A week in review

I haven't posted in over a week, and have a little catching up to do! Last week Kyle was traveling on the East Coast (Mon-Thur). I had plans to go down to my parents house on Tuesday so my dad could fix the struts on my car. Great plan, until my car decided to quit running halfway home right outside of Monticello. Not good. I called AAA and they sent out a tow truck (which arrived an hour later) and my sister in law came to pick me up and take me to Monroe, where my dad proceeded to pick up Reese and I. We were supposed to get home at 11 am, and didn't until 3 pm. It was a long day. Turns out my car's fuel pump died, so it is getting fixed today down in Monroe. Sitting on the side of the road for an hour and a half with a 2 mo old is not too fun, but at least she slept most of the time.

This past Sunday we stopped in New Glarus for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. We have never been before so we did not know what to expect, but it was a nice little festival. We watched an antique tractor pull (don't worry, the tractor's were not too loud for Reese), and we ate a delicious beer brat while sipping on a Spotted Cow (New Glarus Beer). We also happened to run into some family friends and chatted with them for a while. It was a nice day out and I'm glad we stopped.

Here are some pictures from the tractor pull:

2 months old

Oh my. I can't believe she is 2 months old already. Where did the past 8 weeks of my life go? Well, I know that the first 4 weeks are what I like to refer to as a "sleepless fog". :) But these last 4 weeks have flown by even though she is sleeping more! We had her two month appointment last week. Here are her stats:

Height: 23.5 " (93 %tile)
Weight: 11 lb 12.8 oz (86 %tile)
Head Circumference: 37 cm (18 %tile)

I guess you could call it Round THREE of Mastitis set in on Friday night. I had been on my new (third) medicine since last Monday. I took it every day, never missed a dose, and by Friday night, things still were not improving and it was actually getting worse. I just about wanted to cry when it started flaring up again. I am so frustrated and Reese did not want to breastfeed at all last week (I'm assuming the antibiotic I was on made the milk taste funny). I would pump every 3 hours, and try to feed it to her in a bottle, and that was not working either. So, she had only formula for a couple days. I felt so guilty for giving her all formula, b/c I know the positive effects from breast milk. I was beginning to think she would not want to breastfeed again, and that made me pretty upset. Anyways, I called Urgent Care on Friday night, and made an appointment for right away yesterday morning. I was put on the fourth, and final medication that is used to treat Masitits. In the beginning, I was told I could not breastfeed Reese with this medicine, but I talked with the pharmacist and my doctor and they both agreed that the baby has to be over 4 weeks to have the medicine. Thank goodness. I began taking it yesterday and already feel better. Let's hope it stays this way. Reese is breastfeeding again, which makes me so happy. What a stressful couple of weeks!

Kyle is heading off to the East Coast this week for work. Not much in on our agenda. I am starting to crack down and get things done around the house before I go back to work. We would like to put up a tile back splash in our kitchen, so we will go look at some tile this week and get some samples. All the usual cleaning as well, getting ready for fall/winter and putting the summer things away!

Here is her two month picture:

Round 2

I began my Round 2 battle of Mastitis again on Sunday. What a mess I tell ya. We had some friends over on Sunday for dinner and to watch football, and around 6 pm my right breast began to get really sore again. I tried pumping twice after they left, and got pretty much nothing. I knew right away what was going on since last time. If you remember, I had an allergic reaction to the first medicine they put me on last time, and the second medicine gave me severe diarrhea. So, I only ended up having 6 days of medicine last time instead of the 10 I was supposed to. I called the Dr. right away yesterday morning, and they got me in right away. Again, my breast was SO swollen and red, and very painful. Much worse than last time, but no other side effects (usually you have flu like symptoms with Mastitis). So, we were presented with a dilemma. There are only 4 medicines that really treat it, and the top two were already knocked off the list since I had reactions to them. The third medicine is in the same family as the first one, which may cause a cross-allergic reaction, and with the fourth one I can't breastfeed b/c it is not safe for Reese. Hmmmm....what to do. After talking with the doctor and pharmacist, we all decided it would be best for me to go with medicine #3. There is only a 2% chance it would cause a cross reaction and I would have an allergic reaction. So, I started the medicine yesterday and things are already improving. I just have to keep a close watch on any symptoms that may be related to an allergic reaction, and get to the ER as soon as possible if they were to show up. Let's pray they don't, and I can take the full 10 days of medicine to get rid of this!!!

