Now We’re Three

Here’s a long overdue post about our 2nd wedding anniversary celebration. This year’s celebration was more special as we focus not only on us being united in love but more importantly in the fact that we have been blessed with a most wonderful gift any couple could have ever hoped to receive: our Miguel.

We spent three days and two nights at Holiday Inn Clark from October 27-29. Needless to say that although I had stayed in this same hotel several times in the past, this one was the most enjoyable of all as we got to ‘try’ almost all of their amenities, or at least those that caught Miguel’s interests.

Early mornings were spent taking leisurely stroll inside Mimosa while enjoying the calm of the surrounding and the cool, not-so-polluted morning air. In fact, this is the very reason we chose to stay in Clark although the one in Manila is much cheaper.

We spent a good amount of time in the playroom as well and watched Miguel enjoy banging and mouthing and kicking and stepping on everything he got his hands and feet on! We also went swimming although we only stayed for about 20 minutes since it was very windy and we feared Miguel might get colds again. Good thing we were able to get some good shots of him in the pool.

Of course we got to enjoy the hotel’s buffet breakfast although it was a bummer they were not serving waffle this time, hmp! Anyway, we were sent home with a complimentary wedding anniversary cake, that was really nice of them.

I look forward to more anniversary celebrations. And I continue to pray that we will be able to keep the promise we made on our wedding day.

Rant

Nakakapag-init ng ulo at talaga namang muntik na akong mag-snap kanina sa hospital dahil sa laboratory nurse na yun! Miguel’s pedia requested some tests to be done and so dinala namin sya kanina sa St. Paul Hospital (here in Bocaue). Pagpasok pa lang namin sa laboratory medyo tensed na ang lab nurse (or whatever you call them) dahil mahirap daw kuhanan ng blood sample ang age ni miguel (kasi nga malikot). I opted to go to a hospital instead of sa mga clinics kahit na lab test lang ang kailangan namin this time for fear na magkamali sila ng ‘tusok’ at lalong masaktan si miguel when they obtain blood sample. But then, it wasn’t a better experience going to this hospital at all!

Imagine she had to prick Miguel three times!!! The first time was in his right arm, hindi nya mapalabas yung blood, aba, akalain mong ginalaw-galaw ang needle while inside Miguel’s arm! E di ba ang sakit non! As usual, though nanginginig ako sa nerbyos e cool lang ako. After a while, nag-give up sya, inilipat naman sa left arm. May lumabas naman na blood kaso, ito namang isa pang nurse who was supposed to hold Miguel’s arm para hind gumalaw, e medyo nakatunganga lang, at ayun nga, naalis yung needle even before they were able to get enough sample! Napasigaw talaga ako ng sh@#! nung makita ko ang daming blood na lumabas, at ang lakas talaga ng iyak ni Miguel. So dahil nga hindi sya nakakuha ng enough sample, she had to prick Miguel’s finger pa, jusko, kawawa ang anak ko! Sobra syang nanghina after that episode that he was sitting very still inside the car. Sobra akong na-guilty that Miguel had to go through so much pain that I promised him last na talaga yun.

Anyway, this blood test is still related with the weight issue. I won’t write the details na muna; later na lang after our next visit to his pedia. Please do pray everything will turn out fine with my brave little boy. Ang hirap pala maging mommy, your heart will surely break everytime the little one is hurt, hay…

Not Quite Ready To Wean

And I am talking about myself! More than a month ago I started supplementing with formula, giving Miguel one to two bottles a day. Though his aversion to bottles was almost gone past his 6th month, it wasn’t until October that bottlefeeding became a part of our daily routine. And I’d say I felt a bit insecure when he didn’t even protest with this new arrangement. In fact several days later, I noticed it was much easier for me to “force” him to finish his milk in a bottle rather than to encourage longer nursing session. And out of my desire to get him to take more milk (since weight gain and small appetite has always been an issue), I decided to put him on formula feeding at daytime and it’s only at night when I breastfeed. Again, this was accepted without protest, hmp!

