Saturday, March 28, 2009

Parenthood

Life as a parent is awesome. I wouldn’t change anything, nor take anything away. As short as it has been thus far, it has been challenging for all of us. Because JJ was born via c-section, my milk was delayed coming in, a full week later it was finally in. Poor JJ was losing too much weight and had to be supplemented with formula, Enfamil A+, it made him constipated. He went 5 full days without a BM, so as soon as my milk was in, I took him right off.

Here he is just a few minutes old, 8lbs 8oz! Our first meeting!! Jonah was about an hour old and I was in recovery!! One of the happiest days of my life!
On Feb 11, at 4 weeks old, I noticed that JJ slept longer than usual during the day. In the evening, I noticed that his BM was more watery, then I noticed what appeared to be puss and blood in with his urine and it had a thicker consistency than usual. His temp was 99.4, but we took him into the children’s’ hospital anyway. He was looked over 2 hours later, 10pm, and by then he had a fever. It went fast from here; he was given Tylenol for the fever, and then went through a battery of tests, a lumbar puncture, ultrasounds, blood tests, urine test, and then urine cultures. It was determined that he had a urinary tract infection (UTI). He was in the hospital for 5 days receiving Amoxicillin by IV and then orally daily until his follow up test – a VCUG – on Mar11, a whole month later. He was to stay on the antibiotics until he saw the doctor afterwards with the results.

This was just after he was admitted to CHEO. He slept a lot. The morning of the 3rd day, the IV in his foot was no longer good & he needed a new IV. After trying for 30 minutes to get a good vein, and using poor Jonah as a pin cushion,
they used a vein in his head.


The antibiotics gave him diarrhea and stomach pains, and they continued for the entire time he was on them. By the time he had the VCUG, he and I both had thrush – I was in so much pain and so was he. The doctor conducting the test stated that so far, it looked as though JJ was fine and recommended that we call the doctor to see if we can stop the meds, as the earliest appointment they could give us was mar 26, which would have had JJ on meds for 6 weeks!
On Mar 13, I got the call back from the doctor that JJ was fine, he could come off his meds and that we didn’t need to go in to see him. Unfortunately, JJ still has diarrhea, but the pain has stopped. To date, we have gotten rid of the thrush with the help of gentian violet and dr. Newman’s nipple cream, I only have to deal with the cracks on my nipples that came with my thrush. I can’t wait for them to heal.

We are watching JJ’s weight gain, as the diarrhea can easily make him dehydrated and slow down his gain, so I am always on the look out for symptoms of dehydration and we are working to up his probiotics. In addition, I am taking a supplement called “More Milk Plus” by ‘motherlove’. It has been a godsend.

Though the road of parenthood is ladled with worry and concern, I can’t imagine life without JJ. He is our charmer; he charmed his way into our hearts and lives. I can’t imagine going somewhere without him as he is an extension of myself. I thank God everyday for the gift of JJ, we are so blessed!

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