An Update…

So, I was a little sicker than I let on.  Apparently babies and bodies don’t like to be without food or water for very long.  I finally got a prescription for Zofran (for the all day morning sickness) and over the weekend some resemblance of myself emerged.

Once again, thank you to all of you who have emailed me with your sweet words of encouragement.  I think the clouds are fading and the fog is lifting.

While I have every intention of “blogging” this pregnancy (for myself, my children, my family), I promise not to bore you (well, I’ll try anyway!).

More fun things are on the horizon!

First Cut!

Well…we did it!  We finally took our little boy for his first haircut.  Surprisingly he did really well!  We took him to First Cut 4 Kids, which I highly recommend.  They have little rocketships the kids sit in and TV’s to distract them!  The gal brought out a basket of toys and I don’t even think he really knew what was going on.  He looked up at the girl cutting his hair a couple of times with an odd look on his face but just kept right on throwing playing with his toys.  I can imagine how difficult it is cutting hair but to have a moving target?  Ridiculous!  But she made it look so easy (although you won’t find me breaking out the scissors anytime soon!).  Anyway…here’s the before and after!  Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

To Co-sleep or Not to Co-sleep…

I don’t remember exactly when it began. But I remember how…

I had just fallen asleep…or so I thought. I was just starting to dream about sleep (I dream about sleep because we always want what we can’t have). I hear the stir and rustle of my baby boy. He whimpers which turns into full fledged crying. It takes a moment to register that I’m definitely not dreaming. Hubbie nudges me that Josh is awake. I stumble in the dark to get our little boy. Gone are the days of warming up bottles. It takes too long. I nurse him to sleep and carefully put him in his crib so as not to wake him. No sooner does he hit the mattress when he wakes up whimpering again. “Just bring him to bed Caryn” hubbie says. I know I must be dreaming. You see, hubbie and I had this conversation long before Josh was born. Babies sleep in a bed separate from mommy and daddy. Co-sleeping increases the risk of SIDS. Babies need to learn to sleep and self soothe on their own.

I had to beg and plead to get hubbie to allow Josh to remain sleeping in our room in his crib. So for him to suggest that I bring Josh to bed must have meant that hubbie was just as sleep deprived and delirious as I felt at 2 am.

That night set the precedent for the last few months. What started as one innocent little exception became a habit that has been difficult to break. Josh is 5 months old and still doesn’t sleep through the night. We thought if we introduced cereal at 5 months like the Pediatrician recommended it would help him sleep longer.

Try again.

He gets cereal twice a day and STILL wakes up at night to nurse at least twice. Sometimes it’s more..sometimes it’s less. I stopped counting. He’s in our bed. We all sleep much better these days.

I know that co sleeping is frowned upon in the western world and I know the risks. What is a NICU RN doing co-sleeping? What kind of example is she setting for other moms? What about SIDS?

Josh slept in the co-sleeper for several months until he outgrew it. He actually slept better in the co-sleeper when he was younger than he does now that he is in his crib. He has not transitioned to the crib well. We thought wide-open spaces would give him more freedom to move, stretch, roll over…all it’s done is increase the amount of times he wakes himself (and mommy and daddy) up.

You’ll spoil him. He’ll never learn to sleep on his own. He’ll be in the bed with you until he’s 2 (5? 10?). All “advice” given to us about co-sleeping. Forget about all the warnings about how dangerous co-sleeping is. But is it really that dangerous?

Not according to Dr. Sears. His experiments with co-sleeping have led to several conclusions. The most profound is that co-sleeping is actually protective and reduces the risk of SIDS. Moms and babies also sleep better and safer together.

Every family has to decide what parenting style is appropriate for them after weighing all options. There is a safe and unsafe way to co-sleep which is covered in Dr. Sears’ article and I highly recommend reading it before making a decision to co-sleep. For now, the Bailey family bed is full!

Source:

Co-Sleeping: Yes, No, Sometimes?

Sleep Safety

Mmmm…Cereal

Feeding a baby is messy!

Daddy…I’m still awake!

Daddy…I’m still awake!

Daddy…I’m still awake!

Daddy…I’m still awake!

Daddy…I’m still awake!

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