Puke-a-palooza

Well last night I got to add chicken and pea vomit to the list of things that has been projected upon me by my bundle of joy.

We woke to hearing the dreadful sound of vomit retching at quarter to 4 this morning.  I came into Maggie's room to find her on her back with vomit all down her neck, in her hair and on her face as she cried and gagged.

I jumped into rescue mode being that she was on her back so I rolled her to her side checking her airway to make sure she wasn't choking and then picked her up just in time to have her puke on my shoulder.  My poor baby was so upset and confused as to what was happening to her.  And so was I... I didn't know what to do next.

So I woke up Seana to help me try to clean her up... my feeble attempt with a wash cloth was soon replaced with a full on bath.  Surprisingly Maggie became more cheerful.  She does love bath time!   Seana consulted the internet and offered to go buy some Pedialyte but we decided to hold off and see if she throws up again before making a red eye run to the drug store, perhaps this vomit session was just a fluke.  So I got her all cleaned up then changed, we swapped out her blankets and I started to put her down again when she sat up and grabbed her foot.

Something was in the footsie of her PJs... uhh weird. So I half undressed her and retrieved the baby tylenol syringe from her jammies.... I have no idea how that happened to get there.  But at 430 in the morning I didn't care.

Just as I was starting to rezip her up it happened again... Vomit!  BAHHHHH! All over the new blankets the new set of PJs, the new diaper and the clean baby... I had managed to catch some of it in my hands so I quickly ran to rinse off in the sink as Maggie wailed.  I hurt for my baby... I grabbed a towel and quickly returned to Maggie where I stripped her and wiped all the puke off her... She didn't have any in her hair so I opted to let the wipe down be all the clean up for now since it was no longer a fluke.  Seana had disappeared downstairs to get the first round of blankets and pjs in the wash when she came back up I let her know there was a repeat so she stripped the bed and grabbed the pukey pjs as I sat and held our baby wrapped in her last clean blanket.  Seana got another pair of PJs for me to dress Maggie in and then went to the store to get Pedialyte and some bland foods for our little girl to have today.

Maggie fell asleep in my arms, I nodded off too.  I woke up to the garage door opening a horrible crick in my neck and decided to put her back in her bed.  She didn't wake up or throw up and I crawled into bed.

A little after 9 I felt a little hand touching my elbow, and there she was.  My Maggie awake in good spirits and carried with her the distinct aroma of vomit.  I however was beat and Seana was still in bed which means she had decided to work from home given her middle of the night escapades; so I pulled Maggie into bed with me but she was done with sleeping and gave the food sign... I took her down to give her bananas, Seana said that was a recommended bland food.

I cut up a banana and she devoured almost the whole thing... and then it happened she puked it up... somehow I manage to catch all of it in my hands... (I need to start carrying a cup perhaps)  So I washed my hands then wiped her chin she was upset of course so we cuddled as she drank some pedialyte (which stayed down).

Some time passed and we decided to try and give her some english muffin little bits thankfully that stayed down too, so we gave her a plum tots banana, quinoa and rice puree and more Pedialyte.  This has stayed down too!! YAY!!

Nap time was approaching and we decided since she hadn't thrown up that a bath and showers for us were in order... it seems we all kind of smelled like vomit.  We could have been dubbed the McVomits for the morning.

Bath time went great, and Seana was able to get Maggie down for her nap while I got showered!

YAY!  So here we are well into nap time and things are looking up.  Hopefully the puke-a-palooza is done.  Now off to clean up the remaining aftermath...

My rack is back on the shelf!

Well it is official, Maggie is weaned.  As of today She hasn't nursed since Friday morning.

I think I had mentioned in a previous post that we had begun the weaning process quite a while back as in the end of November I think... Has it been that long??

I think it has.  We decided to take the avenue of slowly removing nursing sessions.  I started with getting rid of her midday and afternoon nursing sessions (in retrospect the easiest since I could distract and substitute), then we got rid of the middle of the night session (the hardest to get rid of since there wasn't a way I could really distract her and I didn't want to get her in the habit of a midnight sippy cup).  Once she adjusted to that I got rid of the morning session which I ended up bringing back and removing the night time session instead because I wanted to sleep longer in the mornings... Maggie hardly noticed the night time one being removed.  We just adjusted her nighttime routine to be PJs, story time with sippy cup, then brush our teeth then bedtime.

