Ferber-izing the Birdie

As you can see, Luna started solid food this week. The first day was a bit rough (and extra messy), but we've all gotten the hang of it now. Mama found her some smaller spoons and learned to take Luna's clothes off before feeding to avoid excessive laundry, and Luna has learned to eat properly and swallow. She has taken to it like a natural (hardly surprising seeing how much her parents love to eat), and screams if I don't shovel it in fast enough. She also enjoys holding the spoon herself and licking the excess off her bib. Videos and photos from the first day of feeding her can be found here.

Our biggest challenge this past week has been sleep. Luna all of a sudden began to hate sleep - she wouldn't nap for more than a few minutes at a time. One day she went 16 hours without sleep! Between that and the ongoing vomiting, she got pretty cranky. Everything we tried to get her peacefully into the land of Nod ended in hysterical screaming. And so, eventually, we realized we'd have to let her cry even though we hated the very thought. We've been using a modified version of the Ferber method for three days now, and things are greatly improved. She is napping again, and there is usually 5 minutes or less of crying when we put her down to sleep. She has been waking up more and more frequently during the night, but we'll tackle one problem at a time I guess. According to the official Ferber method, your supposed to kiss them goodnight, give a few reassuring pats, and then walk away. I can't bring myself to do that. We are still doing the little bedtime ritual of nursing and butt patting until she is asleep and then gently lowering her into the crib. She always wakes up when we lay her down, but at least she is sleepy before we leave the room. It seems to be working for us. But let me tell you - there have been a lot of tears in this household the past few days, and only half of them are Luna's!

Luna has been rolling over more and more frequently this week, and she has discovered her toes. She takes great pleasure in pulling her toes up to her mouth to chew on them. She has also begun losing her hair, quite a lot later than expected. She's got a couple of nearly bald patches! We've been encouraging her to play while propped up in a sitting position to help her strengthen those tummy muscles, and its quite amusing to see her propped in the middle of the pillows like a princess on her throne.

Bad Days

A crazy couple days here...

We took Luna to the U.S. Embassy yesterday to register her birth. She is now officially a dual citizen, and all the appropriate paperwork is coming soon. I felt like she should have a little mini flag to wave! It was fun to visit the embassy. While in Brussels we also ate at Pizza Hut, and we found a newsstand selling Real Simple magazine and Oreo cookies! It was an American morning.

Since around Monday, Luna has been vomiting much more than usual. She hasn't seemed ill, and hasn't had a fever or any other symptoms other than restlessness and trouble sleeping. After we returned from Brussels, she threw up a lot all at once, which made us nervous. We called the doctor, and she was concerned as well, enough so that she wanted us to bring her in immediately. It was already nearly 5, so she told us to call the on-call pediatrician and bring Luna in to see him. So long story short, we found ourselves frantically rushing to catch a train to get Luna to the doctor.

Luna and I left first, as G stayed behind to change his clothes and close up the house. I noticed before we left that the sky had gotten dark, so I grabbed the rain cover for the carriage. I began rushing along to the station, and about halfway there, it started to rain. It was very light at first, and I half thought about just tossing a blanket over Luna and trying to make it to the station without the cover. But I decided not to risk it, and stopped to put the cover over the carriage. I had no more than fastened the velcro when the skies opened up and it began to pour. Then out of nowhere, the winds began. Within minutes, it was as though I was in the middle of a hurricane. The winds became so strong that they were trying to wrench the carriage from my grip. The rain cover was barely staying on. I had to lay my body over the carriage to keep it on the ground and to keep the rain cover on, so I was laying over it and running at the same time. I finally realized I was not going to make it to the station without one of us getting hurt, so I found a little glass shelter (like a bus shelter, but on the train platform) and got us inside. Luna was screaming hysterically and I was drenched to the skin. She was mostly dry, just a little damp where some rain had leaked around the seams of the rain cover. But she was understandably terrified, and I could not comfort her without soaking her as well. I wrapped her up tight in the blanket and kept the rain cover over her. I was afraid of the lightning, but decided we were safer where we were than out in the elements. G finally appeared through the storm and joined us in the shelter. He was dripping as well. Once he was there, we decided to try to make it the rest of the way to the station, because we were freezing. We made it inside finally, where we attracted quite a lot of attention - two sopping wet parents and a baby screaming in her carriage. I managed to calm Luna down and she actually fell asleep while we were waiting. Eventually, though, she got upset again because she was cold. I was still drenched to the skin so I wasn't able to warm her against me. Since the storm had faded to just a steady rain by this point, we headed home. We arrived, wet and bedraggled, but safe at last. We got all of us into dry clothes, then we wrapped up in blankets and G and I had tea and cookies while Luna had some milk. Needless to say, we did not get to the doctor last night.

