Interesting Times

Well, the latest in a very eventful weekend was the discovery of a sour, rank smell coming from Victor's room tonight. It wasn't there at 7:30pm when I fed him... and it was very strong (and isolated to his room) when I checked on him at 9pm.

No wet carpet. Nothing lurking in the shadows. Not coming from the vent. Not in any other rooms. Not a gas smell.

We carried the crib out of the room (depositing Victor first on our bed), only to discover it is barely able to fit into the hallway... and not around the corner to the living room. We hefted it up to get it into our bedroom (this is a VERY sturdy crib), where we now have 4 inches to squeeze past one side of the bed to the doorway.

A more thorough investigation of the room led us to discover that the window, or precisely, the left side of the window, was the location of suspicion. Ben's handy-dandy flashlight was pulled out.

The culprit: an animal marked the window (with a STRONG scent) sometime in the last hour and a half.

And if the fan, open window, and bleach take care of the aroma, we will heft the crib back inside and call it a night.

Will keep you posted if there's more to the adventure...

Middle-of-the-Night Praise

Victor has eaten SO WELL the last two feedings! (8:40pm and... slept until 3am, thanks to Daylight Savings! But even without counting the extra hour, that's almost 5 1/2 hours!)

He was noticeably relaxed in my arms, like a sack of potatoes, and ate for 10 min on one side, 25 min on the other side... and then 10 min on one side, 19 min on the other side! (That's the Victor I have come to know and love. :) )

SO THANKFUL! More tomorrow, or rather, this afternoon, Lord willing.

Zantac, Tummy Time, and Laws of Nature

A bit of a ramble...

Since Victor's 2-month check-up on Tuesday, I have been thinking and thinking about what the doctor said about his probably having acid reflux. The doc gave us a prescription for Zantac, but said we didn't need to fill it if we could manage the reflux with more "natural" methods.

We've done the "elevate mattress" route before, and it generally resulted in the little man teetering at the top of the bed until, sometime in the middle of the night, he would wrestle himself sideways, and roll downhill, thumping his noggin on the wooden rails of the crib.

I tried sitting him more upright after feeding, but that didn't seem to make a remarkable difference either.

Since the doc told me that he thought Victor was occasionally coughing (and semi-gagging) on his spit-up because of the reflux, the last straw was when I laid Victor down on Tuesday afternoon (already crying because of his shots), and his little screams were almost strangled by coughing and choking. (Not nice for Momma, who was already a bit on the ragged edge.)

So, first thing Wednesday morning, I headed off to pick up some Zantac from Walgreens. (The nice folks said that every baby known to man spits it out if left in the original mint flavor, so we sprung for an extra $2.99 to make it grape flavored.)

I don't like giving my 2-month old baby medicine. So I've been praying and praying that God would help us to see if this is the right thing.

After giving V 4 doses, I still felt like the jury was out. He was still pretty fretful while eating, still spit up like a monster, and still fussed some (even right after I gave him the meds).

But there have been a couple encouraging notes.

First, he was happy for basically the whole Crabby Hour (9-10am) this morning, and didn't even spit up during Tummy Time. (Incidentally, he has started fanatically sucking on his fist during Tummy Time. He loves it! I would find it fairly uncomfortable to jam my whole entire hand in my mouth, but it makes the little fellow so cheerful.)



And second, we went through bath time and the first side of feeding without spitting up. And as the Laws of Nature would dictate, it was during the first side of feeding (immediately following bathtime) that Victor had a total blowout. So back to the changing table we went, to wrestle off the sleeper, onesie, and diaper and replace them with a full fresh complement.

And the little guy didn't spit up through that whole process either!

He is currently taking his mid-day snooze and (last I checked) has now made it a record period of time without a spit-up geyser!

Possibly I did stand outside his door for a long time after I put him down, squinting through the crack in the door, to see if he would fall asleep without losing his breakfast...

So far, so good!

So, if you think of it, you could ask the Lord that this would be the real deal and his little tummy would be adjusting to the Zantac and finding a harmonious new equilibrium. That would be a sweet answer to prayer!

