More Hip Therapy

We found out at Kaylei's last appointment in October that her hips were looking good and she was taken out of the harness. She now has a Rhino brace she wears when she sleeps. We go back in December to find out if her hips are still on the right track or if surgery will be the next step. We're hoping for the OKAY!

This is what her new brace looks like. It is more complicated and a bigger hassle but at least it is only when she sleeps.

Halloween

This was Kaylei's first Halloween and sadly to say she was grumpy and napped until after 7 p.m. so she didn't get to visit everyone we hoped. She received an avocado and banana from our neighbors and a small goody bag from daycare. Doesn't she make such a cute little puppy!

Kaylei's Hips

We've been driving to Shriner's in Spokane every 2-3 weeks since the end of July for Kaylei's treatments. Our last visit was 9/18/07. The doctor said her hips look great but are still a bit loose, so another month in the harness and then we'll see about giving her legs more free time and eventually being harness free!

We want to thank everyone for your support and encouragement during this difficult time.

Uh-Oh!!

Kaylei's learning so many new things lately, it's hard to keep her tied down even with the harness on. Her favorite new past time activity is Velcro. And that's exactly how she managed how to get her leg out after nap time. I went to check on her, and this is what I found!
One VERY VERY Happy baby with her harness half way off! I still haven't figured out if this happened during nap time or after but she has discovered that some tabs on her harness are velcro and if she pulls on it, sooner or later it will come off. She's taken off her diaper a couple of times too!

Play Time

After 4 weeks of continuous harness wearing, Kaylei was allowed out of her "contraption" for an hour of play/bath time. She truly enjoyed this time. Look at all the fun stuff she did:
Not sure who loved bathtime more, Kaylei or her parents!
Kaylei found her toes after not seeing them for 4 weeks!
She developed an appreciation for "Tummy Time!"
She discovered how to roll from Back to Tummy

An Update on Kaylei

We want to thank all of you who have prayed for Kaylei. We went to Shriners last week and they did an ultrasound on her hip. The docs said it looked hopeful and her hip is healing. We find out on 21 Aug. how much longer Kaylei will be in the harness.
She seems to be adjusted to the harness. We can only take it off when we go to the doctor's office, every 2 weeks. She gets sponge baths in between but I love getting to get that harness off and rub her little toes!

We were able to visit my (Alice) family in Idaho Falls. We met the second boy of my sister, Kristofer is 3 1/2 months older than Kaylei. We also got to see Josef, 3. Here are some pictures of us at the Idaho Falls Zoo.

What the doctor said . . .

Kaylei went in to the doc for her 16 week check-up. She weighs in at a whopping 16 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches long. She's growing pretty well and still tops out the size chart for her age. She received her second set of shots and did pretty well. The real test is if she gets a fever or not tonight. She also was diagnosed with developmental hip dyplasia. We are looking for an pediatric orthopaedic surgeon to help us start treatment. The earlier the better! She should be good with a strong therapy treatment but if we wait too long it could affect her standing and walking progression. Please keep her in your prayers!

Kaylei Update

Life has been so busy that past couple of months. Kaylei is awake more and loves to makes noise. We prefer her happy coos and babbling but she does cry too. Kaylei seems to be enjoying life outside the womb. She sits in her bumbo chair and checks out her surroundings. She's sleeps through the night lately which has been nice. Bedtime is anywhere from 9:30 to 11:30 and she'll sleep til 7 am for her first feeding, then she's back off to sleepyland til after 9. I don't know how Troy and I got so LUCKY!

Memorial Weekend

(Kaylei and daddy on daddy's birthday 4/29)

Kaylei took her first big overnight trip on memorial day weekend. We went to Cascade and Boise for the long weekend. We left Friday afternoon and made it all the way to Riggins before we needed to stop and feed. We had one incident the way down. We had been listening to a Moscow radio station that was about out of range so the volume was turned way up. I decided to put in a CD as we approached a construction zone. The music blarred so loud I jumped out of my seat, and apparently woke Kaylei out of deep sleep resulting in a WAILING baby! Good thing we were stopped for construction. I crawled in the back and pulled her out of the car seat and comforted her for almost ten minutes! She was not a happy camper.

