I made this!

The hat, the sleep sack (my first ever zipper!), and the cute, squishy baby, to be exact:

I also made this awesome bag for my friend's birthday. I didn't even need to use my seam ripper! I'm rather proud of myself. :)

Now I can't wait to make one for myself!

How my child eats!

It's Feeding Tube Awareness Week! In honor of raising awareness of feeding tubes, I thought I would post a video of how we feed Caleb.

We took this video when I was nearing my due date, thinking that it would be good to have easy-to-follow directions for anyone who might be babysitting Caleb. So, yes, I have a huge belly and there is hardly any space for Caleb to sit on my lap. :)

This type of feeding is called a "gravity feed." Other ways to feed would be pushing it in with a syringe (with a plunger); and pump feeding, where you use a feeding pump with a special bag full of formula. The pump can be programmed to deliver the formula at different rates. You can go as slow as half an ounce per hour, or six ounces in ten minutes, or even faster, depending on what the person can tolerate.

Also, you can feed things other than formula through a feeding tube. A lot of people do a "blenderized diet," where they take a regular meal and blend it up in a high-end blender and put it through the feeding tube either with a syringe or a pump. Since Caleb can only eat nine different foods, a blenderized diet won't work for him. His foods don't make up a balanced diet. It's unfortunate, because a lot of kids do better with real food vs. formula.

And now you know how we feed our little child. Every three hours during the day, and once while he sleeps at night.

:)

Getting to Know Russell

He has a little red birthmark between his eyes, slightly to the right.

He has a clogged tear duct in his right eye. It's always gunky and usually half closed when the other eye is fully open.

He can usually be found like this:

within inches of my...his source of food, whether asleep or awake.

He's been smiling now for a week or two:

He may be cooing, too, but it's hard to tell since he doesn't spend a lot of time being happy and all vocalizations lead to crying.

He is very strong! He has been known to try to stand up on my lap. Every time he's being snuggled with on one's chest, he picks his head up and throws himself to the side. Sometimes I worry that he's going to jump right out of my arms!

(My three boys enjoying tummy time.)

He enjoys stroller rides, just like his older brother (thank goodness):

He wasn't gaining very much weight to begin with. He was 8 lbs 5 oz at birth, 7 lbs 12 oz at four days old, 8 lbs 1 oz at 2.5 weeks old, and 8 lbs 6.5 oz at 3.5 weeks old. Babies are supposed to be at their birth weight at 2 weeks old and then gain 5-7 oz each week after that. It has been determined that I have an awful milk supply, which isn't helped by Russell's possible tongue-tie and his extreme sleepiness while eating.

At 5.5 weeks old he weighed 9 lbs 10 oz...so it seems that his weight gain is back on track. Either that or the scale was off, because he has been getting sleepier and sleepier and Caleb's feeding therapist is quite concerned. I don't know what's going on. But I've decided not to start worrying until a medical professional tells me to. I don't have the energy to worry.

When I say he's a sleepy eater, I mean it! He falls asleep within a few minutes at the breast and between nursing, burping, diaper changes, and bottle feeding I'm lucky if I can get through a feeding in less than 50 minutes.

He still eats every 2.5-3 hours during the day.

He is pretty good at sleeping in his bassinet at night, swaddled very tightly in a crocheted blanket with his hands by his face. But he still goes 2.5-3 hours between night feedings. A few times he's gone 4 hours. Last night I actually got 4.5 hours of sleep in a row! NICE!

He usually has one happy moment about every other day for maybe 10 minutes where I'm able to set him down without him crying. In fact, we're lucky if he has any awake time, whether in our arms or not, where he isn't crying. And we're extremely fortunate if we can get him to sleep somewhere other than our arms during the day.

He seems to be happiest (aka, not entirely unhappy) when there are new things to look at and hear. He was once in a crowded room with a lot of new people, and he was very happy! It was like he was a different baby. I wish we could achieve the desired behavior with the stimulation of toys and music...but alas, that has never worked.

He's very gassy and poops a LOT! He had a terrible diaper rash for a few weeks that wouldn't go away with any diaper rash ointment that I could find. BUT! It went away almost completely after 24 hours of using paper towels and water in place of baby wipes. Thanks to all you mommas who suggested that!

