Broken

Porter went up to Pomerelle snowboarding with the scouts the Wed. before Oliver was born. He thought it was a great deal since he was able to borrow a snowboard from a friend and the lift ticket was only $7. He has only been snowboarding one other time and it was in a class. He hadn't ever been on any of the real runs or on the lift before.

I had a really late night at work and when I got home Kevin told me that Porter may well have broken his wrist on the mountain and they were on their way home. Of course, I kinda freaked out and it seemed like forever until they pulled in the driveway. His YM president brought him into the house and sat down to give us all the details. Ski patrol had fixed him up nicely with a piece of cardboard, some carpet pad, first aid tape and a sling made out of a pillowcase. They weren't sure it was broken but thought we should get x-rays the next day to see. Porter was thinking it was kind of cool that he broke his arm while snowboarding. He slept with the makeshift splint on his arm that night and, when I took it off the next morning so he could shower, he begged me to put it back on because his arm hurt so badly. So off to the doctor we went.

At this point I was thinking that it wasn't really a big deal, kids are going to get broken bones (although we never had any in my family of girls). We stopped first at our family doctor, who said that it was indeed broken. Then we went over to the hospital for x-rays. After that it was back to the doctor to have him read the x-rays. He came back in the exam room asking us what orthopedic specialist we preferred. And that is when I completely lost the "no big deal" mindset. The doctor explained that the break looked to be right on the growth plate of his forearm and we needed to see a specialist to determine if it needed screws in it. ACK! So on to the orthopedic specialist we went. This guy is the nicest guy in the world but he is also an extremely busy doctor and we didn't have an appointment so it was a long wait for a very anxious mother! Finally, after more x-rays, we were told that the break was on the growth plate of Porter's arm but that it was a simple fracture and would heal just fine after about 6 weeks in a cast.

Porter got a shot of painkiller in the bum before the doctor came in to reset the bone. He had to slide it back into place. Even with the drugs, Porter did some yelling at the man! He put on a splint for the first few days until the swelling went down. In the meantime, little Oliver was born so Grandma had to take Porter back to get the cast on. After just a few days in the cast, Porter had changed his mind about it being cool to have a broken arm and I was thinking this was definitely not a cheap snowboarding trip!

Challenging

It seems that baby #5 is presenting me with all the challenges that I had not yet experienced with the other four. I hope this is not an omen of things to come; that he doesn't challenge me his entire childhood, but we have had some rough times. After seven trips to the hospital to have his blood tested and his billirubin levels still climbing, the doctor said that perhaps he wasn't getting enough to eat to flush the billi out of his body. It was pretty scary because he had gone more than 36 hours without a messy diaper and his diapers were really hardly even wet. The doctor told me to supplement each feeding with a bottle of formula. What?! I am the champion breastfeeder who nursed all my kids until they were two! But, sure enough, that must have been the problem because he had a messy diaper within a couple of hours of his first bottle. I had to call the birth center to ask how much formula to even feed him because I had really never given my babies a bottle before. The nurses told me to give him 15 - 20 mL at a feeding. Well, I had been giving him 2 oz. and he had been eating it up in about 10 seconds! I really was starving the poor guy!

I love being able to nurse my babies and I was so sad about the whole idea of formula. I hate the way it smells, it stains their clothes, you have to measure and wash and heat and mix...I just love being able to nourish my babies and enjoy that closeness that comes with breastfeeding. I was crying every time I had to make Oliver a bottle. I was determined to get this feeding thing figured out and not spend the next year buying formula. Three breast pumps, gallons of blessed thistle tea, fenugreek, and lots of tears and prayers later, my milk finally came in and Oliver figured out that he had to work for his food. Success!!

However, my baby is still not happy. I took him to the chiropractor on Friday because he is just crying all the time. If he is not sleeping, he is crying and he is only sleeping if someone is holding him. Seriously, he has not slept without being held for more than 5 minutes at a stretch. He has yet to sleep in his cradle at all. Some people say that he is just spoiled but I don't believe that you can spoil a newborn. Something is wrong to make him cry so much. The chiropractor adjusted him and gave me some digestive enzymes to take. He also told me to avoid all dairy and gluten, as most of the time these things are to blame for a baby's colic since they are hard for tiny babies to digest. That will be a challenge since milk and bread make up a huge part of our diet.

It is so frustrating to have a baby that is sad and hurting and to not know what is wrong. To lay a sleeping baby down and not even be able to go to the bathroom before he is awake and crying again. I feel so badly for him. I want to know what is wrong and fix it. I just want my baby to be happy.

Glow Worm

Boo to jaundice. Oliver's billirubin levels are high which means trips to the hospital every 6-12 hours for the lab to draw blood from his heel to test his billi. And when we aren't on our way to or from the hospital, he gets to wear this fiberoptic phototherapy billiblanket. All. the. time.

I don't like having my baby plugged into the wall. It could be worse though, at least they didn't re-admit us to the hospital.

Introducing...

Oliver Fynn George

born 11:00 a.m. Saturday February 26, 2011

7 pounds 1 ounce

20 inches long

This is me right after my water broke at 1:30 a.m. getting ready to head to the hospital.

The hospital had flu restrictions in place so the kids were not allowed in the birth center and had to look at their new baby brother through the window.

My handful of blessings! Notice Porter's arm. That is a story for another day.

Another look at my new little man