5 Months

6 08 2008

     Spencer is growing up, up, up! He has rolled over many times, though not on purpose. He has “flabs” (you know, those rock hard abs hidden beneath a soft, concealing layer of flab) of steel and can go from a reclining position to a sitting position. At first this was rare, but since yesterday he has done it 4 times…sounds like he’ll have to move out of the cradle soon!

He has finally learned within the last couple weeks that things in his hands mean new things for him to suck on and slime. He still loves sucking on my shirt though. He almost always has a bib attached to him for quick drool patrol. And the bubble blowing is starting to fade, to be replaced by this really cool trick where he leans over with is mouth open and creates a slow motion waterfall down to his feet…amazing!

Spencer is officially in the 2’s. By this I mean, he is now wearing size 2 diapers and size 2 shoes (*sniff* bye bye cute size 1 shoes).

His real laugh is happening more and more and it is so cute! It’s an adorable giggle that pops out now and again when I tickle him and I love it. I love seeing his personality grow and him sort through emotions. He still makes his old laugh sound which I have come to lovingly call “The Ribbit.” It’s amusing, cute, and startling all at the same time and I think it will be a sad day when he no longer ribbits.

Spencer loves his hugs and kisses, both giving and receiving. I can’t get enough of that big grin he will get on his face when I give him a kiss. Not to mention how proud he is over himself after he kisses/tries to eat my cheek.

Now that he is 5 months I think I will try again with the cereal. I stopped after 2 tries last month because he just really wasn’t into it. That, and with all the food allergies the Fox family has I think breastfeeding exclusively for as long as he’s okay with it is a good idea.

While it seems like Spencer loves to suck on his fist, I have seen that it’s really just his first finger he loves to suck and chew on. He just shoves it so far down his throat, often gagging himself, that it looks like it’s his fist he’s chewing on. Silly kid.

We’ve been wondering if he is teething. He has been gnawing on things like mad. I don’t feel any teeth buds though so who knows.

Spencer had his first plane ride last week, but that will be part of another post…if I get around to it. I also have pictures and videos galore! But again…if I get around to it.





3 Months

9 06 2008

Okay, time’s really moving fast! I know I keep saying that but it still is amazing me so much.

Spencer can hold his head up on his own just fine now. However, holding it steady is another story! And if he tries to hold his head up for too long you can tell his muscles get tired cause he’ll rest his head for a second or two and then pick it right back up. ‘Course then it’s extra wobbly.

Spencer has reached the land of drool. Not too bad yet but he’s working on it, I keep noticing the front of his clothes are soaked sometimes and he sure seems to have some juicy pacifiers!

He’s cruising through his newborn size clothes. Many of the 0-3 month clothes are already fitting. His cute little blue shoes with the paw prints on the bottom are starting to get snug, just has to wear them with thin socks instead of the thick ones (which used to be the only way to keep them on his feet).

Without a doubt Spencer smiles and has been for a couple of weeks. I love when he’s just looking around and then a look of recognition and a smile washes over his face when I come into view. Laughing is not too far behind, he’s trying already. He sucks air in and it makes a noise but no actual laughs yet.





2 Month Appointment

8 05 2008

So we chose Spencer’s pediatrictian on recommendation from my OB. They went through part of med school together. They now work in basically the same clinic. Is this a good thing? Maybe. I did get a scolding from BOTH doctors because of this though. From my OB it was something like “Dr. Mckenna and I were discussing you and Spencer the other day. You didn’t tell him about your Von Willebrands.” And from the pediatrician it was “Good thing I’m good friends with your OB! You failed to mention that you have Von Willebrands!”

Now why is it I always forget to mention that I have a bleeding disorder? Maybe because I forget about it, because I hate explaining to people exactly what it means for me, dealing with people treating me so super fragile once they find out, worrying that people think I’m looking for attention, etc… This is no excuse to not let my doctors know about it, but thinking about it I think that I condition myself not to tell everyone about it…really I hate saying to someone “I have a bleeding disorder,” it’s like hearing your own voice, it’s just irritating.

