Sleep Deprived!!!!!

I started this post out today with the title like I always do and you would be surprised at home many "sleep" posts I've created. :-) When I start to enter "sleep" into the title bar they all pop up as possible options...

We slept very little last night. First off Jonah didn't sleep hardly at all at daycare, but then we went to Tyler's wrestling meet at North Tama. We didn't get home until 9 and then tried to get him to go to sleep. We had him down by 10 and he was up at 10:30, again at 11:45, and 1:00. We were up from 1:00-3:00-- wide awake- and then we had to wake him up at 6:45 b/c it was time to go already. It was SUPER hard to get up this morning, when my alarm went off at 6:00.
Busy weekend leaves no room for relaxing and naps... so we'll see how the start of next week goes.
I'm ready for the cry it out method..... josh isn't.

To make matters more stressful, my milk supply is running on low/empty. We have 5 oz in the freezer for tomorrow's daycare supply. That will go with whatever I am able to get today. He's drinking straight formula in bottles in the evening and before bed and then nursing in the middle of the night if necessary. I think I'm about out.... last night he wanted to nurse several times and never seemed to be getting very much, however, he was so tired he'd just fall asleep in my arms while rocking with a pacifier. Doesn't help 2 hrs later when he's still hungry and whining.
Hopefully we can keep it going for at least another month. Get him going on cereal or solids mixed with whatever I can pump. I'll be making more stops into the daycare in the next few days, dropping off what I get throughout the day. :-(

Oh well. At least we've made it this long.... one bonus to not breastfeeding... I can take medication for my ailments... I can't take anything for my head cold b/c it will effect my milk supply. So.. I deal with it... no sleep isn't helping my supply or my cold.

Kim

New Tricks

He has a new "motor boat" sound that he likes to make.



I also have evidence that he is going to be a techie like me....
coming soon...

Jonah update - feeling better

We are all home today due to the wonderful winter weather. At least I got to go yesterday. :-)

Jonah is doing WORLDS better than he was last week at this time. He has his appetite back and is sleeping well. Last night he slept from 8:15-1:30, and then 1:45-5:30. He slept again from 7:15-8:20 while we ate breakfast and gave him his neb treatment. He's played in his saucer, on the floor (sitting with his boppy around him) and in his bumbo infront of the big mirror in our bedroom. :-) He loves to see himself in the mirror. It is TONS of fun to stand infront of the bathroom mirror. It splits into 3, so he can see 3 babies and 3 mommies! He laughs and kicks his feet.

He's slept well this whole past week, from 8ish through 5ish, maybe getting up 1 or 2x to snack, but we've gotten less sleep due to getting up for the nebs. Last night we slept, well kind of slept. Josh and I are getting colds, Josh's worse than mine. However it effects me just the same... snoring, rolling over, coughing, blowing nose, etc through the night. I've got 2 JRs to take care of now. :-)

THANKS for all the prayers... they have definitely worked!

Kim

Doing Better

It is Saturday evening (6:15) and Jonah is happily sleeping on mom's lap. I'm afraid to move him since sleep is one of the ways to recover. He's eaten a total of 7 oz bm from a bottle today, 1 oz of pedialyte, and nursed for 5 minutes.
He's had his nebs every 4 hrs as prescribed and taken at least 3 30 min naps. Seems pretty happy, except when he's getting a neb treatment.

Last night he slept from 10:00 until 4:30am, up for about 45 min, then back asleep until 8. We however were up every 4 hours to do the neb treatments and I was up for those 45 min with Jonah.
We are slowly but surely getting better with all the meds, loving, and prayers. THANKS!

Keep'em coming!!

Kim, Josh, and Jonah

Jonah Update 3:00pm

After talking to my mom and Josh, they said that Jonah's ox level was up to 99 again. He has only lost a few ounces again, which is better than I would have thought. His hydration level was good too.
We need to do more sucking out of his nose. Using saline to get it loosened up first. We got a prescript for more nebs and told that he can go to daycare unless he is running a temp. So, plans are we will be going on Monday, he also has another dr. appt scheduled for Monday afternoon in case we need it. If he is doing better and his coughing is down/gone then we can call and cancel it.

So GOOD NEWS!!! God is good! THANKS for your prayers!!

Kim, Josh, and Jonah

and grandmas too!

Jonah Update 10:45am

I just got off the phone with my mom and Jonah seems to be doing okay. Happy at least. He took about an hour nap. Has eaten a little more. I guess he threw up after Josh gave him his predisolone today. So that's not in his system... ugh!
He has another appointment at 1:40 today. I'll hopefully be able to post about that too.