Tears

Being a momma does crazy things to your heart.

I'm not the emotional type, generally speaking. Pragmatic. Task-oriented. Logical.

But these days, it doesn't take too much to set me off.

Reading Victor a little story, God Gave Us You, choking back the tears as Mama Bear talks to her Little Cub...

"We went to the doctor and heard your heartbeat," she said, "I cried happy tears then."

"Why?" Little Cub asked. ("Why?" was Little Cub's favorite questions.)

"Because God had given us you," Mama said.

"Every night, I prayed for you, my special child. I prayed that your bones would be straight and your heart would be strong. But most of all, I prayed that someday you would love God." ...

Singing "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" during our sing and rock time (which ironically is often when Victor is the saddest)...

Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.

All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring,
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.

How I want our little peanut to hide his heart in Jesus and find a rock under his feet when the waves hit.




When Victor was screaming in pain yesterday, probably from a combination of acid reflux and his 2-month shots, I could only hug him close and rock him back and forth and cry for his hurt.

My tears don't solve anything. I can't protect him from pain, and I can't solve any of his problems (as little and innocuous as they are now, compared to what is sure to meet him down the road).




So at night when I kiss him and shut the bedroom door behind him, how I pray that the Great Shepherd will hold him close, keep him from harm, and grip him forever in grace.

What 2 Months Has Brought

Dear Victor,

You are 2 months today. It is amazing to think that it has been 2 months already… and hard to believe that it has only been 2 months since you arrived, all at the same time.

Today was your 2-mo doctor appointment. You are so big, 12 lb 3 oz--almost double your birth weight! You pack it onto a shortish frame though, just 22 ½ in long.

The doctor really liked your name… Victor Victorious, he called you. You went through your shots like a champ, hollering for about 20 seconds, and then giving me smiles while I got you dressed again.

But after your first trip to MOMS (which you ate and slept and charmed your way through), you started hurting pretty bad at home, and it was a horrible time until we pulled out the infant Tylenol (and went through the extended ordeal of waiting for a nurse at the peds office… waited on hold for 11 min, accidentally pushed a button to leave a message, so had to call back and start over again, phone battery dying, on hold again for another 10-ish minutes…).

You’re still a bit fitful, but you are currently watching your mobile in your crib, though the kicks and waves are more subdued than normal.

This month has revealed:

• You seem to have Momma’s hair color, nearly exactly (especially in the back where it’s thickest).

• You are a spitter… the doc thinks you have some acid reflux (we’re trying to decide if you need medicine for that). It is your particular specialty, while burping after a meal, to throw your head to the side so that you spit straight down Momma’s front. Thank you, son.

• The vast majority of people see Daddy in you most. But 3 people in the last week have told me that you perhaps have my eyes.

• You’re getting to be a pretty good sleeper. Generally you eat around 9:30 or 10pm and then at 2am and 6am, and you most always put yourself back to sleep between times.

• You’re in size 1 diapers, and almost ready for 2s, I think. Still not too many blowouts (and Oxy Clean has done its wonder work on those…) I have a pile of sleepers in the corner that you have already out-grown (and that makes me a little sentimental).

• You hang out in the Baby Bjorn for church and small group (so most of the church only knows you by your legs and the top of your head), and you like that pretty well, even when it’s naptime or bedtime.

• Your schedule has fallen into place really well. You have Crabby Hour from 9-10am and 4:30-5:30pm… but even those aren’t always too crabby anymore. Happy Hour is first thing in the morning and after your mid-day nap and feeding!

• You are a real cutie when you give us your smile. Sometimes when we peek in to check on you in your crib, you’ll catch a glimpse and flash a big grin… and we’re sunk. (I can let you cry it out when needed, but I cannot walk away from your smile…) On the changing table after your afternoon snack is probably your most animated time, and we’ll get giggles and coos and big, open-mouthed smiles from you then. We love it!

It’s been a wonderful, challenging, perplexing, and sweet 2 months, baby boy. We love you!

2 Months Old

2 months old!

1 month old

2 weeks old

Recent Snapshots