And why does it matter for Spencer that I have a bleeding disorder? Because apparently it is hereditary. Of course, I know of no one in my family with Von Willebrands, though my dad’s cousin had hemophilia – basically the parent condition to mine – but that’s relatively distant, yes?

Still, Spencer will have to be tested. I hope they have ways of testing babies for it different than they did for me. For me, I went to the specialty hospital where they take a razor blade and slice your arm twice. They then have a stop watch handy and just watch the blood drip down your arm. Yeah, it’s good times. They’re timing to see how long it takes for your blood to clot. I happen to take 3 times longer than normal. This is not serious with minor knicks and cuts (though very irritating since they bleed FOREVER) but extremely serious when it comes to serious trauma such as car accidents and surgery and such.

Because a bleeding disorder is serious, they want to be POSITIVE before diagnosing someone with it. So what do they do? Test again and again and again. Unfortunately, for a while I looked like I was a cutter because of all the razor blade marks on my arm. Personally I don’t want to watch Spencer get cut just to watch him bleed. But on the flip side, there’s no way I won’t be there with him! Dr. Mckenna says he won’t be testing him for a little while though, he has to talk to my Onocologist about my Von Willebrands first.

Spencer has been dubbed a feather-weight by his dr. He’s growing well, and I’ve been told I can cut back on one feeding since he’s doing so well but he is tiny. Check out his growth chart to see how much he’s grown.

Spencer was born with a cataract in his right eye. It’s teeny-tiny and many people that have tried to see it cannot. But lucky for me I saw it because when his dr. looked he thought it was just debris and disregarded it. It’s small enough that I first thought the same thing. But when I brought it up, his dr took a second look and realized what it was. So Spencer has been referred to an eye specialist. Dr. Mckenna wanted to send us to Primary Children’s Hospital because they have the best eye specialist but I asked to see someone local first, they can refer me later if they need to. He should be going in next month and I’ll let you know what’s going on with that.

A friend of mine has been trying to get pregnant for roughly 2 years. Her doctor FINALLY diagnosed her with Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Poor girl was devestated. She was put on Clomid for a little while but so far no result…We’re rooting for you! Hang in there!

At 2 months, Spencer can still wear his preemie clothes. I keep saying that I will change to newborn size, but then he just keeps fitting into these itty-bitty clothes. I figure I may as well get as much use out of them as possible so he’ll just keep wearing them. Maybe by the end of this week they will no longer fit? He’s even wearing a newborn size diaper…those things are tiny!

Spencer LOVES looking around and seeing everything. He still has a ways to go before his head is steady, but he’s workin’ on it. The poor little guy has been sick, his doctor says that for having a cold he is doing great. But I am keeping a close eye on him, he has such a hard time eating because of his nose being all stuffy but he gets it done.

Spencer is needing a nap, so until next time!





A Month

4 04 2008

Well, I went to what I believe is my last official doctor’s appointment for this pregnancy.

        She says it looks like I am healing up fine. My internal organs still have some readjusting to do (of course! it took 8 months for them to get like they did!) but the outside incision looks great.

      I asked her about the pain on the left side when I do too much, after examining me for issues she says that it is possible some muscle tissue got caught up in the incision when they were stitching the uterus closed. She says I’ll more than likely continue to feel that pain for another 3 months or so until I’m mostly healed up inside and the stitches dissolve. So she told me to keep taking it easy for the next few months and figures I’ll feel it if I do too much like long car rides, too much exercise, or too much standing in general. She recommended keeping lifting and bending over to a minimum over the next few months as well.

         Quite a large chunk of the visit was spent discussing my next pregnancy. She’s already got a plan for me so that’s good. Sounds like I will always have c-sections whether I have pre-eclampsia and HELLP or not just because of all the bleeding risks I have. Next time I get pregnant she says she will have me go to Dr. Ben-Jacob and have him follow my blood conditions throughout the pregnancy. She says he might appreciate that more than being thrown into the middle (or end) of it. It’s nice that she has no reservations about me getting pregnant again in a few years. She talked about the risks of getting HELLP again. On one hand I am less likely to get it because it will be my 2nd pregnancy with the same father. On the other hand my risk has increased just because I had it in the first place and because I have chronic high blood pressure. Maybe those cancel each other out??