I'm at school working my tail off to get this TAG pork supper ready. I just went and bought two more loins b/c when I counted up my pre-sold tickets we'd only be able to have 100 walk ins. With it being a special "fight cancer night" at the games, there being 4 games tonight, and a lot of kids saying that they didn't sell them, but they know people are coming... that makes us a little nervous if we have enough.

Hopefully it will all go off without a hitch. :-)
PRAYERS: 1) Jonah gets better and starts eating more
2) This TAG supper goes well so I can start thinking about my son as #1!

love
Kim

RSV for sure

2:00ish:
So, I just got off the phone with Grandma Denise and the nurses at People's Clinic and this is what we know right now:

- He is positive for RSV
- His pulse ox has gone down quite a bit. From the 11th at 99-98, 18th- 97-96, to today 90.
- He needs to take the Neb every 4 hrs no matter what, he has to use the mask, not the blow by tube. The blow by tube doesn't do enough for him.
- He needs to continue to take the predisolone that Dr. Wickam prescribed on Monday.
- He has lost weight since last Monday. He is now 14 and a qtr lbs. (whatever oz that comes out to be)
- He is refusing to eat for us, only ate 9 oz yesterday, only had 3 oz from 9am-2pm today- gma is pushing for it now
- He needs to go back for sure tomorrow, Josh is going to take him in.

- We need to give him tylenol to keep him comfortable so that he's eat. He doesn't have a temp. probably just achy and sore throat.
- We are going to try pedialyte tonight, the milk may be too thick for him/makes him gag.
- We need to record everything-- diapers & kind, when eats/how much, behaviors, neb times/reactions, etc.
- We need to watch for breathing patterns, call if anything is out of the ordinary.

Grandma Denise came down today to watch him for us, Grandma Jane is doing it tomorrow.

Please send up a little (or big) prayer for him tonight.
THANKS!

"Ice Day" Wed.

So, we are all home today. No school for either Josh or me. We've been hanging out watching the news, random TV shows, given some medicine, done a few neb treatments, reading a total of 14 books to Jonah so far, fed a few bottles, chatted with Grandmas Kraft and Meyer on Vid chat, coughed some, had a poopy diaper, bounced on the ball while "ahahahahhahhhaaahhhhh" (talking), played on the floor, and now we are watching Baby Einstein- seasons.
Josh is supposed to be working on his ad-ons for his report cards that go out on Friday, but I don't think he's accomplished much. I've gotten a few school things done, but mostly hung out with Jonah.

Not much to report, he's doing "okay." I put some vicks on his feet with socks this morning. There have been some friends that swear that it is the best thing since sliced bread. So far, it, or something has been working. Probably should reapply, we did it 6hrs ago. Maybe at the next diaper change. :-)

The rain seems to be coming and going here, there is definitely a lot of ice on the ground and trees here though. Glad we aren't out and about, but wish we would have made an appearance at school today. Get credit for something. I'm sure I'd be griping that I had to travel today though if we did go out there. So the best has happened I'm sure.
Grandma Meyer is worried that we are going to lose power and that we should come north, I think we'll be fine. (knock on wood). It doesn't seem too bad here. We've heard reports that other counties south of us have snapped powerlines, but we are good as of right now. We wouldn't be able to give Jonah his neb treatments if the power goes out or heat our house. My computer needs to get charged. I left my charger at school along with my TAG supper binder.... real smart I know. Josh's charger works for my computer too though, wonderful thing about macs. The binder though is sitting helplessly on my desk at school. So much to do and I'm running out of time. AHH!!

More later, someone is whining. :-) (jonah not josh.... ;-) )

kim

Tuesday night

He went to bed at 8:25pm and was up at 11:30. He coughed quite a bit inbetween, but didn't wake up. He had his neb then and went back to sleep. He was up again at 3:30-5:00, but Josh said they both slept some on the couch in that time. He ate again and had his neb at 6:00, then we gave him his new med at 6:15, so he's pretty much up for the day now.
He's playing in his exesaucer, coughing up a storm. No throwing up the last few days, so he's not getting any gunk out of his system. However, he had 2 poopy diapers yesterday at daycare and the 2nd one was "really watery and slimy," so hopefully that was some gunk coming out.

We'll see how today goes and I'll keep this updated with news throughout the day.

Kim

Update from today

So, he got his new med for the first time this morning at 9:20am. Kimmie (the daycare director) said he was really jittery all day, which also made him frustrated that he couldn't sleep. He really wanted to sleep, but couldn't. He finally fell asleep around 3:20. I got there around 3:45 to get him for my chiro appt. He woke up and then slept on the way home until about 6:25ish.

