Pictures... from the last decade!

Cool Tricks with Mr. Dirt Unibrow!









Minnesota Zoo









Happy about his baby sister















July 4th





Maddox and his older Lady











July 18th

Pictures from Amy's and Mom's Camera's.

Amy's Camera.













Mom's Camera.

Hip Update

We went to Faye's appointment this morning. She is 9lbs 15oz! I didn't get her height. She has dysplasia in both hips, but the left one is very minor. They put her in a Pavlik harness that she will be in for three weeks. We have an appointment in 10 days to have the harness checked and make sure it still fits her OK, an ultrasound in 20 days (3 weeks) and an appointment immediately after the the ultrasound. Then I think She will be in the harness for another 3 weeks, but I'm not really sure.

The harness isn't too bad. It was a PAIN to change her diaper and I might be putting her in disposables for a little while - I'm going to try putting just a T-Shirt on her to see if it is easier to change. She fits fine in her carseat and seems pretty comfortable. She likes to be in this position anyways, so I think that helps. You cannot really hold her in a cradle position - I can hold her belly to belly to nurse and have one leg sticking up and one leg sticking down, but it's not very comfortable. Strangely, she's been sleeping on her own better. Normally she wakes up as soon as I lay her down, now I can get at least 5 minutes out of her!

Pediatric Orthopedic Appointment

I called on Monday morning to make an appointment and heard back from them this morning. I was able to get her in the computer and registered on Monday morning and then the girl was going to call me back when she got a date and time for an appointment. Guess it took two days to get one. I called yesterday morning because I had been under the impression that I was going to get a call back on Monday and I was told that they booked several months out and they had to work her in.

Anyways, she has an appointment on Monday (the 21st) at 10AM at Regions.

I did hear back from the doctor at our pediatricians office and he said that it was very mild and he wants her to see a specialist to see if she will just need to be watched or if she'll need a harness. So that is good. I don't want her to get a harness because it would probably be very uncomfortable for her and very restrictive, but at the same time I am afraid of her not having a harness in the chance that it didn't get better and she was too old for the harness and needed a cast and her bones will be more solid and less flexible and not as easily healed and molded.

I'll update as soon as I can after her appointment.

Maybe if we are super lucky Clayton will bring us to lunch before he goes back to work... ;)

Acetabular Dysplasia and Subluxation

Faye has hip dysplasia. Acetabular Dysplasia - meaning that her hip socket is too shallow or deformed, and Subluxation - meaning that it's coming out of the socket. Monday we need to call and make her an appointment with a Pediatric Orthopedic Doc and Tuesday her Doctor will call me to talk to me about it. A nurse called today to ask if we had heard from her Doc (no) and tell us that she had this, but she didn't know anything about the condition or what it meant. I looked up what the Nurse told me her Doctor wrote down (mild right Acetabular Dysplasia Subluxation) and from everything I've read, it looks like she might be put in a harness called a Pavlik harness.

Here's a topic overview from WebMD
And Wikipedia has a picture of the hip dysplasia (hers is both B & C in the picture in "Forms of the condition" section) and a picture of the harness (first picture under "Treatment" section).

Of course I don't really know anything or what they will do for treatment with her until after we see the Pediatric Ortho, so I'll update again after we see somebody.

Happy One Month Birthday Faye!

Such a Beauty!

Nursing (and Pictures of course!)

Faye will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday and so we will have been nursing for 4 weeks! It is going so much better than it did with Maddox, with both latch and confidence. With Maddox, anytime I would nurse while we were out I would put a blanket over him and we would go into a bathroom or "mother's room" (if we were at the mall, etc) to nurse him. With Faye, we have nursed at the baseball game, while walking around Target, at the park - twice (once with a shirt over my shoulder, but only because we didn't have any shade and didn't want the sun on her). I didn't even hesitate slighty and I am proud of myself for that.

Faye's First Baseball Game - 6.28.2008


Faye and Big Brother admiring each other! - 07.01.2008


Cute little feets! - 07.03.2008




My Cry Baby - She's always beautiful! - 07.03.2008


Sleeping Kiddos - 07.05.2008

Reflux?

Faye has been getting crabby/crabbier. She acts like she is in pain and spits up a lot. Since birth, she has been spitting up and gulping it back down, she started spitting up and having it come out of her mouth and nose just after we got her home. She cannot be laid down less than 30 minutes after a feeding and she cannot stay laying down less than an hour after feeding or she will spit up. Night time feedings last almost 2 hours because she will eat from one side and by the time her belly feels well enough, she's ready to eat from the other and than it's another hour before I can lay her down. I feel exhausted. I'm getting very little sleep because of it. She wakes up 1-2 hours after each time she is laid down to go back to sleep and than it's another 2 hours of being up. I'm not getting to bed until 11pm-midnight and than am waking up around 4:30-5:30am (for a 2 hour feeding session and than Maddox wakes up).

She spits up and it comes out her mouth and nose and so she is constantly stuffed up and snoring, squeaky, and wheezy. She wriggles and cries like she is in pain. She wants to nurse, but she whimpers and whines and as soon as my milk lets down she is off the breast, but immediately wanting to be back on (and repeat). I do not have an overactive letdown (like I did with Maddox), so I know that really isn't the issue.

I was told that her spitting up and swallowing it back down was because of her quick birth, but it's been 3 and a half weeks and it shouldn't continue to go and get worse if it is from her birth. They say to reduce spitting up in babies to keep them up right for 15-30 minutes after a feeding, but we are needing to keep her up for an hour or more or she will spit up, cough, and gag. She also coughs and gags during feedings. I was told not to worry about it if she is gaining weight fine, but Maddox had GERD till he was a year old and gained weight just fine, he was just horribly uncomfortable.

I don't know whether or not we should make an appointment for her.