October 2011 (Part Two)

For some reason I could not add more pictures to the last post so instead of fighting with the blog I decided just to make another post and finish uploading the pictures here is the rest of October in pictures.

October 28, 2011: Grant's first breakfast at the park, a Noah and mommy favorite.   

October 28, 2011: Grant is unimpressed.  

October 28, 2011: But Noah is happy, cant please them all.  

October 30, 2011: Noah and Great Grandpa.  

October 31, 2011: The Haunted Gingerbread House decorating at the Halloween party. 

October 31, 2011: Decorating the houses.  

October 31, 2011: Silly Pa.  

October 21, 2011: Grant's first Halloween! 

October 31, 2011: Noah the garbage man ready to go get some candy. 

October 31, 2011: Daddy and Noah, this was John's first Halloween off which was really cool! 

October 31, 2011: Nana, Pa and Grant.  

October 2011 (Part One)

Well, I let it happen again it's the end of the year and I am running behind on my blog, so I am going to try to get October, November and December posted in the next couple of days so that they will be in the 2011 posts! October is my favorite month of the year, because of Halloween, of course.  We had a huge party with our moms group on Halloween to celebrate and also as kind of a late birthday party for Noah because he could not have one because I was on bed rest in July. At the beginning of the month I said to Noah, "It would be cool if you were potty trained for your party," and he responded that it would be cool. Around that time we also started having the treat bag which was a Nana idea.  It was a bag filled with little goodies and every time he used the potty he could get a treat from the treat bag.  I think that the treat bag combined with the promise of the party was finally enough incentive for him to commit to potty training. Also, things with Baby Grant had calmed down and he had been with us for a while and Noah was getting adjusted to being a big brother.  I have to say that I am relieved I was afraid that we would never get him potty trained, but we did it and I am so proud of my Noah.  

A sad part of October was that Great Grandpa as Noah called him was getting sicker.  We tried to visit him as much as we could and take the kids when John had days off and I would get a babysitter so I could go visit with him when John was working.  He would have good days and then he would have bad days, but it was an honor to be able to be with him.  He was an amazing man and I am so glad that Noah and Grant got to meet him.  

Grant was doing much better in October eating well and he started to sleep three hours at a time which for John and I was amazing.  He started smiling and giggling and has such a wonderful little personality, he is really a love and started to light up when he saw John and I and would give his brother smiles, sometimes. 

October was also fun because Mary Ann (Aunt Mar Mar to Noah) was still on maternity leave so her and Mason came down and hung out with us for a couple of weeks, which was really cool. It was nice having a buddy to be a stay at home mom with and have another adult around is always nice.  It was great to get to spend so much time with Mr. Mason too.  While she was here we celebrated her 30 birthday by going out for drinks and dinner at Benihana. 

I had mentioned the Halloween party earlier in the post, but I wanted to give all the fun details of the party.  We had the party on Halloween day and I kind of went a bit nuts (Halloween does that to me).  We first had pumpkin decorating with mini pumpkins.  Then we had a ghost hunt.  The ghosts were little Tootsie pops that I put a piece of Kleenex over and tied a bow around.  After that we decorated haunted gingerbread houses and then had lunch. Lunch was pumpkin sloppy Joe's, creepy queso, haunted hummus, pumpkin muffins and Count Chocolate treats.  After lunch we had a pumpkin pinata which was lots of fun.  It was a great party and Noah had a great time.  After the party we watched It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and got ready to trick or treat.  Nana and Pa came to trick or treat with us and brought us a pumpkin shaped pizza.  Noah was a garbage man and Grant was going to be a pumpkin, but his costume was too warm so he went as a Tree Hugger Trainee or as I joked an environmental science major.  It was a great Halloween. 

October 1, 2011: Grant's first time in the umbrella stroller, not too sure about it.   

October 3, 2011: Early morning Grant.  

October 4, 2011: Up late hanging out with Mom and Dad watching TV on the couch. 

October 5, 2011: Noah in his new garbage man hat for Halloween.

October 5, 2011: Noah's Halloween costume, the garbage man, he picked it.

October 6, 2011: Play gym time with Noah and Mason. 

October 7, 2011: Bouncy seat boys.  

October 9, 2011: The fish bowl of death.  

October 9, 2011: Happy Birthday Little Sister! 

October 10, 2011: The boys! 

October 10, 2011: Feeding the boys. 

October 13, 2011: Tummy time with Mason. 

October 13, 2011: Mr. Grant smiles.  

October 16, 2011: Two months and one day old.  

October 16, 2011: Crashed out Noah.  

October 16, 2011: Mason man and Mary Ann napping.  

October 17, 2011: Noah sleeping in the sling.

October 23, 2011: Nana and Baby Grant.  

October 23, 2011: Noah the Big Brother.  