He is just barely starting to outgrow newborn clothes. They are starting to get a little tight around the tummy, but most of them still fit length-wise. But his feet are really filling out the designated foot space. He must have gotten his long feet from me. Nate's feet are the same size as mine. :/ (But for the record, I have very average-sized feet. Nate is the one with small feet.)

And that's my baby. He can be difficult at times, but we love him. Yes, I have to remind myself that I love him when he won't stop crying and I just want to set him down to get a drink of juice, or go to the bathroom, or put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, or feed Caleb. I have been tempted to give him (permanently) to the neighbors, but it's not his fault! He's just a baby. I need to be more patient. We find ways to make it all work, but I'm sure looking forward to the day when he can communicate with us through ways other than crying. And when he can be entertained by things, like toys. And when he can stay awake long enough to eat without me having to use every trick in the book to get him to eat the bare minimum.

Whew. Yes. I love him. And now I'm going to bed.

Christmas 2011!

Christmas doesn't get any better than it does with a toddler! It was magical!

Here is Caleb with his first gift--a football tent from Auntie Jenna. (I don't know why it didn't focus. Sorry if it gives you a headache!)

Yes, you heard right. He went inside, we asked, "Do you like your football tent?" and Caleb promptly said, "No." and got out. HAHA! But rest assured, he sure loves it now!

Caleb somehow got obsessed with Angry Birds. We don't even know how he learned what it's called. He doesn't play it. He just looks at it on Nate's phone. Well, Nate is a wonderful, thoughtful father and he got this for Caleb, unbeknownst to me:

Ah, the joy!

Other Christmas presents that made the top of the list: A tie. Yes, Caleb has his own tie, and no suit to wear it with. But when he opened it, he shouted, "A TIE!" with great zeal, and started jumping up and down (you know, in the way that a toddler jumps before he really knows how to get both feet off the ground at the same time). So far, he has refused to let me put it on him. But it was worth buying, if only for the initial reaction. Too bad we didn't get it on camera. We weren't expecting it to go over so well!

He also got a little drum and some other instruments (he has grown to love the kazoo). When he opened the drum and saw what it was, he shouted, "Drums! HOORAY!" Priceless.

The Littlest Purser turned one week old on Christmas, so he was clearly not as excited by the magic of the day as Caleb was. He did, however, sleep in his bassinet between feedings during the night, and gave me a few hours of sleep at a time. I think I even got three straight hours! That was the best night of his whole life so far! AND he was content to lay on the bed without crying while I got ready for the morning. That was also a first.

Together, all of my boys made it the most wonderful Christmas ever.

2011, in review:

January: Caleb was diagnosed as Failure to Thrive due to insufficient weight gain and chronic dehydration.

March: Caleb was hospitalized for 5 days with RSV, a nasty stomach virus, and an ear infection, all at the same time. The day after leaving the hospital, at 16.5 months of age, he took his first steps!

April: We found out that we were expecting another little Purser!

May: Caleb was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Enteritis.

June: Caleb spent the afternoon in the ER for vomiting and dehydration. The next day he got an NG feeding tube and started his elemental diet.

July: We found out that Caleb would have a little BROTHER! Caleb had surgery to place a g-tube to take the place of the NG feeding tube.

August: We had a lovely vacation visiting my family in Minnesota.

November: Caleb turned 2! I made it to full-term (37 weeks)! Caleb had a clean scope--the eosinophil cells were gone!

December: Caleb started getting a few new foods to eat. Baby Russell joined our family, big and healthy and just in time for Christmas! Nate and I celebrated our fourth anniversary.

-------------------------------------

It's been quite a year. In January, Caleb was just barely starting to pull himself up and walk around furniture. He had just figured out how to go from a crawl to a sit. Now he's running everywhere and starting to walk up stairs! Caleb went from being 16 pounds in January to 18 pounds in July to 21 pounds in November. I won't tell you what happened with my weight. ;) He went from wearing size 3-6 month clothing to 12 month clothing! I can't even begin to describe how much has happened with his vocabulary and cognitive development.

A lot of good things happened in 2011. It was a pretty big year! Sure, we had two hospitalizations, two diagnoses (one quite major), and one surgery, but it sure is nice to end the year on a good note! We have two healthy little boys (relatively speaking) and a lot to look forward to.

