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2008-03-20 - 11.36pm��previous entry��next entry
Almost 10 weeks old...
Stuff to write, but first - how gorgeous is this video?! This woman is singing to cope with contractions, shortly before her 10lb baby boy was born at home! HOW I wish I could do something like that to manage contractions. What a peaceful and blessed arrival for her baby (no actual birth in the footage though), compared with the deafening wails and primal screaming that my last two poor boys have emerged to!
Nathan is nearly TEN weeks old!!! How?! Double digits for weeks in only two days, I can't believe it. I should make Nathan's appointment for his delayed 6-8 week check soon. I guess I'm aiming for a week or so from now. He is now smiling and cooing a LOT and acting very sociable! It's soooooo lovely!
Poor Nathan is still suffering with this yucky cold. He is just so congested all the time, and worse (obviously) when he is lying down. I have had his cot elevated for a week or so but it doesn't make much difference for him. Right now, we are co-sleeping almost 100% of the time, as he sleeps best next to me with a breast RIGHT THERE next to him at all times, hehe! We sleep on towels, because with me leaking and him bringing up bits of milk with alllll the milk he's taking overnight right now, we'd wet the sheets a lot otherwise! We nurse tummy-to-tummy on our sides. I have noticed that for the last month (maybe a bit less?), he hasn't had the leaky nose thing going on, so maybe it WAS just an "early" thing in his case? Anyway, I'm soooo glad, because it's so much easier to breastfeed like that at night. I am always asleep before he's finished nursing (hence the breast-out-all-the-time thing!), and next thing I know, I'm waking up and he's snuffling around wanting to latch on again, which is very easy. I have a "station" set up on the bed next to me with nappies, wipes, a pile of sleepsuits, a pile of terries (for burping with, sleeping on, etc), and a pile of T-shirts for me. Also a torch and batteries! That is all we need for the night, and it goes very smoothly. If he was able to sleep for longer blocks and not have to fuss with his poor nose blocked up, I think it would be easy right now, despite the number of night wakings. It's easy to manage, anyway. I'm so grateful for the ability to lie-in in the morning to catch up on missed sleep, with Neil home. Soooo grateful.
Nathan's nasty raw nappy rash disappeared within 24 hours or so after my last diary entry, the one where I said he'd just gone FOUR HOURS (gasp!) without pooing!! ;) He has indeed started to lengthen the time between pooey nappies, and that seems to have been all his bottom needed to get the chance to heal up a little. I'm SO glad and relieved!
I have been taking Nathan to the chiropractor after trying and trying to put him down to sleep on his back. He just can't seem to do it. I really do want to persevere at putting him to sleep on his back, because I get anxious about the SIDS risk, etc. But I really wanted to rule out the possibility that he might be hurting or uncomfortable on his back before I reeeally get stuck into working with him on that. He was born very fast, so I wondered. I found a local chiropractor through an online search, checked that they have someone who specialises in paediatric cases, and booked an appointment.
The chiropractor said she thinks Nathan may have jarred his neck against my pelvis as he "corkscrewed" out, which was likely given how fast he birthed. He has a lot of muscle tension on the right side of his neck but not so much on the left, and this carries down to the middle of his back. She gave him an adjustment with a slightly scary-looking metal device (!!) and then a sort of adjustment/massage with her fingers down his neck and spine. He did fine, and didn't get too upset about any of it. She said that there may be not much difference after just the first session, but most babies seem to take 4-6 sessions, but she couldn't tell me how many he might need. The earlier you start treatment that quicker it can be resolved, so that's in our favour! My parents are paying for the sessions, because we have no money at all right now. I am so grateful. I'm also starting to feel squeamish about allll the relying on other people's money! But we have no choice at the moment if we're to get by. Neil needs to find work!! But we know God's plan is perfect for us, so we're trying to hang in there!
The chiropractor wanted Nathan to come back within a week, ideally, but he got his cold shortly after the first appointment. I took him back this week for his second appt, and messed up on when I fed him. He was getting hungry by the time we arrived and so he cried and cried and CRIED with flailing limbs and much red-faced anger (!) in the waiting room, during his treatment, and while I talked (with raised voice, lol!) to the chiropractor about his treatment! I asked for a place to breastfeed him and they sent me to a very comfy room and provided me with a towel and a pillow! He was almost comatose after he finished nursing!
After the appointment, I put him in the Coorie sling and we stopped at the supermarket for milk on the way home. He slept the whole time. He is getting VERY hard to fit in the Coorie in the cradle position now! I can't seem to figure out the upright newborn position, as there is never enough fabric to go behind his head and shoulders and thus he has no head support, which doesn't work. I'm eager to get my Baby Bjorn out of the loft now, for supermarket trips. He'll fit it perfectly now, and it's easy to put on and wear, albeit less marvellous on my back. Plus, I just CAN'T seem to get the hang of wearing an "unusual" sling in public. Very few people around here wear anything but Baby Bjorns and similar carriers, and most people don't even use those, they just use pushchairs and carseats. I LOVE the babywearing thing, I feel really proud wearing my baby! But I am just not the kind of person who finds it easy to stand out in public. I would MUCH rather blend in and not be noticed! It was only the second time I'd worn Nathan round the supermarket in the Coorie, but I felt more uncomfortable with the stares than the first time, and there was the beginning of a sneaky sense of dread putting him in it, because of knowing we'd be looked at. Which is a sign for me that maybe we'd be better "blending in" more with a different sling. Does that sound silly of me? I hope not. I feel relieved at the idea of wearing Nathan in the Baby Bjorn instead, so I think I'll do that. It will hurt my back after a while though, so I'll only wear him in it for short outings, or ones where we drive somewhere first and then I take him out of the sling to drive home again. At the rate he's gaining weight, I won't be comfy carrying him in any sling for much longer anyway.
Nathan's head control is getting better and better. He can lift and turn his head easily when lying on his tummy, and he is starting to turn towards interesting things or sounds. He "talks" to me and the boys, and today he talked to Neil for the first time, properly! Neil had to wait much longer than I did to see him smile for the first time, but Nathan has now smiled at each one of us (Arthur before Matthew though). He also "talks" to furniture and contrasting objects that he sees, and the curtains in our bedroom, hehe! So sweet :) He gets excited sometimes and does a little shrieky gaspy inhale, and then a soft, measured "aaoohhww", which is his first Baby Babble "word"! His only other one so far is "nnngg". I remember those were the exact same two babble words that my other babies used at first too! Sometimes if I'm holding him and looking into his eyes, and I say one of his words to him (like if I say "aaoohhww" to him a couple of times and then wait), his eyes LIGHT UP and he smiles at me and starts using those words back to me :) I just love this stage where your precious baby starts interacting with you! It's just magical.
Well, my poor boy is very fussy this evening and has been jiggled around for the last 10 minutes by Neil who is only a foot or so away from me (with headphones on trying to watch his TV programme!), so I feel I ought to go and see what I can do to help! I have breastfed him both sides, changed his nappy and sleepsuit, and burped him, right before handing him to Neil though, so I'm not sure what else to do for the little man right now. Hopefully he'll settle down and go to sleep again soon, so we can go up to bed.
I have a few photos on the camera, of Nathan lying with Arthur, attempting to "talk" to him, from yesterday! I will try to get those off the camera and posted here soon.
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