Xander, Emilie and Baby #3 » April 2005 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

< > April 2005

Sat, Apr 30, 2005 10:44 PM
The latest news of the day.....Xander's blood culture was positive so we are still in the hospital. He didn't keep any food down today until about 15 minutes ago, although his fever has significantly decreased....so either the positive blood culture is a contamination of the culture when drawing the blood or the broad spectrum antibiotics have done their job. However, they come with a price. See above concerning the food.....
Regardless, he still seems to be doing better after a second day in the hospital. Of course, I am not sure how comfortable the pediatrician is with sending him home, so.......let's just say there has been talk of Xander establishing residence their for a few days. Let's hope not, but we will do what is necessary!

Well, I better get back to the hospital.

Keep Xander in your thoughts and prayers!

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Fri, Apr 29, 2005 10:12 PM
Angie and I decided earlier this week to take today (Friday) off. We had hoped to be able to do some much-needed cleaning of the house prior to the baptism celebration. WellтАж..Xander had different plans for us. Thursday evening he was acting a little funny and did not seem interested in his food. We checked his temperature and to our surprise he was at 100.3! We continued to monitor it through the night and he did not exceed 100.8. However, when we checked it again at 9am this morning, it had risen to 101.9. We phoned XanderтАЩs pediatrician and he suggested we stop by the office. They checked his temperature again at the office (in a way that no heterosexual man would want) and it was at 101.8 and his weight was down 3oz. After the doc finished his exam, he found no obvious signs of infection and, as such, Xander was diagnosed as тАЬFever-unknown originтА?. There were many fabulous things that came with this diagnosis. A spinal tap was performed to rule out the obvious. Blood was drawn for cultures and he was fitted with an IV (in his frickin head!). A urine sample was removedтАжnot the nice way either. A chest X-ray to rule out pneumoniaтАжтАжand he won a two night stay at the fabulous Clarian West hospital.

As you may have suspected, the baptism is now off. I told the X-man that this is quite an elaborate scheme to get out of a baptism. I warned him that I may just baptize him myself if he keeps this up!!

The Gram stain of his spinal fluid was negative (no white cells either). The only questionable result was quite a bit of protein in his spinal fluid. All of the cultures will take approximately 3 to 7 days. If nothing shows up by Sunday, he will be released. His fever seems to have lifted and is almost completely back to normal. He ate 4 times today and seems to be getting his appetite back; however, he still is not acting like the same the baby, so we are still a little worried.

If you are reading this and you pray, say a prayer for Xander, otherwise, keep him in your thoughts!

We will keep you posted!

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sun, Apr 17, 2005 10:30 AM
Xander had a busy weekend! Like usual, he slept through most of it though. Friday evening he had dinner at Amy and Chad's new house. Saturday he went treadmill, lawn mower, and jeans shopping and ate at Max & ErmaтАЩs. Once he's put in the sleep machine (the car), he's out! He's still recouping from all that activity and is sleeping with Daddy right now.

This week he's been showing us how much of a big boy he is. While playing on his tummy time mat (for a record 1.5hrs without getting mad!), he rolled over from his left to right side 2 times!! Maybe it's because the mirror is on his right and he loves looking at and talking the "other" baby. Or maybe it's because he doesn't seem to like to lie on his left side very well. Either way, we were all impressed! He's also been holding his head up (trying to show off his big muscles!) and talking (he doesn't coo, he grunts--I guess that's more manly) a lot more this week. He also slept for a record 6hrs 2 nights in a row!! His tummy time play with Daddy in the evening really seems to be wearing him out!!

I can't believe I've only got one more week with him before he starts going to day care and I have to return to work! I get all teary-eyed just thinking about it!! We finally found a somewhere for him to go--ABC's & 123's Daycare in Avon. His first day is Monday, April 25th. I know I'm going to be a mess at work that entire day!

Until then we're going to have to make the most of everyday we have left. And hopefully my second round of mastitis will be gone by then. My doc and I have no idea how I got it again. Since I knew what it was this time, it wasn't as far along as the first time so it's clearing up more quickly. Within a day of starting the antibiotics I was able to carry him around in the Baby Bjorn and let him fall asleep while lying on my chest. This will hopefully be the last time I have it because I will be done pumping by the end of this week. He's been having 1/2 breastmilk 1/2 Enfamil Lipil AR formula bottles all week and seems to be keeping the mixture down better than straight BM or formula. The rice starch seems to be doing its job.

I guess since everyone else is sleeping, I might as well join them!

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sun, Apr 10, 2005 12:00 PM
Xander had a weight check on Friday. He's now up to a whopping 10lbs 9oz (minus clothes and diaper)!!! While we were in the office, we asked Dr. McIntire about formulas. Why? Well, after the mastitis, Xander's ever increasing appetite, and my decreasing supply, we've made the decision to transition to formula. It wasn't what we had planned on doing and we aren't exactly happy about it, but I guess things don't always go as planned. Xander has had a few formula bottles so far and doesn't seem to mind the switch at all. So we asked Doc M about Enfamil AR, which is supposed to reduce spit up, and he gave us some free sampels. Maybe all this formula will do is make Chad and I feel better about more staying in his tummy because it doesn't seem to be bothering the little guy any. Even with all the spitting up, he's put on nearly 2lbs since leaving the hospital!!

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Fri, Apr 1, 2005 11:43 AM
As if breastfeeding hadn't been hard enough, another problem has popped up. I now have mastitis. For those that haven't had it or heard of it, it's a breast infection. Mastitis is usually caused by poor milk flow from the breast. When milk builds up in a breast, it leaks into surrounding breast tissue, which becomes inflamed and prone to infection. Infection can also develop when nipples become cracked or irritated (usually from improper latch on, which we had lots of problems with), allowing bacteria to enter the breast.

I started to notice an area that was painful, red, and warm last week before I started pumping. Then this week I started to feel really tired and my head felt kinda funny. I figured it was just lack of sleep and fluids. Yesterday, after reading about this on WebMD, I took my temperature and realized I had a fever (my normal body temp is ~97.5 and it was currently 99.5). So I called Dr. Lee and she prescribed an antibiotic (Dicloxacillin). She said I should be feeling better in 48hrs but to take the pills for 7days, unless Xander starts to get diarrhea. Then I have to stop taking them immediately (I guess most babies have no problem with this antibiotic though so it shouldn't be an issue).

As for continuing to feed Xander breast milk, that's not a problem either. Evidently he can't catch anything from it. Not to mention that continuing to breastfeed/pump is part of the treatment since one cause is the build-up of milk. Although I'm not sure if this is directly related or just a coincidence, my milk supply is also dropping off. At the rate that this boy eats, I'm not going to be able to keep up with him for much longer. Even though neither Chad nor I wanted him to have to be on formula, it looks like it may be happening...soon.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates