Throw Up Happens when I turn one Month

"I have something to tell you," the lady said. Clad in a blue bikini, emerging from the trees, she approaches the dirty blonde haired boy standing on the beach.

"What?" He asks. All of a sudden, the brown-haired, red halter swimsuit lady, interjects. "Nothing. She has nothing to tell you."

Undeterred, the blue bikini forges on with her confession. She moves closer to the boy. The sun is shining. She takes a deep breath.

"We're still on St. Lucia."

"What?!?!" The boy shouts, suddenly going ballistic. And all I can do is stare, stare at the tv, for a moment, wishing I was on St. Lucia, on the shores, with the sun shining. Instead, I find myself, nestled in the couch, a diaper only clad Lilly Rose snuggled on my shirt, only on the right side. The left side, you see, is covered, in her throw up.

She had been spitting up, a couple times that afternoon. I went out with her, met a girl from my prenatal yoga class, for thai food, we were near the house. I got something mild - cashew chicken. Didn't really have a lot of spice. But now it was our 6PM feeding. And she was ready for her 1st dinner.

So she's eating. She spits up, pretty bad. Enough to get on her outfit and in her neck and hair. I decide it's time for a bath. So we go upstairs, I bathe her, she smells nice and clean (got to love Johnson and Johnson baby lotion - it is such a nice, soothing smell) and she's in a new pink onesie.

I've got her in my arms, we're now back downstairs. And I should mention that I too am in a new shirt. As her previous spit ups have landed on my first shirt! So she's in my arms, I'm holding her, and we're near the island. She's been a bit fussy, but I think its probably due to gas, of which I am trying to help her get out, by burping her.

When all of a sudden, she leans back, and then comes forward, and I feel this warm liquid, falling down my left side and onto the floor. And then I look, startled, and see her covered, and me covered, and the floor has a little pile. And freaked out, I don't know what to do. She's covered. I'm freaked. She's crying. And I'm crying.

I get the onesie off of her. I call Mark, lump in my throat, as I am crying but trying not to cry, as she can sense the discomfort and that makes her even more unhappy. He asks what's going on, I say she threw up. Please come home. And then I hang up. And I take my diaper wearing baby. Hold her in my arm and find myself on the couch.

Not sure how I made it on the Lifetime Movie Network ( normally its HGTV) but I soon find myself staring at the above scene playing out, as a movie called Lovewrecked ( nice, huh?) comes over on the tv. Amanda Bynes is the blue bikini, and apparently she's concocted a story about how she, the boy (didn't recognize him) who is apparently a rock star, Jamie-Lyn Sigler (Meadow Soprano) who is the red swimsuit, became shipwrecked off their resort in St. Lucia, but turns out that they are only through the trees from their accommodations, and as you may have guessed it, both girls are fighting over the boy. But Amanda Bynes can't handle the lies anymore so she comes clean. Boy leaves and girls fight. Hurricane then ensues and lots of wind and rain come to the island, much like the storm of vomit Lilly Rose left on herself, me, and the floor.

Boy finds his way back to the resort, Amanda Bynes is rescued by her true love (she suddenly realized that she doesn't have feelings for the rock star boy but her best guy friend) And Meadow Soprano is left on her own (but she survives the hurricane).

And like the characters - Lilly and I are rescued. But by Mark. He comes in, and immediately helps out. He takes Lilly, calms her, and then calms me. It's fuzzy in retrospect. He dresses her. Get's her something to eat, as he prepares another bottle, this time, we put some gripe water in it to help her tummy out, gives her a little to eat, she takes it, keeps it down, and then goes down for a nap. I change clothes, take a picture of the vomit, clean it up, and then take a breather. Wednesday was Lilly's one month birthday and we were going to celebrate. But that night was all about going with the flow. No celebrations that night, well, except that she wasn't sick, that the throw up was probably a one time thing. And celebrating being together. So needless to say, I was glad that I wasn't in St. Lucia. Happy to be in our house on Coliseum Street, vomit and all.

