Fever…

Posted on 02/22/2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

One of the scariest things I’ve experience so far as a new mommy is the infant fever. It’s so scary when your baby’s temperature keeps going up and up and up. Especially when all she wants to do is lay around on mommy and sleep. They are so small and little and they cannot tell you what is wrong, or what feels bad. That is what I went through yesterday. It seems like we go through this at least once or twice a week, and have been going through this for the past few weeks.

We spent most of yesterday running a fever, even while on motrin, and lying around on mommy. It was heartbreaking watching her. All she wanted was to be held. After a few calls to the doctor’s office we started alternating between motrin and tylenol, and finally we were able to get the fever under control. I’m happy to report that today Lexie is doing much and has not been running a fever today. Here’s hoping that this fever business is over and stays away for a long time.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, my advice and experiences in no way replace that of a doctor visit. If you have questions about treating your child you should always consult your doctor or pediatrician.

That said, here is what I did that worked for us with Lexie’s fever:

- I let Lexie run around in just her diaper. It seemed like every time I put a shirt or a onsie on her that it would cause her temperature to rise. So I just kept the house a comfortable warm and let her go in the diaper.

- Cool wet/damp wash cloth. I kept a cool, not cold) damp wash cloth that I would wipe Lexie’s face down with every now and then. When she was napping I’d let the wash cloth rest on her forehead. That seemed to help quite a bit. She was fine with it on her face….not so much when I tried to cool her back down….so we only tried that once.

- Alternating motrin and tylenol. After speaking with the doctor I was told that I could give Lexie a round of motrin and then two or three hours later give her some tylenol and continue to alternate with the motrin. Lexie continued to run a fever even while she was on the motrin, adding the tylenol into the mix definitely helped get her fever down and kept it down. (A note on the motrin, you should not give infant motrin to a baby under the age of 6 months. As always you should consult your baby’s doctor before you medicate your baby).

- When Lexie only wanted to be held I got worried that my body heat was keeping her temperature up and causing it increase. So I had her laying on a pillow on my lap. That at least kept me from adding my body heat to her. Plus I think the pillow may be more comfortable for her.

I’d love to hear from others on what you do to help your little ones feel more comfortable when they are running a fever.

Sensory Bag 101…

Posted on 11/12/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

I may or may not have mentioned my latest obsession with the Pinterest site. There are so many great ideas on there, especially for babies and kids. This is one project that I found on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. Using house hold items and a few items from the store I created a sensory bag for Alexis. Which is great this time of year because the gel is cold and right now Lexie is really into cold feeling items. She loves being held up to the front screen door and touching the cold glass and putting her forehead up to it.

So, the sensory bag….here’s what you need:

Large zip lock baggie

Hair gel (clear or colored)

Small items to put into the bag

Colorful duct tape to secure all the edges and give it yet more color

I found some pink hair gel for just a little over a dollar. In the party section I picked up some squishy pencil toppers, lady bug erasers, little flowers with mirrors, some beaded necklaces that are colorful, and some cute duct tape.

Step one: Pour all the hair gel into the zip lock bag

Step two: Add the little goodies into the gel

Step three: Squish around the goodies in the gel, try to get as much air out as you can before sealing the baggie. Secure all four edges with duct tape

And there you have it. A fun, colorful, and squishy sensory bag for baby to play with. I would recommend not leaving your little one alone with the sensory bag. Even though I did use a freezer bag, which is supposed to be made of thicker and more sturdy plastic, baby fingernails are very sharp and can poke little holes in things. I’m not speaking from experience here, but I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to Lexie.

This is a fun little inexpensive project that would be great for parents on a budget. Baby toys can get expensive, and it really does not take a whole lot to entertain a little one. The sensory bag is a good for distraction when little one is getting fussy waiting on dinner.

Enjoy!

The return is coming…

Posted on 10/30/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

It is amazing just how much time a little one takes up! My poor blog has suffered greatly along with my sleep and house cleaning! But she is totally worth it. I mean look at that little face:

When I said in my last post that our lives will never be the same…..that was an understatement! Our life is very different, but in a good way. We are still having to get up at least two if not three times a night with Alexis, but I treasure those middle of the night snuggles and I am sure I will miss them when she starts sleeping through the night.

A lot has taken place since my last post in May. I’ve returned to work. Alexis has hit some fun milestones. She is almost 6 months now and really starting to develop a little personality. Oh and her latest development is she has started sitting up on her own. This is new as of last Friday.