All of Kaylei's relatives were happy to see her. We stayed at Grandma Hinck's house in Cascade. Kaylei didn't get a chance to relax as she was passed from one relative to the next. She didn't sleep well at night either as Grandma's house is much colder than she's used to, so she ended up snuggling with me and Troy thus we didn't sleep much either.

We returned on Sunday evening giving us Monday to recuperate. We sleep all day in between meals and feedings. I don't think I even got dressed! It was quite the experience for both baby and me. I don't think we'll be travelling for a little while.

My favorite parenting mishap

There are several lessons I have learned as a parent that I would like to share in a humorous story.
I have been blessed with a larger than normal baby. She was born large and has gained weight rapidly. I think she is very happy and healthy. Well, babies are expensive and we are trying to stretch the money where needed. We have a large supply of 0-3 month clothes and diapers which are supposed to fit baby for a couple of months or until they are about 12 pounds. The problem is that our less than 2 month old has exceeded that 12 pound size...but I figured I could squeeze her into them for another week or so. In retrospect that may not have been a good idea. Her clothes were a little snug and her diaper probably not large enough to contain her largest deposits as we set off on our first long trip to visit her grandpa. The trip to see grandpa went well, it was the return portion where things got messy.
Fun fact: Did you know breast fed babies do not poop for up to 5 days, and it is considered normal?
I did not know this either. I also did not think that a 12 lb kid could produce 1/2 pound of slimy poop.
This brings us back to day 4 of no pooping with the inadequate diaper and tight fitting onesy... in a car on the side of the road. The good news was that we do not have to worry about if she had an intestinal blockage anymore. There was a slight problem with the bottom 1/2 of her onesy being saturated and the only way to get off was over her head. But her head and upper torso were the only things not covered in green slimy and I did not want to spread it anymore than she had already. Out came the pocketknife and I cut her clothes off. Now we make sure to use large diapers, loose fitting clothes, and carry lots of wipes.

Happiness is being a Daddy

Ok, so Alice writes all of these blogs she thinks it is Troy's turn.
I love being a Daddy, it is so much fun. I think being a Mom would be great too, but I don't have to deal with the feedings. This baby care is a lot of work which we try to split evenly.
My precious little girl is beginning to smile more regularly and it melts my heart to see her face light up. Just in case you didn't know she is a total Daddy's girl... in fact she has been since the day she was born. I am enjoying all of these sweet moments but anticipating when she is a little bigger and more interactive. I am a little worried about when she starts crawling as to where she will disappear to. As a responsible parent I am preparing for these events; I am working on teaching Buddy (our dog) a new command... "Where's the baby?"

Our Summer Plans

Our little Kaylei sure is growing fast! She currently weighs about 11.5 pounds and has outgrown all newborn sizes! Her socks are size 6mos+. She's still in 0-3 but is getting a bit long for some of those as well! She only sleeps for about 3 hours at a time at night and eats about every 2 hours during the day. Mom is still recovering from the "traumatic" birth as the doc called it. She'll be working 2 jobs this summer. 4 hours, 2-3 days a week for ID fish and game as a receptionist ( a new job for the resume!) and then a few days at the dam processing fish for USGS, which will only be a few hours as well. Dad is looking forward to spending the summer working on non-game projects including electro-shocking for salamanders! Hopefully he's home more than he was this winter when he worked on a fisher project. We hope everyone is doing great. Drop us a line and let us know! :)

More Pictures

Lessons Learned

My biggest lesson learned is to not change a sleeping baby! We had quite the exhibit at the Easter gathering at the Bruns'. After telling everyone how sweet and good our little Kaylei has been, I went to change her diaper. The end result was her, the couch, the floor, and of course me covered in POOP! Later my sister informed me that you should give a sleeping baby a few minutes to clear their bowels before removing the diaper. Some advice that wouldv'e been helpful earlier.