October 23, 2011: Noah yoga.

The Past Two Months Part Two

Around his first month, Grant really started having reflux. He would vomit and spit up and it would come out of his nose and mouth and he would be unable to breathe for a couple of seconds until we got the milk out of his nose and mouth.  It made for many sleepless nights for sure. When we went for his one month shots and check up we told the doctor and she put us on some medicine to help, but said we would not see a major change for two weeks. So we went out and bought a special bed for him to sleep in to keep him upright at night and faithfully gave him his medicine which he hated, but in true Zen baby fashion took without too much fuss.  

When he was about 6 weeks old (about a week and a half into the medicine) the reflux really started getting worse, almost every feeding was coming up. He would be able to take about 2 oz at a feeding every two hours and that was about it.  So we would wake up every two hours and feed him. That worked for a couple days, but then he was starting to throw everything up and it was becoming almost projective vomiting. I remember after a very bad night (it was actually the night I blogged about in Night Night Math) John said to me look up pyloric stenosis online and see what I thought. I read about the symptoms and some of it fit what was going on with Grant, but it was so unlikely (the condition affects 3 out of every 1,000 babies) that I figured Grant just was having a milk allergy or that we needed some new medicine.

So we spent a pretty miserable weekend trying to get Grant to eat and having him projectile vomit everything back up on us and anything else in his path. We now jokingly say we should have known something was wrong when we had to switch from burp rags to bath towels, but lack of sleep messes with your ability to focus and so we just soldiered on and figured when Monday came we would see the doctor and she would make it right.

Monday (September 26, 20011) arrived and John was at work so our wonderful sitter came and took care of Noah and Grant and I took off to see the doctor.  The doctor listened to me explain what was happening and the first thing she asked was,"Does pyloric stenosis run in the family?" I felt a chill run up my back because I knew if she was right it would mean an operation.  She did an exam, gave me some new formula and medicine to try and told me to call in six hours and let her know how he was doing.  She also said we were going to have to go have an ultrasound as soon as the hospital had an appointment open and she wanted some of his diapers to test them.  I was pretty shaken when I got into the car so I called John and he told his charge nurse and two minutes later he was on the way home.  As a side note we have been so lucky to have Chandler as an employer, as they have been wonderful to us.

We arrived home, I began feeding the new formula which smelled so horrible I cant even think of words to describe the smell; its just horrible going down and coming back up.  John headed back to the doctor with the diapers. The ultrasound people at Cardon's called us and gave us an appointment for 4 pm that day.  We also received a call from the doctor who said that Grant had blood in his stool so no matter what the ultrasound said we would be admitted to the hospital for more tests so to pack bags and arrange a sitter for Noah.  We attempted to feed Grant at 1:30 and then we were told he could not eat anything until after the ultrasound.  As we drove to the hospital I felt a feeling of dread and panic.  I had a gut feeling that we would not be home that night, but I was hopefully that maybe it was all just everyone overreacting and I would be cuddling Grant and rocking him to sleep in his nursery that night.

We arrived at the hospital and waited and waited (and waited) for the ultrasound.  Finally they took us back, and the technician took one look at the ultrasound of his stomach and said he had pyloric stenosis, I need to get the doctor to look at this before he goes home and then I will take you to the ER so you can be admitted. The technician said that the opening of his stomach should be at 2 cm and Grants was a .38 cm which was almost a complete blockage.  I felt real fear at this point, but was thinking maybe I can talk my way out of having him have an operation, maybe we can do something else anything else.  The ER triage was a blur, I think we were in the waiting room and triage for about 5 minutes.  We got in the room and they had started an IV (which was horrible I don't want to talk about or remember it) gotten blood drawn and had seen a doctor within a half an hour.  All this was worrying me, he must be really bad if things are moving this quick I kept thinking.  We had a private room in the ER which was nice so after all the poking was done I wrapped him up in a big warm blanket and tried to get him comfortable while we waited for the surgeon.

The surgeon arrived and he was an amazing man, he was a blessing as was every person we encountered in the entire hospital.  He explained everything to us and was with us for about 45 minutes. Later at our follow-up appointment he told us he had never seen two people look so tired and he was very worried about us, bless him.  I asked him if we could do anything else besides surgery, he said if he did not have the operation he could not survive which put everything in perspective for us.  I asked if I could be in the operating room with him and I promised I would not pass out.  He very kindly told me no, which I can understand, but I had to ask.  He told us he was dehydrated so we had to get some fluids into him and we would operate first thing in the morning.  He told us it would be a long night since Grant could not eat until after the operation.  He also told us that as far as operations on six week old newborns go this was very routine and he could fix the problem and Grant would be a new baby after the operation, no reflux, smiling, cooing and happy.  I was glad to hear that, but was skeptical.