She is so much fun! She is doing very well at her school during the day. She is a pretty happy baby with a really good disposition. She is not fussy at all. I believe we really lucked out with her. Also new going on for us…we are working on making some big changes around the house. I’ve decided to turn my office into a full-time guest room, which means moving all my office stuff out of there. I’m working on setting up a “Mommy Command Center” in the corner in the kitchen/dining area. This way I can get the things done that I need to and work on my blog posts, and still be out in the front area of the house where I can keep an eye on Alexis. Hubby helped me get the rest of the boxes unpacked or moved to storage in the attic this past weekend. So now I get to pick out my new corner desk.

Also while I have been away I was introduced to pinterest…..holy cow the stuff you can find on that site! I’ve gotten so many ideas from there, hubby’s “honey do” list is growing every day. That site is super addictive. I’ve been printing off recipes to try, some turn out really good and some need a little work. I’ll post about those later, once I get my command center up and running. We have a lot of exciting stuff ahead of us. I cannot wait to share my experiences of mommy hood and life.

And baby makes three…

Posted on 05/28/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

May 10th was a big day for us. Little Alexis was born in the afternoon weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and measuring 19.5 inches. Our world has forever been altered and we couldn’t be happier.

Alexis shortly after being born on May 10th

She is now just shy of three weeks old. We’ve already had our 2 week check up and everything is going good. Everyone that sees her talks about how pretty she is.

I already cannot imagine life without her. Who knew one heart could hold so much love for such a tiny creature.

A baby is born, a new family created. Our lives will never be the same.

38 week check up…

Posted on 05/04/2012 by Jessie | 2 Comments

I know a lot of first time moms spend countless hours imagining what the birth process will be like at the end of the pregnancy. Some even write out their ideal birth plan prior to going into labor. Being a planner myself I actually did not write out a birth plan for the sole reason that I did not want to end up feeling discouraged that everything did not go according to plan. There really is no way know definitively what will take place during labor and delivery. There are too many variables to take into consideration. So my plan was to go into it with the expectation of a normal birth, but not ruling out any possibilities that may arise during the process.

Well, plans are already changing and I haven’t even made it to labor and delivery yet. At my 38 week appointment we discussed the ultrasound results from last week. My doctor recommended that we induce at 39 weeks based on how big the baby is measuring. We also discussed a c-section. Although the ultrasound machine is not exact just an estimate, the measurements were enough that my doctor is not comfortable waiting any longer than 39 weeks. The baby gets bigger everyday! 8 lbs last Friday could be 9 lbs this Friday. Scary thought.

After some discussion and going over the facts we decided to schedule the c-section. The facts are that I have a narrow pelvis, the baby’s body is measuring a little bigger than the head, which presents the risk that the baby could get stuck at the shoulders during a normal birth. The only course of action at that point may result in a broken collar-bone and permanent nerve damage to the baby. Unfortunately, that scenario is not one that can be predicted with certainty until you are at that point, and once you reach that point there is no turning back. I just cannot imagine taking that risk with my baby. So, although I would have liked to have a nice normal birth, we felt the c-section was the safer option for our baby.

The doctor’s office is scheduling us for a c-section for Thursday, May 10th. We’ll go in that morning and have our baby by that afternoon. I’m excited and nervous and anxious and just about every other emotion I can think of all rolled into one at this point.

Baby update…

Posted on 04/28/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

Yesterday we had the final ultrasound for baby. The purpose was to confirm the position of the baby and take some measurements to get an estimated weight. Baby has gotten big! Given the measurements, the ultrasound machine calculated that I am actually 38 weeks and 6 days with an estimated due date of May 5th! It also estimated the weight at 8 lbs 3 oz!
My doctor won’t see the ultrasound results until Monday. I figure I will probably be getting a call from her then. We walked out of radiology in a little bit of a shock. I’m still trying to process this new information, and waiting to hear what the doctor says is going to make this a long weekend. I knew we were getting close to the end of the pregnancy, but I didn’t realize just how close to the end we were at.
Things are about to get really exciting!

Week 37…..

Posted on 04/27/2012 by Jessie | 1 Comment

We just finished up week 37 and have moved into week 38 of this pregnancy. Things are still progressing nicely. Baby’s heartbeat is still strong and steady. We are scheduled to have the final ultrasound this afternoon. This will give us a picture of what position the baby is in and give an estimated weight. It has been a couple of months since the last ultrasound, so I’m pretty excited to see how much baby has grown.

So new things from the 37th week….swelling! I’ve started noticing swelling in my knees, ankles, and feet. It’s crazy! It’s getting to where it kind of hurts to do too much walking. It’s not as bad first thing in the morning, but by the time I get home from work there is a lot of swelling. My normal shoes feel tight…time for flip-flops! When I’m on the couch in the evenings with my feet propped up I do not recognize my feet anymore. Hopefully the swelling will go down shortly after the baby is born.