Soooo, first thing this morning we headed to the doctor. She examined Luna and asked a bunch of questions, and then decided to do some tests to see if there was anything wrong. She ordered a urine test to check for a bladder infection (I had noticed some dark urine), and ultrasound scans of the brain and the stomach. First stop was the pediatrics ward, where the urine collection bag was attached. They adhere a little plastic bag over her, well, you get the idea. And then you wait. While we were waiting, it was off to registration and then to radiology. Luna was awesome during the ultrasound - she laughed and smiled at the technician, and at one point laid her hand over his while he was moving the wand around her belly. She only fussed once - his machine suddenly made a loud noise and it scared her. The scans were quick and painless. We then went to the cafeteria for awhile to continue to wait. And wait. We kept checking her diaper, but the little bag was empty. We went back to the pediatrics ward and continued to wait. Twice she filled her diaper and they had to clean her up and attach a new bag. We waited for several hours, but she would not go. She got so tired and fussy, she couldn't sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. Finally, we asked the nurse to call the doctor and tell her we wanted to take the baby home. She came and did a catheterization - it took 2 minutes. No idea why she didn't do that to start with!! Luna cried, but just for a second. The scans were both fine - nothing wrong with her brain, and the little valve that closes off the stomach works properly. We haven't yet heard the results of the urinalysis, the doctor is supposed to call. In the end, after 4 and a half hours at the hospital, she sent us home with a prescription for medicine that is supposed to soothe her stomach, which we are supposed to give her three times a day for a week. After the first dose she puked twice, so its not especially helpful. So long as she doesn't develop any new symptoms, I think we will just deal with the vomiting and hope it improves next week when we start solid food.

Here's hoping the next few days are better! We're planning to stay the hell home tomorrow!

Sleeping Like... Well, a Baby

The big news around here is that Luna has started sleeping in her crib at night! We went to the pediatrician for vaccinations Monday and discussed a few things with her, and she said we should get Luna sleeping in her own bed, even if it meant crying it out. We were not very happy about the crying it out idea, but we came home resolved to suffer through it. Bedtime came and I nursed her and rocked her until she fell asleep, and then laid her in the crib. As usual, she awoke when I moved her, but I walked away anyway. I went downstairs and flipped on the baby monitor to hear.... silence. I went up to check, and sure enough, she had curled up on her side and gone to sleep as though she had been doing so every night of her life. I figured it was a fluke and that the first time she woke to eat she'd balk at the idea of going back in there. But she woke to eat at her usual time, nursed and rocked, and then settled right back into the crib with no fuss at all. She slept all night. She slept more than I did, I was so nervous I checked on her every fifteen minutes I think.

Last night I figured she'd scream when I put her to bed (especially because she had a fever last night), but no, she again settled right in. Maybe she was just ready, I don't know. I am hoping it continues to be this easy.

Naps are another story entirely - she still refused to sleep in the crib at naptime today, but it may be because she isn't feeling well today and has been extra clingy. I figured I'd tackle that challenge once she is feeling better.

Yes, unfortunately, Luna did not escape this round of vaccinations unscathed. She had a low grade fever last night. One dose of Baby Perdolan cleared it right up, but she continues to be whiney and clingy and her eyes look sick. She's thrown up her milk several times, too. Hopefully she will be better by tomorrow.

We also discussed the acid reflux again with the doctor. I told her that the current medicine seems to make the reflux about 50% better, and she said she expects that to continue to improve as she gets older. She suggested we begin solid foods at 4 months, as it minimizes reflux. Interestingly, the norm here is to feed babies pureed potatoes and vegetables right from the start - the doctor had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned baby cereal. So in just a couple more weeks, Luna will get her first taste of potatoes!

The doctor also mentioned that Luna has a larger than average head. I was not surprised to hear that, considering that her head got stuck despite my wide hips. The doctor embarrassed the hell out of us by measuring both of our heads and determining that both parents have large heads (who knew??), and that Luna's large head was probably just genetic and unlikely to be anything to worry about. Nonetheless, she is going to keep an eye on it and make sure the rate of growth runs parallel to the growth chart.

We are enjoying G's vacation. Not doing much, but its nice to have more family time. We're mostly hanging out.

I learned this week that my brother has joined the military. He will be thirty this month, so it was a bit of a shock to us. Supposedly there is no risk of him being shipped overseas in the position he signed up for, but I don't trust that. I love my brother dearly and I worry about his safety. Please keep him in your thoughts, or in your prayers if you are the praying sort.