Friday, September 26, 2008

Bitter-Sweet...

I think we have found an answer to WHY Alyssa has been demonstrating colic behavior, so it's good news, but bad at the same time. After taking her to the doctor twice (two differant pediatricians) I was told to try her on some Enfamil Nutragimen formula (that sells for $25/can) to see if she might be allergic to the protein in my breast milk (the formula is made for babies with protein allergy). Well, that stuff STUNK real bad and Alyssa hated it, but it worked and I noticed a difference that same night. Alyssa was a completely different baby. She slept, was happy and much more like my other babies. But, again, she hated it. So I went to the store and bought some Enfamil Gentlease with proteins that are partially broken down, thus easier to digest...this worked as well, and it smelled much better (like normal formula) and she drank it fine. So, it appears that she has a very hard time digesting milk proteins and my breast milk has been very hard on her causing her a lot of gas and pain. So, that's the sad part. I have had a very hard time with the idea of formula feeding her; it breaks my heart, and I have shed many tears this week. She is my last baby and I really hope I can continue to feed her myself, plus, it's what she likes as well. So I have been hard at working to eliminate ALL dairy from my diet (the sourse of protein in my milk). Not much I can eat now, but I am determined to do this!!! It's been a rough week , but at least we seem to have some answers and can now figure out the solution...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I feel like a walking zombie!

Well, Alyssa is definently a blessing to our family and we love her dearly...but she makes sure she is not over-looked! I have never had a baby who cried...never. Not only does Miss Alyssa cry, but she screams. At least we know she has a good set of lungs on her. She HATES her baths and screams like mad when I give her one--the other kids have always LOVED their baths. And boy does she like to eat. Lets see, up every TWO (2) hours at night to feed...oh my goodness. This is all new to me. She doesn't even eat that much in the day. She can usually go three hours between feedings in the day. So, yeah, I am beat. Yesterday (or Monday, I think) I actually ran a red light. I was on my way home from Frys and I stopped at the light, as it was red. For some C-R-A-Z-Y reason I thought the light had turned green, so I went from a complete stop to moving through the light, only to hear a ***beep, beep***...well, I look up, as I'm midway through the intersection and realize that the darn light was still RED!!! Uggg...I need sleep. Thankfully no one was hurt and NO big fat TICKET! She is such a cutie though...I just can't wait to get past this "baby" stage...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Alyssa Marie has arrived!!!

Well, at last our daughter has arrived! Alyssa Marie Frenette was born Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 2:34pm. She is my smallest baby weighing 7lbs 6oz and 18.5 in at birth. She is adorable and has tons of thick, black hair. We all love her enormously and she fits into our family perfectly.

The kids all love her...especially Kaylee who loves her, perhaps, a bit too much. Always gotta keep an eye on her when she's near the baby as she loves to be a little mommy.




She is such a good little girl, but needless to say we are all so exhausted over here. I went into labor Saturday night, and though the contractions were tolerable, I wasn't able to sleep a moment because of the discomfort. I finnally told Eddie we needed to go to the hospital at about 4am Sunday morning as the contractions were starting to get more intense and I wanted to make sure to get there with plenty of time for the good ol' epideral. I was checked in at triage and was told I was dilated to 5 cm, and since my contractions weren't regular my OB wanted me to walk an hour and go from there. The following hour Eddie and I walked the halls of Good Sam and even found a staircase that I ran up and down many times. Oddly enough, in this process my contractions were slowly diminishing, and I was getting very frusterated at the thought of being sent home.

So I went back to triage at the end of the hour and I was now dilated to a 5 (or) 6 and 90% effaced, so I was admitted because of the progress I had made. Well, I laid for the next 4 hours in L&D with virtually NO contractions at all, and it showed as my cervix had remained the same at my next check. The OB came in and gave me 2 options: 1) She felt comfortable with allowing me to go home and allow labor to start on it's own if that's what I wanted or 2) She could start pitocin and get the contractions going again.



I'm not crazy, though I may look it...but there was NO WAY I was being sent home at 6cm dilated, especially since I am GBS+ and require antibiotics (which take 4.5 hours to administer PRIOR to baby's birth). I got the pitocin added to my IV at 11:40am and less than 3 hours later Miss Alyssa was in my arms.



Again, no sleep that night, as the hospial beds are always soooo uncomfortable. But Alyssa was perfectly behaved. We were anxious to arrive monday and got here in the evening. Eddie, was concerned that Alyssa wasn't getting enough to eat, as my milk has yet to come in, so he offered her a bottle of formula. BIG MISTAKE. My perfect baby was up the whole night (from 9:30pm until 3:00am) screaming because her tummy was hurting. She was so gassy the whole night, and it wasn't until she through up and had a horrible diaper at 3am that she finally was able to sleep--and I was able to as well. So, I've had maybe 4-6 hours of sleep the past 3 nights. Hopefully tonight will be better.


All and all we are so excited to have Alyssa a part of our family. It's a big adjustment going from 3 to 4 but feel so blessed.