Gerritt's First Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve & Gerry & Chris traveled from Wenatchee to celebrate Gerritt's first Christmas with us. Chris & I took Gerritt to the Alderwood Mall this afternoon to take his 1st Santa picture. Gerritt did well waiting in line for over an hour. I got a glimpse of what is to come: lists & pictures of presents kids want from Santa. A yearly picture with Santa is a fun holiday tradition & the one I want to continue as Gerritt grows.
Our celebration turned out well. Chris & Gerry were so sweet to spoil us with presents once again. Even Charlie got a package of Greenies (chew bones)! Gerritt got a developmental toy that vibrates, plays classical music & lights up. Too bad he can't hold it yet. :-) He also got a Rainforest high chair. I have a feeling we are going to be using it soon for feeding Gerritt solids since he is growing so quickly.
Gerritt is such a happy boy around everyone except Gerry. Every time Gerry picks him up to hold Gerritt starts bawling, every time! I am puzzled... Could it be that Gerritt is afraid of Gerry or senses his uneasiness with babies? It is actually pretty funny to watch. Happy, smiling & cooing boy in Mommy's arms, crying fussy boy in Gerry's arms a moment later.
My husband & I are slowly recovering from a cold we got from Gerritt. My hubby's Mom stayed with us last Thursday & Friday nights. A great night sleep is just what we both needed to help us recover.
Last Friday I had my first Nurse Practitioner job interview at Planned Parenthood (PP). I am applying for a part-time Clinician position (2-3 days a week). I thought the interview went well. Some of the questions were hard to answer & I answered them the best I could ("What are the differences between a good manager & a good leader? How would you incorporate management & leadership characteristics into our organization?"). Huh? I don't care, I just want to be a great Nurse Practitioner. PP would be an exciting place to work & is very supportive of new NP graduates. I really hope I get the job!
Last week I also gave the nursing manager my 2-week notice (my last day being January 6th). I have decided to leave the Resource Team to pursue other opportunities. Besides looking for a job as a Nurse Practitioner I am also interested in a per diem nursing position (4-5 days/month). I am not yet ready to leave bedside nursing for good. This way if my Nurse Practitioner job doesn't work out I can still return to nursing or do something really different like travel nursing. Even though I will be taking a significant pay cut by leaving my job as a nurse to work as a new graduate NP, I hope the transition is going to be fulfilling personally & professionally. So in about 2 weeks I will officially be unemployed for the first time in my life. Scary &, at the same time, liberating experience!
My husband & I did not get each other any presents this year, however, I went crazy buying toys for Gerritt. He's had 2 toys since birth & I noticed him getting bored with them lately. So after doing an online research on various toy award winners, I've ordered several of them for Gerritt. The toy shipment arrived this morning & Gerritt was so overwhelmed with all of the colors, sounds & textures, he promptly fell asleep about half an hour into our play session. :-)