      She said Mckay-Dee did a bunch of tests for my von Willebrand’s but because the hospital and doctors here rarely (if ever) deal with the disease they do not know how to interpret the results. Instead of sending them to my oncologist (he’s apparantly a little irritated by the call he received 3/4 from my dr. regarding my von Willebrand’s at midnight) to look at, Dr. Blackett said she will do some research and see if she can make sense of them. She also told Spencer’s pediatrician I have a bleeding disorder and I guess that next month that will be something we test him for.

        Also I am supposed to go off the medicine I’ve been taking to control my blood pressure. It looked really good yesterday and she wants to see what happens as I take about a week to wean myself off of it. We’re hoping, naturally, that it continues to look good but if not she says we’ll look at something a little more long term than labetalol.

    So at 1 am this morning Kevin and I woke to a faint “Brahm’s Lullaby” playing somewhere in our room. We both listened for a minute while our brains tried to compute what it was. Then it hit me, it was Spencer’s due date calculator that I got for Christmas! I had to do a little bit of digging to find it but it was so weird. I’d been looking at that countdown for so long, wondering if I’d be in labor when it went off but after he was born I forgot all about it.

Happy-supposed-to-be-your-birthday Spencer!

    Oh yeah, yesterday he discovered his scream. I’m not talking about loud crying, these are the kind of screams where his face is red, his mouth is wide open, but for what feels like a full minute there is no sound before BOOM! It bursts your ear drums!! Along with this screaming he has also developed his tears which seriously tugs at my heart strings. They aren’t enough to run down his face yet, but I have had to wipe them from the corner of his eyes a few times now.

    He’s such a great baby though, bursting with personality and he absolutely loves to snuggle. I can’t believe he’s already a month old, we unofficially weighed and measured him. Unofficially he weighs 7 lbs and is 20 inches long. He’s filling up his extra skin, it’s not longer flabby and he’s got such cute little chubby cheeks. He has the cutest little “ghost dimples” that he flashes every now and then. I can’t wait to see him actually smile (not just smile in his sleep) and see if his dimples show up then.





Growing Up

1 04 2008

I received an e-mail from a site I’d subscribed to in order to stay updated on what was happening with my pregnancy week by week. The e-mail was congratulating me on making it to week 40. It’s so weird to think that Spencer’s due date is this week, in fact I have a dr appointment the day before his due date. With as crazy as this last month has been (I’m talking after coming home from the hospital) it makes me wonder what it would have been like to be pregnant during that time instead of caring for a newborn.

It is so amazing how quickly Spencer is growing. I see more and more personality in him every day. He discovered his tongue a couple of days ago and it is so cute to see him stick his tongue out, just to see what it touches. He licked my arm and that was kind of surprising. He also has finally developed a grasp reflex. Before, his hands were almost always relaxed but now he can hold onto a finger, tight. As he gets older I’ve noticed his sucking reflex is developing more and more which has made nursing a WHOLE lot easier, though I wouldn’t say we’re homefree yet. He’s able to lift his head really well, which the pediatrician noticed and of course said that was excellent. I don’t know how far behind he is in development from full-term babies at the same stage, but he’s gotta be catching up quick.

I was looking at the pictures of him in the hospital and when he first came home and he has grown up so much since then and it’s only been a month! I’m excited to see him grow up, but can’t he do it just a little slower?





Be Careful What You Wish For & 35 Weeks

29 02 2008

Alright, this kid has at LEAST 2 more weeks of cook time before he’s allowed to come out. Last night I had a pretty big scare though. I was extremely uncomfortable when Kevin and I went to bed lastnight and I just kept asking “Am I done yet?” Undecided

To go to sleep I had 2 body pillows, my regular pillow, and 2 other little pillows piled and pushed around me. I could not stay in the same position for what felt like a minute. By some miracle I FINALLY fell asleep (sweet mercy) but then something woke me up at midnight. I felt like I’d been hit by a train, my back muscles were so tense I thought I would break in two if I were to bend forward.  I started pacing the house. My back hurt so bad I could barely get a breath in, and then I noticed the contractions. After pacing the house in circles for an hour and a half, my contractions were getting stronger and stronger and closer and closer. So just as I’m about to finally give in and say I needed to go at least get checked out at the hospital I get a novel idea…SAY A PRAYER!

Yeah, who ever woulda thought of that? Embarassed So I think I said the most heartfelt prayer of my life, I don’t want my baby in NICU and 35 weeks is too early! After that, I thought I’d give myself one last chance to get things to calm down. I took an hour long, HOT shower and by the time I got out the pain in my back was almost 100% gone. So at about 3am I was able to crawl back into bed and fall asleep pretty quick.

Of course I’m no expert, and I have no idea what made my back tense up as tight as it did but I think the pain and especially the stress of it (I just kept thinking “He’ll end up in NICU, I need to do laundry, I need to pack a bag for the hospital, I need Spencer’s cradle”…etc) is what was causing my contractions because as soon as my back started to relax they subsided. I have to say, if back labor is what I have to look forward to within the next month then Kevin and I have got a LOT of practicing to do with coping techniques.

Hopefully the scare of having a premie will be enough to get me to be careful what I wish for. STAY IN THERE AND BAKE FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER COUPLE WEEKS KIDDO! Yell

Anyway, at  35 weeks Spencer is over 18 inches long and should weigh more than 5 1/4 pounds. He’s taking up so much room that his somersaults have mostly stopped but now I feel even the smallest wiggle and he likes to stretch and push on me. His kidneys are fully developed and his liver can process at least some waste products. His main chore now is to put on weight and to finish developing his lungs.





33 Weeks & Update

14 02 2008

At 33 weeks all of Spencer’s senses are working now. Spencer’s brain is growing and developing like crazy, his head circumference has increased by nearly half an inch within just the last week, wow!

Spencer can see his small bit of world he’s enclosed in, and of course can see lights and shadows that manage to penetrate my belly (I’ve confirmed this, he squirms like crazy when I turn on the bathroom light in the morning). He can feel sensation when he grabs a toe or sucks his thumb and he can taste the amniotic fluid he’s swallowing (um..not exactly my cup of tea). He can hear my heartbeat, my voice and Daddy’s voice. Lucky for him there’s no air in there to carry any scent, but if there were he’d be able to smell his small world too.

Spencer’s protein and fat requirements are at their greatest over the next few weeks so I’ll have to make sure I get plenty in my diet. He should be about 16.5 inches and weigh more than 4 pounds (think a large pineapple). He’ll be doubling his weight over the next seven weeks, with as heavy as he feels sometimes right now I must say this worries me a little!

I’ve had to officially take my wedding ring off. After my ankles and feet were swollen last week the swelling has been off and on throughout my feet and hands. It finally got bad enough the other night that it was uncomfortable to wear my ring. My fingers have been getting tingly/numb off and on too. Apparently retaining water can basically cause carpal tunnel because of the pressure it puts on the carpal tunnel. Along with the sudden water retention I believe I’ve gained the 1 pound I needed to this week so that’s good.

I woke up nauseous yesterday morning. I hadn’t eaten too much for dinner the night before just because of limited stomach room and lack of appetite. Nausea mixed with heartburn does not make for a good time, that’s for sure. The nausea finally went away by late afternoon. Hopefully that doesn’t come back, I’ve been enjoying trying to forget what it’s like to be nauseated every moment of every day.

As for an update on how the banana eating and water drinking has gone…I managed to eat 1 banana every day for a few days (until they were gone). I had a banana on my cereal in the morning and if I didn’t then I had a banana on my ice cream at night. Hey, the dr didn’t say HOW I had to get the banana, just so long as I did and as we all know “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Haven’t had any bananas for the last couple days, perhaps I’ll buy some today or tomorrow. It has seemed to help the twitching a bit which indicates a possible electrolyte imbalance. As far as the water goes, I did REALLY good for the first 2 days. I got at least  6 glasses of fluid, doesn’t sound all that great but my nurse was happy to hear it and said I could/should try increasing the amount about a cup a week until I’m at 8. Yeah, well by day 3 I was back down to maybe 3 glasses and am holding. So it’s a new week and I’ll start over again with trying to get more fluids.

