2nd Baby, 3rd Trimester Update

Oh, geez. I'm already 33 weeks. Time is definitely getting away from me, and I don't think it's just because I have a toddler too. It's just keeps ticking away... Still, I wanted to take the time to write some updates on the pregnancy for the sake of remembering it.

As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I know I am lucky. (But I still don't like being pregnant, sorry). I am tired and never really sleep through the night without getting up to use the restroom or just toss and turn. Which, by the way, turning over is getting to be quite the ordeal. Justin laughs at me, but it really is so much harder the bigger my belly gets! I don't have heartburn, or back pain, or things like that. I have been experiencing a decent amount of Braxton-Hicks contractions, without much rhyme or reason to them, which I read is pretty normal to have this early on in the second pregnancy. They been going on since early December.  (With Ansel, I had them every 5-10 minutes the last two weeks of pregnancy. Talk about annoying and uncomfortable.) I've gained about 22 pounds already, which is less that my first pregnancy, but I'm just not a hungry. I'm hoping this helps in the long run.

One of my concerns is that baby girl will be aligned correctly, since Ansel was a little off and I believe it caused a longer labor, pushing, and his eventual torticollis and plagiocephaly. Because of this, I've invested significant time and money in yoga. I go once a week with a few friends, and then do some pregnancy yoga videos at home at least one more time a week. I also have visited the chiropractor twice. On the first visit, she confirmed that my hips were a little off-perhaps one leg is longer/shorter- and that the baby was also slightly to the right side. This was just like with Ansel. When I lay on my back I can seriously tell that my belly is lopsided. The good news is that on the second chiropractor visit, she said the baby was more in line like she should be. So, I will just continue with yoga and have at least one more chiropractor visit before birth. Then I'm just trusting that God sustains me through whatever the final position is.

We are going to Family Beginnings at Miami Valley again since our experience with the nursing staff and my midwife was so good last time. Any interventions really make me anxious, and therefore a natural delivery is the route that is best for me. One thing that I'm still fretting about is that I tested positive for GBS in a urine sample at the beginning of the pregnancy. GBS is a bacteria that can come and go, but if it present at all during the pregnancy they want to pump you (and therefore the baby) with antibiotics during labor. I'd really rather avoid an IV altogether, besides the fact that the chance of passing to the baby is very small- about 2%. I'm not really sure I like the baby being given all those antibiotics right away anyway, unless it really is needed. If I decline this, they will want to keep us at the hospital at least two nights to monitor. While this is how long we stayed last time, I'd much rather come sooner if I feel up to it, especially since we don't have to wait around for the Doc to do a circumcision. Less time at the hospital sounds very good to me! I am having a GBS swab test done in a few weeks, and if I test negative then, I feel like I have a good basis for declining the antibiotics. I've being taking garlic and probiotics as my midwife suggested to help in this.

Everyone is different, but we don't announce when we are going to the hospital. Shoot, last time it was in the middle of the night anyways, and I still have 18 hours of labor to go. I don't want people waiting around because that just stresses me and I have enough to deal with. Some people like the endless birth party, but in all honesty, I just want to be alone. Let me labor alone (besides my hubby), and once the baby comes I don't want a bunch of visitors. Heck, even when I get home I don't want visitors. Birth is tiring and all I want to do is rest and enjoy the new addition without added stress of company. I know, everyone is different, but that's just how I personally feel about it. So, a few more weeks, but the end is in sight. I can't wait to meet baby girl!!

8 Months Old!

Wow, I can't believe that Ansel is 8 months old tomorrow. It goes so fast, but I love seeing him grow up. It is absolutely fascinating to watch his little self get bigger, reach higher, smile broader, snuggle deeper. What a blessing!

After our meeting with the neuro-specialist, we mutually agreed that his torticollis was much improved and we did not need physical therapy any more. Of course we will still do therapy stretches and exercises at home, but will not be going to the doctor for therapy. (This will save a pretty penny at $100 a pop!) He's doing great developmentally, rolling, reaching, sitting up (when placed in a sitting position), picking up small objects, looking towards sounds, smiling, giggling, and saying "mama" and "dada" at random. It's so funny because he won't stay on his tummy for long before he is rolling across the room. He has also shown signs of wanting to push up to his knees in a crawling position, so I think that will be starting in the next month or so!!

Ansel is still breastfeeding four times a day, but eats solids at lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually rice or oatmeal with a fruit or veggie. Dinner is a kid-friendly version of what we are having. You should have seen him scarfing down pasta and sauce last night. He sure loves his food!

I continued to push his bedtime back little by little, and now he sleeps 11 1/2 to 12 hours. He's in bed at 7:30 PM and sleeps until 7:30 PM on weekends. During the week we usually have to load up to go to the sitters a little after 7:00. Still, what a great chunk of time! His morning nap is about an hour and afternoon naps are around 2 hours.

Since Justin has a Captain America frisbee/shield, I had to do some cute pictures. Here they are!

