New year - new beginnings!

January has brought many changes in my professional life. During the 1st week of January I found out I was hired as a Clinician at Planned Parenthood (PP). On January 15th I did the new hire paperwork & on January 16th I had my first full day at the clinic! Of course, I was ready to go. I had my DEA # (or Drug Enforcement Agency number; it's necessary in order to prescribe narcotics), NPI # (or National Provider Identification number), Nurse Practitioner license, current CPR card & up-to-date immunizations. Since being hired I have been traveling to various PP clinical sites for my residency, so to speak, & attending clinical services & job benefits orientations. I have been really impressed with the organization & look forward to mastering my 1st Nurse Practitioner job! I have also quit my job as a Resource Team RN & accepted a position as a per diem RN on a medical floor at the UWMC. As a per diem nurse I am only required to work 2 days per schedule (or per month). This way I can keep up on nursing skills.
On January 11th Gerritt got his 2nd set of immunizations: PC (pneumococcal vaccine) & Hib (Haemophilus Influenza type B). He had the same reaction he had to his first set of vaccines a month ago: fever, increased fussiness & poor sleep for 3 days. Gerritt also caught his 2nd cold so we had to deal with his coughing & congested nose as well. My Mom has arrived from Russia later that day & was really concerned about us since, in her mind, Gerritt was such a "difficult" baby. Thankfully, the vaccines' side effects went away by Monday & my Mom got to meet the real Gerritt. It only took them 3 days to bond & from then on they became inseparable. After recovering from her long flight & a time-zone change, my Mom insisted on caring for Gerritt during the day as well as at night time.
On January 12th (Saturday) we had the 100-day celebration for Gerritt at uncle Ananth's house in Bellevue. This event is a Korean tradition meant to celebrate the baby who has survived 100 days after birth. In old days so many babies did not reach this milestone due to various factors. So if the baby has lived 100 days he was destined to make it. My husband's Mom had been preparing for at least 2 weeks & delighted our 50+ guests with delicious Korean food & a huge rice cake. Gerritt received many gifts & red envelopes with money. We've used this gift money to set up Gerritt's college fund. We are sure blessed to have such wonderful friends! Unfortunately, Gerritt did not enjoy the party. He was overwhelmed with all of the noise & attention from so many people at once & cried constantly. My husband, my Mom, my mother-in-law & I attempted to calm him down all at once & he was very confused. Russian, Korean & English languages were spoken at the same time & poor thing couldn't deal with it. I couldn't wait for the party to end since I was at my wit's end from Gerritt's constant crying & not having a quiet place for him to relax enough to nap. All in all, I am happy we had this party since Gerritt is half-Korean. I believe it's important to remember one's roots & to celebration one's heritage. :-)
In early January Gerritt also had his first two days with his Ukranian babysitter Anna. I was busy getting ready for my Mom's visit from Russia & dropped him off at Anna's for two 4-hour sessions so that I could run some errands & clean our house. It was so hard to leave Gerritt, but I knew I had to start at some point to preserve my own sanity & health.
Around the same time I've started transitioning Gerritt from the bassinet to a crib. The use of a bassinet is not recommended for babies older than 3 months for safety reasons. Plus Gerritt is much bigger than a typical 3-month-old baby, so it was time...

Gerritt is 3 months old!

Well, the special day we've been waiting for is here - January 1st. Gerritt is 3 months old today. At a 3-month mark he supposed to start sleeping through the night, hold his head up & do other magical things. His development has progressed significantly from a state of a helpless newborn. He is able to support his head when held upright; he is starting to grasp objects with his hands to take a closer look or to try tasting some of them (blankets are his favorite so far); he is able to sit with support; & he definitely knows our faces. His vision has improved as he starts smiling when I am coming toward him, not just when I am up close. We've been putting him on his tummy to strengthen his shoulders & neck & he is able to hold his head up for a few minutes. A big change this week was that he is finally able to use his Rainforest Jumperoo! When we tried putting him in it a few weeks ago, he couldn't hold his head upright & his feet couldn't reach the floor. Now he loves to exlore while sitting in it & to even jump up & down.
Gerritt is also sleeping better. He usually sleeps for at least one 5-hour stretch & has been known to sleep for 7 hours straight on a few occassions! We are in the process of establishing a consistent bedtime routine so he can learn to fall asleep by himself eventually.
Last Saturday (December 29th) we were supposed to go to a Christmas party & ended up visiting the ER at Children's hospital instead. On Saturday afternoon Gerritt started to have some drainage from his left eye & it looked slightly red. I was convinced he had a bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye). I knew it was only going to get worse over the weekend & really didn't want to wait till Monday for him to be seen by his pediatrician. So my husband & I took him to the Minute Clinic. Our efforts didn't pay off, unfortunately, since such clinics only see patients who are 18 months & older. After contacting the office of our pediatrician & talking to a nurse, we've waited for over an hour to hear from someone. So we've decided to take matters into our own hands & go to the Children's ER. Two & a half hours later, after being seen by 2 nurses & 3 doctors, we were on our way with antibacterial eye ointment for Gerritt. The doctors decided Gerritt had viral conjunctivitis, however, prescribed antibiotic eye ointment just in case it was bacterial. We've applied the ointment once & Gerritt's eye cleared up the next day. The infection was gone too quickly to be bacterial... I have since learned from a friend who is also a Mom that freshly expressed breast milk used as eye drops could have worked equally as well. I probably overreacted by taking my son to the ER but who can blame me? I am a first-time Mom!
I am still supplementing Gerritt's diet with my own breastmilk. I can't believe I've managed to keep up my supply for this long! It is sure like a full time job, pumping every 3-4 hours & always being aware when you have to pump next. I've taken my breast pump with me to many places including friends' houses, doctors' appointments & work. I am not breastfeeding any more but continue to pump since the documented benefits of breastmilk are too significant to ignore. I felt alone in my efforts until I ran across a website dedicated to women who only pump, but not breastfeed for various reasons. I am certainly happy I didn't give up & continued pumping through the first challenging weeks of motherhood & while recovering from a major surgery. While I wasn't happy Gerritt when got his first cold a couple of weeks ago, I am convinced my breastmilk helped him to recover in only 3 days. On some days when I feel like I should be working more, I remind myself that I am already doing the most important job in the world. This time is so short, yet so critical to Gerritt's future health & emotional well-being. Some day I will probably miss these precious moments when Gerritt was a baby & I had him all to myself...
Only 10 more days until the arrival of Gerritt's Russian babushka!