Some helpful things to have at home for the first few days would be a medicine/eye dropper, a syringe or two, breast pump if you're going that route. These are all for help during feeding. If you breast feed you may get engorged breasts and the baby will have a hard time latching. This is where the eye dropper, syringe, and pump come in. Feed pumped milk or colustrum through the dropper or syringe. A bottle that early, even if it's just one or two will put a huge damper on breast feeding. Do NOT introduce bottles to a breastfed baby until breastfeeding is going VERY well. The first day your milk comes in can be very traumatic on mom and baby if baby doesn't latch. Don't worry, the next day should be better :) Some lanisoh creme/gel was nice too for cracked nipples. Apply after every feeding. A+D cream for baby works great on dry skin, diaper rash, and craddle cap so I've heard.

As for recovery , I recommend having a good stock of pads and tucks. I used the generic tucks and bought the huge jar. If you get stitches I would recommend a can of pain reliving spray such as Dermoplast. You can spray it on ANYTHING! Also ask for a stool softener for the first week. You will be glad you did!

The thermal receiving blankets are great. If you don't have any I would recommend a few. They are bigger than normal receiving blankets and they bundle baby much better!

On cold nights we put a onsie on under her jammies, along with a hat. We wrap Kaylei in a thermal blanket and then tightly tuck a second blanket under her, keeping the blankets away from her face. A blanket sleeper would be better but I haven't found any.

Don't feel bad for telling friends and relatives that you're too tired for visitors. They may say they'll only stop by for a few minutes but once they see that baby, it'll last longer a few minutes! Make sure to learn to nap. I still haven't adjusted to sleeping during the day and it's draining.

They say baby should be fed every 2-4 hours, but I can not wake Kaylei when she's not ready. If the baby's hungry, they'll tell ya. I let Kaylei sleep until she wakes up on her own, it saves us lots of sleep and endless feeding struggles.

Be prepared for baby to loose some weight. Kaylei lost almost a whole pound in the first three days. That's when the doc said to supplement with formula and we used a bottle and we had to retrain Kaylei on breastfeeding. It was HORRIBLE! If you need to supplement, use the syringe or dropper.

The most important advice I can give you I learned from my sister, mother of two. You are baby's parents and only you know what's best for your child. I'm sure lots of people have given you advice. Feel free to try anything but only you and baby will know what works for you.

She's Here

Baby Kaylei finally arrived March 28 at 1:38 pm. She weighed in at 9lbs 10 oz and was a regular birth. I am now a local hero at the hospital! Kaylei had no intentions on coming out. I was induced on Monday night, my water broke Tuesday afternoon and I finally delivered on Wednesday, talk about an adventure! It was definitely not anything like those birthing videos but the classes did help out a lot.

Mom and baby are doing well. Feeding is still a struggle but hopefully it works out. Troy is doing great with her and Kaylei loves her papa!

Little Kaylei

The Growing Belly

Here is the progression of mama's belly.




14 weeks

18 weeks

30 something weeks

The Baby's Room

The room is put together for the most part. These are just pictures of the crib. I have some wooden letters I'm going to paint and decorate that spell out Kaylei. I'll post more pictures when I get them completed. It may even be this week. I've quit my job and am now just waiting for our miracle to arrive!

Almost Done!

With only 4 weeks to go, we are getting so excited to have our little girl. Most everything is ready. We need a few more items but are waiting until after the babyshower. If you haven't heard yet, the baby's room is a composite of water creatures to include fish, frogs, dragonflies, etc. with a blue, yellow, and green color scheme. Our due date from the doc is March 24 and the due date from the ultrasound tech is March 19. I'm hoping she comes on the 21st for the Spring equinox! Troy's hoping she's late so he can get one more week of fisher trapping! That boy sure does love his wildlife!