In other news, Naomi is almost 8 months old. Saturday will be the day. We have all been pretty sick the last few weeks so I haven't had much time to post. Within a matter of weeks (or days it seemed at times) Naomi has started crawling, pulling herself to a seated position and standing while holding onto something. We have some videos, but they are not loaded on the computer and I'm not sure how to upload them here. But perhaps I will try to load them at a later date. (I'm a smart girl, I can figure it out.)
Also, Naomi has been sleeping through the night for almost a whole week now. With one exception: the night she came home late from my mom's she got "stuck" in a corner which I assume is what woke her up or it could be that she didn't go to bed on time. Alas, after hours of "fighting" her to go to sleep one night, I decided we were doing her a disservice by rocking, singing and bouncing her to sleep. We were doing the most to try to help her go to sleep and still she was crying and fretting and waking up every couple of hours. Even though, I do not like putting her in her crib and letting her "cry it out," (it is 20 minutes of agony, watching the clock and wondering if she is really okay,) it seems to be working for her. She started sleeping through the night immediately. I am happy that my husband and I are getting sleep, but I'm even happier knowing that her sleep isn't as broken and that she is getting a good night's rest that will help her with her development. I hope this progress continues and that it spreads to her nap time.
5.24.2009
A weekend in the ER
The better part of yesterday was spent on the phone with doctors and in the emergency room. Naomi had another allergic reaction. This time to milk-based formula. Her face and body swelled with hives and a rash. Pretty sad to see your daughter look like that. She had tried that type of formula before, but it didn't agree with her so we started using soy-based. However, last time she did not have that type of extreme reaction, so we were told to try it again at a later date. It was quite a surprise to see the hives growing in number on her little body. Coupled with vomiting and crying, the situation was pretty intense. I think I started to panic after I gave her Benadryl and didn't see any relief. The medicine worked quickly with previous allergic reactions, but this time things seemed to continue to get worse. But after talking to the doctor on call at her doctor's office (which was after we already took her to the ER) and talking with personnel in the ER, it seems the key thing to look for is breath problems. However, I didn't want to wait until she was having breathing problems, as I was worried it might be too late by then. Things escalate quickly with allergic reactions and I didn't know what to expect. Plus, she had a cold recently and I wasn't sure if she was breathing hard or just more congestion.
Anyhow, it was very stressful, but she seems to be doing better now. The swelling went down and she seems to be happy once more. But the question remains: what does this mean for her and us? Does it mean no milk, cheese, ice cream, pizza or lasagna ever, or just not until she's older? I guess I will have to ask her doctor next time we go in, which isn't supposed to be until she's 1.
I'm still happy that she's been doing well with the rest of her food. She seems to love anything that's introduced to her, fruits and veggies, alike. I will be skipping introducing anything else new this week since we had such a traumatizing Saturday.
Anyhow, it was very stressful, but she seems to be doing better now. The swelling went down and she seems to be happy once more. But the question remains: what does this mean for her and us? Does it mean no milk, cheese, ice cream, pizza or lasagna ever, or just not until she's older? I guess I will have to ask her doctor next time we go in, which isn't supposed to be until she's 1.
I'm still happy that she's been doing well with the rest of her food. She seems to love anything that's introduced to her, fruits and veggies, alike. I will be skipping introducing anything else new this week since we had such a traumatizing Saturday.
5.10.2009
First Mother's Day brings other firsts
My first Mother's Day was spent taking care of a sick baby. Day care seemed to go well this week, until a few days later Naomi is feverish, vomiting, coughing and sneezing. I took her to the urgent clinic yesterday and learned she had an ear infection and a cold, likely picked up from another baby. This is her first ear infection. Even though, she seems to be going right along playing and smiling, it has been no fun for my husband and me -- cleaning up messes, forcing medicine and missing even more sleep.
I dread sending her back to the day care, but feel limited as far as my options. I tried to seek ways to keep her from getting sick at day care, but so far all I've found is that illness is inevitable in those types of situations. But, I've found, it should help her build her immune system. She also seemed to enjoy playing with the other babies. This is her first real experience with being around other babies, especially playing with them for several hours. She has her own crib and access to many more toys than we have at home. I just hope she is better by the time she has to go to day care again, so that her immune system is ready to fight off more germs, or I might have to take off work.
By the way, that other day care I went to look at didn't pan out. Let's just say it wasn't what I was looking for.
I dread sending her back to the day care, but feel limited as far as my options. I tried to seek ways to keep her from getting sick at day care, but so far all I've found is that illness is inevitable in those types of situations. But, I've found, it should help her build her immune system. She also seemed to enjoy playing with the other babies. This is her first real experience with being around other babies, especially playing with them for several hours. She has her own crib and access to many more toys than we have at home. I just hope she is better by the time she has to go to day care again, so that her immune system is ready to fight off more germs, or I might have to take off work.
By the way, that other day care I went to look at didn't pan out. Let's just say it wasn't what I was looking for.