I was already feeling better yesterday afternoon, so Kyle, Reese, and I went to the Mendota Terrace in downtown Madison to sit by the lake, eat dinner, and watch the sunset. It was a gorgeous evening. I will be the first to admit I have been weary to take Reese places for long periods of time in the fear of her having a meltdown in public (when she gets hungry). Even though she is a GREAT baby at home, I just have a fear she will start crying in public and everyone will start staring at me :) So, I overcame my fear last night as we walked up and down State Street and then headed to the Terrace. Wouldn't you know it, halfway through eating, she began to whimper. So, we tried the bottle. No go. We tried burping her. Not having it. By the time we got walking to the car, she was screaming her head off (the loudest she has ever) and I was frantic. We checked her diaper, nothing. What else could it be???? So, after seeing the tears roll down her face, I picked her up, and just started talking to her while burping her, and a very loud belch finally came out. Ahh, relief. For her, and us :) She had then cried herself to sleep, and we walked to the car and headed home. It was not that bad, but it was exactly what I didn't want to happen. Ohwell, when she is two, I won't be able to burp her to get her to be quiet :) Here she is, wiped out after all that fussing!

Tonight we are going to a local park near our house for a picnic. We are taking full advantage of the great weather outside. If Reese wants to scream tonight, she can let it all out.

Here are some recent pics of her. She is becoming more and more fond of bath time, but still sheds some tears at the end.

Just Call Me Martha...

Stewart that is. I feel as though I have turned into Martha Stewart this week (or Rachel Ray, which ever you prefer!) I began my task of making homemade salsa on Thursday, and my last batch is cooking away on the stove as I write this. I made three batches, which makes about 8 cans of salsa each. Kyle taste tested last night, and it got the seal of approval. Thank goodness. It is a time consuming process, one that had to be planned around Reese's somewhat of a schedule. I also made butternut squash that I picked up at the farmers market last Saturday. I baked it for a couple of hours, and then froze it for when Reese is ready to begin eating solid foods. And finally, yesterday I made a dinner and brownies for some friends of ours that had a baby last Saturday. They had a little boy, Kai, who is exactly 6 weeks younger than Reese. We went to visit them last night, so I took them dinner and got to hold little baby Kai, he is only 7 lbs and I felt like I was holding literally nothing. He is so light compared to my own 10 lb turkey!!! He is adorable I must say and I can't wait to watch him and Reese grow up together. Romance in the future??? Not if the Dad's have anything to say about it :)

Speaking of Reese's somewhat of a schedule, I think we are getting into a routine. She is going to bed between 9:30-11 p.m., and waking around 4-4:30 a.m. to eat. She will then wake around 8 a.m. and be awake for an hour or two, eat again, and nap again until around noon. She will be awake most of the afternoon/evening, with little catnaps here and there throughout. It is quite a nice schedule we have going, and I hope it stays this way. Getting 6 straight hours of sleep a night is a blessing. I was reminded of that yesterday when we were visiting our friends and she is getting about 3 hours total a night. You can forget quite easily how hard it is in the beginning.

*On a sad note, my sister's mother in law passed away this past Monday after finding out just 6 weeks ago that she had cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this time. Michele was a great, wonderful, caring woman who was always so nice to our family. It was great seeing her and her husband when we would go up to visit my sister. She was so thoughtful and always thought of me on special occasions (Christmas, Birthday, College Graduation, Wedding, etc.) even though I was not her official "daughter in law". She even gave Reese the cutest embroidered blanket just days after finding out she had cancer. Such a thoughtful woman who will be greatly missed by everyone. We continue to pray that everyone can find the strength to get through this tough time.

6 1/2 weeks

Bumps in the road

The first 6 weeks postpartum were great. Then week 6 left me with some not so great memories :(

Last Tuesday, in the wee hours of the morning, my right breast began to get realllly sore and tender. I just figured I needed to feed her on that side soon, so my milk would let down. We tried and tried and my milk just was not coming in. At about noon, I was in so much pain, I decided to call the doctor. They told me to come in right away, which I did. They said I had Masitits. It is an infection in your breast tissue that you get from bacteria generally from the baby's mouth. It is common, and they put me on an antibiotic for 10 days. Within the first 24 hours, I felt so much better.

Fast forward to Saturday night (5 nights later). Kyle and I had a nice relaxing evening, watched movie, and drank a glass a wine. I went to bed around 10, and woke up at 11:30 and didn't feel very well. I thought maybe mixing my medicine and a glass of wine was not the best idea, so I figured it would pass. As the next hour went on, I kept getting worse. My stomach hurt more and more, and now I was having chest pain and difficulty breathing. I let it go for about another half hour and then decided to wake Kyle and have him take me to the ER. Reese was such a trooper. She was woke up from a deep sleep, and took a bottle in the car on the way there. Once there, they did an ultrasound to check my gallbladder...that was ok. They also did a cat scan to check my appendix...that was ok. After 6 hours, pain medicine, and no sleep, it was concluded that I had an allergic reaction to the medicine I was on for Mastitis. Reese slept the entire time, thank goodness, and Kyle got a little sleep on the hospital floor as well. We finally left the hospital around 7 am Sunday morning. What a LONG night. We came home and Kyle took care of Reese while I got to sleep until about noon. I think I am still recovering today from the total lack of sleep of Saturday night.

They ended up putting me on a new antibiotic, which I started taking Sunday. Last night, I was woken up by extreme stomach pains and pretty severe diarrhea . Again, a bad side effect to this new medicine. I called the doctor this morning, and we will see what they do. I was up from 2-6 this morning, so hopefully Reese sleeps today so I can too.

Yesterday one of the days I have actually felt ok. We went to the Brewers/Cardinals game with Kyle's parents in Milwaukee. It was such a nice day out! My mom came up to watch Reese while we were there, and she slept the entire day :) Luckily, she still slept most of last night as well.
So, week 6 has been pretty rough on me. Hoping this week (7) turns around!

Reese didn't go to the game, but showed her support from home:

6 weeks

Reese will be 6 weeks tomorrow and she is getting bigger by the minute. I have put more of her newborn clothes away, and we have switched from newborn diapers to size 1. She is so much more alert now, even within this past week. When she is awake during the day, she is constantly "tracking" me with her eyes, and babbling up a storm (well, making grunting noises and baby squeaks that I think means she is talking to me!) :)

We went in to visit my work yesterday, and she was the center of attention. When we went last time (when she was 1 week old) we went during nap time, so all the children were asleep. Yesterday we went during learning center time, and all of the kids were thrilled to see her! My 3 years old kept saying "Kali is a mommy now". So cute! We visited the infant room as well, where she will be going in 6 weeks. We went in and played with the teachers and other babies in the room. I know she will be in great hands in there while I am working in a different room. I do not like the thought of going back to work, but it makes it so much easier knowing I can pop in and see her whenever I want :) I am also able to feed her there, which makes the anxiety of pumping at work go away.

We are going to enjoy our 3 day weekend to the fullest. Tomorrow we are going to the Farmers Market downtown (Reese's first time!) On Monday, we are going to the Brewers/Cardinals game in Milwaukee with Kyle's parents. My parents are coming up to watch Reese for the day. Kyle realllly wanted to take her to her first Cardinals game, but mommy put the kibosh on that. She is still too young, and it would not be very fun for me or her in the 80 degree weather. So, maybe when she is a little older. Hope everyone enjoys and extra day off this weekend!