He's been coughing since he woke up. Pretty much non-stop. Has a lot of whining to go with it. Wants to be held, mainly by me. plays with a toy for about 5 minutes and then tosses it. He really wants to type as I'm typing... He's going to be a techy like me. :-) (josh rolls his eyes)

We all want him to get better soon!

Kim

Another night of no sleep

He was pooped all day, went to bed by 7:30 and was up by 8:30... I swear he knows when my head hits the pillow and wakes up just as I'm getting comfortable.

He had his neb at 8:30 after eating, up again at 11:30, 1:30-3:00, up at 4:30 and we woke him up at 6:30. Amazing how many times he can wake up in the night, but he can sleep until 8 if you let him when we need to get moving!

He got his first dose of the new med at daycare this morning. After his neb treatment he wouldn't eat anything, tried 3x, so it was getting late so we headed out. I had a 7:30 meeting I was 5 min late for. So, hopefully it went down okay. :-) He has to have it after he eats and in the AM because the side effects are "hard on stomach" and "makes them awake/jittery" It is only for 6 days, so hopefully he gets rid of the gunk inside soon and gets better!! I'm so tired of hearing coughing at night. Mainly we are all just tired. :-)

I'm catching up on work today, moving kids around so that they fit into the week. So far, so good.

Prayers appreciated,

Kim

Doc Visit at Urgent Care

So... our clinic was closed today, so we went to Urgent Care to be seen.

We went later in the AM b/c I thought the fog would lift, but it didn't. It was just as bad coming home than it was in the morning when we left.
He coughed the entire time we were at the doctor's office, which was a good thing. They got to see what we've been dealing with. He was a trooper though, didn't fuss at all, even when they looked in his ears. :-) He was 15 lb, 9oz, but that was with a wet diaper, so I'm guessing he's more like 15 5 or 6 oz. He was 15 5 on Thurs, so maybe he really is 15 9. Who knows..... I'd just like him to be 16 by the time Feb 5 (his 6 mo checkup) hits. Then he'll be double birth weight.

The doc said that he sounds good in the lungs, and prescribed more nebulizer treatments, at a lower dose though, and a Pretezone cough syrup. The cough syrup is for 6 days and we are to give it to him in the AM after his first bottle. It can be hard on the stomache and it will probably give him LOTS of energy. So, we'll start that tomorrow morning, not at 3pm when we got home. :-)
We had the doc office fax his prescriptions to Walmart in CF since I had to go there anyway. We got to Walmart around 1pm, a little before.... and we don't leave until after 2:20.... we were there for over an hour!!!

So on the way home Jonah ate and had his neb when we got home. Way over due. He's been super happy and calm the whole time though. Even in Walmart, he just hung out in his carseat playing with his elephant and rings. Like he knew it wouldn't do any good to complain. What a good baby!

Well, we'll keep you posted. Hopefully the new stuff helps out more and he gets better by the end of the week.
I really hope so since I have the TAG supper on Friday, I have to be at school this week especially Friday.... thanks for the prayers!

Kim, Josh and Jonah

Aren't we over this crap yet? - NO

Well, he coughed quite a bit on Sunday. Then Sunday night went to bed at 8:00ish, back up at 10:20, had the neb and threw up. Went to sleep while eating. Back up at 1:30, coughing and gagging, ate some and went to sleep. Back up at 4:30, ate, neb, and threw up a little. This whole time he's had a temp of 99-100, so low grade.
Called into the doc at 4:30, didn't hear back by 6:30 so I called again. Same doc that saw us last Monday (Krishna) was on-call. I called back to the doc and she called me within minutes. She basically told me there isn't anything I can do today. They aren't open and he only has a low grade temp and is only not able to breathe well when he is having a coughing spell. The clinic is closed due to MLK day, so if we have to be seen, we need to go to Urgent Care.
So, we sit home and wait, wait for it to either get better or worse. SO FRUSTRATING.
I know there are 2 very worried grandmas out there, relax.

I'll keep you all posted if you promise to send up a prayer each time you think of him today.

Kim

ps- did I mention we only have 3 neb treatments left.....

Another crappy night and no sleep

Friday night was amazing with sleep, Saturday night was a complete opposite. We got little sleep and Jonah was up coughing and hacking again. He threw up quite a bit in his swing. Josh had to change Jonah's clothes and we washed the swing seat today. Jonah's poo was pretty icky this morning as well. Hopefully he's passing this gunk out of his system.

He had a low grade fever today, as high as 1o0.8 and usually around 99.2. So not high, but not "normal." Lots of coughing today and tonight. He's really tired, wouldn't sleep anywhere but in my arms this afternoon when he had a temp of 100, he just wanted to cuddle. I don't blame him.