5.06.2009
A day out
Today Naomi started going to a part-day day care. It's a mother's day out/children's day out program at a church. It's a temporary solution since we have been unable to find full time, quality and affordable day care. We have been looking for 4 months now. By the way, Naomi turned 7 months old last week. So as far as I can tell her first day went well. She did seem to be sneezing a bit more and have red, puffy eyes once she got home. But the weather has been crazy, so perhaps it's allergies. The day care also doesn't use hypoallergenic laundry detergent, so we are going to be providing our own crib sheet.
Finding a day care is a little nerve wracking. I called once in the middle of the day and was somewhat nervous about leaving her, but she didn't cry or even seem to notice we were gone. She just got down in the thick of things with the other babies and found some toys to play with. As long as I'm busy at work (which I always am) I don't have much time to worry about if she is okay or all the things that could go wrong and did I remember to tell them this or that. I even typed up an informational sheet on Naomi because frequently she seems to be "changing hands" and being watched by a variety of people since we don't have a permanent child care provider (outside of ourselves of course.)
Tomorrow I'm going to look at another day care that said they have a space (plus they are within our price range and it's not far from my job.) I'm not sure if I'll like it. I had passed it several times, but was skeptical about calling. It looks more like a house than a center, though it is categorized as the latter, and if you have talked to me about day cares you know I'm skeptical about home child care providers. From my news readings, they are where a lot of the "shady" business happens. But who knows? Maybe it will be an answer to prayers. I really like 2 or 3 of the others, but they don't have any openings until later in the year.
What's new? This past week Naomi has been getting better at rolling from her back to her stomach. She could already roll the other way, from her stomach to her back. So she has become a terror when you try to change her diaper, flipping this way and that with her little dirty tush in the air.
She's still not crawling, yet. But she seems so eager to learn and is always up on her knees attempting to lunge forward. She hasn't quite figured it all out, though, how to make those arms and knees coordinate one after the other.
She seems to have really taken to solid foods. She gets so excited and will grab the spoon and the container of food from you and gets upset if you aren't feeding her fast enough or the bowl gets empty. We have gone through all the cereals and vegetables with only one problem with a certain type of cereal. Next week we will be starting fruits and then, maybe, some juices.
Not sleeping through the night still. But last week she went 3-4, sleeping through the night three days and not on four. But she's been going to bed earlier, so I think that's good.
She visited a dermatologist about her eczema. I'm not sure that he told me much I didn't already know, which is why I didn't want to go in the first place. He told us it was okay to bathe her daily as opposed to every couple of days, which is apparently "old school advice" as he said. We just need to moisturize her skin right afterward, which we were. It's really been doing a lot better, just not perfect. The other new thing he did was give us a new prescription topical cream ... that costs $90 after insurance (before: $300). So yeah, I'm calling him back to see if there's anything else we can try first or if he feels that is the only thing that will work.
I really have to write here more often, so all these thoughts don't build up. But I can honestly say I don't have much time. Go figure.
Finding a day care is a little nerve wracking. I called once in the middle of the day and was somewhat nervous about leaving her, but she didn't cry or even seem to notice we were gone. She just got down in the thick of things with the other babies and found some toys to play with. As long as I'm busy at work (which I always am) I don't have much time to worry about if she is okay or all the things that could go wrong and did I remember to tell them this or that. I even typed up an informational sheet on Naomi because frequently she seems to be "changing hands" and being watched by a variety of people since we don't have a permanent child care provider (outside of ourselves of course.)
Tomorrow I'm going to look at another day care that said they have a space (plus they are within our price range and it's not far from my job.) I'm not sure if I'll like it. I had passed it several times, but was skeptical about calling. It looks more like a house than a center, though it is categorized as the latter, and if you have talked to me about day cares you know I'm skeptical about home child care providers. From my news readings, they are where a lot of the "shady" business happens. But who knows? Maybe it will be an answer to prayers. I really like 2 or 3 of the others, but they don't have any openings until later in the year.
What's new? This past week Naomi has been getting better at rolling from her back to her stomach. She could already roll the other way, from her stomach to her back. So she has become a terror when you try to change her diaper, flipping this way and that with her little dirty tush in the air.
She's still not crawling, yet. But she seems so eager to learn and is always up on her knees attempting to lunge forward. She hasn't quite figured it all out, though, how to make those arms and knees coordinate one after the other.
She seems to have really taken to solid foods. She gets so excited and will grab the spoon and the container of food from you and gets upset if you aren't feeding her fast enough or the bowl gets empty. We have gone through all the cereals and vegetables with only one problem with a certain type of cereal. Next week we will be starting fruits and then, maybe, some juices.
Not sleeping through the night still. But last week she went 3-4, sleeping through the night three days and not on four. But she's been going to bed earlier, so I think that's good.
She visited a dermatologist about her eczema. I'm not sure that he told me much I didn't already know, which is why I didn't want to go in the first place. He told us it was okay to bathe her daily as opposed to every couple of days, which is apparently "old school advice" as he said. We just need to moisturize her skin right afterward, which we were. It's really been doing a lot better, just not perfect. The other new thing he did was give us a new prescription topical cream ... that costs $90 after insurance (before: $300). So yeah, I'm calling him back to see if there's anything else we can try first or if he feels that is the only thing that will work.
I really have to write here more often, so all these thoughts don't build up. But I can honestly say I don't have much time. Go figure.
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