Only 7 months ago I had been so desperate on getting him to take a bottle and I fairly remember wanting to give up on breastfeeding when he was about 2 weeks old. But I guess all that is part of the past. The other day I even brought out my “very slightly used manual breast pump” and for a moment, considered relactating. I have this strong longing to bring back fulltime “direct” breastfeeding, and every bit of my mommy-self is wanting to hold on!

But then again I realize I must learn how to let go, I must be ready to handle change. After all, life as a mommy will always be full of changes. Today, the issue is weaning. Later on, it will be time to send him off to school, and years from now he will decide to live on his own. So just let me delight in the joys of the months that passed and enjoy the happenings of today, so I have fond memories to look back on when I’m old and gray.

Asthma Alert

October was a dreadful month for us since it was when Miguel had his first asthma attack. Though it was nothing compared to his second attack that happened about three weeks ago. The week of Nov 5 started with Miguel having colds which progressed to cough, despite my prompt administration of meds, and the fact that he’s been on Budesonide twice daily since the first attack.

I had been given the go signal by Miguel’s pedia to nebulize him with salbutamol at the onset of coughing in order to prevent asthma attack and this is what I did. Unfortunately, the coughing did not absolve and we started noticing deep, heavy breathing which prompted us to bring Miguel to the ER in the morning of Nov 9, Friday.

As soon as we entered the ER, Miguel started crying when doctors approached us and started listening to his breathing. His pedia was immediately contacted (and she’s expecting the call since I was already talking to her before we brought Miguel to the ER) and she ordered for Miguel to be confined at least for a night.

Once again, I found myself feeling terrible pain upon seeing my little boy put all his effort in crying, shouting, and kicking as the doctors struggle to hook him on an IV. We spent the day either trying to soothe him as he was always crying whenever the nurses entered our room, or otherwise, patrolling the hospital hallway with the IV in tow.

Good thing he felt better almost instantly and we were discharged the following day, though I still need to give him a puff of Fluticasone twice a day for at least a month.

On hindsight, I think I was responsible for this second attack, as I have reason to believe this might have been due to the KFC chicken burger I ate the previous Sunday, tsk, tsk, tsk.

It Definitely Wasn’t PC!

Right, so the blogging mood is on again. I didn’t have the appetite to blog in more than two months so here I am again cramming to put down every significant detail of the weeks that passed.

Several times in the past I had complained about Miguel’s poor appetite that’s causing slack on his weight gain and so last August we decided the matter can no longer be handled sitting down, thus, we went to another pediatrician as recommended by my MIL to get a second-opinion. After a few minutes of interview, pedia#2 suspected Miguel of having Primary Complex based on the fact that he has poor appetite and is not gaining much weight and so she administered a skin tuberculin test on Miguel and advised us to come back after 3 days so she can read the result. True enough, the skin test returned positive at 23mm induration (you have to get 10mm or smaller for a negative result). She prescribed 3 kinds of medicines to be taken daily without fail for the duration of 6 months!

We were feeling so low at the time and were thinking who could have possibly infected Miguel when nobody in the house has TB! I thought of calling Miguel’s (original) pedia to relate pedia#2’s diagnosis but thought it proper to tell her personally. The following day I started administering the meds and found it to be a real pain to see Miguel crying. And to think we both have to struggle with it for 6 loooong months!

Two weeks later we went back to Miguel’s (original) pedia for his regular check up and I explained about our decision to consult pedia#2 and the resulting diagnosis. She didn’t mind us consulting another doctor and was even supportive of the move but was doubtful when she found out about the diagnosis and was horror-struck when she learned I started giving Miguel the meds.