New Measurements

We went Thursday for the one month check up (hard to believe she's already one month!). But all is well with Lilly Rose - she's growing like 'gangbusters' according to the doctor. She was 8 lbs 13 oz at the week check up and she's now 10 lbs 11 oz - which puts her in the 90th percentile for weight. She was also 21 1/3 inches and is now 22 1/4 inches, which puts her in the 75th-90th percentile. She's holding her head up, starting to coo, and getting used to her car seat carrier. We've taken her to temple, the library, cupcake shop and out to lunch with a friend (more on that in the next post). She's also at the beach now (two posts from now - I know, I am behind!) and did so well in the car! We were both amazed. But her face has started to fill out and she's starting to sweat, when she gets really angry and crying you can see droplets on her nose. Every now and then you can see a tear. And she's got a little rash on her face - the doctor told us the name, some medical, scary sounding name, but its really harmless, she said - which looks a bit like baby acne. We go back for two month check up on the 20th of September - at which she will get her first round of shots, it's actually one shot but with five vaccines. Not looking forward to that one!

Spit Happens, Part II

She got me again - straight down my chest. I think she surprised herself more than me - it really startled her. But I've got about 4-5 shirts in rotation, that seem to get washed every other day, that attract the baby spit up. All t-shirts. I've even stolen one from Mark and added it to my wardrobe. Anyway, we're doing well. She's exploring more with her hands, note how she's 'holding' the bottle. We've got our 1 month check up with the doctor tomorrow. We're both curious to see how much she's grown, in both weight and inches.

A busy weekend

So Lilly Rose ( and us) had a busy, busy weekend. She got out of the house several times - and Mark and I even went on a date ( no baby but we did have bad Mexican food.) We took her to dinner Thursday night - Mark's aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents came in town. Lilly got to meet Uncles Jay and Tony and Aunts Caroyln and Sally. She even had her nails trimmed by Uncle Tony ( thank you - they are intimidating to cut, hoping that I can last until my mom comes back in September!). She did well on her dinner outing, until the end, where she got tired and hungry and started a bit of a melt down. It was cool, as I had a melt down myself about an hour before, at dinner. Hungry, tired, and full of hormones, I felt like I was panicking, like an anxiety attack was coming on, so of course, I freaked. Went into panic mode but didn't want to make a scene (probably too late) so to make a long story short, ended up breaking down in sobs in the ladies restroom of Restaurant Bacco, with Mark's mom comforting me. All was good once the tears were out and the Redfish was in my stomach - so lesson learned (and re-learned, keep the blood sugar up, eat every two hours or so, especially eat something with protein). But we made it home Thursday night, she ate and was immediately better. The power of food. And home!

Friday Mo and Mel babysat while I went out and got my nails done. And Mark, Lilly and I had Shabbat dinner. We even took Lilly out for her first ride in the stroller - we walked the three blocks to pick up pizza from Slice. And it wasn't too hot. And the SUV-like stroller maneuvered the cracked sidewalks and roads like a charm. And she really liked the motion, but she did not enjoy being put in the car seat carrier. But she made do. Check out the video of her first stroller ride.

Saturday we went to temple - for her to be presented to the congregation. She was put in her first dress - a white number with pink roses on it - it was really sweet (the mom's picked it out in June). We had four generations present and called up to the bima - so it was beautiful to see the progression, from Mark's grandparents to Lilly Rose. She slept through pretty much everything, but woke at the very end of our time on the bima. She wailed out but quieted down as soon as she was held. She was just hungry so I fed her and she was a much happier camper. Saturday night Mark's parents babysat while we went out - but sitting at dinner we realized that we should have sent them out with Lilly and we stayed home and took a nap! But we did enjoy going out, and I had a beer - my first since the pregnancy and birth. And like I said earlier, the food wasn't that great, but the company was spectacular.

Sunday we celebrated Mo's birthday with brunch. She once again got out but we were about 30 minutes late as she was quite gassy from her 2nd breakfast and didn't like how she felt. So she cried and cried and sweated and sweated. And her face got so red. It's hard to see her when she gets like that. I just want to hug her and make it all go away. I wish I had some magical powers that could do it for me! But she recovered, slept in the car ride, awoke in the restaurant and was held, while we ate and celebrated. Dad then watched her while I went with two friends to see Eat, Pray, Love - beautifully shot movie - makes you want to go on vacation, but book is tons better. And then we had dinner at cousin Margot's house. So all in all a great but busy weekend. I told Lilly this morning that this was our day of rest! I've napped and she's been a good sleeper today. So it seems like she needed it!

