Chemistry 101

I didn't imagine when I got my chemistry degree that I would be using it to figure out how to make a martini in a bottle. I have now master the perfect combination and technique of Zantac, Mylicon, formula and rice cereal to make one bottle. It wasn't easy and I think I could write a thesis on it or package it and sell it to other moms!

By the way, Spencer prefers his bottles stirred, not shaken.

1. First you must give 0.6ml of Zantac directly to child while he is hungry so he will swallow it. If given after the meal, chances are it will come back out (it doesn't taste as good as milk).
2. 
   Secondly, you measure your water and add the formula (two parts water, 1 part formula). You shake it good to mix it which produces a "foam" on top.
3. 
   Next you add 0.3ml of Mylicon drops to get rid of the foam and air bubbles produced in step #2. Stir, do not shake.
4. 
   Next you add 1 Tbsp of rice cereal for each ounce of formula. Stir or swirl, do not shake.
5. 
   Feed to the screaming child who is impatiently waiting for you to get your thesis completed!

My sweet boy.



Please play with me!

Harley desperately wants us to play. He has always had pathetic hound dog eyes, but it's even worse now.

GERD

On Sunday, the realization finally hit me that I DO have to return to work in two weeks. I simply could not imagine leaving Spencer with a stranger. They don't know that he needs constant attention and can't just be fed and laid down. He has to be kept upright after eating, he has to be watched carefully for the never ending spit up draining from his mouth. This stranger has no idea on how to console him when his tummy is aching and he is crying for hours.

With this realization, I finally broke down and went to the pediatrician regarding Spencer's constant spitting and throwing up. The doctor diagnosed him with having GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). While this seems innocent enough, we all have a little reflux right? Well, let me put this in perspective for everyone. I calculated how much formula he actually took in for a 24 hour period and that was 35 ounces. For his weight, he should be taking in 22-24 ounces a day. If he had been keeping down the 22-24 ounces he was needing, his weight would be better, but he wasn't. He was throwing up probably close to half of what he ingested each day. Because he wasn't keeping food down, he was hungry all the time and thus he would not sleep. So, a little reflux can cause bigger problems for little tummies.

He will be on medication for the next 3-4 months and he must take rice cereal with his bottle now. We began this regime last night and for the very first time he ate and nothing came back up. He didn't writhe in pain after eating and he slept soundly and peacefully. I am hopeful that this will help his little tummy and we can both progress towards enjoying each other instead of the constant crying.

So, I do go back to work in a little less than two weeks and it does remind me how thankful that this is the only thing wrong with him. I will go back to testing 6 week old babies for leukemia and other pathological genetic mutations. I will go back knowing that at the end of the day, some of them will not make it. They won't even be given the chance to just have a little reflux. Think about it.

Baby Whisperer

Justin has a new title - The Baby Whisperer. He let me go to bed early last night and he stayed up with Spencer. He must have had baby magic power because Spencer slept in his crib for the first time! No more sleeping in the hammock, no more mom sleeping on the couch!

NEVER ask "What else can happen?"

Okay, so after my huge post last night, I was looking forward to starting fresh today.
My day started when Madison couldn't find her cell phone. She got it taken away yesterday afternoon. Justin had just pulled in the drive and gotten out of his truck when I was in the midst of asking her WHY her phone wasn't on. She had went to play with friends and as instructed, took her cell phone with her. The only problem - she didn't turn it on! So, Justin took it and set it on the side of his truck while he hauled in his backpack, coffee cup and countless other items. Needless to say, we cannot find the cell phone this morning. We try calling it to listen for the ring but IT ISN'T TURNED ON!
Got Madison off to school, without her cell phone and Spencer was waking up. So, I let the two doggies out this morning and I go warm up a bottle and began to feed Spencer. Taking a break from feeding, I go to let the doggies back in and only one of them was there.
I KNEW exactly what had happened, the kids forgot to shut and lock the back gate. Frantic, I go out the front door and begin to call for Harley. THANK GOD! He was poking his nose to the ground sniffing around. I cannot believe he didn't take off somewhere. Thankful he didn't run, I get him in the house and gulp down a cold cup of coffee and brace for...... what else can happen?

A Long Couple of Days

This is a long post, but there is much to vent about.