She explained her position why she never suspected Miguel to have Primary Complex and even brought out a medical book to show me that even if I suspect that Miguel has PC, I should only be giving one type of med (and not 3). That is because Miguel never had symptoms of PC such as fever, colds, night sweat, and weight loss. You don’t say an infant has PC based solely on poor weight gain! She further explained that we can definitely expect a positive skin test because Miguel’s BCG vaccine had just been given 7 months prior (and it will return a positive result until 15 months since BCG was administered). She explained that since PC has an ethical consideration (imagine suspecting somebody to have TB!), we should really sitdown and trace where the infection could have come and a chest xray must confirm the diagnosis. I felt both relief and worry upon hearing her side of the story. Relief at the possibility of Miguel being cleared of PC and worry that I may have given Miguel toxins from unnecessary meds.

In the end, she never asked me to stop the medication but gave me related topics to research on so I would better understand and even suggested that I get a 3rd opinion. This time we went to a pedia-pulmo and was requested to present a chest xray. We obtained the chest xray from another hospital and my heart sank upon reading the evaluation of the radiologist:”bilateral pneumonitis”. It doesn’t sound like Primary Complex but it definitely doesn’t sound better.

Imagine the joy and thankfulness we felt upon hearing an “all clear” evaluation from pedia-pulmo when we presented the chest xray! He explained that the radiologist’s evaluation isn’t reliable for the simple reason that he hasn’t seen the patient even once and is only relying on the xray plates, and he’s not a pedia-pulmo, and is therefore, not an expert at this particular matter.

It was terrible to have gone thru such ordeal but I am happy to say it definitely wasn’t PC!

Miguel’s Look-alike

When Miguel was a few week’s old, everybody seemed to think he looks more like his dad; not one of them said he has my features, hmp! . But as months passed, they said he’s turning to look more like me, hehehe (probably because we’re always together!) And then I saw this Look-alike Meter at Nice’s blog and decided to give it a try. I even chose our not-so-fancy ID photos to avoid bias and the result?!

Hmp, maybe I should have chosen a better picture of me hehehe…oh well, he’s still as cute as a teddy bear.

He Was Brave

My Miguel just went through a tough time yesterday at the Doctor’s clinic. He was diagnosed with ankyloglossia (tongue-tie), a condition where the skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth (called frenulum) is over-extended thus restricting proper tongue movement. According to several related articles I’ve read, this condition is very common and a simple procedure called tongue-clipping (frenotomy) is performed to correct this. Although I read that for some babies, the condition corrects itself within the first year of life, it was also stated that there is no medical evidence to support this. Tongue-tie has an effect on feeding–specifically breastfeeding (could also be the reason why Miguel’s weight gain is so slow), and speech/language development. You may have seen some kids who cannot pronounce s or r properly, this is because the movement of their tongue is restricted by over-extended frenulum.

We had to make a very difficult decision of whether or not to have his frenulum clipped, as this will be done without anaesthesia or any medication. We weighed the consequences of doing it now or delaying til he’s a bit older but tht would call for a more complicated procedure to be performed by a surgeon and sedatives and stitches will then be necessary. We thought of the possible impact on his self-esteem if eventually he cannot speak properly the way other kids do. We considered the possibility of him being traumatized if we subject him to such pain at this age. I remember asking the doctor a lot of questions about blood, and pain, and crying, and trauma, and infection, and medication–before we finally agreed to have it done.

I was shaking the whole time and cried even before Miguel started crying. I didn’t dare look at him but didn’t want to leave the room as well (so I could just snatch him away just in case I changed my mind at the last moment! ). It was good that his doctor assured us that it’s a quick procedure which will take no more than ten seconds and I could just nurse Miguel afterwards to pacify him.

**Flashes of the days when he was still so tiny, so fragile came rushing back to my memory. He was counting on me to protect him.**

It was the first time I heard him cry like that–full of pain and anger. I closed my eyes and said a little prayer. And then it was done. Moments later he was in my arms sobbing, but he still didn’t want to nurse. Few minutes later he was nursing and when he was finished he stuck out his tongue and flashed a big smile as if he was saying ‘look mom, I’m brave’! He was, indeed! And I let out a sigh of relief.

