Today Oliver is 8 months! It seems like he has been here so much longer than 8 months. I will start at the beginning.
I came home from Australia pregnant with Oliver. I thought when arrived that I was about to finish my first trimester. Brian and I had talked about having another child, but we had not come to a conclusion and then we found out I was pregnant! So the decision was made for us! I had to take fertility drugs to get pregnant with both Caleb and Elias, so getting pregnant naturally was a shock!
When I was 18 weeks Brian and I went in for a regular ultrasound and found out we were having another boy and that I was actually 22 weeks! I was more upset about losing a month than having a third boy! It was a very emotional pregnancy for me. I knew this was God's plan for us, but we had so much transition going on! An international move, a new job for me which included a new school, a class I had never taught before and a changing curriculum for the class I had experience with, adjusting the boys back to the States, Caleb starting pre-school, Brian travelling, and preparing for another international move! Luckily, physically it was a good pregnancy, no pre-term labor like with Caleb and Elias.
My water broke at 11:45pm on December 22. I woke up Brian and called the doctor. My favorite question is always "Are you sure your water broke?" If you have experienced it, you know!!
Oliver was born at 3:01am on December 23. He was a repeat c-section. I was scheduled for one on December 28, obviously he was ready before, and was born 11 days early overall. He was 6lb 12 oz and 20 in. We named him, Oliver Gene, Oliver for my maternal grandmother Olive and Gene for Brian's paternal grandmother Jeanne, maternal grandfather Gene. I had a good recovery and for the first month he was a normal infant. He nursed very well and did the normal sleepy newborn stuff.
But after the first month the issues began. I have always said we are "blessed" with difficult infants
and Oliver has been the most difficult. He developed reflux, which the two also had, so this was no surprise. He has been on previcid since I think 3 months. He also has a lot of food allergies. At first I just thought it was dairy, like the other two. But when his sleep did not improve after I eliminated dairy I realized there was something more. His pediatrician referred us to a pediatric GI who informed us that his reflux was secondary to his allergies. I eventually had to eliminate dairy, soy, egg, and wheat.
Even with the restricted diet, Ollie has never been a good sleeper. He had to be held during the day for the first 4 months. Then after sleep training he would sleep in his crib, but not consistently or well. At around 4 months I noticed he was not using his arms correctly on his tummy. He would swim, as in keep his arms behind him. The pediatrician and I thought it was from all the swaddling, so we stopped swaddling and just tried to let nature take it's course. But after a month he was still not using his arms on his tummy. So we started physically therapy. The therapist was wonderful and gave us a lot of exercises to do. It really helped. She said his arm issues were due to his reflux, since he arched his back so much due to reflux pain.
I don't know why, but I thought everything would get better once we moved. But he has had the toughest transition. He was really affected by the altitude and after a month seems to just now be adjusting. It is also very difficult to stay on my diet here. I am staying away from wheat and that seems to be sort of working. I took him to the embassy pediatrician this week and she thinks he is having issues with the allergens in the air. So we have ordered a humidifier. We also bought a noise machine which seems to help him sleep as well, since it cuts out noise from his brothers and the city. But with all that a normal night with Ollie includes 12:30am, 3am, 4am, 5:30am, and 6:30am wake ups. I feed at 4am. If we are lucky he will go right back to sleep once we re-insert the paci. But on the bad nights he ends up in bed with us. You can probably tell from the previously mentioned sleep training, we are not co-sleepers. I can understand why some families like it, but we all like to have our own space and I never sleep well when he is in bed with us. I am always afraid I will roll on him in my sleep.
The wonderful thing about Ollie is when he is awake he is so happy! He loves his brothers! He is constantly smiling and developmentally right on track. His arm issues are completely gone as he started crawling this week. He is babbling, saying"ba ba ba"and "da da da" and he loves to blow raspberries. He loves to give kisses and hugs. He loves all attention and will smile at everyone when we are out! He still nurses really well and eats 2-3 servings of solids a day.
I have gone back and forth a lot on whether to give up nursing because of his allergies. Everyday, and depending on the night, I have different feelings. I truly love nursing, but I don't want to hurt my baby!
So that is the short (actually very long) of it! He is the sweetest and happiest baby when he is awake! I keep praying his sleep issues will resolve soon! So happy 8 months Ollie G! I love your cute and sweet personality and I can't wait to watch you grow!! I am so blessed to be your Mommy and that God gave you to us as a precious gift!!
