Dosing the Binky

With all the excitement of having my mom here, I completely forgot to post that my wound has FINALLY closed up. Its been several days now, and its staying closed. The nurses are still coming, but hopefully only for a few more days. It still looks like I have a second belly button, but its no longer an open wound, so yay!

We took Luna back to the doctor yesterday, and she took her off the Zantac and Gaviscon and started her on omeprazole. She also prescribed this antacid in a gel form - its a bright red gel and it tastes like Twizzlers. The delivery method of the new medicine is a bit bizarre. I am supposed to smear the gel on Luna's pacifier and then break open a capsule of omeprazole and roll the gel coated pacifier around in the the little seeds inside the capsule. My brother said its like that candy, Fun Dip. The idea is that she'll suck it off and swallow it down. As you might expect, it doesn't really work that way. She DOES like the taste of the gel, and will suck it off the pacifier, but those little seeds end up sticking all in her mouth and they do not dissolve! I've had to use my finger to try to get them all in, and then when I give her some milk to wash it all down with I end up with medicine "seeds" all over my breast. :-[ I may try dissolving them in milk tomorrow. Its too soon to say whether or not the medicine is helping.

After the doctor's appointment, G had to head to work, but mom and I stayed in Sint Truiden for a few hours. We wandered around shopping and Luna slept the day away in the baby wrap. I got another breast pump, an electric one this time. It was cheaper than the last one we saw, but still pretty pricey. I tried it out today, and my first attempt can be summed up as "epic fail." Lots of pain and maybe a teaspoon of milk to show for it. I pumped after the baby had eaten, though. So for my second attempt I pumped BEFORE she ate, and that worked better. I got three ounces, anyway. I fed it to Luna a short time later, and she made faces at me for giving her the bottle, but she ate it. I know my kid - I knew she wouldn't turn down food, no matter the form its delivered in! I'll keep trying with the breast pump, and maybe tomorrow Daddy or Gramma can feed her.

We have no major plans for the weekend, mostly just sticking around home. Mom and I did go out briefly this afternoon to pick up a couple things from town. It rained on us on the way home, but we had umbrellas. We got some pajamas for the baby since she has outgrown all of hers! I am currently enjoying a few minutes peace, as Luna has fallen asleep with the pacifier next to me on the couch.

She's Still Cute!

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Forced Integration

I got a registered letter the other day, and as you might it expect, it was not good news. It was a falsely cheerful letter informing me that I am required by law to take integration classes if I am going to continue living in Belgium. At first it seemed almost like good news, as they mentioned I would get to learn Dutch for free. But it quickly became apparent that this was going to make our lives VERY difficult - it turns out that I am going to be forced to go to "school" for 4 to 5 days a week for 2 years! I will learn Dutch, which is certainly helpful, but other than that I will learn a lot of useless crap in classes designed for people from third world countries. These classes are not optional. If I do not take them, we will be fined.

We cannot afford childcare, and even if we could, I do not want someone else taking care of my baby. I recognize the fact that I am very lucky to be able to stay home with the baby, but this is how we both want it. I do not want a stranger getting all those little smiles and "firsts," I want to be there for everything! I could accept the inevitability of daycare if I had to go to work, but to force her into daycare so I can take some idiotic classes that will bore me to tears is just ridiculous.

G called and explained to them that I am not planning to become a Belgian citizen, but it doesn't matter, even legal residents such as myself have to take the classes. When he told them I was breastfeeding, they said we should report in to their offices as required (we have three months to report before we are fined) and that they will try to find a solution that allows me to continue breastfeeding, whatever that may mean. We are hoping for an extension at least.

Its clear this is going to make our lives much more difficult and unpleasant, its just not clear yet HOW unpleasant it will be or how soon it will be forced upon us.



In more pleasant news, my mother arrived on Monday and we are so happy to have her here! She had some trouble with her luggage, but they delivered it eventually. We have not been doing much, just hanging around the house mostly. Yesterday, Luna fell asleep on Gramma's shoulder and took a nice twenty or thirty minute nap. They seem to like each other! :D

Alternate Plans

We planned to go to Leuven today, as there is some sort of festival going on we wanted to check out and I need some shoes (my feet neither went back to their pre-pregnancy size nor stayed swollen, they ended up somewhere in between). We got to the station and settled onto our train, which was in delay. But after a few minutes of sitting there, an announcement informed us that our train had been cancelled. :( Since the next train would have gotten us there after shops were closed, we gave up.