I couldn't ask for more.

Russell's Birth Story

I know, I know, my baby is already four weeks old and I'm just getting around to writing his birth story. Can you blame me? I have hardly slept in the last month. It's a little crazy around here.

The Story:

Wednesday, December 14th: At my regular OB appointment the doctor stripped my membranes and scheduled an induction for my due date, December 21st. I was 3cm dilated and about 90% effaced.

Saturday, December 17th: I finished the last of my Christmas shopping. While buying Russell a bank for his Christmas gift, the lady at the check-out asked when I was due. I told her that I had an induction scheduled for Wednesday, and that I was too comfortable being pregnant to think that I'd be going into labor on my own. That evening, around 6PM, I went from having no contractions whatsoever to having really painful ones every few minutes. They were too painful and too fast to even be able to time them. Jenna was planning on coming to our house that evening anyway, and she got there just in time. I was ready to go NOW.

So, Nate and I left for the hospital around 7PM. When we got there I was dilated to 5cm, my water was bulging, and I was having very strong, regular contractions lasting at least 60 seconds and coming every two minutes. They admitted me right away and offered an epidural. Remembering how awful the epidural made me feel last time (and how it hardly even took the edge off of the contractions, anyway), I wanted to wait as long as I could before getting it. But my contractions were soooo strong that every time I would get one I would say, "I think it's time for an epidural!" But every time the contraction would end, I would be sooo happy that I could feel my legs. So I decided to get an epidural once my water broke, because I had heard that contractions were much stronger after that.

The nurse didn't think it would take very long at all for Russell to come. She thought he would be here before midnight since it was my second delivery and my contractions were so strong and close together. Our goal was to make it past midnight, since I needed at least four hours of antibiotics since I was group B strep positive.

About an hour and a half after getting to the hospital, the nurse checked me again and I was 6-7cm. Right after checking me, my water broke and the first thing I said was, "I want an epidural!" It took almost another hour before the epidural was in, but I guess my contractions were so strong to begin with that it didn't get any worse after my water broke. And the epidural was much better than last time--it took the pain away, but I could still feel and move my legs!

Then Nate slept, and I tried to sleep. The nurse checked me every hour and surprisingly I wasn't 10cm until about 3am! At that point she noticed that Russell was posterior (facing up towards the ceiling, not down towards the floor). Posterior babies are much harder to push out, because they can't descend down the birth canal as easily. That's why it took me so long to dilate even with those crazy contractions. So, then I got another dose of epidural, threw up, and the doctor came in and I started pushing.

After about 15 minutes of pushing with the doctor trying to turn Russell so he wasn't posterior, the doctor told me that I was pushing effectively, but that this wouldn't be a typical second delivery. :( Russell was big and he wasn't able to turn him, so I shouldn't expect delivery to be fast or easy. Sad! So, then the doctor left and I pushed with the nurse for the next TWO HOURS! Yikes! Two hours of giving it my all in the middle of the night. It was HARD WORK!

At that point, I needed another dose of epidural. And I started getting this excruciating pain by my left hip bone that didn't go away with the epidural. It felt similar to an ovarian cyst rupturing (which I've had many times), only much more painful. I couldn't think of anything but the pain. I had to press my fingers into my side to make the pain even somewhat manageable. I kept saying, "I can't...I don't..." thinking, "I can't do this any more! I don't know how much more I can take!" But I knew that I didn't have any other options.

Then I threw up again. The doctor came in and said, "How do you feel about forceps?" And I said, "YES, PLEASE!" So, after about two pushes with the forceps and a few more pushes otherwise, Russell made his grand entrance!

Eleven hours of labor and two hours and fifteen minutes of pushing in the wee hours of the morning, and I delivered my 8lb 5oz, 19 inch boy!

I got to see him get cleaned off and weighed, and I got to hold him skin-to-skin right away for about an hour. He was born hungry and had enough energy to nurse for over half an hour right after birth. I swear he's been hungry every second of his life. VERY different from Caleb!

And I'm proud to say that between all of my sisters, I now hold the record for the smallest baby and the biggest baby. :)

Introducing:

Russell David Purser

12/18/11, 5:24AM

8 pounds 5 ounces

19 inches