Sick baby

This past week has been one of the hardest since Gerritt's birth. Last Tuesday (December 11th) I took him in to get his first immunizations. We were supposed to do them at our last visit with Gerritt's pediatrician but I wanted to hold off until I read more about the vaccines, their safety profiles, risks vs. benefits, etc. The pediatrician didn't like it at all & gave me "the look." I have just ordered the Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears & was waiting for it to arrive in the mail. After reading it I have decided to follow Dr. Sears's recommended vaccination schedule rather than the one recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Some of the reasons include spreading out the aluminum-containing shots to allow aluminum processing without it reaching toxic levels; giving no more than 2 vaccines at a time to limit potential side effects & to spread out exposure to the numerous chemicals; & giving only 1 live-virus vaccine at at time to allow baby's immune system to deal with each disease separately.
So on Tuesday Gerritt received DTaP & Rotavirus vaccines. I was dreading the immunizations for a long time, however, Gerritt didn't even cry when a medical assistant administered a shot in his right thigh. I had expected a red face, screaming, & a hard-to-calm-down baby, & instead Gerritt was smiling & content as soon as he was dressed. The Rotavirus vaccine came in a liquid form & was administered orally. So happy Mom & baby went home. Little did I know...
That afternoon Gerritt vomited twice. During the next 3 days he vomited several more times & had very loose stools (up to 4 times a day). He was very fussy & had a hard time going to sleep. Instead of him sleeping for 4-5-hour stretches at night, he would wake up every couple of hours crying loudly. A little more investigation revealed that the standard vaccine side effects included fever, crying, vomiting, diarrhea & body aches. The Rotavirus vaccine is intended to cause a mild intestinal infection. Poor thing!
In addition to sufferring from the vaccines' side effects, Gerritt got his first cold. We visited the pediatric clinic during morning drop-in time when all of the sick kids who do not have an appointment show up. I should have guessed Gerritt would get ill when I saw a crying, loudly-coughing & sneezing boy in the corner of the waiting room. I had covered Gerritt's car seat with a blanket for protection hoping he would not breathe in as many viruses, however, the blanket was not enough. That same afternoon Gerritt started coughing & sneezing. The next day he had a fever & a runny nose. Sometimes he coughed so violently, he would vomit. Simple, previously-enjoyed by the baby tasks like changing a diaper, getting dressed or taking a bath resulted in loud, hard-to-console crying spells. One morning after yet another crying session, finally eating, then vomiting everything all over our bed, I lost it & started crying. I didn't think I could go on, but did I have a choice? Gerritt relied on me for his well-being & I had to pull myself together to be the best Mom I could be.
Multiple store trips later, we were stocked up on liquid Tylenol & Ibuprofen as well as nasal saline drops. Ibuprofen was a God-sent since it allowed Gerritt to fall asleep for a good stretch of time for the 1st time in 3 nights. Needless to say, by the time Friday came, I was so fatigued I had ringing in my ears & my head was spinning. I had a really hard time making it through the day & was afraid for patient safety since I had to work on Saturday. My husband came to my rescue by offering to watch Gerritt on Friday night, thus allowing me an uninterrupted sleep.
The day after Gerritt got ill, Chris & Gerry arrived for a visit. Gerry went to work at his company's office in Seattle & Chris stayed with me. Originally, we planned to get our Christmas shopping done as well as cook & do fun girl stuff. Everything had to be put on hold & our mission changed to helping Gerritt get well again. Thanks to Chris, I was able to take a 4-hour nap after one sleepless night. She was so sweet to plan & prepare meals for us for the rest of the week. During the week I continued to feed Gerritt my expressed breast milk as well as defrosted breastmilk donated by our friend M.R. The symptoms lessened in intensity in about 3 days & my sweet, loving & smiling boy was back.
Now it is my turn to be sick. Since yesterday evening I've been experiencing headaches, fatigue, nasal congestion, scratchy & sore throat, & a runny nose. I've learned my lesson... Next time stay away from the morning drop-in hours at the pediatric clinic. For that reason I am thinking of switching from a pediatrician to a family doctor. At least when I visit a family doctor, the waiting room will not be filled with so many sick kids.