Praying tonight that he sleeps well tonight, he fell asleep twice in the tub, so I know he's tired.
Right now he's working on his bottle with Josh as I type this and pump.
We both have busy weeks at school, Josh with ITBS tests and I have to prep for the TAG supper on Friday. (if you are around, come watch the bball games, eat some good food at our TAG supper, and support cancer research by wearing pink to the game)

I'll keep everyone updated.
Pray on!!

Kim

sleep is wonderful

Jonah slept last night IN HIS BED! No carseat!!!! AND He slept from 8:00pm to 4:30am! We are all refreshed today.

One of Jonah's favorite games

This is one of Jonah's favorite games as of lately. Glad he is feeling better enough to play it again. :-)

Getting better...

So we wen to the doc this morning and I wondered why we were really there. He wasn't coughing and was happy as a lark. They said he seems to be over the worst and that he'll gradually get better over the next few days. I should've just waited until his follow up on Wed of next week. She did tell us that we don't have to come in again if he is feeling/acting fine by then.

So we won't have to go back there until Feb 5 when he has his 6 month check up.

THANKS for all the prayers and well wishes, I'm confident that is why he has improved.
On the way there this morning I heard Philippians 4:6 on Life 101.9 "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." SO TRUE and just what I needed to hear.

Kim

Doc Appointment

We have another appointment scheduled for 8:30am tomorrow! Bright and early, but that way we can get back to school if possible. We are seeing a different doc, the nurse thought maybe another perspective might help. I could tell on the phone that she was really thinking about which one she wanted us to have. She made comments about Dr. Neumann being around for 20+ years, but that Krishna has been around a long time too. I'm sure we will be in good hands.

I'll let everyone know what we find out.

Kim

Cough, cough, cough

It seems like we got ZERO sleep last night. Jonah slept more than Josh or I did. He was coughing constantly and we maybe got an hour in between coughing spells of sleep. Jonah was a trooper though and didn't complain much. He just went back to sleep, I'm sure out of complete exhaustion.

We got up and gave him a neb. treatment at 11:30, he slept through most of it. He turned his head and opened his eyes twice at me, just gave me a blank stare and closed them again. Poor thing. Then he woke up at 3:30 and wanted to eat. I let him eat, taking many breaks to cough and then he threw up coughing so hard. So we did a neb treatment and he ate a little more, still coughing and then threw up again. They say to feed again if they throw up, but he didn't want anything, kept moving away from my breast and whining. He fell asleep in my arms in about 10min on the paci. I put him back into his carseat/bed and he was up again at 4:30. Josh took him to the couch and said this morning that he got some sleep. I was up at 5:45 to get ready and they were both asleep on the couch.
Lots of coughing after that and didn't eat much from me. I cried on the way to school today. Praying for healing and rest for all of us, but mainly Jonah. The poor thing is so tired, he just coughs and lays there. I'm calling the doc again today.
I have a meeting out of district, but can maybe take him in later this afternoon or Josh can take him in tomorrow. UGH!

Prayers please,
Kim

More Prayers Needed

Our good friends Tony and Megan Buls are expecting their first baby in March, (March 20 due date). My mom emailed me tonight to tell me that Megan went to Iowa City last Friday because her water has either broke or is leaking. The baby is only about 3lbs right now. They are keeping her there on complete bed rest for at least 5 weeks so the baby can get bigger.
Tony was born super early and was super little, if my memory is right, less than 3lbs.

Please pray for them!

Kim

Not RSV- just Bronchilitis

So what he has is the step BEFORE RSV... I was mistaken. The info sheet they sent home with us had Bronchilitis (RSV) at the top. So that is where I misread the info.
THANK GOODNESS he doesn't have it, we would be at home right now instead of at school/daycare.
He slept decently well last night, considering. We didn't get home until 6:40 from the doc so it was late to bed, 9:00. Then he was up around 11 or so to eat a little in order to go back to sleep from coughing and then 3:30 he woke up hacking up a storm so we did a neb treatment and he ate some.
We had to wake him up at 6:30 to get everything done before leaving. I was late to work today with the late start from home and the extra time at daycare dropping him off with the neb.

Hopefully he gets better quickly. We all need some sleep! My brain doesn't function the best with little sleep.

Prayers appreciated,

Kim

RSV or also known as Bronchilitis

So, remember that awful wet hack my son has? Well, I took him to the doc today and we were there for quite some time. We had a 3:20 appointment, got there around 3:1o and left there at 5:30pm. What an afternoon!

