dr Esser felt it was important so I caved and did.  Everything I had read indicated that his levels were nowhere near concerning and that since he is nursing so well and having lots of wet and poopy diapers AND is already gaining weight, is alert, active, crying, etc there really are no signs of jaundice impacting him.  But Ryan said if Dr Esser is our doctor and we have chosen him for our children's care then we should trust him and go- so go we did.
On the drive home with a crying baby who must just be so sick of having his heels pricked and his blood taken Dr Esser called and let us know that the bilirubin level had stabilized and was exactly 16.2. Therefore there is no need for any more testing! No more heel sticks! No more blood samples! No more trips to hospitals or labs! Now we can all just settle in and snuggle. We are so lucky that we only had to make those trips for 3 days- seriously we recognize how blessed we are to have such healthy children and we hope they stay that way!