Celebrate Breastfeeding

Let me just say I am one with the world in celebrating Breastfeeding Week 2007! Though it has been quite a challenge for me to succeed in exclusively breastfeeding Miguel (and I almost gave up on the second week of trying), my decision and determination to pursue it is always affirmed when I read pieces of information on the net, magzines, newspaper or just about anywhere relating to the wonders of breastfeeding.

And today as the world celebrates Breastfeeding Week with a theme “Breastfeeding the 1st hour: Save One Million Babies”, I feel blessed that I was able to give my Miguel the best start in life.

Look Who’s Eating!

Yep, it’s my little teddy bear munching on his very first solid (read: mushy) food! After 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding (yey, we’ve successfully complied with the recommendation, clap! clap!) we finally got Doc’s ok to start on solid food. Her advice, though, was very specific–that I feed him plain rice cereal only, no wheat, no soya, no other fancy ingredient. This is because we have a family history of asthma that’s why we need to avoid foods that may trigger allergies (and that’s also the reason why until now I’m not allowed to eat chicken–I’m still misssing McChicken!).

After we’re done with the check-up, we then rushed to Rustan’s to buy rice cereals and were surprised to find out that there are a lot of cereal variety but none of the plain rice type! Good thing the N@W girls suggested I try Healthy Options so now Miguel is feasting on Earth’s Best Rice Cereals every morning, yum! I intend to increase his feeding frequency to twice a day soon; I just need to make sure his milk intake is not affected.

On another related topic, seems like my battle over bottlefeeding is over! I have given up bottle-training two months ago and even put away his bottles and sterilizer. On Miguel’s second day of eating solids, I thought of offering him again a bottle of breastmilk after eating. I chose Nuk Latex Vented Nipple on instinct, as if I knew exactly that’s what he wanted, and to my great delight, he took it without protest!

This isn’t exactly an experiment as I’ve read in one of the many breastfeeding sites I’ve visited that there are babies who have no problem taking a bottle after they start eating solid food. The logic is that since they are now eating with a spoon, they are open to accepting anything in their mouth other than mommy’s breast. Fortunately, my Miguel is one of those babies. Now my new challenge is to be able to express enough milk everyday so I can offer him a bottle or two a day so he will get used to it. So pump away!

Oh How He’s Grown!

My Miguel is six months today and I feel I owe it to myself to account all his achievements within the first 6 months of his life. After all, I’ve been so lazy writing about his progress the past months so let me challenge my memory today by recalling his sixth month milestones.

>> I actually noticed few days after we were released from the hospital that he would attempt to lift his head for short moments, thus, I was not surprised when he learned to hold up his head before his 3rd month.

>> At exactly 2 months and 3 weeks, that was the morning of Easter, he successfully rolled over from his back to his tummy, and he never stopped practicing this skill until he’s a pro before his 4th month. Moreover, around this time he’s an expert at jumping; he would jump and skip and hop everytime his feet touch anything.

>> At 3 months he can very well recognize familiar faces–first in the list are mine and his dad’s of course! He smiles, laughs and coos whenever he’s talked to.

>> At 4 months he started reaching for objects and is an expert at grasping and mouthing anything he gets his hands on before his 5th month.

>> At 5 months, he started drooling and biting a lot–signs of teething, I assume. Around this time he started stringing syllables and making babbling noises to get attention. Rolling over from back to tummy and vice versa is a favorite hobby at this time. He recognizes his name (he goes by Miguel or chik-chik ), and responds to calls by turning his head towards the sound.

>> At 5 months and 1 week, he’s successful at lunging forward–his version of crawling, and he’s been busy practicing sitting up though no success yet as of this time.

That was quite a list of achievements for a six month old, whew! I hate that I haven’t started on his baby book/photo album yet . So let me just leave you with his photos at birth and today.