Wow life gets busy...

So it's been quite a while since I have updated, where do I begin?

My little brother graduated High School (YAY!) and Brian and I went to Houston for the ceremony. That was nice because he has never met Brian and he got to spend some time with him. Also my grandparents were in Houston and got to meet Brian as well. We were only there for 1 day, but I enjoyed the short amount of time with my family.

After I got back from Houston on Saturday, we all spent the weekend hanging out with Jason's dad's family who all came to Fort Worth to celebrate Christmas with us.

Monday, Jason, Brian and I flew to Cincinnati for Christmas. We stayed three days. We really enjoyed everything and I was glad to get to go. I haven't been in probably 4 or 5 years. Brian had a hard time with all the traveling and being in different places and all the people. He had a couple of fussy days and it took him a day or two to get back to normal when we got back to Fort Worth. Overall, he handled everything really well though. He is such a good baby....

The weekend after Christmas we went to Jason's mom's house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun seeing all the babies together. (Both of Jason's sisters had little boys right before Brian was born. Lennon is 5 months old, Jackson is 4 months old, and Brian is 3 months old). Lennon had Bronchiolitis and we didn't know it until we got to their house. He had gone to the ER the day before we came over. Jason's mom and sister both said that the doctor told them he wasn't contagious.

About 3 days after we went to Jason's mom's house Jason and Brian started getting sick. I them got sick and Brian didn't seem to be getting better although Jason did. I then got a call from my babysitter saying that her daughter was running a 102 fever (after being around Brian). Although Brian had not been running a fever at all, I got worried and took him to the doctor. Turns out it was just a cold. He is finally starting to get better though.

When we went to the doctor he weighed 13 pounds and 14 ounces! He jumped almost 3 pounds in a month! He is getting SO big! I couldn't believe it. Also, this is the second doctor's visit in a row that the doctor has been unable to hear a murmur. That means that his holes may have closed by now. I think I am going to wait until his 4 month check-up and if they don't hear anything again we will schedule an appointment with the cardiologist to get his opinion and do another echo to make sure. That would be awesome!

Brian is trying really hard to st up now on his own. He sits well in his Bumbo or with help and can every now and then manage to keep himself up for short periods of time. He is very interested in the world around him and always want to be looking around. He tries to watch TV all the time and that is a battle sometimes cause his daddy loves to watch TV. He is smiling all the time which is SO fun and giggles pretty often. We still haven't heard any real hearty full laughs yet, but I know they are coming. He sleeps 10 hours at night and is eating about 9 ounces at every meal. He eats about 6 times a day. I am a little bummed cause I am not producing enough breast milk to feed him solely with breast milk at every meal. We usually have to give him a 3 ounce bottle after every meal. I think it is because I am not with him all the time since I am at school and so I am not making as much as he is needing (and it is hard to pump after every meal cause I am often with him alone if I am even with him). At least he is still getting breast milk at all.

I think that's all for now. I will update again when something exciting happens or we go to the doctor again.

Immunizations

So today was Brian's 2 month check up with the pediatrician. He weighed 11 pounds exactly and is 22 and 3/4 inches long. He is under weight and short for his age, but the doctor said that it isn't by much and since he is gaining weight adequately he is ok. His head is average size for his age and she said he is very proportional overall. He got 4 immunizations and I hated every minute of it. It brings all new meaning to the phrase "this hurts me more than it hurts you." I have never heard him scream like he did and it broke my heart down to the very core. I wanted to bust into tears myself. I think I would have if Jason wasn't there helping me. It was the most horrible thing that I have had to do so far (in regards to Brian). He actually had tears - a first. Babies don't make tears until they are older, and he definitely had tears in his eyes which I had never seen before (from him). I hated doing that to him, but I know that it is much better for him to have a little bit of pain now than to catch some illness and get really sick and maybe even die. It still sucked though.

On another note, Brian is growing and changing SO fast I can't even believe it. He is sleeping through the night now which is nice. He also moved into his crib on Friday night and has been sleeping there soundly since. He started going to the babysitter last week on Monday. He is doing good with that and we have been SO blessed to find someone like her. Her name is Autumn and she has an 8 month old little girl named Elizabeth. Her husband is a classmate of mine. They are our age and also strong Christians. She loves kids like me and I feel very comfortable with her taking care of him. She really has been an answered prayer to Jason and I. The other nice thing is that she agreed to watch him for the same amount that we would have to pay a daycare. Brian has started smiling all the time and I LOVE that after he has been with Autumn (even for only a couple of hours) that when he sees me he just starts smiling and cooing. He 'talks' so much now too. He will have a 'conversation' with me or Jason for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. We love it. It is so fun.

My brother is going to be graduating this month on the 21st and Brian and I are flying to Houston for the ceremony. Jason can't miss work. I am looking forward to it especially since my grandparents will be there. It will be the first time that Ryan (my brother) and my grandparents get to see Brian. I am a little worried about flying alone with Brian, but I think I can do it. We will see.

Jason and I booked our Christmas trip to Cincinnati and I am WAY excited. This will be the first time I have been to Cincinnati to visit my family since I got married. We could only afford to stay for 3 days (24th, 25th, 26th), but at least I get to go at all.My entire family will be there - all the cousins, all the aunts and uncles, everyone. I am really excited. I can't wait. I don't even care about what I want or what I am going to get (giftwise) I am just so happy I get to go home. I am excited to show Jason my roots and where I come from. I am excited for everyone to meet Brian. I am just way excited.

This weekend we are planning on taking Brian to see Santa Clause downtown and get pictures taken. That will be fun.

I love being a mom.

Minus One

I am having surgery tomorrow to remove my gallbladder. I will not miss it (it has been causing me A LOT of pain lately). I will update when I feel up to it.

ABC's - (Academics, Brian, and Cholelithiasis)

Academics:
School is going well. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to be in medical school and take care of an infant. I haven't been studying very much, but I am still passing so I am happy. I have been back for about a month now on and off and am back full time since the beginning of this week.

Brian:
Baby Brian is doing very well. We went to the pediatrician again last week and he weighed 8 pounds 15.5 ounces (so almost 9 pounds). He also was 2 inches longer (21.25 inches). He got his second Hepatitis B shot and cried really hard until I picked him up. It felt really good to pick him up and have him stop crying. It was the first time I really felt like he knew I was his mom and that he loved me back. I really liked it - I didn't like the shot part, but I liked that I calmed him down.

He is eating about every three hours during the day and going at least 5 hours at night - which is glorious! I am working with a new schedule and trying to get him to go 6 more often because he does it on his own every now and then.

We do not have to put him in daycare (YAY!). I have a friend from medical school that has an 8 month old daughter and his wife says home with her. She is going to watch Brian for us during the day. We are going to pay her the same as we would daycare so its good. It was an answered prayer. We really didn't want to put him in daycare. They are a really nice Christian family which is a plus as well. We met with them tonight and I feel really goos about the whole thing. It seems that they have a lot of the same parenting ideas as Jason and I which is nice. It also helps that Jason and I are pretty laid back about things. God is good.

Brian met his great-great-grandpa last weekend and also flew on his first plane. He did great and never even missed a beat. His great-great-grandpa was so excited to meet him and SO cute when he got to hold him. It was a good experience.

I checked on his heart murmur a few days ago and the murmur is still there, but we are not worried at all. It will close eventually and eve if it doesn't, he will be fine. We go to the cardiologist when he is 8 months old.

Brian has an online photo album at www.brianalexander.myphotoalbum.com - check it out ( I can't post all his pictures on this site, there are too many).

Cholelithiasis:
I have gall stones. I will be going tomorrow to get a sonogram to make sure that is in fact what I have (I self diagnosed). If I do have them, they will most likely fo surgery to remove my gallbladder in the near future (this weekend or Monday). Gallstones are actually quite common post-partum especially in c-section patients. They are VERY painful. I have now had kidney stones, gallstones, and given birth and the least painful is the contractions from labor. The kidney stones and the gallstones are very different pains. With kidney stones the pain is constant and with gallstones it isn't, but the pain from gallstones is much worse and is a worse spot. Hopefully this will all be taken care of soon and I will be able to get back in the groove of things. Luckily, gallbladder removal is laproscopic and I can go home the same day. I will try to keep you up to date on the situation.

Pediatrician and Cardiologist

Well we went and saw the pediatrician for the first time on Friday, October 5. He weighed 6 pounds and 10 ounces (4 ounces less than when he was born and 1 ounce less than when we left the hospital). He was in the 25% for height, weight, and head circumference so he is a little small, but perfectly proportional. The pediatrician said he is a perfectly healthy little boy and that he was in good health. He also got his first shot - Hepatitis B round 1. We will go back when he is a month old and then at two months old to get more vaccinations and do more check ups.

We were able to see the cardiologist on Thursday, October 11. He performed another Echocardiogram. The echo showed that his PDA (patent ductus arteriousus) has closed on its own (YAY!). The VSD (ventriculoseptal defect) and the PFO (patent foramen ovale) are both still open, but small and causing no adverse health effects. The irregular heartbeat has also resolved on its own. The cardiologist said that in most cases both of the defects that Brian has will resolve within 9 months of age. We will go back to see the cardiologist in 8 months to check them again. Other than that, we don't have anything to worry about and the cardiologist said that he is in perfect health. We were relieved and happy to hear it. I will be periodically monitoring Brian's heartbeat myself and if I hear the murmurs resolve, then we can go see the cardiologist sooner and get everything checked out and get a clean bill of health. It's nice to know something about medicine. It can be scary at times, but I like knowing what is going on and I like that doctors can talk to me like a doctor and I understand them.

In general, we are all doing well. I am back at school today and my mom is in town helping out with Brian. I am very tired and my breasts hurt, but other than that I am doing well. I am healing well from my surgery and hope to be able to work out soon. I am ready to get this extra tummy off. Brian is as cute as ever and is a champion eater. He seems to like to sleep more in the day than the night though which is a little frustrating, but not too bad. He eats pretty consistently every 3 hours at night and during the day it varies from 2 to 5 hours (I try not to let him go that long). He is making more noises which I like and he makes lots of faces which are fun to watch. He is staying awake some during the day - most days he will stay up between 2 feedings at least once, sometimes twice depending on what is going on. He has a pretty sensitive stomach and I have to be really careful about what I eat or he will get really bad gas. I want a coffee pretty badly, but caffeine is too hard on him and makes him stay up. I love being a mom - even when I am really tired and he won't stop fussing. He doesn't really cry - just fusses. I love watching Jason with him - they are SO cute together. Sometimes I don't like some of the things that Jason does with.to him, but I keep my mouth shut and remind myself that dads are a lot different than moms and that babies need both kinds of interactions. I can't wait for him to start laughing, but at the same time I want him to stay little and cute. I still can't get over how beautiful he is - I just stare at him sometimes. I love him so much, and my love for Jason has actually grown too. It's amazing. I knew it would be and I am not disappointed.