Kevin’s family is throwing a baby shower for me on Saturday and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone (that comes, that is) before Spencer’s here. I get to celebrate some family member’s birthdays too which is always fun. Kevin and I are having a little bit of a difficult time deciding when we can celebrate Valentine’s day because of him working so early in the morning and then possibly an early morning on Saturday too because of going down to SLC and Spanish Fork. We’ve got our prenatal class tonight so that will take up this evening so maybe we can squeeze something fun in on Friday. Sure makes me look forward to trying to plan dates once I have to find a babysitter for Spencer!! (Yeah….right…)





Dr Visit & 32 Weeks

7 02 2008

Well, went to the dr. today and it was MUCH less stressful than last time so that’s good! She says all is good, Spencer’s heart sounds good and he’s measuring right on track.

 I mentioned an increasingly irritating eye twitch I’ve been dealing with for a week. She practically gave me a death sentence…she said I had to eat a banana a day and drink 8-8oz glasses of water AND to get more calcium by taking tums or something. Okay, I truly have a very VERY strong dislike (dare I say loathing?) for bananas. Seriously, one a day? Supressing a gag and moving on….I don’t like to drink. I know I’m a freak when it comes to eating and drinking, but honestly I don’t like to drink things. Not soda, not milk, not water. Hot chocolate maybe, though I usually don’t want it after I get halfway through it.

And then the final assignment, get more calcium by taking tums. I had a hard enough time taking tums BEFORE getting pregnant without choking on them, but after taking tums during the time when I could keep nothing down for 5 minutes (or sometimes 30 seconds past swallowing) I have a very negative association with tums. Tums=face in the toilet=not a party you want to be invited to. But I will try…the tums I don’t think are gonna happen, just cause they’re not. But I can try eating a banana cut up on my cereal at 5:30 every morning. And I can make an effort to keep a waterbottle with me at all times to sip on to increase my fluid intake.

 Also, I gained a pound or so! Yay! Still about a pound less than I should have, but I’m working on it.

Class today was pretty good. Treana did an object lesson using ice and the pain it can cause as it freezes your skin off. The point was to hold the ice for the length of a contraction without talking to our husband or breathing or anything to distract us from the pain. Then we were to hold the ice (in the other hand) and this time have our husband help us with relaxing. Kevin rubbed my back while I held the ice and the attention I paid to the pain was remarkably lower than before. Granted, holding a bag of ice for 60 seconds has GOT to be a world different from an entire organ squeezing around a big 7-ish lb baby, but the point remains the same…focus on something else and keep yourself relaxed.

At 32 weeks — 32 weeks, are you kidding?! 8 more weeks and this is going to be over? Holy cow! 2 months and we will have a son. Time’s rushing towards the worst pain I will probably ever experience in my life…where is the oven of power when I need it???

Anyway, at 32 weeks Spencer now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

To accommodate my and Spencer’s growing needs, my blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since I got pregnant. Yeah, putting that roughly in perspective, I’m lugging around at least 4lbs more blood than I was before, and may I mention I noticed my ankles were swollen last night (teardrop).





Women’s Center Tour

2 02 2008

Oh my, I spent almost 45 minutes writing this entry, then the power went out. I thought “ohh it’s okay, it autosaves!” Yeah, get back and the only thing saved is the date and the title. Ugh.

SO! Trying this again. Kevin and I took a tour of the Women’s Center on Thursday. The 2nd floor is labor & delivery. It was nice to see where I’ll be, where to go, and all the gadgets they have. They have a jacuzzi (only one in the whole center) for women to labor in if they choose. I am thinking I will try to make full use of that as I’ve heard it does wonders for women trying to give birth naturally.

They have a dvd player in the room that can also play cd’s so that is good. I would rather bring cd’s I have burned and lose those than bring my ipod and lose that.

Went to the 3rd floor which is recovery and the nursery. Our class managed to set the alarm off by opening the wrong door and we saw the nurses go into crazy mode. Treana (the CNA instructing the class) said “See?! That’s why we ONLY go where we’re supposed to, otherwise the nurses will kill you.” Their protocol is to jump up and check that all the babies are still there and check ever exit to see why it went off and that no one is sneaking in or out. Good to know they have some security for myself and my son.