A Very Long Tuesday
The past few days have been very tiresome (as if having a newborn isn't tiresome anyway). It all began Monday night into Tuesday morning when Spencer began vomiting after his 2am feeding. The 5am feeding came and more vomiting and spit up. He obviously had an upset tummy! He cried and cried until finally falling asleep at 7am. At his 9am feeding, same thing. Finally at 11am I called the pediatrician and they told me to give him a 1/2 teaspoon of Emetrol (used to help with an upset stomach). I couldn't find it in the pharmacy so I asked the pharmacist and she looked at me funny and said that she didn't think it was for infants. I went ahead and bought it and got home and read the directions. Sure enough it said for children 2-12 years old. There was no mention of infants or even the disclaimer of "children under 2 contact your physician." I was kinda worried about giving this to him, especially when a 2 year old gets a teaspoon and they were telling me to give him a 1/2 teaspoon?
SO - I used a syringe and gave him just a couple of drops. Here is where the scary part came in. He went from crying and fussing to being completely asleep within 5 minutes. I SOOOOOO thought I overdosed my own child. I held him for the next 45 minutes watching him breathe to make sure I didn't harm my own child! He slept for a LONG time. The medicine worked and he didn't vomit any more, but continued to cry after every feeding and generally be in pain.

Blood and Black Eye
While I have tended to Spencer's upset tummy, Madison invited, what seemed like, the entire neighborhood to jump on the trampoline. We DO have rules in regards to how many kids are on it at one time and I must say they were following the rules, BUT, kids still get hurt. One of the neighbor kids was trying to do a flip and landed on his face (he wears glasses). Madison comes in and asks for a band aid. I asked what it was for, her response: "Josh landed on his face and he is bleeding." Are you kidding me, not only am I dealing with my own son crying and screaming, now I have to deal with someone else's! Okay - his glasses jammed his face and yes he was bleeding and probably ended up with a black eye. So, with crying baby in one arm, I took Josh home and explained to his father what happened. What possibly could be next?

Wednesday
Same as Tuesday without the vomiting and possible overdose. I went to the Internet to try and find out what was going on. After many searches and ruling out things like the formula and reflux, I figured out that it was the bottle/nipples. He was sucking the nipple so hard that it was collapsing and he was sucking in a TON of air, thus AIR BUBBLES = GAS.
I happen to have a different kind of bottle/nipples, so we gave those a shot last night. At the 10:30 feeding, no vomit, no spit up. At the 2am feeding, no vomit and no spit up. I was getting excited! He has continued to eat better and has an occasionally spit up, but it is more of the normal kind and not 1/2 of his bottle. He wasn't screaming after each feeding either, which I took as a very good sign! Things are looking positive.......

Thursday
The Mother of all Baby Stores - Babies R Us
NOW - I needed to go and get more of the bottle/nipples because I didn't have very many of them. Target and Walmart didn't carry what I needed, so I decided to venture to Babies R Us. It is a 1/2 hour drive, but I decided it was worth it. I get to the store and I see the Advent brand of bottles, but 1/2 of the shelves are empty. Okay, this was the first bad sign. They had the nipples I needed to fit the bottles, but I needed some sealing discs, I couldn't find those anywhere. I asked someone for help and sure enough, they didn't have any. I asked her if she could check in the back to see. She answered me with one word, "NO."
OKAY folks, now I am mad. Not only did I drag out my newborn, drive a 1/2 hour, probably spent $10 in gas to come to the mother of all baby stores only to find out that they don't have a basic item in stock and the sales associate can't even check to see if it is in the back. Are you seriously kidding me? GGGRRRR So, I drive a 1/2 hour home. I was gone a total of an 1 1/2 hours, an hour of it was driving.

I need to get groceries, but I also need to get home for when Madison gets off of the bus, so I do go home. Later on that day...

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Madison has a routine she has to follow when she gets home and homework is obviously a priority. She said she had math homework and needed help. For those of you that don't have a 5th grader, let me share I thing with you. If I were on the TV show, "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" I have to answer that NO. There is new thing they teach called MATH, maybe some of you have heard of it. Well, it is NOT the same math that we were taught as kids. I can do her homework, but she has no idea how I do it because she was taught differently. So, I do what I do best and say, "dad will help you when he gets home." Justin and Madison's brains are wired the same, mine is not. I will do the science, he can do the math.

I still need to get groceries. A bit later...

Burning Down the House
Justin comes home early and since I haven't gotten groceries we decide to cook some quick frozen hamburgers on the grill. He begins the grilling and I am working on the side dishes. He comes in after 10 minutes or so and tells me the hamburgers will be a bit longer, he has to get new ones. What? Ehhh? Evidently the hamburgers were on fire and the house filled with smoke. I'm not sure how this happened, but when he brought them in, they looked like hockey pucks. We did finally get to eat and I finally get to go to the grocery store - no husband, no kids.