Instead, we walked across town to a large park where we sat and enjoyed the sunshine. There were two fish ponds (one large enough for actual fishing) and a ginormous playground that would make any kid's eyes boggle. It was a beautiful day. After we left the park we walked back to town and ate at one of the new fry shops. We decided the place he usually gets our fries is better, even if it isn't as shiny.

Throughout all of this, Luna slept happily in the baby wrap, about 4 hours altogether. She literally woke up as we were opening our front door. She has graduated to a new hold in the baby wrap, the regular hug hold, which means her legs hang out, so I made sure to slather on the sunscreen. She was wearing the most adorable outfit with a slice of watermelon printed on the butt and a little hat that looks like a piece of watermelon, but since she slept all day we didn't even get a picture of her in it. Next time.

Tomorrow is a day to prepare for the arrival of my mother on Monday morning. We're all very excited for her arrival! Please keep your fingers crossed that her flight goes off without a hitch - no volcanic ash clouds to interrupt it!!!

Oh - one more thing. My pants finally fit again!! I was overjoyed this week to discover all of my old clothes fit again. Hooray!

Weekends Are Too Short

As usual, weekends are too short. Who decided the work week should be longer than the weekend? Granted, I no longer have to work, but we miss G when he is at work. I don't dare take Luna on big excursions by myself, she is too unpredictable and I cannot manage the carriage on the train. So other than trips to town, our outings are limited to weekends (or whatever days G has off, its not always weekends). This stresses him out, since he spends so much time running all over the country for work that the last thing he wants to do is do the same thing on his days off. He'd rather just stay home. Plus, he always has a ton of chores to catch up on on the weekends. But every now and then I convince him to go somewhere.

This weekend we went to Leuven, which isn't too far. We went to a large bookstore there, and they had an English language used books section! I spent the birthday money I had been saving, plus more money we counted as my Mother's Day present. Between that shop and another shop we visited that had new release English books, I ended up with nine books. I was so excited! With the baby, I no longer have time to read three books a week, I'm lucky to read three a month now. But I didn't have any books left that I hadn't read a dozen times already, and I still read whenever I can. So I was very happy!

After the bookstore, we found a baby shop where we looked for breast pumps. The only electric one they had was 120 euro, so we decided we'd keep looking. We have no idea where to look, but that is too expensive. So I continue to have no breast pump, which is frustrating. But if we can't find one cheaper than that, I probably won't be able to get one.

G also took me to get ice cream. Yes, I am supposed to be avoiding dairy. But he convinced me to cheat, and he was right, it was worth it. This ice cream was exceptionally good! Its a good thing I don't get to Leuven very often, or I'd weigh a ton!

Luna was pretty well behaved on the outing. At the end we went into a park to feed her and after she ate it took her awhile to settle down. But prior to that she mostly slept in the baby wrap. Once again we dragged the carriage around and she hardly spent any time in it. :( G says its crazy how many miles he has pushed that buggy without a baby in it! LOL Hopefully she will like it again someday.

Doctored

Luna and I both went to the doctor on Tuesday.

My doctor says I am healing slowly but surely, but that it will still be another 2 weeks before the wound is finally closed up. She also did an ultrasound to make sure everything inside was looking normal, and it was, except I have developed my first fibroid tumor on my uterus. So far its small, golf ball sized, but I know how these things can grow. I'll have to keep an eye on that I guess. G and I were both pretty worried when we first got there, because she asked if the wound was closed yet, and when I said no, she said it was "probably time for an intervention." We were both terrified she would put me back in the hospital for another operation! But after she looked at it, she decided it was healing well, just slowly. So as long as it keeps healing, she will leave it alone.

We didn't have an appointment, so we were very lucky that the pediatrician squeezed Luna in while we were at the hospital. It was one of the two female pediatricians Luna had while she was in the hospital, and we liked her. She speaks excellent English. She looked at the rash and agreed that it is eczema. She said it was infected as well, so she prescribed a cortisone cream and an antibiotic cream. For the acid reflux, she doubled the dosage of Gaviscon to 2 mL, which is a heck of a lot to get down a baby's throat without choking her! She also prescribed Zantac twice a day. She said she suspects an allergy of some sort may be exacerbating both the eczema and the acid reflux, so we've begun the exciting process of determining what she may be allergic to. For the next two weeks I am dairy free, as dairy is the most common allergy in babies. After two weeks we will add dairy back into my diet and see if there are any changes in Luna. After that I will try eliminating peanuts. Rinse and repeat until we find something that she seems to react to.