Back to work

It was a busy week for us! On Wednesday I had my 6-week postpartum check up with Sally Avenson. It was actually a 8.5-week check up since my appointment was cancelled a couple of times due to Sally's patients going into labor. She is a very busy midwife & in great demand since she has a good reputation and is highly respected in our community. She held Gerritt in her lap while she talked to me & I snapped a few pictures. I want Gerritt to know who helped to bring him into the world! I've asked Sally about her plans for retirement since I am hoping to have her as my midwife again some day. She reassured me that she will be around for a while since she absolutely loves what she does for a living & has 3 college-age children.
On Thursday Gerritt had his 2-month check-up with pediatrician. He has sure grown! He was 24 inches in length (90th percentile) & weighed 14 lbs 14 oz (95th percentile). His head circumference was 41 1/2 cm (90th percentile). The pediatrician said Gerritt looked healthy & reassured us that we should not be concerned about his weight at this point. Gerritt's head is starting to flatten out on his left side so our homework was to turn his head to the right when sleeping. Another assignment was to encourage Gerritt reaching and grasping large soft objects.
On Friday I had what I thought was my last dental appointment for a while. However, the two crowns that made for me by the dental lab were about half a millimeter too short, so my dentist sent them back to be redone. So I need to return for another crown fitting session & receive another shot of local anesthesia. :-( During my last session a small amount of epinephrine from local anesthesia got into my blood stream (which apparently rarely happens) and I've experienced a racing heart, anxiety, shortness of breath, dizziness & sensation of almost passing out. The symptoms were gone in about 2 minutes, however, they were so terrifying! I can't wait to be done for good. I vowed to be religious about flossing since I don't want to repeat this experience again.
On Friday night we all went for our prenatal education class reunion. Four out of the six original couples showed up with their babies. What fun! Gerritt was the biggest baby by far, no surprise there. While driving to the reunion I was thinking how surprised everyone would be when they find out I had a C-section, the one who was so committed to natural childbirth. I did not need to worry... 3 out of 4 women present ended up having a C-section. We went around & shared out birth stories as well as struggles we went through during early postpartum. It was great to see everyone's beautiful babies. In a matter of a few weeks the women & their partners were transformed from frightened & unsure expectant parents to confident & content parents. Or at least they looked that way...
On Saturday, December 8th, I worked my first shift as a nurse since Gerritt's birth. I've contacted my manager last week asking her if I could return from my maternity leave earlier than the previously set date of January 7th. I was so tired of sitting at home & not being mentally stimulated. My husband & I figured I could work every Saturday & Sunday (while he watched Gerritt) as well as every other Friday (with my hubby's Mom watching Gerritt). I have also worked last Sunday. I ended up being on 8 North (the Rehabilitation floor) on both days. The shift were light & quiet for the most part. Being at work actually felt like a nice get-away, a much-needed break from home. I was nervous about finding time to get away as well as a private place to pump breastmilk while working, but lucked out on both days. It helps that weekends at the hospital are usually quiet. There were several empty rooms I could use.
The artificial Christmas tree we recently bought from Costco had to be returned to the store. When unpacking the box we found a paper with a warning "Wash hands after handling, lead exposure." I did a search on line & found out that pretty much every artifical tree made in China contains lead, a powerful neurotoxin. The older the tree, the greater the amount of lead dust falling of it. A child could get a significant lead exposure by inhaling the lead dust or by touching or crawling under the tree. It is speculated by some scientists that such exposure can potentially reduce a child's IQ by up to 2 points. No, thank you! We will be using only fresh Christmas trees from now on. I even hated the smell of the artifical tree, so toxic! Couldn't get it out of the house fast enough.
This week I have also applied for a part-time job as a Nurse Practitioner at Planned Parenthood (PP). As comfortable as I am in my nursing role, I feel a strong need to transition to the next step of my professional development. I plan to work at PP one to two days a week so that I can spend most of my time with little Gerritt. So December may be my last month of working as a nurse. I have a PP interview scheduled for December 21st!
Today was my husband's first day back to work after a 2-month paternity leave. I was dreading this day for a while but managed alone with Gerritt just fine. I even showered & had breakfast before noon! This afternoon I have visited a friend I have met at a Thanksgiving party. She has a 7-month-old daughter & kindly offered to donate her breastmilk to Gerritt. I have picked up a 3.5-month supply of frozen breastmilk today. What a kind & loving gesture! I am so grateful.
Our Korean grandmother has not visited us last week. When my husband called her she said her arms were still aching from lifting Gerritt last week & she needs more time to recover. :-) I am curious to see how Gerritt's Russian grandmother will measure up.

Gerritt is 2 months old!

Gerritt turned 2 months old yesterday. He is growing up fast! It seems we brought him home from the hospital just yesterday. I am so pleased he is healthy & happy. I am also grateful the 1st few weeks home are behind us. That was one of the hardest things I've gone through & I would not want to repeat the experience. It started to snow in the early afternoon yesterday. I have not seen snowflakes so large in quite some time. Snow falling down slowly was such a beatiful site I took out my video camera. I really love when it snows! It reminds me of the long snowy winters in Siberia while growing up.
We had an early Christmas Cheer celebration at our church yesterday. The celebration included a talent show. Gerritt was awake the whole time, cooing and laughing. He really enjoyed the singing and the music! He was having such a good time, he started crying when we put him back in his car seat to go home.
Gerritt's Korean grandma spent a couple of days with us this week. Poor thing! She was really tired after watching him for 2 nights. She loves Gerritt so much, she insists on having him sleep in her bedroom when she visits. However, she doesn't sleep much & spends most of the night watching Gerritt's every move & counting his every breath. I wish I had such dedication! The reality is we are just plain too tired to do the same. :-) We are so fortunate to have someone who loves our baby as much as we do!