Getting Groceries and Caffienne
I finally get to go to Super Target to get groceries. There is a Starbucks in the Super Target and I treated myself to a LARGE iced coffee. I have gotten used to cold coffee lately. My list for Target was not very big, but I figured that I needed to check every isle very carefully before I decided that I had to go home. (I really liked the peace and quiet of Target and I didn't have to worry about a dirty diaper or math homework, so I stayed as long as possible). It was very strange to be purchasing bras for my 5th grader (who would absolutely kill me if she knew I was writing this) and diapers at the same time. Strange, very strange.

Well, it is now much later and into Friday. Spencer finally went to sleep (I started writing this blog before midnight and now it is after 1am). I haven't noticed any spewing or spitup, so I think it is safe to go to bed now. I hope today is a better day, what else can happen?

Baby Olympics

Here is my version of the Olympics:

At 2 am you feed your newborn and he pukes up everything he just ate. He falls back asleep with an upset tummy. At 5am you feed your newborn and pukes up half of what he just ate. He is still HUNGRY after throwing up his last two meals, but of course has an upset tummy, so you can't let him chug down any more milk.

So for the bronze medal you must walk around the furniture in a circular pattern, holding baby for a minimum of 10 minutes, keep the pacifier in the mouth and not let baby cry.

For the silver medal you must walk around the furniture in a circular pattern, holding baby for a minimum of 15 minutes, keep the pacifier in the mouth, not let baby cry and put baby to sleep.

For the gold medal you must walk around the furniture in a circular pattern holding baby for a minimum of 20 minutes, keep the pacifier in the mouth, not let baby cry, put baby to sleep and then, here is the big one, place baby into his hammock to continue sleeping and not wake up.

Needless to say, I did not win a medal today. I was disqualified for feeding the baby another ounce to coax him back to sleep.

My Little Man at 4 1/2 weeks

My little man is 4 1/2 weeks old and time is going by fast. There are so many wonderful things I have forgotten since Madison was born. I love his hair and his toes and his fake smiles when he is falling asleep. I love to just watch him sleep, even if it is only for 10 minutes. He finally stayed in his swing for more than 15 minutes. He still is not sleeping in his crib, though we continually try, except at 2 am, I put him in his hammock where I know he will sleep.

I am getting some decent sleep, but the lack of it tends to build up. I was soooo tired at during the 2 am feeding, that my head began to bob. This went on for the 1/2 hour or so that I was supposed to be intently watching my son eat! Then, out of nowhere, it hit. The massive explosion in his pants wasn't what woke me up, it was the smell. Instantly sitting there on the couch I was WIDE awake. The military should look into the capturing the smell, it could be used as chemical warfare it is sooo potent.

It seems like I am doing laundry constantly now. There is constant spit up or things getting peed on; it never ends.

Big Sister Entertaining

Madison is wonderful with Spencer. She loves to entertain him, which in turn, entertains me! Check out the short video of her entertaining skills.

What I learned and forgot today.

Today was a big outing for Spencer and I. We went to the mall for the first time and I figured out how to use the stroller. What I learned today is that the basket on the bottom of the stroller had to be designed by a man because it is soooo stinkin small. I brought the small and stylish diaper bag with me today (see what I learned about that below) and it barely fit in the basket. So, once I actually made a purchase, the bag wouldn't fit in the stroller. Shopping immediately ceased because I could not drive the stroller one handed and carry a shopping bag. Time to go to Target to purchase diapers and formula.

Arrived at Target and Spencer was awake, but content. I picked up my diapers and formula and realized that while sitting so cute and quiet in the car seat, Spencer did his business in his diaper...off to the family restroom. I of course pull out the small (but stylish) diaper bag and place the changing pad down, pull out a diaper and the two packages of travel size wipes. I begin to undress Spencer and realized, it had happened...the explosion that took place in his diaper required that all clothing be removed ---CAREFULLY. I begin to clean up the explosion and realize that the first package of wipes (travel size of course because they had to fit into the small but stylish diaper bag) was already gone. So, I begin to conserve wipes, but it was no use. The second package of wipes (travel size of course) was also gone. I had to resort to wet paper towels to finally clean up the mess. I did have a clean onesie in the bag, so at least I had something clean to put on him.

So, what did I learn today - there is a reason that diaper bags are made large. You are supposed to put a full package of wipes in the bag for these types of emergencies! You are also supposed to put some type of plastic bag in for the dirty clothes that not only stink, but you really don't want touching things like, oh let's see - BOTTLES.

So, today really wasn't about what I learned, it was really about how much I have forgotten in 10 years since Madison was born.

It's a Blog thing

Okay, so I am finally getting into the tech world and decided to try this blog thing. So, this is definately a work in progress!