We had another baby shower last Saturday. It was fun, I got pretty tired by the end of it but I had a good time none-the-less. The friend who organized it really went all out. She made cake in a jar that was super yummy! White chocolate covered cake balls, sugar cookies with pink sprinkles, pink fudge, pink flower mints, Pink and White suckers that said it’s a girl on them! It was wonderful! I have another batch of thank you notes to write this weekend! I’ll have to take pictures of the gifts too.

Hubby got the last items on my to do before baby arrives list done yesterday. The car seat is securely installed in my car! I now feel 100% ready for baby to arrive and come home. Car seat is done, hospital bags are packed and in the car, Bassinet is set up, enough things have been washed for the first few days, I can’t think of anything else short of picking up around the house that needs to be done before the baby gets here.

Baby watch 2012…

Posted on 04/18/2012 by Jessie | 1 Comment

I had my 36 week check up yesterday. Apparently my body and baby have begun birthing preparations. Baby has dropped and is ready to come out. No, I am not currently in labor, but my doctor did say that given the position of the baby and a couple other factors that baby could come whenever. There is nothing to indicate an early birth (we are still about 4 weeks out give or take a couple of days), but it’s not out of the question either. Needless to say the hospital bags were finished last night and are now in the car along with a pillow and my nursing pillow, so come time we are ready. For now we wait, which I am not good at. However, it does feel good to know that we are nearing the end and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I recently discovered that they are making baby toys for the different characters in the popular Eric Carle books. Probably the most popular book everyone is familiar with is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Well, I found this super cute elephant and could not resist! He goes with the book Do You Want To Be My Friend?. I am going to have to get all the books for baby and probably the toys to go along with them.

We also had a surprise package arrive in the mail yesterday. My super talented sister-in-law, Lindsey, made a baby quilt for baby girl! I love it! Absolutely beautiful! I cannot wait to take a picture of baby on the quilt!

Here’s a picture of one of the baby horses at the ranch/stables near our house. He’s so cute and I just had to take a picture of him the other day after work. Hubby was nice enough to pull over on the way home to let me snap a couple of pictures!

The RAWR phase of pregnancy…

Posted on 04/13/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

At a little over 35 weeks of pregnancy I have entered what I am going to call the rawr phase. At this point I am completely exhausted and would probably be better off being left alone. It takes very little to make me feel annoyed at this point. Alas, I must still adventure out into the world to continue making a living before maternity leave. Being out in the world makes it hard to be left alone. Random people want to talk to you about your pregnancy, and apparently you are expected to stand there while your feet, legs, and ankles swell to answer their questions to their satisfaction.

For example, hubby and I were out getting a bite to eat for lunch yesterday at a Quiznos (the Chicken Carbonara is super yummy!). We pay and get our sandwiches and fill our drink cups. I’m trying to follow hubby to an outside table and this random lady looks at me and says “oh you are having a baby!”, to which I reply the polite “yes I am” when I really wanted to say “REALLY?! I didn’t know!”. She tells me congratulations and I thank her all while I am continuing to walk out the door. I do not know this lady, and I really have no desire to stand in the middle of the Quiznos and discuss my pregnancy with her. I was not rude, but apparently my response was not satisfactory. I guess she made some sort of big deal about it to other people in the place cause I was being looked at and heads were nodding. Oh well, I’m past the point of care. All I wanted to do was sit down and eat.

So far I have done what I consider to be an amazing job of responding politely to the same questions that get repeated to me every day. I also think I have done a good job keeping the initial sarcastic responses that immediately jump into my mind when random people say things like “you look like you swallowed a watermelon.”, I mean seriously what is that?! Why would you say something like that to anyone? My initial response wants to be “thanks…..you too!”, but I keep that to myself. I think when they tell you that it takes a lot of energy to be pregnant, every assumes it’s because your body is lugging around extra weight and providing nutrients to the baby growing inside you. I’ve decided that is only part of it. The other part is exercising self-control during the last trimester when you feel like crap and everyone thinks its funny to stay stupid things to you and try to touch your tummy!

All that being said, I do not regret this pregnancy one bit. I am really excited to have this baby, and am really looking forward to seeing her for the first time next month and bringing her home. There is nothing quite like the experience of being pregnant, and I am so glad that I am able to experience it…..even if it is wearing me out!

Now fit to travel…

Posted on 03/22/2012 by Jessie | Leave a comment

The Chicco Cortina travel system we ordered arrived today! The pattern is called Miro. The infant car seat is the KeyFit 30 model, and the stroller is the Cortina model. It was pretty easy for hubby to put together. And it looks like it is going to be easy for me to get in and out of my car. I’m very pleased with our purchase!

Jessie Living

Adventures of a first time mommy

Tag Archives: baby