The Cutest Blog on the Block

Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful first Christmas together as a little family. Emersyn managed to wear all of her Christmas outfits and was a trooper during all the family Christmas time. Of course, she was spoiled rotten with more books, toys, and blankets than she ever needed :) My favorite toy is her ladybug rocking horse from Gran and Peeps. It is out of the world precious and we can't wait for E to be able to sit up so she can ride it! I had a fantastic Christmas with my sweet girl and husband, precious puppies, and amazing family. Just that was enough, then Lance and E surprised me with the SLR camera I have been begging for :) It was so sweet and thoughtful. Mom was so thoughtful and got me a new water bottle since mine was bent and scratched to pieces and a necklace like the one I always steal from her. I didn't need or expect gifts, but am so grateful for what I was given. 
Lance and I have been brainstorming and stealing ideas from friends of traditions to start with E next year during Christmas. We pray everyday that if we do one thing as parents it will be to lead Emersyn towards Jesus. We pray for her heart daily, and have since she was in the womb. We want, more than anything, for her to understand the true meaning of Christmas. We want her to be excited about Jesus' birthday before anything else. We love the idea of a birthday cake and birthday celebration on Christmas day, as well as the sweet tradition I grew up with of reading the Christmas story before bed on Christmas Eve. We have many fun years ahead of letters to Santa and watching for Rudolph's nose, but I pray these are all secondary in our house to the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
How can you not love that face? 
We had an eventful week leading up to Christmas and spent one afternoon in the ER. E had been screaming for over 2 hours and was completely inconsolable. She started losing her breath from crying so hard, so we loaded up and headed for Children's ER. That was the first and last trip I want to make there, or to any ER with this little girl! They examined little girl and did a belly x-ray and I just knew something awful would be wrong, but the doctor told us she was just a very good actress with a very bad temper and a belly full of gas! Boy, do we have some fun years to look forward to :) 
We have been a fussy, invalid family this Christmas, but we have had the best time together. Christmas Eve morning, dad threw his back out again and has been confined to the bed since. We still have a fussy little E most days, but nothing like the fit she threw to go to the ER. Even BoJackson got sick and threw up one day. The rest of us are just tired :)  There is still no place I would rather be this time of year and am so thankful for the family we have been blessed with.
E is now 5 weeks old! I can't believe we are on our way to the big 6 week mark. She is growing like a weed and about to pop out of newborn diapers. We can tell some of her newborn sleepers are about to be too mall as well. She will sleep for 4 hour stretches at night between feedings and is just as sweet as ever :) I love this little girl to pieces and am still trying to figure out what I did for the 24 years before her! 

Monday, December 19, 2011

Happy 1 Month, baby Emersyn!


I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. IT! 1 month has passed since I gave birth to the sweetest baby girl in the world. Memories of labor are still way too vivid to think about any siblings for little girl in the future, but one month is a lot of time to have passed when some days I have wondered if we will make it another hour. So much has happened in these first 28 days and little girl has come so far and changed so much. Her little facial features are much more defined and she has her own little look, she doesn't just have that "newborn squishy face" look. Her little personality is definitely coming out, she is so precious!
Baby Emersyn LOVES looking at lights, particularly Christmas lights. She has the sweetest smile with a little dimple on her left cheek. Her hair is starting to lighten up on the ends, and is growing so fast. She still loves to have her hands on her face all the time- she did this all the time in the womb as well. She is a pro at tummy time and likes to scoot around when we put her on her belly. Her neck control is amazing and she loves to hold her head and and look at you when you are holding her. She loves to stay awake and is a mess at fighting sleep- we are in for a ride! She has the biggest, brightest, and prettiest dark eyes that melt my heart. She has long, skinny legs like her daddy and wears newborn pants in the waist, but at least 3 months in the length- she definitely didn't get that from her mama :) I was afraid we were going to have a thumb sucker on our hands, but she had some difficulty keeping her thumb in her mouth and has taken up a paci instead- we use this when she starts fighting sleep and it seems to help. I love dressing my little doll up, right now we are trying to squeeze in all of her Christmas outfits :)
For the weeks before and after Christmas, my little family came to stay at my parent's house in "the country" to celebrate a long holiday. Emersyn loves it here, particularly outside- she can stare out the windows all day! We have LOVED having visitors coming to love on our little angel. Since we delivered about 4 hours from my hometown, our visitors were minimal, now that she has a bit more immune system our visitors are coming from near and far to get a glance at little bit. It has really worked out nicely. Emersyn's first outing was to my home church and she was a pro. Of course, she got plenty of loving :) At least we are getting all those little bitty Feltman Brothers dresses worn! The country is such a nice vacation. 
Dash, Ann, and Kenny visiting our little angel
Morgan and Donna with sweet girl
After her first visit to church in her sweet little bubble :)

