Week 6

Abby went for her first walk around the neighborhood this week! The weather was finally warm enough and I was very grateful because I really needed the exercise. This is also one of the only times she took a pacifier. I'm not really a big fan of pacifiers but once in awhile they are really helpful. Unfortunately this next week is supposed to be cold again. Utah weather can be so fickle in March and April. Other than that, this week was pretty uneventful. Abby has been smiling alot more lately. My favorite time of day is after she eats in the morning, she will lay in my arms and smile at me!! There is nothing quite as beautiful as seeing your own child smile. I'm sure all parents will agree with me. We are excited to have family coming out this week for Abby's blessing next weekend. We will post more pictures then!!

Week 5

This week has been such a busy week. The Welcome Baby nurse came on monday and it was wonderful!! Abby weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces! I feel like she taught me alot of helpful information. I learned that the dandruff I thought Abby had on her scalp was actually cradle cap. EEK! but she told me how to treat it and it is pretty much gone now. She also showed me how to use the Boppy pillow during tummy time. As you can see above, Abby is doing a great job and has been able to lift her head alot! The Welcome Baby program is great! The nurse is going to keep coming back over the next few months and will keep checking her progress. It is very helpful to a first time mom who has no clue what she is doing!

Here is Abby in her first ride in the bouncy chair! She seemed to like it.

Unfortunately, I caught her too late but here is a picture of Abby lifting and turning her head. From this view you can see her hair. She has almost no hair on top of her head but the hair on the back of her head is thicker and pretty long.

Here she is looking at me with those eyes that say "Mom, why do you make me do this tummy time thing!"

Tuesday was Jason's birthday. Unlike Abby's weekly birthdays, I will not update you on his weight or his development. On tuesday, we just had dinner and cake at our house with a couple of friends. Today we had a barbecue at our house to celebrate and were able to see some friends we haven't seen in awhile. It was definately a good time.

On friday, I took Abby into the doctors office. She had what looked like baby acne but then it just kept spreading all over. It is on her eyelids, ears, neck, shoulders and chest. I, being the paranoid mom that I am, took her in. I was just worried it was some type of really bad rash. They said it is called Sebborhea and it is related to the cradle cap. Poor girl. When they weighed her yesterday, she weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 and 1/2 ounces but this time they didn't have me undress her or change her diaper first so I'm not sure how accurate that is. I am just glad she seems to be growing at a good rate. Well, I will try to keep updating everyone each week. Until then, Love you all!

P.S. Happy late birthday to my brother in law Kevin and his wife Susan!!

Abby is growing so BIG!!

Ok, she is still smaller at 4 weeks old than some of her cousins were at birth but she is gaining weight at a good pace!! I took her to the doctor to be weighed last tuesday (her 4 week birthday) and she is now 8 pounds! That means she has gained on average 8 ounces a week! This is very reassuring to me. I am sure every breastfeeding mom at some time has had the same worries as I have about whether or not she is eating enough. Now for the updates of what she can do. As you can see from the picture above, she can roll to one side but i'm not sure if that is of her own doing or gravity. She is starting to make sounds other that crying. She makes these little sighing noises that are adorable!! She is definately a mover and shaker. She is always moving her legs around. When I am holding her on my shoulder and she moves her legs around, I can put one hand below her feet and she will sort of stand up, albeit I am supporting most of her body. Most exciting of all, today she looked at me and smiled. This smile looked a little different from her "gas smiles" she has been having. Maybe it was still one of those but it is nice to imagine she was smiling at me.

She isn't as big on the swaddling as other babies are. If we try to put her hands in the blanket burrito, she wrestles them away so I gave up even trying to wrap them up. Many times when she is sleeping, she looks like this or she'll have her hands up under her chin. Jason usually sleeps with his hands behind his head too. She is developing to be more like him every day! (at least I think so). I'll have her weighed again on monday, there is a program the county does where they send nurses to the homes of newborns if the parents want so the nurse is coming here monday to weigh her and check to see how she is doing. I will try to update everyone then. P.S. It is Jason's birthday next tuesday so wish him a happy birthday!

Three weeks!

Abby turned 3 weeks old yesterday! It seems like she is growing so big yet she still has some pretty skinny legs and arms. We'll see how they look in a couple of weeks. As time goes by it seems to me that I can see more of Jason in her every day. I think she has his eyes.