We got there and she checked him all out. He is 15.4 pounds, almost double birth weight. Then said his temp was great. She did a pulse ox and he was good there and listened to his chest and looked in his ears. He had to get his ears cleaned out first. That was a toughy, he HATES it when someone messes with his ears. Probably why they were so dirty, he won't let me in there either.

THEN, we went down to xray for a chest scan. MAN, that was NO FUN! He had to sit on this little seat with basically what ended up being a plastic tube around him, arms up in the air, sitting perfectly erect. SCREAMING the whole time. I was able to hold his hands and talk to him, but that was of NO condolence to him. He got out of that and calmed down.

THEN back upstairs for another pulse ox and a Nebulizer treatment. Another 10 min of both nurse and I holding him down with a mask over his face, kicking, squrimming, and screaming until all the medicine was gone. Heartbreaking!

THEN we did another pulse ox and he was still great, so she got us a prescription for a nebulizer so we could do more treatments at home. I got him dressed and he ate a little.

THEN we went to the check out window where I find out that the nurse has called HyVee to have them bring me a nebulizer machine to the docs office so that 1) I don't have to go over there and get one 2) so that we could get it before they closed. What a wonderful, WONDERFUL staff they have there.

We sat in the waiting area until the lady from HyVee pharmacy showed up to teach me how to use the nebulizer and did all the paperwork with me. She even then helped me get everything to my car.

I THANK GOD that we were surrounded with such awesome people this afternoon. I pray that Jonah gets over this RSV quickly and these treatments help him get better faster. I called daycare already and they said they can and will do the day treatments for us there, so we don't have to worry about that.
THANK YOU for your prayers.

Kim and Jonah

5 Months Old!!

So my little boy is already 5 months old! Where has the time gone? He is seen here in his new Bumbo seat. He is also showing off his favorite past time since mom won't let him have his thumb in his mouth, he goes for 1 or 2 fingers instead. Also, do you see what hand he is gripping that ring in? He tends to favor his left when reaching, holding, and getting things he wants.

Tomorrow is the end of break, back to the real world. It has been a good break, relaxing days and lots of mommy and Jonah time. We got some good naps in, which is quite different for him during the day AND we got some wakeless nights this last week. 2 8 hour nights in a row. We were up 2x last night, but not bad. 1:20 and 5:30. We'll be getting up at 5:30 tomorrow. We look forward to some more sleepfilled nights and hope everyone is staying WARM! Hard to do these days I know.

Later everyone!

Kim, Josh, and Jonah

PS- good luck going back to work tomorrow Kelsi! It will only seem horrible, you'll make it through!

Ready for Big Boy food

So, Jonah has been SUPER interested in what we are doing when we eat. He watches every fork/spoonful go into our mouths and on Friday morning he even whined b/c I wouldn't give him any of my pancakes. He was sitting in his bouncy chair next to me and he'd fuss as I picked up the bite and then turn his head away and cry when I'd put it in my mouth and not his. Move the fork towards his mouth and he'd open up nice and big, then get really mad when we'd move it towards ours instead. :-)

Josh won't let me feed him rice yet. He says Dr. Naeem would yell at me. She said to wait until 6 months. Jonah is 5 months old today!
He's been going through bibs like it's his job. Completely soaking 3-4 a day.

He's liking his big boy chair though, his new Bumbo seat. He gets mad in the bouncy chair b/c he can't sit up in it. He tries really hard, but just can't do it. In the Bumbo he only gets mad when he can't reach toys he's dropped. We're going to have to get the tray too.

Well, I'll post a 5 month pic later, someone is hungry. :-) Bottle time!

kim

Hanging out at home

So here are some pictures of Jonah hanging out with all his gifts he received over the Christmas holiday. I forgot to put some of the clothes in there that we got him, but oh well. He really liked his Cubs socks that we got him. I have a picture of him knawing on them. I'll have to find it and put it on here. As you can see he made out pretty well. We have about half of them in the closet for now. He is too young for them and our living room is full enough as it is. I got a tub last week to put his toys in and man does it make a difference.
The swing video is of him razzing. He was just talking up a storm so I thought I'd catch a little on tape. He kind of quit, like normal once he saw the camera, but you get a glimpse of what our world is like these days. He can sit there and do that for hours. We timed it the other night, 45 min of razzing. :-) Hard to have a conversation with each other with him so noisy. It could be worse and he's learning to use his sounds, so I won't complain too much. He just loves his exesaucer! He's figuring out how to push the buttons to make the sound. It is so funny watching his face and seeing how proud of himself he is when he gets it to work. If you push the buttons 3 times in a row they play music. That is when he is the most proud, kind of does a little dance. We'll have to catch it on tape sometime or you'll have to come visit and see it for yourself.
~ Kim

Meyer Christmas