E's tummy issues have gotten 100 times better. She is still on the Zantac and cramp medicine 2 times a day and taking a probiotic. Baby girl hasn't cried a hurt cry in many days which makes for a very happy mommy. She spits up a tiny, tiny bit with most feedings and that is our biggest complaint. Praise God!
As far as mommy goes, I am waiting to turn into an herb.  My milk supply still hasn't picked up any despite efforts to put E to the breast every 2 hours, pump when she sleeps longer, and take an herbal cocktail about 10 times a day! Yes, it is frustrating, but she is getting some breast milk and that is better than none at all. I have just had to accept this is our normal and it's ok- I can't beat myself up daily over something that just isn't going to be. I still have a smidget of hope that one day I will pump and fill up a bottle, but chances of that happening get a little slimmer each day. I had no idea it would be this challenging, but I feel confident I have done everything possible and apparently this was just our plan. Since we have had so much difficulty with breast feeding, we have introduced bottles and little girl takes them like a champ, it  has been a relief and allows everyone else to pitch in and help especially when mama needs a nap because she's been up all night :)
We took E for her first visit to see Santa today and she slept through it :) I was just thrilled to have that picture! 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Weeks 2 and 3

If you are reading this, please stop and say a prayer for our little family. The past couple of weeks have taken a wicked turn with our sweet girl. 
I'll start with our 2 week doctor's appointment last Monday. Before this, Emersyn had been very fussy and constantly nursing. I didn't know if it was a growth spurt, cluster feedings or what. I had cut out almost every type of flavored food and was sticking to a bland diet wondering if something I was eating was causing E's tummy ache. We tried Mylacon drops. I had my wisdom teeth removed- one cut and and one pulled- only with local anesthesia and no antibiotics so it wouldn't affect little Emersyn. I knew all this would be worth if she had been gaining weight and growing like a big girl.They put her on the scale and from her 2 day post-hospital visit, she had lost 5 ounces! My heart sank and I bawled like a baby. She had been fussy because poor baby was starving. The doctor encouraged us to start supplementing with the dreaded formula until we could work something out with the nursing. This broke my heart even more. I called the lactation consultant in tears and boo-hooed all over her answering machine. She had some ideas and I was more than willing to try. We supplemented that day and little Emersyn was as happy as a lark. She slept for 4 hours at a time at night and was full of sweet faces. I cried every time I saw a bottle or the formula, but was thankful that sweet girl was feeling better. Over the next few days, she kept wanting more from the bottle, I HATE bottles and formula, every feeding she would leak more on herself than got in her mouth. We were constantly washing burp clothes and sleepers. She started to increase the fussiness as well. We have had a few weight checks and little girl has been picking up weight, thankfully. She should be at birth weight again by 3 weeks- which is Sunday. Today, she was 1/2 an ounce away which is about what she should be gaining per day. Hopefully she will be spot on her birth weight by our weight check on Monday. 
We had a lactation consultant appointment yesterday and she seemed very hopeful. We seem to have made some improvements with my supply. She gave me this absolutely wonderful contraption called a supplemental nursing system. you put any supplement (pumped breast milk or formula) in the bottle, then a long tube reaches to the breast. When the baby latches and begins to suck, the baby gets mom's milk and the supplement. It eliminates bottles and allows the bonding time for mom and baby. This little design has been an answered prayer! We only thought our troubles were coming to an end....
Starting Thursday  night, Emersyn was awake most of the night screaming. We finally fell asleep around 6 am, I thought maybe she had a tummy ache and dared anyone to mention the "colic" word. At the lactation consultant's office, E let out a couple of screams that made the lactation consultant wonder if she had a little reflux that was causing some pain. Then, last night, E started screaming at 6pm and didn't stop until 6 am. She had 2 good naps, I had none because I was such a mess. The answering service for her pediatrician recommended the emergency room, instead we waited until the office opened this morning and took her in. I never imagined I would be at the sick clinic with my 20 day old angel. The doctor checked her out and did a thorough exam, she looked perfect. They gave her a catheter for a urine sample to check for a UTI- thank God, it was negative. The doctor said he thinks it is reflux and a little bit of immature gut. Possibly a touch of colic- Lord, help us- she has two medications that I have prayed over will help our sweet girl. NOTHING in the world is worse than your baby hurting and you not being able to do a thing about it. I have told Emersyn over and over again that if mommy could take the pain away and have it multiplied by 1,000, I would do it in a heartbeat!
I have been a complete wreck. My sweet, precious mother who has saved my life has been a wreck. We stay up with little girl all night and just cry and pray. We hold E close and just love on her, I hope and pray this will pass soon. 
Of course, that can't be all. If you haven't read the story about my first child, Maximus, it can be found here. We have noticed over the past week, sweet puppy is starting to show the effects of the tumor. He wasn't eating his food because it was too hard, and that side of his body has begun to fail. It is heartbreaking, so I also hold him close and snuggle with him as much as possible.
Like I said, we pray A LOT. I can't imagine a purpose-less life without the peace of Christ right now, it's the only thing that gets us from one hour to the next. On the bright side, E is an otherwise healthy, perfect little girl. She has no serious health concerns, wasn't born with any defects, and is a blessing every second she is in our presence. I continuously find myself on my knees in thanksgiving for my sweet baby. Same goes for Maxie, it may sound silly, but he has given me so much love and joy. I can't imagine life one day without him and can't think about it without having a meltdown, but he has been so loved and will always be the first baby :)
On a happy note, we did get newborn pictures made and they are beautiful :) E's gallery can be found here: http://wjonesphotographyproof.com/entry/portrait
Scroll down to 'Emersyn H' and check out our sweet girl.
Surely we have to be on the mend!  Thank you, in advance, for your prayers! I can't believe we  are stacking on days to hit our 1 month mark.... E is growing up way too fast.