There was only one baby in the nursery at the time, a nurse was teaching the father how to diaper and clothe him. I was meserized (as were most the other couples) getting to watch that. Because I will more than likely be recovering I may miss the experience of watching Kevin go through that and so I will be dependent on someone else to snap a picture of it. The baby was of latino or pacific islander descent, but man oh man did that kid have a good set of lungs! The room is sound proof, luckily, but this kid looked like a little tomato with arms and legs because of how red he turned when he would scream. You know, one of those screams that makes their little chin shake.

At 31 weeks Spencer should be about 3.5-ish pounds and is heading for a growth spurt. It seems I am carrying him more inside than outside which would explain why I still am told that I “don’t even look pregnant” and it makes for an awful lot of kicking of my organs and leaves very little room for my stomach and lungs. Meaning I cannot eat much at a time without feeling like I ate a TON because of that overly-stuffed feeling one should only have at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It also means that I feel as if I can’t get enough oxygen. You know what it’s like to keep your head under the blankets for too long, how it seems that quickly the oxygen is depleted? I feel like that pretty much all the time, especially when I am eating or after going up stairs or laying down, like I’m always trying to catch my breath.

According to the scale here at home I have lost half of the pound that I had gained, but perhaps after all the superbowl junk food I consumed tonight I will have gained that plus some when I see the doctor on Thursday.

  Treana, the CNA teaching the prenatal class, sympathized with me a couple classes ago saying “Being sick while pregnant is just not okay” Being pregnant is hard enough, and I can’t take the usual vitamins and herbs I used to take to avoid getting sick, and once I am sick I can’t use the good medicine that actually works. Now I’m over my previous cold but I think I feel yet another one setting in. And who do I have to thank for all these colds? I’m gonna have to go with my Sunbeams. Honestly, if a kid is coughing and sneezing and crying while saying “my nose hurts!” then the parents should do them AND the teachers a favor by keeping them home! As much as I love my Sunbeams, I don’t know how I am to avoid getting sick when them coughing in my face or sucking on their fingers then grabbing my hand or even grabbing my face and turning it so I pay attention to them. Oh well, hopefully this is actually just left overs from a cold or even allergies. Also, a teaching partner has FINALLY been called for me, but that is an update I’ll save for my other blog at wordpress (if I get around to it this week) since it has nothing to do with the pregnancy.

 Now believe it or not I have had to write this thing 3 times because of computer goof ups. So before I get mad and offer my computer to my bro-in-law, Tyler, for target practice (he’s mentioned something about how they work well in the place of clay pigeons?) I will go and get ready for bed and keep my fingers crossed that when I click “publish” this time that this will NOT all be erased again!

I’ll update sometime after my doctors appointment.





Dr Visit & 30 Weeks

25 01 2008

Well, the dr visit was pretty good. They had to take my blood pressure a couple times cause I had been running late and was stressed about my cell phone being stupid, but after I relaxed a bit it came down a LOT. Gained a pound! WOOHOO Tongue out Should probably expect to gain at least 1-2 pounds between each dr visit now, I’ll keep my fingers crossed I do.

My belly measured right on track so that’s good too. She also had semi good news about an epidural. Now granted I’m going to give it a shot natural, but I’m not ruling out medication. However I was concerned about being able to get an epi with the curve I have in my lower spine. She wasn’t TOO concerned about it and said one of the anesthesiologists is really good at doing epis for women who have curves in their back. She said most the time it doesn’t create a problem. If it does, obviously I don’t get one and will have to just deal…I’m really not interested in taking the narcotics since I’ve heard way too many bad things about them.  

 Spencer should be about 3 pounds now. Been having braxton hicks contractions, getting warmed up for the real deal right? Sleeping is of course getting harder and harder. And by the middle of the afternoon I’ve noticed everything hurts…my back, my legs, my hips, my neck, my feet, my tummy…ah the joys of pregnancy 🙂 I take a tour of labor and delivery next week with my prenatal class, looking forward to that so I know where things are.

Well, gotta get the dogs off to the groomer, till I have something new to write (perhaps 2 weeks from now when my dr. appt is) take care








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