Two Months Old

I cannot believe how fast this summer is flying by. We have been on the go so much that I haven't had much time to blog lately. I have quite a few things that I want to blog about, but of course, the most important first and foremost is our baby boy:

It's crazy that Jacob turned 2 months old last week. He is growing bigger and smarter every day and his personality is really starting to come out. He is such a happy baby most of the time, except when he is hungry or tired. He has been on a really good 3-4 hour eating schedule since he was born, so that is easily taken care of. The sleeping part is a little more of a challenge, especially since we have been on the road so much. The night time routine has gotten to be pretty predictable - he nurses sometime around 10-11pm and then goes to sleep in his crib. Usually he wakes up around 3:30am and then again around 6:30am. Last night though, he slept 8 straight hours! He nursed and went down at 10pm and didn't get up until 6am. I woke up at 3:45am (I think my body is used to getting up at that time!) and I was really worried because I hadn't heard him cry. So, I tiptoed into his room to make sure he was still breathing (I think I am going to be doing this until he is 18 years old!!). Sure enough, he was still breathing fine and sleeping "like a baby". Of course, when I left his room, he started stirring a bit - must be he heard me come in. But, he didn't make much noise and fell back asleep right away. I am hoping that this sleeping through the night continues!!

Today I have started to try to get him on a regular nap schedule. I am also trying to get him to nap in his crib instead of the bouncy seat or the swing, which is where he has been napping recently. I understand the importance of having him nap in his crib and also for him to be on a regular schedule, but today has been really hard. He did end up sleeping for 45 minutes in the crib this morning, but that was after I listened to him cry loudly for 30 minutes. Once I went in to console him, I rocked him and he fell asleep in my arms. I knew he was tired, he just didn't want to fall asleep in the crib on his own. I know that he can put himself to sleep because a few times in the middle of the night, I have put him in the crib when he wasn't quite asleep and he has done fine. I don't know what his reluctance was today, but hopefully it will get better. Right now, he is sleeping in the swing, where he fell asleep after he ate! I guess this napping routine is going to take some time (and patience!).

We have been doing a lot of tummy time with Jacob. He does really well on his stomach for about 10 minutes and then he gets frustrated. He is constantly moving his little legs and looks like he is about to crawl, but of course his arms are not strong enough for that yet (thank goodness!). As you can see, he lifts his head up really well:
Against all recommendations, I have also been putting him to sleep on his stomach a bit (mostly in the mornings, when I can monitor him). I know that everything you read nowadays tells you that a baby should only sleep on his back, but Jacob enjoys sleeping on his stomach (and sleeps so soundly) that I figured a little bit can't hurt. As my mother and grandmother reminded me, we all slept on our stomachs and we survived!

One bad thing that Jacob has had to deal with recently is GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), also know as acid reflux. Keith and I noticed a few weeks ago that Jacob was having a lot of discomfort when he was eating (he would cry out during his feedings), he was having a lot more spit up and would gag and cough a lot. Also when we laid him down flat, even hours after he ate, you could see (and hear) stuff moving up through his throat to his mouth. Sometimes, whatever it was would come out, but most often he would swallow it and would be very uncomfortable. I mentioned this to the doctor when we saw her for Jacob's 6 week checkup and she said that it was normal for babies to have some of these symptoms. She wasn't concerned that it was something that needed to be treated since he was gaining weight so well, but she did say that we could give him some medicine if it got to be too uncomfortable for him.

The Friday night right before we left for our trip to NY & PA it seemed to get worse! None of us slept well because Jacob was up until 4am! He would cry every time we put him on his back in the crib. Finally, I put him in the swing and I laid down on the couch to try to get a few hours of rest. We deliberated the next morning about what to do. We certainly didn't want to go away for 10 days with a baby that was uncomfortable and wouldn't sleep. We decided to call our pediatrician and she called in a prescription of Zantac for us. Jacob has been taking it for over two weeks now and we have seen remarkable improvement. He gets the medicine once in the morning and once at night, 12 hours apart. Since the medicine tastes so terrible (yes, I did taste it!), Jacob refused to swallow it straight. We have been giving him a bottle with an ounce of breastmilk mixed with the medicine and that seems to be working. It is a pain to have to put a bottle together twice a day (and also for me to pump enough to have milk on hand), but we are glad that our little guy doesn't seem to be in as much discomfort!!

It also helps that we have "raised" one end of his crib so that his head is propped up. As you can see, we used bowls under the feet of the crib and rolled towels under the mattress. This works really well, except that now that he is moving so much, sometimes I find him at the other end of the crib - I think he moves his legs so much that he pushes himself around!

Before the Zantac started working, we noticed that Jacob would sleep much better in the bouncy seat, so we put him in it in the crib to sleep at night. The morning we were leaving for our trip I went in to see if he was awake (because we wanted to leave early in the morning) and this is how I found him:

He had moved so much and pushed himself down in the seat that he was basically hanging off the thing (we started buckling him in after this!). The funny thing is that he was sound asleep (he didn't even wake up when I took these pictures with a flash). I guess he was comfortable, but it certainly doesn't look comfortable to me!

Jacob is really starting to become more interactive & vocal and it is so cute. He smiles when we talk to him and he coos and "talks" to us sometimes when he is in the mood. I love that when I ask him a question (that he, of course, doesn't understand), he will look right at me and make a sound like he is answering me. He is also really good at listening and following sounds - like the music on the swing or the clock that chimes on the hour or Daddy's voice. He will stop and look up to see where the sound is coming from. You can just see his little mind working to try and figure out what that sound is. Also, he is using his hands more - he moves them all about, bats at things sometimes, grabs my finger or shirt when he is nursing, and sucks on his hand when he is hungry or when he is sleepy.

We were also happy to hear that Jacob does not have urinary reflux, as the doctors thought he might. If you remember, we were told that he had hydronephrosis (dilation of the kidneys) when he was in utero. Then after he was born, that dilation seemed to be gone, but the doctors were unsure about the urinary reflux. Last week, Jacob had an ultrasound, a VCUG (an x-ray exam of the bladder), and an appointment with Dr. Peters, the same pediatric urologist that I saw when I was pregnant. Dr. Peters confirmed what the doctor had told us during the VCUG - that no reflux was found. Thank God! And, Jacob did really well during both procedures, even when they had to insert a catheter into his bladder and fill it with a contrast material. Keith was having a hard time watching them insert the catheter into his penis, but he was a trooper during the entire thing! He only got fussy when his bladder got extremely full. We kept telling him to just let it out (pee) and he would feel better, but it seemed like he had performance anxiety for a moment. Once he was able to urinate, he felt much better and so did we! There was slight dilation of one of his kidneys still, so we have to go back to have another ultrasound done again in 6 months. Hopefully, at that time, everything will be fine.

It is so awesome to see how he is developing physically, mentally and emotionally. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him.