An hour later they took us up to the fourth floor of the hospital, which was the children's cancer floor.  Talk about putting things in perspective.  Yes, my baby was sick, very sick, but it was something that they could fix and he would be perfect afterwards and I could take him home and we would never have to worry again. I think that realization helped through the long night and the next morning.  We settled in for a very long night.  Grant in true Zen baby fashion was amazing for someone who had not eaten in a long time.  He would cry, but we could console him with lots of hugs and kisses. We didn't get much sleep that night.  In fact at 2 AM I was down in the hospital cafeteria getting coffee and snacks in my flower pajama bottoms and tiger print socks (with flip flops, I know fashion diva) thinking how strange is this.  I think John and I slept a couple of hours alternating holding Grant and sleeping.  Our wonderful surgeon arrived around 7 AM and told us that we would have surgery at 9 AM.

They took us to surgery at 8 AM and we waited, and waited and waited in pre op room where I alternated between crying, praying and panicking and thinking of taking Grant and running out of the hospital and taking our chances which I know was foolish.  The nurse finally came and took him around 11 and I tearfully asked her to please take care of my baby.  John and I walked into the waiting room into the arms of our dear friends Kristen and Rachel.  It was such a comfort to have they with us while we waited.  Our wonderful friend Annie arrived a few minutes later and we waited for a very long hour watching the door and making small talk and jokes.  Our wonderful surgeon came out an hour later to tell us that everything went well and that he was recovering well and we could go see in a few minutes.  They did have to pump his stomach because it was still full of milk from the day before.  They called us back and as soon as I saw him I could tell a difference, his cry sounded different and even though he had just gotten out of surgery he seemed more alert then he had.

We got back to the room and started on the graduated feeding schedule first with pedialite then with formula.  By the time we had done the second formula feeding he seemed happier and more alert so we placed him in his little nest in the bed the hospital staff had made for him so we could eat dinner and let him look at a little stuffed flower my mom and Noah had given to him when they visited a couple of hours before.  Then I heard the most wonderful sound ever he stated to coo for the first time and we saw his first real smile.  It was wonderful and I just started to cry he was a completely different baby and was finally able to eat and feel full.  It was amazing and we are truly blessed to live in a time when they can perform such a life altering surgery.  After each feeding he became more alert and much happier and he actually slept longer that night then he had his entire life.  John and I had the best night of sleep we had had since he was born that night, thanks to an amazing hospital staff allowing us to sleep and the peace of mind that he was doing amazing.  We all woke up feeling great and our wonderful surgeon came in and said we could head home.

Since the surgery Grant has been doing great and it appears that the reflux has resolved and he no longer throws up at all (see November blog for an update on this).  He has grown like a weed and eats like a champ, in fact he gained a pound in the first week after the surgery.  Looking back we were so blessed to have so many people praying for us, I know that God was watching out for our little one and we feel so thankful for all the wonderful people that helped us at the hospital.  It was an scary time, but having people surround us with such love and prayer gave us the strength we needed. Thank you!

September 18, 2011: A Plummer Family Tradition stalking the Halloween decorations at Target, this year they arrived on September 18, the holidays have begun! 

September 18, 2011: Grant in his pumpkin outfit to commemorate the occasion.

September 20, 2011: A Grant enclosure, the things we have to do to make sure Baby Grant doesn't get too much love from brother.

September 21, 2011: Zen baby meditating. 

September 24, 2011: Peacefully sleeping.  

September 24, 2011: Silly brother don't wake the baby!  

September 25, 2011: Baby Grant after a rough night in his reflux sling, as we call it.

September 26, 2011: First night in the hospital.   

September 26, 2011: In the hospital before the surgery. 

September 26, 2011: Daddy with Baby Grant before the surgery, it was a very long night.  

September 26, 2011: Baby Grant's nest at the hospital.  

September 27, 2011: Mommy with Baby Grant in pre-op before the operation. 

September 27, 2011: Baby Grant after his operation with his flower right after he smiled for the first time.   

September 27, 2008: Baby Grant sleeping after the operation.  

September 28, 2011: Morning after the surgery attempting a smile and feeling much better.   

September 28, 2011: Baby Grant on the mend.   

September 28, 2011: Put up your dukes Noah I am ready to fight.  

September 28, 2011: Does this blanket make me look fat? 

September 28, 2011: Can we be done already? 

September 28, 2011: I think I need to call my agent is this in my contract?

September 28, 2011: Really this thing again in my mouth why I hate this thing give me the food! 

September 28, 2011: On the way home, I put him in a little grey and white stripped outfit that John said looked like a jail bird outfit and I said that's right because we are busting out of this hospital.  

September 29, 2011: That one is going to be messy! 

September 29, 2011: One of Baby Grant's funny faces.