The last nursing session Maggie seemed ready to let go of but a part of me wasn't ready.  The truth is I cherish these times of closeness with my baby.  Plus not having to get out of bed to go make her morning sippy cup was just more convenient!!  So I held off for a couple of weeks, this last week I finally felt it was time.  So I started the routine of getting her a morning sippy cup and we have both adjusted well.  Maggie didn't even notice which I am both proud of and a little sad about.

On the second morning of not nursing, I was a bit engorged so I chose to let Maggie nurse a little off each side but didn't let her have a full session (just enough to get rid of some of the pressure and soreness).  She handled that fine and didn't seem to care when I put them away sooner than usual; of course it had helped that I had already given her the morning sippy cup so she wasn't hungry to begin with.  I ended up repeating this on the fourth morning (Friday) more for my comfort although I wasn't nearly as sore or engorged.  Since Friday I haven't been sore or engorged so I think this slow reduction really helped my supply adjust and it made the weaning process much less painful than if I had just stopped one day.

I have to say I am very proud of myself for going over a year nursing!!  I am also proud of myself for being able to wean Maggie without causing her distress.

You know there is a lot of different opinions (as well as societal pressures) about when a baby should be weaned and I don't know if there is a specific right time.  For Maggie and I, I wanted to be done nursing before she turned 2 and I wanted to make sure that Maggie was at a point where she was ready.  For us that age was 16 months.  This is just another testament that each baby is unique and will make reach that milestone at their right time for them not so much when society feels the right time is.    

Slide!!

Plagued by diaper rash and other foolishness

*sigh*  This week has been a hard week as Mommas to Maggie.

She is still adorable as ever, and pretty happy go lucky.... but she also has the sniffles, her sleeping through the night has gotten worse which I didn't think it could... but it did... and she has been fighting off a diaper rash.

As we speak she is running around the living room bottomless with her balloon in hand.  Chalk one up to adorable... until you check in with her crack.. poor thing is all red with bumps... We have upped the amount of diaper changes through out the day to try to keep her dry.... we have also applied more than one type of diaper cream on her tushy... and we are letting her air out which is an "at risk" activity... I can now include pee puddle clean up to my duties!  Perhaps I need to up her baths...

The sniffles... I am hoping all the head congestion and feeling yucky is what has put a wrench in night time... For 5 or so days now... it is a lot of waking up, and not wanting to fall back asleep, needing to be cuddled, or just plain won't sleep until it is time for the rest of the world to get up and get ready for work... then she will sleep.... 

Admittedly last night was much better she only woke up 4 times and no battles were required to get her back to sleep just a touch or pacifier retrieval... So maybe there is hope or maybe it was the Breathe ointment my friend Tonya overnighted to me.

Every parent can relate I am sure... One thing Maggie is good at is sharing.. both Seana and I have also gotten her sniffles to boot.  UGH.

Ah Poo!

Just thought I would share that I learned a new skill this past week... scooping poop out of the bath tub.

That's right.

I drew a nice warm bath for Maggie put in her and her toys and not even two minutes in to my horror she puts on her poo face and out it bobbed I nice warm poo... I did what had to be done... scooped the poop immediately out with my bare hands dumping it directly into the toilet... I then rinsed my hand off in the bath water while pulling Maggie out to stand and watch in wet nakedness as I drain, wash out, refill her tub put her in... then wash her toys to continue with her bath.

Maggie was unphased by the event.  I however am forever changed.

To really make sure I was well practiced we had a repeat performance for her next bath this time while skyping with my parents.   So not only did I have to scoop poop again with my bare hands but I had an audience.

Making light of this I told my Mom that I was sure she could relate, surely she has scooped poop out of the bath tub... Her response is... "I have never had to do that... or I have since blocked it out."

Parenthood is so adventurous!  I am just thankful it wasn't loose stool...it was in fact the perfect consistency for scooping out in one piece. I bet you are glad I added that last little tidbit!!

I hope this painted a wonderful image for all of you out there.