Colic Survival

Our boy surprised us with colic around the end of October. We called the Dr after a horrible night of endless crying from Maxwell. The Dr gave us acid reflux meds which helped initially and then he started to still freak out each evening from 6-9 or 10. 

We tried a lot of things and I will memorialize them all here in case I ever forget 

1. Two acid reflux prescriptions- couldn’t see much of a difference 

2. Gas drops- did nothing 

3. American gripe water-did nothing 

4. Gripe water that is black-not much of a change for Maxwell 

5. Nutramagien formula, after trying several others-Helped him a lot

6. Exercise ball- best investment

7. Swing that goes back and forth

8. Climbing stairs- always calmed him but exhausting 

9. Using diluted chamomile tea in his formula-I actually think that stuff does help

10. Car rides- helped a ton initially 

11. Gerber soothe probiotics- I think this helps but hard to know forsure

12. Dr Browns Bottles- no bubbles so seems to help too but they leak a lot

13. Massages- we rubbed his tummy lots but I never could tell if it helped much 

14. Baths-he hates getting in and out of the water so it always made things worse

15. The SNOO- after hours of crying he was always ready to sleep for 3-4 hrs, we love this machine and are so happy we are borrowing one from dear friends. 

16. Wearing Him- he hates being worn no matter how hard I try.. sadly 

Alas the colic world was brutal but we watched the entire Office series and learned a lot about parenting. Max is still a fussy baby but I think Scott and I communicate even better than we use to thanks to challenging moments. 

Month Two with Max

Month two brought shots which was so hard to see. He weighed in at 13 lbs for his two month appointment. It broke my heart watching him meltdown with the shots. He started to smile more in December. He loves being talked to and asked questions. He will chat and coo back to me whenever I talk to him. 

He still hates being worn but loves walks. He does great in his car seat. He likes to be held upright and facing the world. He still grunts most mornings to get his poops out. 

My parents visited in November so it was great to spend time with them. He loves being burped by them!

He enjoys Iron and Wine the band, they always seems to calm him. He naps most mornings in his swing. He loves being on his Dad’s shoulder, also a place that calms him or puts him to sleep. 

He is social and does really well in new settings. He eats 5 ounces every 2.5 or 3 hrs. He is also starting to sleep 6-7 hr stretches at night. He has been a champ when babysat. We found his nanny in November who has a boy a month older than Max, they will be pals. She will watch them twice a week at our home. 

He started to like baths more in December. He hates getting out of the tub but he started to smile more while I sing Scrub-lub-ahhh!! 

Our favorite thing is to bring Maxwell to our bed each morning. We cuddle with him and he usually falls asleep for another few hours. 

Parenthood has been such a wild adventure but we can’t imagine life without Maxwell. He is truly the best little dude. 

Month One with Max

Month one of being a mother was pretty crazy. My body was recovering and breastfeeding was brutal. I never produced enough and Maxwell was always hungry so I supplemented with formula. After a month and a half I moved fully over to formula, it was just too painful for little success.

We did love all the visitors, meals, gifts, chats and family that came. My sister and Caylee came October 13th which was super nice. They stayed for a week and were just the most amazing helpers. Scott and I even took our first date to Takashi! We kept thinking about Maxwell but it was nice to get out!

Maxwell slept in a bassinet in his room initially. We never had him sleep in our room.. we couldn’t sleep with all his sounds. Then we borrowed the snoo bed from our friends. The bed has been a miracle. It helps Maxwell sleep so well by slowly moving him back and forth all night. He started to sleep longer stretches but still woke up every 2-3 hrs. 

We loved watching Maxwell smile and laugh in his sleep. He grew a ton over that first month. He was such a quiet and observant baby. He was truly a dream baby for the first 4 weeks. He hated his diaper being changed but then by the end of the first month, didn’t mind so much. 

Colic found him around Halloween which was a big shock. We had a night where Maxwell was up all night writhing in pain. He slept in our bed that night in his dock-a-tot. We had no idea how to calm him. We ended taking him to the dr. She prescribed him acid reflux meds. They seemed to help initially but then within a few days he had the crying fits in the evening again. They would last several hours and he would scream and be so hard to console. He would cry and then eventually just fall asleep which would help reset him. His sleep length periods kept getting longer but he still had these angry evening colic periods.

We eventually switched formulas which helped him even more but he still had colic through November and most of December.  

