Our Jacob surprised us on August 2 when he arrived 5 weeks before his due date and 4 weeks before his scheduled "eviction". He arrived at a good weight (nearly 7 pounds, 4 ounces), which gave him an advantage. The usual reaction to that news is "wow, can you imagine what he would have been if he'd made it to term?" Yes, we can, as the median weight of our seven children is 9 pounds, 11 ounces...we assumed that Jacob would definintely reach, if not exceed, that weight. Although weighing in large was an advantage, he was still very much a preemie and behaved as such.
The "bonus month", as a friend of a preemie refers to the month we weren't really expecting or ready for, brought some trials. Jacob was very jaundiced, and endured daily lab tests for elevated bilirubin, "sunbathing" and forced feeds. He was also a poor nurser, as many premature infants are, which resulted in a weight loss of over a pound his first week and a month of visits to the lactation nurse, using breastfeeding aids and force-feeding to get things going. For the first 3 weeks, he and I lived in a cave (my bedroom) with a nurse/pump/supplement schedule going every 2-3 hours around the clock, with naps in between that routine. Our other children wondered if they had a mother, I am sure! Fortunately, Brian was on summer break, as were the children, which eased up our running around and allowed him to chauffer us to/from appointments. We received delicious hot meals delivered every evening for three weeks arranged through the Martha Ministry, a group from our parish that provides meals for during difficult times for parishioners, such as illness, new babies, adoptions and the like. We were truly blessed!
Jacob is now eight weeks old and has officially been a "newborn" and not a "preemie" for three weeks, and is behaving accordingly. His visit at the pediatrician today had him weighing in at 9 pounds, 13 ounces (which is what both of his brothers were at birth) and 23 inches in length (over 3 inches since he was born). He "graduated" from the lactation nurse last week because he was nursing exclusively without breastfeeding aids and was gaining weight so well. We're getting a stretch of about five hours of sleep at night, which is a vast improvement over 2-3 hours. And, to top it all off, he has rolled over from his stomach to his back over the past two days! He is definitely on track developmentally and is such a wonderfully loved and cuddly addition to our family. I am thankful that he is growing and developing, but I am also very thankful for and will miss that "bonus month" that he has graduated from.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Ahhh...the joys of motherhood
I love being a mother. Why else, of course, would I have become a "new mom" so many times? However, there are certain aspects of motherhood that no mom truly loves or takes much joy in.
There are, of course, the sleepless nights...my husband and I have spent a large number of nearly sleepless nights over the years. There are the newborn nights, the nightmares and the illnesses that all parents deal with. We are in the midst of another round of newborn nights, so if you see me napping in my van at school pickup time and most parents have picked their children up from the playground, please knock and wake me up. However, if you see me napping and the children are not yet released, please let me catch the next few blessed minutes of oblivion...they might be the only ones I'll see that day!
Another area of motherhood that I find little to no joy in revolves around the housework. Our house often looks as if a mini-cyclone has gone through. In truth, the cyclones in my home come in many sizes, starting about the time the children learned to crawl. Once upon a time, when there was only one sweet, cherubic child who was mobile, I thought this was easy to deal with...you just simply pick up the toys that are lying about the little love's room and toss them into the bucket in the corner and throw their cute little clothes into the wash. That method didn't bode well for us, I am afraid. As our family size has increased, the size of our home has decreased (surprises me, too). We have toys and clothes in every single area of our house and yard...and don't get me started on the shoes! I am definitely NOT attached to my children's belongings, and clearly they aren't, either, as they are all over my house. Now that I am a declared full-time homemaker, I hope to get a handle on this...if the sleepless nights allow.
