Sammy Speaks

Sammy is speaking with some intent now.  I don't think her words mean anything yet, but she will repeat the sounds I make.  She is saying "uh oh" now and it is so cute.

(And of course, you can hear Ian throwing one big fat tantrum in the background...sigh).

She is also saying "ba ba", "da da" and FINALLY "ma ma" when I ask her to say those sounds.  I'll be curious as to what her first word is going to be!

Ear Tubes for Sammy

Sammy had her surgery today to put tubes in her ears.  The surgeon was able to fit her in sooner because of a cancellation.  I was told she couldn't eat anything after midnight the night before but that I could nurse her until 3:30 am.  So I woke up at 2:30 am and nursed her.  We then got up at 4:30 am and were out the door by 5:25 am to make sure we got to Mass Eye and Ear by 6 am.  Sammy made it easy on us and woke up at 5:10 am all on her own.  It was all pretty organized.  We signed in and they took us back and asked all sorts of questions.  They made Sammy wear some scrubs, which were way too big.

She was pretty cute wandering around in this get up.  I put scrubs on over my clothing and went with her into the operating room.  She got a banana scented mask placed over her face and after 6 or 7 good cries, she went to sleep.  I then waited with my husband in the waiting room.  I couldn't believe how quickly they did the surgery.  The doctor was out to talk to us about 8 minutes after I left the OR.  She said that Sammy's ears were clear (not even any fluid in there), but that she could see that her eardrums had thickened, which is a sign of some bad infections.

It took Sammy another 15 minutes to wake up and when she did, they called me back to be with her.  She was very sleep and disoriented but did pretty good.  I held her for 10 minutes or so and then when they let me, I nursed her.  She nursed and slept and nursed and slept and nursed and slept for about 40 minutes and then we went back up to the pediatric unit where they monitored her some more.  We were discharged with some ear drops and out the door by 9:30 am.  I can't believe the whole thing only took 3.5 hours total.

She slept on the way back home and then she took another nap while we took a nice long walk in the afternoon.  I would say she was back to her normal smiley Sammy self by 1 pm, and even more so after her afternoon nap.  I hope these tubes work for her.  The doctor said they would probably stay in for about 1 year.  Let's hope that after they fall out, she'll have outgrown the ear infections.  Fingers crossed!

Siblings

I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up.  Sammy is almost one!  I can see them interacting more and more often (although Ian still wants to share nothing with her - not even the leftover mac and cheese that he doesn't want to eat himself).  Sammy adores Ian.  If he laughs, she laughs.  She follows him around like a puppy dog.  I've finally been able to get pictures of the two of them together (not always easy to do!).  In the last picture, Ian wanted to help Sammy eat her snack and so he's feeding her (which was like a hug for my heart).

Time for Surgery

My poor little girl!  Sammy woke up yesterday morning with a fever and her left eye was all puffy and swollen.  My husband brought her to the doctor and sure enough, despite being on the last day of her 10 day course of antibiotics, her ears were still badly infected.  Clearly, the antibiotic she was on wasn't working.  The pediatrician was no longer wishy washy about her get tubes.  He basically said that we were running out of medical options to treat her and given how hard it was to eliminate her infections and how often she gets them, he highly recommended that we get her tubes.  Her surgery is scheduled at Mass Eye and Ear for May 1.

In the meantime, the pediatrician switched her to the antibiotic bactrum and it seems to be working.  She woke up with no fever this morning and her eye is much better.  We sent her to daycare and her teacher said that she's acting normal and eating well today.  Phew!  I am crossing my fingers that this antibiotic eliminates her current ear infection and she stays healthy until May 1!  I'm hoping that the tubes will make her ear infections a thing of the past.  I can't keep pumping her full of ineffective antibiotics!

Sammy is Walking (and has a third tooth)

It's official.  Sammy is really walking at 11 months, 1 week.  She first started taking steps at 10.5 months when we would encourage her to walk to us.  But now, she is just walking instead of crawling to her destination.  She walked across our entire den.  She walked down our entire hallway.  Sometimes she evens claps when she walks.  She's extremely proud of herself and I'm amazed by how quickly she figure it out.

Other Sammy news:

1.  She is finally cutting her third tooth on the top right.  It's been 4 months since she got her two bottom teeth and so I'm glad that we're finally seeing some progress after so much drool!

2.  Sadly, Sammy has yet another nasty ear infection, only 6 weeks since the last one cleared up.  Last Saturday night, she had a 102 fever (after having a cold and yellow snot for a couple of days).  I was hoping for the best when I took her to the doctor on Sunday morning, but when they looked in her left ear, they said "Well, that's about the worst it can get."  Her left ear was super red and filled with pus.  Her right ear was just beginning to get infected.  Ugh.  I really wish Sammy exhibited symptoms of her ear infection before it got so bad!  My husband and I haven't decided yet whether to get her tubes.  We're hoping to push off the decision until next winter since we'll soon be out of cold season and maybe in another 6 months, she'll outgrow these ear infections.  But until we get her tubes (if we get her tubes), the minute her snot goes from clear to yellow, we're taking her into the doctor to get her ears checked.  Hopefully, this time around, she'll be able to clear the infection without only one round (instead of FOUR rounds!) of antibiotics.  We went straight to cefdinir which is in the same family as suprax but way cheaper.  It started working after 72 hours.

3.  Now that I'm winding down breastfeeding, we decided to give Sammy whole cow milk and see how she reacted. I gave her 2 ounces the other night and she drank it and was totally happy.  No reaction - no vomiting or diarrhea.  And I gave her 5 ounces the next day and it was fine.  Woo hoo!  So now I feel really good about winding down the pumping because I know that I can give her cow milk instead of formula.  And I'll still nurse her in the morning and at night.  Man, it will feel so good to get rid of that pump!

Sammy is 11 months old!

Sammy is 11 months old.  It's amazing that she is so happy in these pictures given that she had a 102 fever and a blazing ear infection.  

Winding Down Breastfeeding

I went back to work when Sammy was roughly 4 months old.  I've been pumping twice a day during the work week now for 7 months.  SEVEN months!  Oof.  I'm tired.  It's been harder this time around than with Ian because I had a shorter maternity leave with Sammy (and so had to pump for 2 more months) and I had much less of a milk supply (although I'm not necessarily complaining about that - it was too much with Ian).

At the end of last week, I noticed that I would pump 7 ounces in the morning and only 2 ounces in the afternoon.  And given that Sammy was nearing 11 months of age, I decided to test out what would happen if I dropped one of my pumps.  So instead of pumping at 10 am and 3 pm, I decided to just do one pump at 12 pm.  And guess what, I produced 9 ounces!  So there was no reason to keep going with the 2 pumps.  So hooray.  It was AMAZING this week to only have to pump once a day.  Sammy is still drinking 15 ounces during the day and so I've been supplementing with the milk that I have in the freezer.  My goal is to make it 2 more weeks, using up my freezer supply as I go.  And then, when Sammy is 11.5 months old, I will start mixing her bottles so that she gets used to cow's milk.  Ian had no issues with this transition and so I'm hoping neither will Sammy.

I plan to continue nursing Sammy in the morning and at night until it seems natural to give it up.  I didn't get that chance with Ian.  I stopped nursing abruptly around 11 months so that I could get my period and try to have baby #2.  There is no forced stopping this time around.  And I certainly wouldn't mind holding off my menstrual cycles for as long as possible!