I came home from Australia pregnant with Oliver. I thought when arrived that I was about to finish my first trimester. Brian and I had talked about having another child, but we had not come to a conclusion and then we found out I was pregnant! So the decision was made for us! I had to take fertility drugs to get pregnant with both Caleb and Elias, so getting pregnant naturally was a shock!
When I was 18 weeks Brian and I went in for a regular ultrasound and found out we were having another boy and that I was actually 22 weeks! I was more upset about losing a month than having a third boy! It was a very emotional pregnancy for me. I knew this was God's plan for us, but we had so much transition going on! An international move, a new job for me which included a new school, a class I had never taught before and a changing curriculum for the class I had experience with, adjusting the boys back to the States, Caleb starting pre-school, Brian travelling, and preparing for another international move! Luckily, physically it was a good pregnancy, no pre-term labor like with Caleb and Elias.
My water broke at 11:45pm on December 22. I woke up Brian and called the doctor. My favorite question is always "Are you sure your water broke?" If you have experienced it, you know!!
Oliver was born at 3:01am on December 23. He was a repeat c-section. I was scheduled for one on December 28, obviously he was ready before, and was born 11 days early overall. He was 6lb 12 oz and 20 in. We named him, Oliver Gene, Oliver for my maternal grandmother Olive and Gene for Brian's paternal grandmother Jeanne, maternal grandfather Gene. I had a good recovery and for the first month he was a normal infant. He nursed very well and did the normal sleepy newborn stuff.
But after the first month the issues began. I have always said we are "blessed" with difficult infants
and Oliver has been the most difficult. He developed reflux, which the two also had, so this was no surprise. He has been on previcid since I think 3 months. He also has a lot of food allergies. At first I just thought it was dairy, like the other two. But when his sleep did not improve after I eliminated dairy I realized there was something more. His pediatrician referred us to a pediatric GI who informed us that his reflux was secondary to his allergies. I eventually had to eliminate dairy, soy, egg, and wheat.
Even with the restricted diet, Ollie has never been a good sleeper. He had to be held during the day for the first 4 months. Then after sleep training he would sleep in his crib, but not consistently or well. At around 4 months I noticed he was not using his arms correctly on his tummy. He would swim, as in keep his arms behind him. The pediatrician and I thought it was from all the swaddling, so we stopped swaddling and just tried to let nature take it's course. But after a month he was still not using his arms on his tummy. So we started physically therapy. The therapist was wonderful and gave us a lot of exercises to do. It really helped. She said his arm issues were due to his reflux, since he arched his back so much due to reflux pain.
I don't know why, but I thought everything would get better once we moved. But he has had the toughest transition. He was really affected by the altitude and after a month seems to just now be adjusting. It is also very difficult to stay on my diet here. I am staying away from wheat and that seems to be sort of working. I took him to the embassy pediatrician this week and she thinks he is having issues with the allergens in the air. So we have ordered a humidifier. We also bought a noise machine which seems to help him sleep as well, since it cuts out noise from his brothers and the city. But with all that a normal night with Ollie includes 12:30am, 3am, 4am, 5:30am, and 6:30am wake ups. I feed at 4am. If we are lucky he will go right back to sleep once we re-insert the paci. But on the bad nights he ends up in bed with us. You can probably tell from the previously mentioned sleep training, we are not co-sleepers. I can understand why some families like it, but we all like to have our own space and I never sleep well when he is in bed with us. I am always afraid I will roll on him in my sleep.
The wonderful thing about Ollie is when he is awake he is so happy! He loves his brothers! He is constantly smiling and developmentally right on track. His arm issues are completely gone as he started crawling this week. He is babbling, saying"ba ba ba"and "da da da" and he loves to blow raspberries. He loves to give kisses and hugs. He loves all attention and will smile at everyone when we are out! He still nurses really well and eats 2-3 servings of solids a day.
I have gone back and forth a lot on whether to give up nursing because of his allergies. Everyday, and depending on the night, I have different feelings. I truly love nursing, but I don't want to hurt my baby!
So that is the short (actually very long) of it! He is the sweetest and happiest baby when he is awake! I keep praying his sleep issues will resolve soon! So happy 8 months Ollie G! I love your cute and sweet personality and I can't wait to watch you grow!! I am so blessed to be your Mommy and that God gave you to us as a precious gift!!
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| 8 months! |
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| Our early Christmas gift! |
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