The area of motherhood that I am particularly disenchanted with today are the changes that it causes in my body. Pregnancy necessitates changes and God has created a miracle in the maternal body's ability to provide a safe haven for the new baby, bring him forth into the outside world and nourish him for some time as an infant. It is a beautiful thing! What is not beautiful, however, is the weight that is surely still around from my first and subsequent pregnancies, the widened hips from expansion of the pelvis to birth our babies, abdominal muscles torn as the uterus demands more room, and all things associated with the recovery from childbirth (specifically c-section, in my case). The most annoying to me today, however, are the effects that my pregancy has had on other areas of the body, specifically my ankles. Many women experience swelling of their ankles, as did I, and are overjoyed when our ankles return to "normal", no longer resembling sausages in casings, and I was no exception. However, I have had an increase of ankle pain over the past 2 weeks, which I was associating with a fall back in March. At the time, the PA decided to treat my injury as a sprain, and to not x-ray because I was pregnant. Today, I visited the orthopedic doctor, who x-rayed both ankles. Fortunately, there was no sign of fracture and everything was normal "for someone my age". Unfortunately, the diagnosis was soft tissue inflammation of the synovial spaces due to pregnancy-related loosening of the joints. The prescribed treatment is ibuprofen around the clock and neoprene wrap, both of which I was already doing without a visit to the doctor.
The prognosis: the synovitis should clear up with or without treatment in a mere six to nine months! Maybe the sleepless nights due to a newborn will be gone by then as well...I'm not holding my breath for the chaos in the house to improve for a couple of decades, though!
There are, of course, the sleepless nights...my husband and I have spent a large number of nearly sleepless nights over the years. There are the newborn nights, the nightmares and the illnesses that all parents deal with. We are in the midst of another round of newborn nights, so if you see me napping in my van at school pickup time and most parents have picked their children up from the playground, please knock and wake me up. However, if you see me napping and the children are not yet released, please let me catch the next few blessed minutes of oblivion...they might be the only ones I'll see that day!
Another area of motherhood that I find little to no joy in revolves around the housework. Our house often looks as if a mini-cyclone has gone through. In truth, the cyclones in my home come in many sizes, starting about the time the children learned to crawl. Once upon a time, when there was only one sweet, cherubic child who was mobile, I thought this was easy to deal with...you just simply pick up the toys that are lying about the little love's room and toss them into the bucket in the corner and throw their cute little clothes into the wash. That method didn't bode well for us, I am afraid. As our family size has increased, the size of our home has decreased (surprises me, too). We have toys and clothes in every single area of our house and yard...and don't get me started on the shoes! I am definitely NOT attached to my children's belongings, and clearly they aren't, either, as they are all over my house. Now that I am a declared full-time homemaker, I hope to get a handle on this...if the sleepless nights allow.
The area of motherhood that I am particularly disenchanted with today are the changes that it causes in my body. Pregnancy necessitates changes and God has created a miracle in the maternal body's ability to provide a safe haven for the new baby, bring him forth into the outside world and nourish him for some time as an infant. It is a beautiful thing! What is not beautiful, however, is the weight that is surely still around from my first and subsequent pregnancies, the widened hips from expansion of the pelvis to birth our babies, abdominal muscles torn as the uterus demands more room, and all things associated with the recovery from childbirth (specifically c-section, in my case). The most annoying to me today, however, are the effects that my pregancy has had on other areas of the body, specifically my ankles. Many women experience swelling of their ankles, as did I, and are overjoyed when our ankles return to "normal", no longer resembling sausages in casings, and I was no exception. However, I have had an increase of ankle pain over the past 2 weeks, which I was associating with a fall back in March. At the time, the PA decided to treat my injury as a sprain, and to not x-ray because I was pregnant. Today, I visited the orthopedic doctor, who x-rayed both ankles. Fortunately, there was no sign of fracture and everything was normal "for someone my age". Unfortunately, the diagnosis was soft tissue inflammation of the synovial spaces due to pregnancy-related loosening of the joints. The prescribed treatment is ibuprofen around the clock and neoprene wrap, both of which I was already doing without a visit to the doctor.
The prognosis: the synovitis should clear up with or without treatment in a mere six to nine months! Maybe the sleepless nights due to a newborn will be gone by then as well...I'm not holding my breath for the chaos in the house to improve for a couple of decades, though!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Newly baptized boy
The baptism itself was a bit of a circus...the numbers of children at the baptism was plentiful (and not just from the families of the newly baptized). It was a great witness to how wonderfully welcomed children are into our faith, our families and our parish. We are truly blessed!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Blog beginnings
A friend of mine often urges me to write a book about the funny stories that I am always sharing of our family life. I'm not quite up to that kind of undertaking, but might be able to handle blogging now and again. So, welcome to "All Three Rings", a peek into the circus that is our life...I pray that sharing our tales brings blessings and smiles in your life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)