Week 6 in the Cranial Remolding Helmet for Plagiocephaly

 Ansel has already worn the cranial remolding helmet for his plagiocephaly for six weeks! We are already seeing drastic improvements. In fact, if it did not improve any more, I think I could be content with it. (Except for his ear placement- more on that later) The back left of his head doesn't feel or look so flat anymore. Looking from above, we already see the parallelogram shape coming back into a circle. Guess it was worth the money!! :)

On Monday this week, Ansel was a little fussy in the morning. Usually we leave the helmet on all day until we clean it in the evening, but I decided to take it off anyway. To my chagrin, he had a "hotspot" as they call it. The skin looked like a bright red side burn and close to blistering. See below.  I decided I wasn't putting it back on until we figured it out. I gave it that day to air out, but when it was still red on Tuesday morning (even though the helmet had been off a whole day) I called the Hangar Clinic and they got him in right away. They shaved out some more of the foam on the left, and we put it back on. By the afternoon the skin just looked dry and a little flaky from whatever reaction it had. They also suggested using cornstarch if it seemed to be rubbing again.

I keep trying to figure out what caused the hot spot. Did he sleep on it and the extra sweat/no air irritate it? Did we not get that part clean enough in the daily wash? Was it too small because of a growth spurt? We still aren't sure, but I'm glad he's not having any more issues with the hot spot.

However, his head does seem dry, somewhat like the cradle cap that he had around a month old. We tried putting Aveeno baby lotion on his head as recommended by the specialist, but his hair is so long it just seemed like a goopy mess. It's kinda hard to rub lotion through hair, ya know? Then we tried to let it "dry out" before the helmet went on, but his hair still had the lotion in it. I don't know, I'm still not sure it was effective anyway. I just feel bad when he reaches up like he wants to scratch his head...poor baby. Tonight I just scrubbed it really good in the bath and I hope that helps. Perhaps it's just the dry winter weather.

His ears worry me too. They are still not aligned. I hope as his head keeps shifting they will move more into place. At least they are even horizontally if you are looking at him from the front. It's really just when you look at him from above that you notice one ear is closer to his eye than another.

Hopefully we only have to wear the helmet another two months or so, at least during the day when we go out. Overall people just ignore it, and those who do say something aren't rude. It's funny, actually, because they either think I'm trying to dress him up like a football player, or they recognize the Captain America logo. But they aren't rude so it doesn't bother me too much. I'm definitely looking forward to when he doesn't have to wear it though!! The whole ordeal is really an issue of me trusting God. And also realizing that maybe I put too much stock in a "normal" appearance... As the Bible says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart."

My baby has plagiocephaly

After expressing concerns to our pediatrician about Ansel's flat spot, she referred us to a specialist at Dayton Children's Hospital. The nurse practitioner diagnosed Ansel with plagiocephaly, mild torticollis, and mild truncal hypotonia. So much for all those chiropractor visits, tummy time, and stretching at home. His poor little head is still having some issues.

I was very emotional about all this after the appointment, and I still am. As a parent, I try to do everything that I possibly can to make sure Ansel grows up healthy. For these issues to be appearing is disheartening, especially when I love him so much. But I have to keep a level head and take steps to improve the situation. So here's the breakdown of each issue.

The plagiocephaly (flattening of the head as the skull forms) merely cosmetic, and if we didn't do anything, it is very likely to lessen and perhaps even go away. Ansel's flat spot is of the back left of his head, but when you look at his head from above, it actually looks like a parallelogram. In fact, his ears are not quite aligned either. The NP told us that many times it does improve on its own. Between 0-6 months is the fastest growth, then 6-12 slows down some, and after 12 months is the slowest growth period. So the sooner we address it, the better. See pic below:

The torticollis (shortening/tightness of neck muscles (SCM) on one side) is most likely the cause of the plagiocephaly, because Ansel has favored the left side since the first few weeks. We started taking him to the chiropractor around a month for adjustments and learned stretching to do, and definitely saw some improvement in how much he favored the left side. For example, in the first month he would always fall asleep looking to the left, and began to fall asleep looking straight up or to the right. We did tummy time, placed bright toys to the right, and constantly tried to turn his head when he was sleeping. However, at 5 months he still has a mild case of torticollis.

The mild truncal hypotonia (head lag) is perhaps connected with the above concerns. This doesn't worry me as much because it seems like a more normal thing for a baby to develop at a difference pace.

To address these concerns, Ansel will be starting physical therapy this week and is going to be fitted for a cranial remolding helmet. Yikes!! My kid is going to be in a helmet?? Yep, 23 hours a day for 4-6 months or until the flat spot goes away. The helmet works not by putting pressure on the skull, but by keeping pressure off. In a way I feel embarrassed and just silly, but the bottom line is that I want the plagiocephaly corrected as soon as possible. It's expensive though... in the ballpark of $2,500. I'm hoping that insurance will pay, but if not I'm glad that we have this in our HSA (though it will pretty much wipe us out for the year). But it's worth it to me.

What I want is for my baby to grow up healthy and love God. He doesn't have to be the Gerber baby model. That's not the point of the helmet. (In the back of my mind though, I know it would break my heart if I didn't do anything and it ended up not rectifying itself, and then he was bullied because of it.) Don't we all want the best for our kids? I sure do. Walking into Children's last week, I kept having flashbacks of appointments for my little sister Ratona for her seizures, planning brain surgery, and therapy afterwards. That emotional story is a post for another day, but let me just say it was unnerving to be in the same place. I'll be honest and say I prayed many times for a healthy baby that would not have to face all the difficulties that she did. I know, I repeat, I KNOW this is nowhere near the magnitude of that situation, but geez, I am really trying to trust God and also do my part to help Ansel be as healthy as possible. I know every situation is a chance to trust God and bring Him glory, so I'm trying to do that as we start this journey.