She is also sleeping alot less these days. at first, it seemed like she was always asleep but now it seems like she is always awake. I think I need to get her one of those play stations so she can be entertained more.

Here is Abby doing her daily tummy time. She seems to be liking it a little bit more each day. At first she hated it but now she seems to try to move aroung and she can lift her head and turn it to the other side! It is amazing to see the changes and progress that she is making.

Jason has been sick since sunday. I really hope he gets feeling better soon but today he seems worse than he did yesterday. I think it is even harder on him because he hasn't been holding the baby although he really wants to in order to not get her sick. I hope for all of our sakes, he gets better soon.

2 Weeks!!

It's hard to believe that Abby turned 2 weeks yesterday!! In some ways, it feels like longer than that. Probably because I have been awake enough to equal more like 3 weeks. We took her into the pediatrician yesterday for her 2 week check up. She looks like she is doing really good. She has grown and inch and a 1/2 since she was born. I think since I see her everyday, I don't realize it. She weighed in yesterday at 6 pounds 10 ounces! I don't know how accurate that weight is though because when we took her to PCMC last thursday, she was only 6 pounds. Abby was squirming around alot then though and was really fussy so maybe that weight wasn't that accurate. The important thing is that she is gaining weight and she is growing! Yeah!! She is also starting to sleep alot less during the day which is fun to see her awake and interacting with Jason and I. Hearing that she is doing well has helped me realize that even though she has MCAD deficiency, she really is going to be able to live a normal life. Just have to keep up with the treatment plan. There is a website about her disorder that has a support group for families. Reading some experiences on there has also helped me alot. Last week, I spent every waking moment worrying about if she was going to be OK and what her life was going to be like. Then monday night I read some posts from parents on the website. One lady made a really good point. She said that as she was watching her 13 year old son who has MCAD play baseball the other day, she realized that she had worried his childhood away and how much she regretted it. That really helped me change my point of view. Sure there are risks with this disorder but even completely healthy children face risks. She is a beautiful and strong girl and we feel that she has truly been a blessing in our lives and we are so lucky to have her.

Abby's first valentines

So Carly sent this really cute onesie to us for Abigail. It says my first Valentine. We tried to take a picture but she was beyond ready to have her diaper changed (and her clothes) So we didn't get a great picture.

Abigail also got her first Valentines present from her daddy. Jason calls Abigail his little piglet because she makes this cute snorting noise sometimes before she eats so he got her this cute little piglet doll.

We also got this cute Congratulations cookie bouquet from all of my family. Thank you all for it, we really appreciate it.

We took this picture of Abigail when she was 7 days old. This sleeper says that it is supposed to fit 0-3 months. I don't believe it. It honestly looks like you could pull her through the neck hole she is so tiny!

I wasn't planning on introducing a bottle so soon but because of her disorder, the doctor reccomended we make sure she is able to take a bottle as soon as possible in case anything happened to me and I was unable to feed her. They also reccomended that we build up a supply of milk in the freezer and also make sure she is able to take formula in case none of my milk is available. She was a natural though and took the bottle right away and had no problem going back to breastfeeding later.

update

As I had mentioned before, Abbie had to spend some time in the NICU. She was having trouble eating and her blood sugar dropped really low. They had to put her on an iv and once her blood sugar was back up, we worked on feeding. when we left the hospital, she was feeding great an looks very healthy. At the time, they attributed the incident to the fact that she was so small. This week we learned that one of the newborn screening tests came back positve. It appears that Abbie has a genetic disorder called mcad deficiency. Her body is unable to process certain fatty acids. At first, some of the paperwork that the doctors gave us did not sound too promising but yesterday we met with a geneticist and a nutritionist up at PCMC. They made me feel a lot better. They feel that as long as we follow the treatment plan, she should be able to live a normal healthy life. She has to take a supplement twice a day and she can not fast. Right now that means she absolutely cannot go 3 hours without eating. That time frame will change as she gains weight. She will also have to follow a fat free diet the rest of her life. The scariest part for me is that any time she gets a little sick, we have to take her to the ER for an IV. I just hope that I will be fast enough to catch it when she is sick so that she won't have any negative outcomes. Well, I know this post is a bummer. Trust me, I have cried plenty and I haven't really felt like talking about it the past few days but I thought I should share with everyone what the situation is.