Sleepy Times

Lilly Rose is learning all about how to take advantage of rainy days - with the tropical depression/storm bands (it's been a bit since I watched the news!) that came through New Orleans yesterday night and today, Lilly has been taking advantage of the dreary day. She's been super sleepy today. And it threw me off, as I really wanted to stay on the schedule, every three hours she's supposed to be eating, then napping. Well, I'd get her up, or should say attempt to get her up, change her diaper, then try to feed her. Sometimes, as with the 10 AM feeding it would go smoothly. Other times, as with the 1PM and 4PM, not so much. For someone who fought going to sleep last night, she was sure fighting being awake this afternoon. Would try to wake her, would play with her, would sometimes need to put a diaper wipe (the cool feeling) over her body. One time even put her skin to skin, to try to wake her. Another time would just put her down, let her get 'angry and cry' and then get her to eat. Ahh the multitude of things. And I love structure and being in control, and with her on a schedule, I felt both of those. So when she veered off, and being sleepy, I begin to doubt myself, and I worry about the upcoming feedings and bedtime - will she eat? will she sleep? Only time will tell.

On another note, only changed my shirt twice today - and no poo on any item of clothing or piece of furniture. Nice!

The Field Trip that wasn't

So we attempted to make it to postnatal yoga this morning, but no go. We did, however, get out the front door, into the car, pull up to the yoga studio, before we had a huge cry (Lilly not me) and I realized that we were late, didn't take her out of the carseat, and drove home. While I did stop the engine, get out of the car, and attempt to undo her, I chickened out. I had visions of me bringing Lilly into yoga class, all calm and peaceful, not crying and red in the face. After all, aren't first impressions everything? So even though I got a spot right in front of the studio, prime parking space, I got back in the car, and drove off, albeit slowly towards home.

Lessons learned:

1. budget in more time to get her in the car seat, into the car, into the car seat base.

2. Also plan for rain - I don't think she minded because it was a little rain, but if it was pouring, we might have had issues. Probably need to invest in some sort of rain gear for her or the car seat.

3. Call studio ahead of time, just to check that class is still happening (the neurotic in me was afraid no one would be there and studio would be closed)

4. When she goes down for sleep, make sure she is in her car seat carrier. She awoke while I was transferring her to the carrier, and thus was not to happy to leave her warm spot and Sheep Sleep Ocean Sounds.

5. Be happy that we did get out of the happy - while we didn't make it too class, we did get in the car, drive to the studio, and almost go. There's always next week.

Bye Bye Regina

So Regina, Lilly Rose's baby nurse and our baby guru, left today. She had been with us since we came home from the hospital, providing advice, assistance, and knowledge. She got Lilly on a schedule, eating every three hours, helped me with breastfeeding, introduced me to HGTV, much to my happiness and Mark's chagrin, took tons and tons of pictures of Lilly, and did loads and loads more. She's a total baby whisperer - so calm and cool. She knew just how to get Lilly to burp, take a bottle, not cry when the onesie was lifted over her head. But all good things come to an end - and she left this afternoon. I had tears, she told me to take care of my face, and that she was only a phone call away. And she's only on the West Bank, so she's not far! Just over the bridge. We were extremely fortunate to have Regina and Mark and I so appreciative.

But now she's gone and we are on our own. And I survived the afternoon. Save for the tremendous dump she did, after I already changed her diaper twice because of poo, that not only trickled out and down her leg, but onto my shirt, pants, and our chair. Talk about a laying a big one. That one warranted a mid-afternoon bath and new outfit, she even got her socks! And then she finished eating - and here's what I sort of lost it, but remembered what Regina said. She told us to relax, that baby's can sense nervousness ( not so good for me or Lilly), and that then riles them up too. Well, Lilly was fighting sleep, didn't want her pacifier, and just wanted to cry and cry and cry. And I changed tons of positions. First she was in my arms. Then I was burping her (thought she might have gas). Then she was on the floor, looking at her jungle gym. Then I wrapped her in a blanket and near my chest. And that's when she quieted down, sucked on her pacifier and I told myself to breathe. And she just had her eyes open and was looking at me, like willing me to believe she was ok, that we would be ok. I could feel the tears, and one or two came out, the lump in the throat was present, but I kept breathing, holding her tight, and she would keep her eyes on me, then close, and then they would be open again. And this probably went on for a couple minutes, and then she fell asleep. And that was awesome. I held her in my arms for a little bit longer, and then put her down. She stirred a bit but didn't wake up (thank you sheep sleep!).

So two feedings down, two more to go until bedtime. Wish us luck. And thanks for everything Regina. You are amazing.