I realize the easiest way to eliminate the possibility of an allergy is to stop breastfeeding, but I still feel very strongly about that and I do not want to give up on it unless there is no alternative. The pediatrician agreed that this is not reason enough to give up on it yet - the benefits outweigh possible downsides. Speaking of breastfeeding, I had intended to start pumping this week so that Geert could give her a bottle occasionally. However, we discovered that the breastpump we bought before Luna was born simply DOES NOT PUMP. It is completely useless. I tried all of the troubleshooting hints, and nada. What little milk it does pump simply leaks out all over the place. So until we can find time to go buy a better breast pump, I will not be able to pump.

My mother is coming to visit in 9 days, and I am so excited! I have been extremely homesick lately, so hopefully her visit will help. She'll be here for three weeks.

My First Mother's Day

It is Mother's Day here in Belgium, too. Luna started off my day pretty well by sitting happily in the safety seat smiling and cooing while I took a shower. She then screamed through her own bath, but hey, you can't have everything! I got a card from G and Luna, and a huge bouquet of lilacs. G says I still get a present, but we had Chinese food last night which was present enough for me.

This afternoon, we went to a picnic in town with his mom. It was a nice afternoon in the park with decent weather - sunny but with a bit of a chill on the wind. There was free food (though we brought our own) and some displays by some kind of organic gardening club. There were pens with ducks, chickens, and various other fowl. There were really cute baby ducklings and bunny rabbits. There were lots of children there running around, which was fun to watch. We had a nice time, but it was a long walk and I carried the baby most of the day in the baby wrap, so I am pretty tired tonight.

Its been a pretty good first Mother's Day!

Doctor's Visit

Luna hated visiting the doctor - she started screaming as soon as the doctor undressed her and pretty much didn't stop until bedtime last night. The doctor did not speak English and G had to work, so it was interesting. We communicated as best as we could, and then at the end she had her daughter come in to help interpret. She believes the rash is eczema, and prescribed an over the counter lotion to be applied three times a day. She also said we need to avoid using any products with perfume, and avoid sunlight on her face or overheating. She also prescribed Gaviscon for the acid reflux. Luna hates the Gaviscon, which tastes like bananas, and is quite adept at spitting the majority of each dose out. She is not real thrilled with the lotion either, though I try to put it on while she is eating and therefore distracted. So far I have not seen an improvement in the rash. I don't know if the acid reflux has improved, since I can't ask her how her belly feels, but she does seem to have cried a bit less today. Could be a coincidence, we'll see.

One month old already!

Actually, I am so behind in posting - she will be five weeks tomorrow! She continues to keep me busy 24 hours a day. The baby nurse who visited us yesterday thinks she may have acid reflux, which is causing a lot of the crying. She shows all the regular symptoms of that, and of course, with my history of it its even more likely. We need to take her to the pediatrician to get medication - ironically enough they use the same medications as they do for me! She continues to cry a lot, and she is not happy unless she is being held. I do everything with the baby wrap on! Sleep continues to be difficult, and she continues to want to eat constantly, although part of that may be related to the acid reflux. When they have a belly ache or pain, babies instinctually want to suck. So she is most likely seeking pain relief rather than food a lot of the time. She also has a rash that is really bad, all over her face, head, ears, and upper chest and back and shoulders. Two nurses have looked at it now and both said they think it is just a very severe case of baby acne, because if it was an allergic reaction it would be all over her body, not just on the upper part. It doesn't seem to bother her, it just looks yucky. We'll get the pediatrician's opinion when we go.

Its not all misery though! In fact, even when she is screaming I am telling her how much I love her. I can't imagine how I lived without her! She is learning to smile real smiles now, and she practices all the time. The sounds she makes when she is sleeping are so adorable, and even though holding her all the time is exhausting, having her sleeping peacefully in my arms or against my chest is the most amazing feeling in the world. She is starting to enjoy baths now, she no longer screams the whole time, and seems to enjoy the warm water. She still screams before and after the bath, of course, but its because she gets cold when undressed. She enjoys long walks, as long as she is in the baby wrap. She enjoys her baby swing for short periods of time, she stares in fascination at the mobile that hangs from it with little red stuffed animals hanging down. She hates getting dressed, but once she's dressed, she's content with whatever clothes you put on her, even when it involves hair bows or socks. We love taking pictures of her!!

Its amazing, and terrifying, how quickly she is growing up!