We tried everything, different bottles with no bubbles, gas drops, gripe water, probiotics, two acid reflux meds, mylanta, swings, car drives, swaddling, black gripe water, new formulas, bouncing on an exercise ball.. the list goes on and on. What has helped us the most is the exercise ball, car rides, the fact Maxwell would calm down in his play gym for 5 mins, and mylanta when we could hear him barfing and swallowing it. 

I also think we both chose to have positive attitudes. We didn’t want to just complain about Maxwell because he had no way to control his situation. We really just accepted that it was hard but did everything we could to be positive. We learned that we just stayed home and watched the office in the evenings. Man that show is good! 

Baby Maxwell

Scott and I were so excited for our baby to come. We also kept saying stuff like this is the last time we eat at Arby’s without a kid or the last big date night or the last Saturday we sleep in, etc. Work was incredibly busy up to the day Maxwell was born. We always work on budgets in September and October, I left a week before our big presentations. Maxwell had been super low in the birth canal for weeks. My Dr was amazed my water had not broke since he was so low! 

I went to my Dr appointment on October 2nd and my doctor became concerned due to my decreasing amniotic fluid. I came back to her the next day and my fluid was lower so she said I would need to go into the hospital the evening of October 3rd. It was crazy walking into the hospital knowing I was going to leave with a baby not in my womb.

I was put on a dissolvable pill the evening of October 3rd. It didn’t do much to soften my cervix. I spent the night being frequently checked by nurses to see if there was progress. There wasn’t but there was also not much pain. It was nice to track Maxwell and hear his heartbeat all night.

The morning of October 4th my doctor joined me at 8:00 am to break my water. That was such a bizarre sensation! Then the contractions started to come with pitocin. Holy moly they hurt! My nurse slowed the pitocin but then after a calmer hour my Dr had the pitocin increased. I lasted about 45 mins with contractions every minute before I had my glorious epidural. I tried to have Scott distract me by dancing and telling me fun things but it didn’t help much. I couldnt tell if I was going to barf or crap my pants. The Dr was a wizard and I felt very little pain during the process of administering the epidural.   I had the most incredible nurse during my labor and she was truly an awesome cheerleader!

After the epidural I felt like I progressed quickly. I had the epidural around 10:30 am and then by 2:30 pm I started to push. I spent most of the morning just chatting with Scott and Stacey, resting and eating slushees! 

I pushed for about an hour and my Dr and nurse were so kind and helpful. They just sat on my bed and helped me push. Finally, little Maxwell arrived. He had hair and the most beautiful almond eyes. Scott cut the umbilical cord. We both cried! I had to get a decent amount of stitches but I loved just holding him on my chest and cuddling him. He was so alert and calm. We hung out in the delivery room until 9:30. We waited for a really fancy post delivery room that had a queen size bed Scott and I could share! Jenny came by to meet him! It was so magical for him to meet her. Stacey was there most of the day snapping photos. She made our birth story and used my baby book in which I wrote Maxwell a letter to guide the birth story. 

The first night after delivery, Maxwell spent the night in the nursery. I was so exhausted. The following day it was so nice to have so many visitors. He was 7 lbs 8 oz. We worked hard on breastfeeding in the hospital but Max had the suck of a piranha. It was crazy painful but I pushed on. Scott was such a champion Father, changing diapers, burping Maxwell and holding him tons. We were both just so in love with our baby!

We finally went home on Saturday October 6th just as two hour church was being announced in conference. It was so nice to be in our home with our little guy! 

White Trash Murder Mystery

My favorite friend tradition lived on for another year, murder mystery party 2018, thanks to Jenny! We all gathered and adorned ourselves with amazing white trash costumes. This bunch of pals always goes all out for costumes! The gathering was a smashing time and I’m happy I wasn’t the murderer this year. I was a strange character who essentially tried to pick up every dude at the party. All-in-all it was a great time! Love these friends so much! 

Quilting for Babies

Since I have developed a sincere love for quilt making I decided to make a quilt for two new babies this year. I made a quilt for William and Kate.. two babies fit for royalty! 

I had a great time crafting them over the summer. I was so excited to give them to their baby owners. I didn’t have them completed until after each baby was born but it was all good! They were loved all the same!  

Fair Fun

Scott and I headed to the fair in early September for a date night. We walked around and remembered how the fair is filled with the most unique souls. We did enjoy fair treats, chocolate covered strawberries for me and deep fried cookie dough for Scott. We kept trying to enjoy the last few moments before baby arrived. I think we lived it up as best as we could!